"Okay you two, have a seat or I'll send you all to the principal's office," Miss Douglas decided to finally announce after all the chaos died down. Great timing.
I shuffled the few steps back to my seat while Keegan slid into Dirk's seat. "You stood up for me," I finally whispered, once everyone's attention turned back to the teacher.
His jaw twitched. "Cut the games. Don't try to act like you're not surprised I still care about you. You think everything I felt for you just disappeared because of what happened? My feelings for you were never forced or fake."
His words seared through me. Did he think my feelings for him were fake? I leaned in closer to him, blinking just in case the tears were wanting to appear. "Then why won't you talk to me?"
"We have nothing to talk about. I realized I should have listened to the guy's warning at the hospital who told me to stay away from you." His hands ran through his dark, overgrown hair. "So just quit. What we had was nice but we both knew it was temporary. So just let it be. I won’t interfere with you having any other relationships, but you need to stay the fuck away from Dirk. He will only hurt you." And he hadn’t?
With that, he lunged out of his seat and out of the door before I could try to tell him my feelings.
CORA SCOOPED up a strawberry with her spoon. "So I need to tell you something."
"Okay," I drawled out, not sure I wanted to really hear what she was about to reveal, especially if it was about Keegan.
"I overheard Ragan talking in the locker room after tennis practice today."
I groaned, tossing my spoon into my frozen yogurt bowl and leaning back in my chair. Ragan was the redhead who had been up Keegan's ass lately "Yeah, don't even wanna know what she had to say," I muttered.
Cora's mouth turned up into a smile. "That's the thing, you do. She was complaining about how weird he acts around her. She said that while they are in public or at school, he plays it off like he is all into her. But as soon as the audience is gone, so is his affection. She's terribly disappointed because she allegedly has been waiting forever to bang him since freshman year." I eyed her across the table warily. "Her words not mine," she rushed out.
"That seems to be normal around here," I frowned, rolling my eyes. "I swear every girl within a hundred feet of this damn city was injected with a ‘I want to bang Keegan bug at birth.’"
"Too bad Keegan has only been injected with the ‘I only want to be in between Daisy’s legs bug,’" Gabby teased, winking over at me.
"Yeah right, I bet he is banging every girl that opens her legs up to him. He hasn't even been coming home at night," I revealed, instantly regretting my confession that I had been watching for him.
"That's because he has been staying over at Lane's," Cora confirmed. "I'm close on kicking his depressed ass out too because he's messing up my alone time with Lane. Lane feels bad making him hang out by himself considering all he does is sulk around the house. By now, I am expecting to walk in on him devouring a whole pint of Ben & Jerry's and watching The Notebook. I'm not certain what went down between the two of you because you both are being all hush-hush about it like you committed murder or something but maybe you need to talk to him."
Gabby snorted. "You're just saying that because you want to get laid and Keegan is being a cock block."
"That's only a small percentage," she answered, holding out two fingers apart from one another, "and Ragan's comment is the rest. Plus, I want you to be happy and you have been freaking miserable since you two broke things off."
"I have not been miserable," I disputed, looking over at Gabby for backup.
Gabby raised her hand up. "Uh uh, I'm with Cora on this one. Now that we know he's not with Ragan, you better go talk to him before I lock you two in a room together.
They both looked at me expectantly, waiting on my answer. "Fine," I said, holding out my hands in defeat. "I'll talk to him."
MY FEET hit the pavement as I marched across the parking lot and stopped at the black SUV I had become so familiar with. I was a woman on a mission and it wasn't going to end until it ended in my favor. My insides were quivering with fear but I had to do this. I couldn't lose another person I loved.
I wrapped my clammy hands around the door handle and swung the door open to face two very surprised people. "Out," I demanded, pointing my thumb out the door and startling the girl in the passenger seat.
Her jaw dropped. "What?" She replied, puzzled. "But he's my ride home."
"Find another," I instructed, moving to the side so she would have room to get out.
"Not happening. Find someone else to stalk. He doesn't want you anymore." Her hands slid through her red hair and she flipped it over her shoulder.
I stifled an eye roll and threw Keegan a quick look but his eyes only widened in interest. "Out, Ragan," he ordered, keeping his eyes on me.
Her fiery hair swung halfway out of the car nearly taking out my eye to twist over and look at him. "You can't be serious?" she questioned, raising her voice.