"I'll call you back," Keri said to Rebecca once she saw Cam come outside to the patio with his hands shoved in his pockets. "Yes?" Keri asked, staring at Cam expectantly.
"Everyone is going down to the beach. They wanted me to ask you if you wanted to come," Cam explained.
"Okay."
Cam stood there for a moment, not replying until he built up the courage to. "Do we...do we have to act like this during the next two weeks?" His eyes avoided hers.
"Like what?" She asked while texting Rebecca, not focusing on him.
"Like we're acting now. It's just, I don't want to be like this the entire trip. Can we at least be civil? I know we're not going to be friends again, but it'd be nice to not have this awkward tension between us. I'd like to be able to have a conversation with you without you putting up this wall."
"What wall?" Keri gave him her full attention. "I don't have a wall."
"That wall. You're acting...cold hearted. I mean, you used to be so sweet and-"
"I'm not the same person as before," she cut him off. She stood up from the couch and walked closer to him. "Being sweet gets you nowhere, okay? So yes, I've changed and I'm not sorry. This is me and if you don't like it, too bad."
Cam fixed his eyes on hers. Keri's expression was hard. She crossed her arms and her eyebrows were tugged down. He pressed his lips together, nodded a little, and broke the gaze.
"Okay," he murmured. "I'm sorry."
"You should be," Keri pursed her lips, her eyes scanned him up and down quickly. She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and stormed off to her room.
Who did Cam think he was? Who was he to talk to her like that? Keri Hastings did not have a wall. What did he think? That they were magically going to become besties again? This wasn't a movie; this was real life.
Keri stopped once she saw her reflection. Her eyes were vacant. It was like there was no soul in her body. Her hair fell just beneath her collarbones, above her small chest. She was taller than most girls, but she walked confidently without a care in the world. But was she as confident as she seemed?
Her eyebrows knotted together as she ran a hand across the skin on her cheek. Her freckles, that she despised, were showing underneath her makeup. She grabbed her makeup bag, pulled out foundation, and brushed over the marks on her skin.
There. Perfect.
Keri turned her thin nose upwards and smiled at her reflection.
Cam was just a part of her past and she wasn't going to let that bother her because that's where he belonged.
YOU ARE READING
The Heartless Persona
Short Story"Come on, be one hundred percent honest. What do you think of me?" He stared at her for a moment with a small smile on his face as they continued to hold hands. "I think that you're fake and that you don't know who you are yet. I think the way you...
