A Twist of Fate (Complete)

Ch. 7 - Trying to be Friends

***** Monroe's Point of View *****

After Everly left the room Monroe sat on her bed, eyeballing Keaton suspiciously.

"Just so you know, if you hurt my friend, I hurt your face. Just so we're clear on that cowboy," she said firmly. 

Keaton laughed and said, "I don't think anyone's ever called me a cowboy before."

Monroe didn't laugh. She kept a straight face and said, "I mean it. Everly's the sweetest person I've ever met and Brad just broke her heart so she's really vulnerable right now. I don't want to see her heart get broken again, so if you're just looking to get laid, don't even bother."

Keaton's smile faded and he looked at Monroe with a serious face and said, "I'm not just looking to get laid. Trust me, I don't have a problem finding women that want to sleep with me." He looked down at his hands and a smile started for form as he said, "You know, she might talk too much and ask too many questions," he laughed, "But there's just something about Everly that makes me want to spend time with her. I've never met anybody like her before." 

He hesitated before adding, "The last thing I want to do is hurt her like Brad did. He's a piece of shit."

Monroe smiled and said, "Well that we can agree on." She laughed before adding, "She ummmm. She told me about your FaceTime call with Brad. It sounded like something I would have done." 

She laughed and he laughed too, lightening up some of the awkward tension between them.

He smiled and said "Yeah it was amazing to see that little twat's face when I answered her phone and told him I was her new boyfriend. When I told him we just shagged and how good it was, it looked like his head was about to explode."

"I bet!" Monroe laughed. Her smile slowly faded and she looked over at him and said, "Thank you for doing that for her. I think she really needed that, to get revenge on him and make him feel as bad as she felt."

He nodded and said, "Of course. He deserved it anyway." 

***** Everly's Point of View *****

When Everly returned to the room in her pajamas with her teeth brushed, she was surprised that Monroe and Keaton were talking like old friends. She grabbed the remote and turned on Spider-Man Homecoming on the 42' inch TV Monroe had brought with her that was mounted above their doorway before sitting down on her bed. She scooted back against her headboard with her legs stretched out and motioned for Keaton to join by patting the empty spot beside her. He slid off his leather jacket and kicked his shoes off before sitting down next to her. His cologne smelled so good that it made her take a long breath in, savoring that scent before letting it out. 

The movie started playing and she sat there next to him, shoulder to shoulder with her arm brushing slightly against his and their hands laying on the bed close to each other. She looked up and noticed his eyes looking down at their hands too before moving up to meet her eyes. She felt her face flush slightly and she looked away, back at the TV.

 A few minutes into the movie she saw him in her peripheral vision sliding his hand closer to hers and then he started lightly grazing his fingertips across the top of her hand. She swallowed hard, keeping her focus locked on the TV, feeling too nervous to turn her head and look at him. Her breath was shallow and labored and she hoped he wouldn't notice how nervous he was making her. He flipped her hand over and started rubbing his fingertips across her palm and up and down the length of her fingers, sending a shiver across her skin that made the hairs on her arm stand up. 

After doing that for a while, he slowly weaved his fingers between hers and held her hand, all without saying a word. She had never realized that something as simple and innocent as holding someone's hand could feel so intimate and erotic. Holding Keaton's hand made her heart beat faster and her entire body was tingling and buzzing with excitement. She had held Brad's hand a million times but it had never made her feel like that.