“So what are you doing tonight?”

“I don’t know. He says he wants to surprise me. Would only tell me to wear a pretty dress.”

“And some sexy lingerie?” Alicia surmises.

Cush scores a goal, so I stand up and cheer. He catches my eye, makes a gun with his finger, kisses the tip of it, then shoots the kiss at me.”

“Oh my gosh, did you just see that? Was that not the cutest thing ever? I’m totally tweeting about it.” Alicia says.

I smile to myself when I realize that Cush has been following my scripts in his own way. What he did was similar to having the basketball player blow me a kiss after he won the game.

I don’t care how silly I might look. I blow him a kiss back.

Alicia wraps her arms around herself. “I wish a boy would do something adorable like that for me. Alex doesn’t seem to want to admit we’re even dating.” She sighs. “I thought when you and Sander broke up that there wouldn’t be another perfect couple. You and Cush are even cuter together. How did you get a guy like Cush to ask you out? He never dates anyone.”

“I don’t know. We’ve been good friends for a while. He says he’s always liked me, had a crush on me or something. Says he’s been waiting for me.”

“That’s so romantic,” Mandy says flatly, in a tone that reminds me of how Vanessa sounds when she’s not the center of attention.

Alicia shows me her tweet. Cush and Keatyn are so cute. He scored a goal and shot her a kiss. Cutest thing EVAH! #Truelove

I smell like a princess.

9pm

After the game, I tried to pry a few details out of Cush with kisses, but he kept giving me the same line over and over.

No matter where I kissed him.

All he’d say is, Wear a dress and tell your parents you won’t be home until tomorrow. I want to wear something sexy, but I lied when I said I had it all planned out. I have a lot of pretty bras and matching underwear, and some silky little nighties that I sometimes sleep in, but mostly I wear tank tops and boy shorts to bed.

Not what I had in mind.

I bought two sexy things to wear for my attempts to seduce Sander: the little black nightie that he ignored me in and a pale pink corset style bra with a matching thong and garter that I shoved to the back of my drawer after the fail. Do I want to look sweet and silky and risk wearing the nightie I got rejected in, or do I want to look more sexy?

Hmm, maybe I can mix up the two. I have a new pale peach lace front dress that I can pair with adorable strappy Jimmy Choo wedges that have a flower at the ankle. The dress is sweet looking, plus it’s dressy enough to go almost anywhere, but still casual enough that I won’t look overdressed anywhere we might go.

I wrap the garter and stockings back in some tissue paper and stuff them into my overnight bag. I’ll put them on when we get to the good parts. I blow out my hair, curl it into easy waves, and pull my bangs back into a pouf with a big crystal barrette.

I’m throwing makeup into my bag when the doorbell rings. I quickly toss the book I’m supposed to be reading for English class in there, along with a cute dress and sandals to wear in case we go to brunch tomorrow.

I hear Ivery and Emery both screech, “I get the door!”

I come out of my room and see them tearing through the living room trying to beat each other to the door. Whenever we’re on an elevator, we have to stop on four different floors just so they can each press a button.

Emery pushes Ivery down and flings open the door. Ivery balls up her little fists and screams, “She pushed me! No fair, Em!”

I pick her up off the ground. “Why don’t you come in my room with me?” Then I whisper in her ear. “I forgot to put on perfume. If you help me, I’ll let you put some on too.”

Her tears stop instantly, and she nods her head. I wave at Cush, then step back into my bedroom.

I hold a few bottles of perfume up to her nose. “Which one do you think I should wear?”

“This one,” she says, grabbing a bottle of Vera Wang Princess for the sole reason that it’s purple, shaped like a heart, and has a golden crown lid. “It’s princess perfume.”

I spray some on my neck, dab the insides of my wrists, then spray it out into the air and walk through it. Then I do the same routine for her.

She gives me one of her neck crushing hugs. I love when they try to hug you so hard you can barely breathe. Hugs like that make me melt.

“I wuv you, Kiki,” she says sweetly. Then she scrunches up her nose, runs back out into the hall, and says to Emery, “Ha. Ha. I smell like a princess, and you don’t!”

I take one more look in the mirror, walk back out, and smile at Cush. He’s standing in the doorway with the girls, who are pulling flowers out of the bouquet he’s holding. It’s adorable.

He also looks very adorable—no, make that sexy—in a deep plum shirt and shiny black slacks that we found in the back of his closet.

“Why don’t you go show Nanny your flowers?” I tell the girls. They tear off toward their playroom.

Cush gives me a what-could-I-do grin and holds out what’s left of a tattered bouquet. “These are supposed to be for you.”

I throw my arms around his neck and press my lips hard against his, crushing what’s left of the poor flowers between us.

“Um,” he says, “you might just get flowers all the time if that’s the kind of response I get.” He leans back and takes in my dress. “You look beautiful.”

I smile and feel a little embarrassed. Probably because he said the word beautiful. That’s a word usually reserved for my mom. “Uh, thank you.”

He hands me the flowers. “Do you want to take them with us or leave them here?”

“The girls would love it if I left them here especially if they can put them in water.”

“More like drown them?” Cush laughs. I love when he laughs because I get to see those dimples.

He nods yes, so I yell for the girls.

We have a late dinner at a great restaurant overlooking the ocean, and then he drives to one of the most gorgeous hotels in Beverly Hills. The hotel I dreamed I’d lose my virginity in on prom night. Brooklyn would tell me that it’s stupid. That it doesn’t have to be expensive to be special. I think back to the night when he told me to take off my shirt. How I didn’t ever want to leave his room. How just having him kiss me felt special.

But then.

He ditched me. Hooked up with other girls. Got mad at me. Hasn’t spoken to me since.

I shake my head to rid it of Brooklyn and focus on Cush. I know things have moved kind of fast, but we’ve been friends for so long. He’s so handsome, and I’ve always known he has a sweet side. I was just blind, I guess. Blind to the fact that he was crushing on me. Just like Brooklyn was probably blind to the fact that I always crushed on him.

Obviously, I’m done caring what Brooklyn thinks, but there’s part of me that wishes I knew if it was really just a hookup. Maybe I was blinded by love and wasn’t thinking with a level head, but it just didn’t feel like a hookup. The way he kissed me in front of his friends on the beach. I just don’t understand.

And even though I’m not in love with Cush yet, at least I know where I stand with him. I just need a little time to get over Brooklyn. I need to forget about him and let myself fall head over heels in love with Cush.

“So what do think?” he says, nodding toward the hotel as a valet opens my door.

“It’s perfect. The exact place I dreamed of.”

He gives me a huge, white-toothed smile and leads me to our room.

The room is exactly—and I mean, down to the tiniest detail—as I scripted. Plush duvet on the bed. Rose petals sprinkled across the floor. Champagne chilling in a silver ice bucket. Chocolate-covered strawberries on a glass platter, arranged in the shape of a heart.

“It’s perfect, Cush. It’s exactly how I always imagined it. How did you know?”

“It’s how I always pictured it too,” he says sweetly.

I wrap my arms around his neck and give him a proper thank you kiss.

He unzips the back of my dress while we’re kissing.

“Wait!” I say.

“Why?” he says, looking confused.

I smile big. “Cuz I have something on under the dress that I want you to see all at once. Did you ever imagine what I might be wearing?”

He laughs and gives me his naughty Cushman grin. “I’m pretty sure I pictured you naked.”

I roll my eyes at him and laugh. I’m not feeling the least bit nervous, and I’m so glad we did it last night. What the heck, I’m even going to use the line I scripted for this night.

“Why don’t you pour us some champagne while I slip into something more comfortable?”

I run into the bathroom, strip off my dress, put on the garter, and glide the stockings over my legs, being careful not to run them. Then I throw one of the hotel robes on. I hear the champagne pop, check my hair in the mirror, and make my grand entrance.

He looks a little disappointed. “I gotta be honest. Can’t say I ever pictured you in a white bathrobe.”

I give him my most seductive smile and slowly untie the robe. Let it fall open. His frown turns into a grin as I let the robe slide off my arms.

“That’s fucking hot.” He takes two steps closer to me, hands me a glass of champagne, then sits back on the bed. “Can I just sit here and stare?”

“It’s not naked. Do you still like it?” I’m feeling bold, so I don’t wait for his answer. I put my heel up on the bed next to him.

He glides his hand down the silky hose.

“Undo it,” I boss.

He unclips the hose from the garter and slowly rolls the stocking down my leg. Then he kisses his way back up, sending shivers of excitement up my spine.

“The other one.” I put my other foot on the bed.

“This is so hot. No girl has ever dressed up for me before.”

“They’ve never had the chance,” I laugh. “But I’m glad you like it.”

“I’ll show you how much I like it.”

He sets his champagne on the desk, grabs me, and dives onto the bed.

Sunday, May 22nd

Body shots!

11:30pm

“I still keep thinking about last night,” Cush tells me.

I snuggle up closer to him on the couch. “What do you think about tonight?”

He looks around the party taking place at his house. “We did good. Everyone we invited tonight is pretty cool. It’s a good mix of people, I think.”

“And there’s no drama.”

“That’s because Vanessa isn’t here causing any. No one is trying to hookup with anyone’s boyfriend. No one is crying because Vanessa made fun of them. RiAnne isn’t mad at Vanessa. There’s only twenty people instead of a hundred, and your boyfriend isn’t puking in the bathroom. Sander was always such a mess at parties.”

“Yeah, that probably is why.” I grab the front of his shirt and pull him straight to my lips. After I give him a juicy kiss, I say, “Speaking of a mess. I think it’s time we get messy. Really get this party started.”

I pull him up off the couch, drag him over to the long bar, and yell out, “Body shots!”

He picks me up and sets me on the bar, pours himself a shot of Patron, then grabs a lime and some salt.

He’s supposed to lick up my neck, but instead he pulls my shirt off. Everyone screams like I’d just stripped naked even though I’m wearing a bikini underneath.

Cush carefully balances the Patron shot in my cleavage. Then he slowly and deliciously runs his tongue across my stomach.

It tickles and makes me laugh, but it also seriously turns me on. Probably because my mind flashes back to some of the places his tongue was last night.

He sprinkles salt on my stomach and puts a wedge of lime in my mouth.

“Crank the music up, Alex,” he yells.

Alex is sitting by the sound system’s controls. He eyes the stack of equipment, finds the right knob, and turns it up to we’re-going-to-be-deaf-when-we’re-old volume.

Cush does a goofy little strip tease dance and pulls off his shirt.

It’s hard for me not to stare at him. Lately I’ve been seeing the adorable, sweet, sexy, loving side of him, but there’s no denying that the boy has a hot body.

Everyone starts chanting, “Cush, Cush!”

He grabs my waist, licks the salt off my stomach, and flashes me a big grin. Then he buries his face in my cleavage, maneuvers the shot glass into his mouth, and tips it back.

He dramatically slams the empty shot glass on the bar, and then kisses me to get the lime.

He sucks on the lime, throws it into the sink, then kisses me again.

It’s a hard, deep, incredibly fiery kiss.

Guys are lining up girls on the bar, so Cush passes down the bottle.

I stand up on the bar and dance.

Monday, May 23rd

The biggest bitch of all.

12:30pm

I’m lounging in a chaise on the beach in front of my house, thinking I should’ve avoided the last two body shots last night.

But what can I say, licking salt off Cush’s abs was too impossible to resist.

I look at him. He’s out on a boogie board with a couple of the guys. I give him a little wave. He’s doing everything he can to make me happy. And last night we had so much fun. Cush has always been fun to party with, but being with him, having him hold me, kiss me, and take care of me made the party all that much better.

Everyone seemed to have fun. Beer pong, shots, dancing on the bar, hot tubbing until five am. We all crashed for a bit, then got up and headed here for breakfast. Everyone was pretty hungover and the big, greasy breakfast tasted amazing.