Aquaphobia // Klance

ice cream at dinah's

::reuploading bc I just realised it deleted half the chapter... Why are you like this Wattpad??::

"I bet he won't even show up." Keith had said to himself. Anxiety had filled his mind after Lance had sent that text last night, and the shorter boy couldn't sleep a wink. He had rehearsed what he would say, how he could talk to Lance and explain, while also not being too straight forward, and actually talk to him. Now that the day had come, he began to wonder if this was just a setup to make a fool out of him.

What if Lance wasn't gonna show? What if he wanted Keith to feel terrible like he did? What if he didn't want to hear him out, if he wanted to keep his grudge without a reason to drop it?

But still, he waited. He sat in a booth at the cozy ice cream parlor, waiting for the other to show up. He came early, just in case Lance decided to come early as well.

He hadn't.

And now, it was 2:50, twenty minutes later than when Lance had told him to be there. He sighed, grabbing his phone to see if he had read the message wrong. He knew he hadn't, as he had read over it over a hundred times, but maybe just maybe, his mind had played a trick on him. He quickly typed in his password, and opened the text, just to be reassured, the time said 2:30.

He was about to type in something like "I get it" or "I probably deserved that" when a shadow suddenly grew on the table. He looked up and was met with the tanned face of none other than Lance.

"Fault is on me, I didn't expect the soccer game to last that long" he said, taking a seat across from Keith, who had just noticed the blue jersey and shorts he wore which were soaked with sweat.

"You play soccer?" Keith asked, actually surprised. From what he knew from class conversations, he thought Lance to not play sports, but you learn something new everyday.

"Uh, yeah? All of my siblings played soccer, it's a family thing. Anyways, I'm dying of heat exhaustion, so.." he said, jabbing a thumb behind him, pointing to where the front counter was. The two stood up, and went to the counter, Lance ordering a banana split, and Keith, a hot fudge sundae. They each paid for their own, and returned to their seat.

"How many siblings?" Keith asked after a few moments of tense silence. Lance didn't look away from his dessert when he responded.

"What are you on about exactly?"

"You said all of your siblings played soccer. How many do you have?"

"If you must know, I have five siblings. My oldest sister, two older brothers, and two younger twin sisters. Now come on, there's a reason we're here. So quit the chit chat, and start explaining what you've been dying to tell me."

The way he spoke made it sound like he didn't want to be here, but if he was honest, he did want to be there. He needed to give Keith a chance. Ever since the talk he had with Sky, he couldn't get the thought that maybe there was a good explanation out of his head. He would feel so guilty if he knew he held a grudge that could be washed away with a few words.

"Oh, right uhm" Keith said, clearing his throat. "Okay, so you remember Leeroy Higgins?"

"You mean the one guy from camp meaner than you? Yeah I remember him. He never picked in me, being that you had that honor, but I remember him."

Wow he was sarcastic, but Keith could tell there was no seriousness in his words. So he continued.

"Okay well, he was the first person I met when I first got to camp, and he had the whole 'oh look, fresh meat' look, and somehow he found some personal stuff about me that he threatened to tell everyone if I didn't help him out. He wanted to 'take me under his wing' and well, he had me pick on you. Of course I didn't want to do it, but  I figured a little teasing was a lot better than my secret getting out. I know, it was a dumb decision, but I didn't see it very harmful. Then your friends stood up for you and I backed off, and he seemed satisfied. Then came the next year, and your friends didn't come, and he made me pick on you again. I did that, and I didn't try to stop. I didn't stand up to him, and I felt like absolute trash. But then came that night. He told me as a final part of initiation, I had to push you off the pier. I knew you couldn't swim, I saw how you stayed in the shallow end at the pool, I wasn't taking part in it, and I told him that. I knew it wouldn't stop him, I knew he would do it himself, so I went and found a counselor. You can blame me for all the pain you experienced those two weeks, but I swear on my own life I didn't push you into that lake."

Keith took in a breath and the two sat in silence for a few minutes, Lance taking everything in, and Keith taking a bite from his sundae. He decided to say one last thing after a few more minutes when the silence grew a bit awkward.

"You don't have to believe me, but I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't explain."

Lance took the last piece of banana in his spoon, and ate it, then cleared his throat and grabbed his things.

"I have to think on this. Sorry, but that's a lot to take in." He said, and then he left.

::Hey look I finally finished this. Now I am simply gonna copy this to my clipboard just in case Wattpad decides to delete it again.

QOTD: what's the last movie you watched?

My answer: I just finished watching sisterhood of the traveling pants, I'm an emotional mess rn::