Chasing Ivy (Oak Hill 1)

Turning my head to the side, I took in his peaceful, sleeping face. He was so incredibly attractive in the simplest way.

His tousled, shaggy cinnamon-colored hair was hanging off his forehead, covering his eyebrows. I giggled because he needed a haircut in the worst way, yet he still looked perfect. His long eyelashes, that most girls were probably jealous of, fluttered along his smooth cheeks. His straight nose led down to his unmoving, blush-colored lips. My eyes naturally zeroed in on them and I could feel my lower body start to feel funny in the way that I really, really wanted to kiss him.

I felt my face getting warmer with each passing second that I studied his face like he was some fancy statue in the middle of a museum. I slowly turned my head away and took a deep breath. I let it out slowly, careful not to wake him up.

I reached my other arm over and grabbed my phone from beside me.

My eyes sprang wide open when I took in the time. How was it almost two in the morning?! How long were we sleeping and why didn’t he wake me up when he came back in here?

Thankfully, my parents thought I was staying with Becca so I wasn’t missing curfew or anything. Heck, they probably wouldn’t even be mad if I told them I fell asleep with Dawson. They truly did love him. I wonder what they’d think if I told them that Dawson and I were becoming a thing. Were we? Maybe that’s why he didn’t wake me up. Maybe he changed his mind and did regret almost kissing me…again.

Embarrassment surged through my body but I pushed it away, quickly texting Becca back.

Sorry, I fell asleep at Dawson’s. Can I still come now?

I giggled when I read her messages from earlier in the night.

At 11:07 she texted: I’m on my way home now so u can tell Dawson to drop u off

Then at 11:50: Where are u

Then at 12:01: I would bet my left arm that u and Dawson are either out cow tippin or u fell asleep

Three minutes later: K Case and I have a bet. I think u two fell asleep and she thinks u two are seriously out cow tippin

Then an hour ago: I win cuz you can’t still be cow tippin. Casey is mad that she lost but I’m going to bed so call if u end up waking up and still need to come here

I didn’t realize I was laughing until Dawson started to stir beside me. His arm twitched on my stomach and I froze. I kept my face turned down toward my phone, afraid to look over at him. My smile had disappeared, as had my laughter.

Dawson’s voice was in full-on sleep mode with the roughness of a deep rasp. “You go cow tippin’ one freaking time and no one will let you forget it.”

I cracked up, shoulders shaking so hard that it caused him to laugh, too.

I looked over at his droopy eyes and sleepy smile. “That was such a fun night.”

My cheeks lifted when I thought back to last fall when Dawson and I had skipped out early of the bonfire after a rival football game because Max had dared us to see if cow tippin’ was a real thing. He didn’t believe that cows really slept standing upright.

Turns out cows do…but they really don’t like it when you tip them over.

One cow came charging at Dawson, and I, being the person I am, of course got the entire thing on camera. He had to leap over the barbed-wire fence that surrounded the pasture and cut his leg in the process.

The grassy meadow was right behind our high school, up on a bank that overlooked the town. We weren’t allowed to go up there, according to the principal. He had made a huge announcement one day because apparently some kids had been going up there and making out during school hours.

But Dawson and I didn’t really care. There weren’t any school faculty members at the rival bonfire; only the football and cheerleading coaches and they were too busy flirting with one another to worry about two high schoolers sneaking away to see if cows really did sleep on their feet.

Dawson’s laughter broke me out of the memory. “Remember Betsy?”

I giggled. “Betsy was really freaking fast for a cow.”

“I almost died.”

I laughed again, pushing his shoulder. “You’re so dramatic, Dawson.”

He pulled back, the bed moving under the weight of his body. “Are you kidding? Do I need to pull up the video? I’m almost positive that her eyes were red like she was some demonic cow; she was ticked!”

I threw my head back and cackled, closing my eyes. I put my hand up on my cheek and then peered up and over at him once again.

Our laughter quickly died down and then a feeling of dread came over me. The giant elephant in the room was trampling toward us and I wish I could lie and say that I felt totally cool, calm, and collected, but right now, I felt anything but.