“I wasn’t thinking that,” Keaton said, his voice small beside me.
Great. So, while I was still stewing over it, he had forgotten it happened at all. It meant absolutely nothing to him.
And it had been sleepless nights for a month for me.
“Are you going back to the dorm?” Keaton asked. What I’d said had somehow not shaken him off. He was still hurrying to keep up with me.
I sighed and modulated my pace down a little. “Yes.”
“Great,” Keaton said. “Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you.” The seriousness of his tone made me look down.
“What?”
“Let’s wait until we get to the room,” he said with a self-conscious shrug.
What could be so important, awkward, secret, or embarrassing that he needed to ask in private?
My mind raced and churned as we walked the last distance to the dorm. We kept silent. All I could do was wonder what he was going to ask.
Was it related to the kiss?
Did he want to ask me if I would kiss him again?
Could I dare to hope it was that?
My heart was hammering like I’d run fifteen laps by the time we pushed open the doors of the building and started on the stairs. Going up them without my crutches felt weird. It was like I was missing a limb. I had to concentrate and hold onto the rails to remember how to climb. I was trying not to put my full weight on the ankle as I stepped up just in case. There was always a chance that the physio had been wrong. I didn’t want to wreck everything again before I got a chance to build up my strength properly.
With the anticipation, worry, and the climb, I ended up having to sit down on the edge of my bed as soon as we got inside the room.
“Um, okay,” Keaton said. He closed the door behind him and started to pace up and down. “So, the thing is, I kind of need your help.”
I lifted my head. “With what?”
“Uh.” Keaton stopped moving and scratched the back of his head. He rubbed his eyes. He was getting a headache. I was starting to see his tells. He probably needed a new prescription for his contact lenses. He kept having to take them out and put on his glasses. “It’s my Mom.”
I sat up straight. I was instantly on alert. “What is it?” I asked. Anything to do with his family had me concerned beyond measure. I couldn’t believe the way that they had treated him. I wasn’t convinced they had improved at all since what he told me had happened with his Dad.
“She’s coming here. This weekend,” he said. He was wringing his hands together nervously.
“Oh,” I nodded. “You need the space. Sure. I can go somewhere.”
“No, no!” Keaton exclaimed, waving his hands frantically. “No, that’s not it. She’s not coming – like,here. I’m going to meet her somewhere off-campus.”
“Oh.” I tilted my head at him. What did he need me to do, then?
“Will you come with me?”
I stared into his pleading eyes.
“Come with you?” I repeated. I wasn’t sure if I had heard him right. Did he need a ride? He knew I didn’t have a car, right?
“Yeah,” Keaton said. He was fiddling with his hands again. “I’m – I’m too nervous to go on my own. And I don’t know many people here. And a lot of them, I don’t know as well as I know you. And – and you’re really, like, big, and stuff.”
“Big and stuff.” I raised my eyebrows with a faint smile.
Keaton made an adorable little growling noise of frustration. “I mean – like – in case my Dad turns up after all.”
I shot to my feet at the thought of that. Of his mother trapping him into coming face to face with his violent, abusive Dad again so he could beat Keaton up. No way. Not on my watch. “I’ll be there,” I said.
