The Heartless Persona

17

Keri desperately looked over to Mason, trying to make sure he wasn't going to say anything.

"Am I interrupting something...?" Cam asked after he slowly looked between the two of them.

Keri glared at Mason, attempting to figure out if he was going to keep their conversation to himself. Her heart was pounding and her stomach felt tight. She wiped her clammy palms on her legs, which Cam noticed. His eyes shifted between his brother and ex-bestfriend.

"No," Keri finally said. Mason held his expression while the two stared at each other. "Right, Mase?"

"Right," he smirked, holding an expression that was cocky; knowing that he definitely held the power in this situation. "But do you mind walking me to the door? You could give me a few pointers on what girls like."

"Sure," she said through gritted teeth.

She looked over to Cam, who sensed that something was going on, smiled, and said she would be right back. When Mason and Keri reached the front door, Keri started speaking.

"Say something and I'll kill you," she whispered with clenched teeth.

"What is it you don't want me to tell him?" Mason teased, pretending to be clueless.

He placed his hand on the doorframe and leaned on one hip. Keri crossed her arms and pressed her lips together.

"Mason," she pleaded one last time. She was almost at her breaking point. Her hand grabbed onto his arm and she looked directly into his eyes.

He stood up straight and put one of his hands in his pockets, looking away from her.

"I won't say anything," he finally gave in.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She grinned, knowing that she had won.

"Yeah, whatever," he mumbled under his breath, pretending to be annoyed. "I'm only doing this because you helped me earlier."

"No, you're not. You love me," she smirked, playfully shoving his arm.

He rolled his eyes and started out of the house. The last thing he said, Keri didn't hear.

"That's my brother."

Walking back up the stairs, she went back into Mason's room to meet with Cam.

"Hey," Cam said, his voice low, as he glanced over to Keri as she walked into his room. He looked down at the floor before going to one of his drawers. "Give any good advice to him?"

"Yeah, just the usual stuff. Open doors, slide out chairs, compliment her. You know, all the stuff girls like," she lied. "Anyway," she sighed. She pointed her thumb towards the door. "Wanna go out to eat?"

"Um...yeah, sure," he ran one of his hands through his hair, still not looking at her. His hair fell back onto his forehead.

Keri bit down on her lip as she stared at him. A fluttering feeling appeared in her stomach and her recent conversation with Mason was marked on her brain. She was slightly afraid that Mason wasn't going to keep his promise.

Or maybe she was scared because of what Mason was hinting at.

On second thought, what was he hinting at? He was saying cryptic things like how Cam and her should double date with him, or how Mason knew how his brother thinks, or even how he was teasing her about the subject.

He obviously knew something, right? So what was it that he knew?

Whatever it was, it was an unspoken agreement between Cam and Mason. Maybe Keri should have started to pay more attention to Cam and Mason's gestures and exchanged glances.

"You okay?" Keri had noticed Cam's blank expression as she snapped out of her trance.

"Yeah. I'm fine," he grabbed his phone from the bed, stood up, and started to the door. "Let's go."