Run, Girl (If You Can)

Keeley wasn't exactly thrilled to be having a conversation about Aaron with her roommates. Didn't she have to deal with him enough already? How did the topic keep coming back to her pathetic love life?

To make things even worse, her phone dinged with a text from him while it was resting on the table in front of her. Valentina and Jennica peered at it with interest.

"Who is 'Crazy Person'?" Valentina asked curiously. "Is it him?!"

"Yes," Keeley sighed, grateful that she hadn't put his real name on his contact in her phone.

"What did he say?"

She unlocked her phone and read the text aloud because she knew they wouldn't shut up otherwise. "How is the research coming? Do you want me to bring you dinner agai—oh no."

They stared at her with odd expressions on their faces. She knew those looks. They were 'you are totally hooking up with him' looks.

"He was bothering me anyway and I was starving earlier this week so I asked him to bring me food," she said defensively. "You guys were busy or I would have asked you."

"Oh honey," Jennica said gently. "Why are you encouraging him if you don't like his company?"

Keeley was stumped. She didn't have adequate words to explain herself. These two didn't know her situation, okay? Things with Aaron were more complicated that she could ever make sense of to someone else.

"You don't understand; I could literally breathe and it would encourage him. I've tried everything—avoiding, fighting, ignoring…if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. It's less exhausting to accept his presence on the fringes of my life."

"Mmhmm," the actress said skeptically. "Are you going to text him back?"

Her face turned red with shame and she cast her eyes down at the table. She seemed like a total pushover, didn't she?

"If I don't, he'll come looking for me," she mumbled.

She sent him a quick message. 'I'm not at the lab; I'm out with my roommates'

He replied immediately. 'Sounds fun. What are you doing?'

'Shopping for Halloween costumes and eating hamburgers. I have to go; talk to you later'

Keeley snapped her phone shut and shoved it as deep into her pocket as it would go. Their knowing gazes grated on her last nerve.

"He checks up on you?"

"Every day," she said miserably.

"Aww, he likes you!" Valentina cooed. "No man would put in that much effort if he didn't. And he actually brought you dinner when you asked! What a sweetheart."

Aaron, a sweetheart? That was hilarious. He may be acting out of character lately but if you ask anyone who knows him, 'sweet' is the last word they would use to describe him.

"He's not sweet. He's a human icicle."

"Cold and sweet aren't mutually exclusive. Think ice cream," Jennica said with a laugh before growing serious. "Really though, do you like this guy or not? If he burned you before, I think you could do a lot better."

Like him? She barely considered herself used to him! Aaron no longer made her heart race or even made her feel comfortable in his presence. Both of those things had happened back when she liked him.

"I don't, promise. Can we drop this now?" she practically begged.

"But I want to know more about this Crazy Person," Valentina said with a theatrical sigh. She really was far too invested in anything to do with romantic drama.

"Like what," Keeley asked flatly.

"How did you meet him? Why did you break up? How long has he been in love with you?"

She scowled. This girl watched way too many telenovelas. "I met him when we sat next to each other in class, I'm not telling you, and he is NOT in love with me."

"He certainly seems to be in love with you," she said in a singsong voice. "Bringing a girl dinner is so romantic!"

"It was a meatball sub! There is nothing romantic about meatballs!" Keeley cried.

"Haven't you seen Lady and the Tramp? There's an entire romantic scene centered on a meatball during the love song," Jennica teased.

Keeley buried her head in her arms. "I hate you guys," she said in a muffled voice.

Aaron hadn't been in love with her for a minimum of twelve years, if he ever truly loved her at all. There was no way.

She could buy him being oddly infatuated for some reason—the one that got away, maybe?—since she hadn't given him the time of day in high school. But love? He didn't even know what love was. It wasn't in his programming.

If you love somebody, you wouldn't be ashamed of them. Or not care about anything that they care about. And you certainly wouldn't leave them to suffer alone during one of the worst experiences of their lives, let alone cheat on them, cover up their father's death, and demand a divorce.

If Aaron loved her he wouldn't have done any of those things. Keeley was confident of that. So why was he acting like a lovesick puppy following her around now?

Her roommates eventually stopped ribbing her about it but her good mood was officially dead and buried so she locked herself in her room when they returned home.

A few hours later she was watching random videos on YouTube with Molly sprawled across her chest when Aaron texted her again.

'What are your plans for Halloween?'

She sighed. Couldn't he just leave her be for a few hours? She said 'later' and she meant tomorrow when he inevitably texted her again, not this soon!

'Going to a party with some friends. You?'

'I'm staying home'

This wasn't surprising. He never once dressed up for Halloween in all the years they were together. The best she could get him to do was snuggle up under the covers and watch a couple of scary movies while they were dating. Once they got married, he stopped doing even that.

Keeley actually really enjoyed those Halloweens back then—he hardly ever watched anything she wanted to watch. She was a scaredy cat so she frequently jumped or burrowed herself into his chest so she wouldn't have to look at the screen.

Aaron was completely unfazed by horror movies. He was unfazed by pretty much everything, to be honest.

'At the very least you should watch a horror movie. You can't just let Halloween pass without doing anything; that's too boring'

'Any suggestions?'

Wow, he was taking her comment seriously? Since when did Aaron care about being considered boring? He had been boring since the day he was born!

'Let me get back to you on that'

She tossed the phone off her bed so she wouldn't be able to respond anymore even if he messaged her a million times. Molly safely prevented her from moving and continuing the conversation. She had indulged him enough today.