Bad Memories // a.u.

chapter 12: interruptions

Keaton worked until close last night, so I just hung out with Skylar at the beach. I missed falling asleep beside him, but I felt bad for having Skylar stay here by herself so much. I slowly woke up and started to wonder how Keaton's conversation with Sam went last night. I thought he would've called or texted me to let me know but I hadn't heard from him. My alarm jolted me out of my thoughts. I turned over in my bed and I quickly shut it off, not wanting to hear the annoying beeping noise any longer. I grabbed my phone and unlocked it, but when I noticed the date it slipped from my fingers. That can't be right, I thought. How could I forget? How did it sneak up on me? My throat started to close up and my vision blurred as I transported back to three years ago exactly.

"Noelle? Keaton's at the door." The knock and voice at my door sounded quiet and far off. When I didn't respond, Skylar pushed into my room. "Oh my god," she whispered. "It's today," she realized immediately. I nodded as she pulled me into her arms.

"I hope you don't mind I'm coming up. No one came down," Keaton's voice drifted up the stairs.

"In here," Skylar called from in my room. We were still huddled together on my bed, the blankets wrapped around us. Keaton walked over and plopped down on the bed, causing it to shake. "I'll see you later, ok? I'm just down the hall if you need me," she squeezed me one more time before exiting my room and closing the door behind her.

I sat cross legged and looked at Keaton, my breath finally returning to normal. "Sorry about that," I whispered.

He gently ran his hand along my cheek and I had yet to get used to his touch. "Why do you think you need to apologize, Elle? All I want is for you to tell me what happened."

I shrugged. "I guess I just thought you would be mad that I was having an episode and I've been doing so well. It's just that it's three years ago today that I found my parents."

"Noelle," he wrapped his arms around me. "Don't ever think that you would disappoint me because of that. I just want to help you through this."

"I'm glad you're here," I got as close to him as I could, laying back on the bed. "So why did you come by?"

"I just wanted to see what you were up to. I have today off of work."

My thoughts from earlier reentered my mind at the mention of his work. "Did you talk to Sam last night?"

"Uh, yeah. She said she didn't know I had a girlfriend but she's gonna back off now," his words seemed a bit rushed.

"Is that really what she said?" I asked. It wasn't that I didn't trust what he just told me, it was more of how he said it and that I didn't think she would give up that easily.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "She was pretty chill about it. So what do you want to do today? Just hang around yours and watch movies and eat junk food?"

I decided to just go with his answer for now. "Do you want me to get fat?"

He laughed. "You won't get fat by eating a little chocolate."

"I was kidding. Junk food sounds amazing, but we don't have any here."

"We can just run to the store, but you cannot go in that," he gestured to my cloud covered pajamas.

I frowned. "Hey! I happen to love these," I pushed him away from me making him fall off the bed.

"I love them, Elle but I'm not sure they're acceptable for going to get candy and chocolate."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll be out in a minute." I got up off my bed and walked to my closet as Keaton went downstairs to wait for me. I changed into a pair of denim shorts and plain gray v-neck t-shirt. I grabbed my bag off of my desk before leaving my room to meet Keaton.

"Ready?" I asked, finding him on the couch flipping through channels.

"I've been ready. You were the one that wasn't ready."

"Why are you watching TV? It took me like five minutes to get ready?"

"How was I supposed to know that?" he asked turning it off.

"You're supposed to know everything, duh," I joked.

He slipped his hand in mine. "Ok, I'll be sure to remember that next time. It's good to see you in a good mood." I smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

We walked into the superstore in town and gathered way more candy than we needed. We got some drinks as well.

"Keaton!" a voice called after us as we were heading to the checkout. I had never talked to her, only heard her voice from afar but I knew it was Sam before I even turned around. I strengthened my grip on Keaton's hand as she approached us. "Hey, what are you guys up to?" her voice bubbly and her smile big. She was dressed in only denim shorts and a bikini top, her hair pulled up in a high pony tail.

"Just getting some candy," Keaton replied. I noticed him giving her some type of look but I couldn't place it.

"Oh, all of that looks so good," she giggled as she placed her hand on his and looked into our basket. Keaton didn't flinch away, but I felt him stiffen beside me.

"Well, it was nice to see you Sam but we better get going," I said and I pulled Keaton with me. We went through the checkout lane silently as he paid for the food.

"What was that?" I asked once we were outside the store.

"What?" he shrugged.

"What do you mean what?" I crossed my arms over my chest with a huff.

"I really have no idea what you're talking about, Noelle."

"She was flirting with you!"

Keaton's shoulders slumped. "So I guess I lied about what Sam said last night when I told her I had a girlfriend..."

"Keaton," I sighed.

"What? I didn't want to have you stress about her today."

"Just tell me what she said."

"That she was going to try and get me back."

"Were you ever together?" I twisted my eyebrows in confusion.

He shook his head. "No and I don't know how to get her to go away. I work with her for gods sake."

I sighed and we started our walk back to my house. I tried to forget about her and just enjoy my day with Keaton but she kept finding her way into my thoughts.

hi (: i'm back home so hopefully updates will get back to a normalish schedule. please vote/comment because it really does mean a lot xx zoe