Run, Girl (If You Can)

Jennica wouldn't stop talking about Cameron for days after Halloween, which was how Keeley found herself listening to her roommate ramble as she made those blasted marshmallow brownies on Saturday morning.

"…I have never met a guy like him before. He knows how to dance while skating, has a dog, is family-oriented, AND is super down-to-earth even though he's rich. He seemed completely normal; I never would have guessed! What's the catch?"

"I don't know Jen, why don't you text him and find out?" she asked wearily, stirring in the dry ingredients.

Her roommate had been agonizing because Cameron gave her his number but she didn't want to seem clingy and hadn't texted him yet. Since she didn't give him her number, he couldn't contact her first, adding to her anxiety about it.

Neither Valentina nor Keeley knew what to tell her. Everything they tried seemed to go in one ear and out the other.

The whole time they had lived together, Jennica had never been like this over a guy. She went on first dates but usually wasn't impressed enough to go on a second one. Cameron seemed nice but why had she crushed on him so fast?

A sudden shriek startled Keeley so much that she dropped her batter-covered spoon on the floor. "Geez, what's wrong with you?"

"He added me on Facebook."

She huffed, "Don't scare me like that! Now I need a new spoon."

Digging around for another one in the communal assorted kitchenware drawer, Keeley only half paid attention to what Jennica was reading off of his 'about me' page until she heard the words 'Hale Investments.' She straightened so quickly she bonked her head on a cabinet.

"Did you just say Hale Investments?" she asked, wincing while rubbing the sore spot.

"Yeah, he's a financial analyst there. And he has an MBA from Harvard…my mom would be thrilled."

Cameron probably made the same if not more than a dentist per year, not counting his multiple World Champion of Poker prizes. She was right; her mom would be over the moon. Why Jennica's mother valued financial stability over more important factors though…

Keeley's mom wouldn't have been like that. She supported her children's dreams and wanted them to be happy. She would have talked her out of being with Aaron even with all of his wealth knowing they weren't a good match.

Based on what little she had seen of him, Cameron seemed normal though. His wealth was an afterthought, not his defining feature.

"Give me your phone," she said with a sigh.

If she was going to be a supportive friend about this, she needed more information. Social media was a heavily filtered version of reality but it was a decent place to start.

Most of his pictures seemed to include his dog but there were also a bunch taken in places like Las Vegas and Paris. It looked like he traveled a lot. Was it for work? Hale Investments was an American based company but there were a few branches overseas.

Aaron spent a lot of time working on the international expansion plan after she lost the baby…

After checking out his pictures, she examined his posts. Pretty generic day-to-day stuff but there were also some funny memes reposted from other pages on there. Nothing that screamed 'red flag.'

One odd thing she did notice was that pretty much all of his posts were liked by an Aiden Quinn. Clicking on the name confirmed that it was the Aiden she suspected; she was friends with him on Facebook too.

"He's friends with Aiden," Keeley commented. "I wonder how he knows him." They should be about ten years apart in age so where would they have even met?

Jennica looked at her funny. "Probably at work. Don't you know Aiden is in Hale Investments' IT department?"

Why does everyone she knows suddenly work at Hale Investments?!

"I didn't," she said coolly, regaining her composure.

She poured the brownie batter into the greased pan and spread it around to make it even before popping it into the oven and setting a timer on her phone.

"He mentioned it to me a while back. What's so surprising about it? Their main branch has thousands of employees," Jennica said while snatching her phone off the table where Keeley left it.

It really shouldn't have been surprising. She was mostly thrown off-guard because it reminded her that Aaron's influence was everywhere in New York City.

If she really wanted to escape him she would have to move. But where would she go? This was her home. Her family, friends, and life were here. Moving away would be letting him win.

"Hey, now that Cameron has added you on Facebook you know he's at least somewhat interested. You should text him," Keeley said, remembering their original topic.

Jennica's expression fell. "I don't know what I would say."

"Text him like you'd text me. He already likes what he's seen or he wouldn't have come out for drinks with us. Be yourself!"

She composed the message three times before showing the final product to Keeley. 'Hey, it's Jennica. I got your friend request so I figured you should have my number' with a winking emoticon at the end.

"It looks fine. Send it!"

Ultimately, she was too nervous so Keeley had to push the button for her. Oh brother. Had she ever been this obnoxious when she liked Aaron? She really hoped not.

The phone dinged a minute later and Jennica dove for it.

"What does it say?" Keeley asked, knowing she would share it anyway.

"He says it's good to hear from me and that he thought I lost his number. I knew I waited too long!"

She kind of did. Normally when people give someone their number, the other person sends them a text immediately so they'll have it for later.

"You could always lie and say Molly ran off with it for a while until I found it under my bed," she offered. "I'd back you up if necessary."

Jennica buried her face in her hands. "This is ridiculous. I'm never this shy."

"No, you're not, so get a hold of yourself! Jennica Stevens is no pansy."

She slapped herself across the face and shook her head back and forth rapidly. "I think I'm okay now. I'm not sure why I panicked so much."

Keeley smiled knowingly. Because she really liked him, duh! People did stupid things when they liked someone. Goodness knows Keeley was the poster child for that.

"Have fun texting him. I'm going to do some homework while I wait for the brownie timer to go off."

She stood up from the table and slunk back to her bedroom but wasn't able to concentrate like she wanted. Of course she couldn't; she was going to Aaron's place in a couple hours to drop off the dumb brownies.

With any luck, after this she wouldn't have to see him in person for a few months or more. Or preferably ever but she wasn't naïve enough to believe that was plausible for the time being.

Like it or not, she was stuck with him to some degree. She had certainly never had the power to change his mind about anything.

Keeley was certain that he'd give up someday—after all, his parents would marry him off to a socialite sooner or later. She could handle him for now.

When the timer went off, she added the marshmallow layer before sticking the brownies back in the oven for three minutes. Once that was done they needed to cool for ten minutes before she added the frosting so it wouldn't melt.

She came prepared; she baked the brownies in a disposable foil pan so Aaron couldn't use returning the dish as an excuse to come see her. She let the pan cool while she went to get dressed. She refused to look nice for him.

Leggings, fuzzy boots with pompoms dangling off them, and an overlarge sweater seemed like a good choice. It was the sort of thing she normally wore on the weekends anyway.

Jennica was still texting Cameron with a smile on her face when Keeley came out of her room. She was vaguely curious what she was so happy about but didn't want to delay dropping these off so she could get on with her day.