Too Far Away (Keaton Stromberg Love Story)

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I woke up late the next day, not in the mood to socialize. I didn't want to deal with the wandering glances I knew I would receive from Lijah, Joanna, and even Wes.

Keaton and Drew wouldn't eye me suspiciously to make sure I was okay; the two of them would rather ask me, and while I was sure I would prefer spending my day with Keaton, he was probably going to avoid me at all costs.

"Hey Julie." Wes smiled at me as I walked into the kitchen, my hair a mess. He was humming some song under his breath.

"Hey Wes." I acknowledged him, going for the fridge and getting myself a glass of orange juice. "What are you humming? Do I know that song?"

"Um... I'm not sure. It's by Ed Sheeran, it's called Drunk." Wes shrugged, chugging what was left of his protein shake.

"Nope. I don't even know who Ed Sheeran is." I yawned, slamming myself into one of the stools at our counter, surprisingly finding the conversation I was having with Wes easy to have.

"You what?" Drew came into the room completely unannounced, causing me to jump.

"Jesus. I haven't listened to Ed Sheeran. I don't know who he is, why is that such a big deal?" Isighed.

"Oh no, you're coming with me. That's unacceptable, lets go." Drew grabbed my arm, dragging me away from my orange juice and to where I figured was his room.

The room was cleaner than mine, organized as though Drew was into feng-shui (which I really wouldn't have been all that surprised by).

"So, am I really here to listen to Ed Sheeran, or am I here to discuss what happened yesterday?" I pursed my lips.

"Whichever you actually wanna do." Drew shrugged, and I smiled. In situations like such, it was a serious privilege to have someone as understanding as Drew around.

"Can we do both?" I smiled, and Drew nodded, pulling his phone out of his pocket and playing what I assumed was Ed Sheeran.

We both plopped down on his bed, and I listened to the lyrics of the song playing for a while, and then I looked up at Drew.

"What's she like?" I whispered, and Drew eyed me.

"She looks just like you, but she has Keaton's eyes," Drew said, "and she absolutely loves me."

I smacked him, a small smile on my face. "What else?"

"She adores Keaton's mom, hence why she's living with her."

"Has she always lived there?" I asked, and Drew shook his head.

"No. She moved there after the accident." Drew bit his lip.

"Drew, why doesn't she just stay here?" I asked.

"It's... it's complicated, Julie. Really complicated." He breathed.

"I get that, but doesn't it just... make more sense?" I whispered, biting my lip. And I did. I did get it, but in my opinion having my daughter around would make it a lot easier to be around her in the long run, even if I had forgotten about her... wow that sounded awful.

"I guess it sorta does, but Keaton didn't want to overwhelm you, and Laraine was happy to take her." Drew clarified.

"I mean, the responsibility of having a child is... overwhelming, but Brooke herself isn't." I bit my lip, and Drew nodded.

"It's understandable for you to want her around, Julie, but you have to put your feet in Keaton's shoes. He was trying to protect you from some kind of mental breakdown, or something along the lines of one." Drew retaliated, skipping the song that started.

"I guess you're right." I took a deep inhalation of breath, sighing as Keaton walked through the door.

"Hey Drew, have you seen that harmonica we bought like three-" Keaton cut himself off, looking up and noticing that I was sitting on Drew's bed.

"Hi Keaton." I smiled softly, and Keaton closed his eyes, sighing.

"Hi Jules." He tried to smile back, but I could see how hard it was for him to do so.

"Keaton?" I questioned, and he nodded.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done anything to make you feel pressured into telling me about Brooke yesterday. I'm really sorry, Keaton. I do love you, though." I spoke, trailing off towards the end.

A genuine smile slid across his features for a second. "I love you, too." And he was gone.

I nearly facepalmed when he left. Keaton and I had once been so close and so absolutely in love with each other that it was almost mind boggling to me. It was foreign, although I had been the person involved in it, and it was all together a rough situation.

"I still want to meet her." I whispered to Drew, and he sighed.

"I know you do. I want you to, too, Julie, but it's... not what you think it's going to be. Meeting her isn't going to be as exciting and happy as you think it is." Drew warned, and the graveness in his voice left me a little stunned.

"What do you mean?" I swallowed nervously.

"I mean things aren't too great right now, okay? And by that, I mean they weren't okay before you got hurt." Drew licked his lip, and I felt my eyes fall out of their sockets.

Something weird was going on, and I was going to get to the bottom of it.