After work Keeley headed toward the pharmacy across the street from the medical school to grab a morning after pill—better safe than sorry, after all—when she ran into an unpleasant surprise just outside her building.
"Ryan. What are you doing here?"
He seemed a bit disheveled and ran a hand through his hair nervously. "I wanted to apologize but don"t know where your new place is and you won"t answer your phone."
Of course she wouldn"t. She had blocked him because he had texted her too many times and she wasn"t in the mood to answer. It had hurt realizing that someone she thought of as a dependable friend had only thought of her as girlfriend material the whole time.
Keeley didn"t like being lied to. Ryan knew how she felt about romance and still went for it, which she thought was insensitive. Plus he had been trying to dictate her life choices, which was not okay.
Even Aaron had been less tyrannical than that lately. There was nothing she hated more than other people trying to control her.
"Well, you"ve apologized. If you"ll excuse me, I have things to do," she said coolly.
He stepped in front of her, blocking her path. "Come on Keeley, don"t be like this! We"ve been friends for a long time, haven"t we?"
"Yeah. Friends. Which you apparently don"t want to be any more so I can"t keep seeing you."
Ryan huffed in frustration. "How is that fair? You let that other guy stay around you even though you"ve dated before but you won"t be friends with me just because you know I like you?"
Perhaps she was being a bit hypocritical but her situation with Aaron was a special circ.u.mstance. It couldn"t be compared to normal ones. She didn"t like that this seemed to be Ryan"s only argument.
"Do you have anything to say that doesn"t involve Aaron?" Keeley asked wearily.
He regained equilibrium and straightened his s.h.i.+rt before clearing his throat. "I wanted to invite you to my birthday party this weekend. Valentina"s coming and so are the guys we hung out with on Halloween."
She eyed him distrustfully. Valentina was too busy to breathe, let alone go to parties. She would have to verify it with her.
"I might not be free."
His face hardened. "Because of Aaron?"
"No, because of my dad!" she snapped. "Aaron this, Aaron that! I only help him out because I feel sorry for him but apparently I"m not allowed to have basic human compa.s.sion for any other guys just because you like me."
"What"s going on with your dad?"
Keeley scowled. He hadn"t processed the part of what she said that really mattered. "None of your business. We aren"t friends anymore."
She turned to walk away and Ryan grabbed her arm.
"Let go of me!"
"Not until you listen to what I have to say," he growled.
She was about to kick him where the sun doesn"t s.h.i.+ne and make a break for it when it suddenly became unnecessary. A pair of protective arms was around her shoulders and Ryan"s hand had been smacked so he released her.
"She said to let go," Aaron said coldly.
She craned her neck to look up at him. "What are you doing here?"
"I was going to suggest we go out to eat because you helped me out earlier. It"s a good thing I showed up when I did."
He glared at the other man, who was rubbing his wrist angrily. Part of her was grateful for the save but the other part was annoyed because Aaron basically just proved Ryan"s point. Now he was going to be even madder.
Sure enough, Ryan was gritting his teeth. "Why are you everywhere?"
"I could ask you the same thing," he replied, his voice dripping with disdain.
Keeley didn"t like the feeling of being stuck in the middle of things. "Come on," she whispered. "Let"s just go."
His arm remained firmly in place as they turned around and walked toward the parking lot.
"You were a jerk to her! She"ll never love you!" Ryan yelled after them.
Aaron stopped in his tracks and she worried what he was going to do next. He quietly told her to wait there and loomed over the other man. He was only a couple of inches taller but had such an intimidating presence that it seemed like he was ten feet tall.
"Maybe so," he said in a deadly tone. "But she"ll never love you either."
He turned around and strode back to Keeley with tangible dignity. Ryan wasn"t able to make a single squeak of response. She was a bit fl.u.s.tered after that obvious display of power but his expression softened as if nothing had happened by the time he reached her.
"So, what do you want to eat?"
She blinked, trying to get her bearings after that complete 180. "I don"t care. You pick."
"Sus.h.i.+ it is!"
Keeley examined him closely when they made it back to the car but couldn"t detect any of that earlier murderous intent. He really was back to normal. Sometimes she wondered if he was bipolar with how quickly his mood could s.h.i.+ft.
"Are you really treating me to dinner just because I pretended to be Aiden for you?" she asked doubtfully.
Aaron nodded. "My father was furious but couldn"t do a thing—it was amazing. I"m in a good mood so I thought I"d spare you from having to cook tonight."
He seemed sincere. Originally she thought he was just using it as an excuse to come pick her up from work and see her sooner. Once the darkness Ryan brought out had pa.s.sed, she noticed he did seem to be in a particularly good mood. She could let it slide.
They ended up going to one of those all-you-can-eat sus.h.i.+ places and Keeley absolutely stuffed herself. It was a terrible mistake but she hadn"t had sus.h.i.+ in a while so it was impossible to resist going overboard.
"If you like sus.h.i.+ that much I"ll order it for you more often when the new semester starts," he noted with the ghost of a smile on his face.
Keeley sighed. She didn"t even want to think about that. She only had a month left of free evenings before her nose was back to the grindstone.
"Don"t remind me."
"I thought people like you loved school," he teased. "Since you chose to go longer than most."
She shook her head vehemently. Grad students hated school more than anyone. They simply hated themselves more.
She never would have stayed on so long if her specialty wasn"t research. It was possible to get jobs in labs with a biotechnology bachelor"s degree. She wanted the possibility of choosing what to research one day.
That being said…she needed to do more than simply watch TV during her free time. Now was the time to go out and do things while she still had weekends free. The problem was that most of her friends were a) busy b) connected to Ryan or c) both.
Keeley had plenty of acquaintances but they weren"t the kind of people she would hang out with outside of school or work. She would take a weekend and go visit Jeffrey and Keisha if she had the money but she didn"t.
Hang on…she did. She didn"t have to pay rent next month. She could totally use the money that would have gone toward rent to visit them. Maybe over Labor Day weekend right around the time school started?
That would totally work. She would have to call them over the next couple of days and ask if they had plans then.