Conflicted: Keegan's Chronicles (12 page)

“I don’t know. I got angry at her before I
found out the details.”

“Even if you were only gone a day, I would
miss you.”

“Aww, you are so sweet.”

From his post beside his mother, Thaddeus
rolled his eyes.

“Are we still on for tonight? I’m looking
forward to beating you on our dance off. I know how you love Dance
Dance Central.”

Keegan laughed and Donald started singing in
her ear.

“Of course, we’re still on. I was going to
have Anna, Lauren and their boy toys join us.” Keegan said with a
smile.

A loud crackling noise filled the room and
her mother broke free from the ice.

“Keegan, this has got to stop,” she snapped.
“You need to stop having little fits for no good reason. I swear,
you act like you are three sometimes.” She brushed the ice off her.
“I’m going to take a hot shower and change.”

"Donald, I have to go," Keegan said quickly
before she hung up the phone. Her mother stood to walk out of the
room and Keegan reached for her, horrified. "Mom, I'm so sorry. I
didn't mean to."

Emerald just eyed her silently for a moment,
then left.

"Keegan, you never make things easy,"
Thaddeus said. He rolled his eyes and walked out of the room.

She was disgusted with herself. Falling into
a chair at the table, she stared down at her cell phone, her cheeks
hot.

***

A couple of hours later everyone showed up
at Keegan’s house. Anna brought pizzas, Lauren brought soda, and
the guys just brought themselves. The six of them headed down to
the basement. It was a large space set up like a game room even
though it rarely got used.

“Who wants to go first? Dance battle mode.
Oh yeah!” Donald did a little Michael Jackson spin and looked at
them expectantly. He was obsessed with the new Xbox Kinect game
Dance Central.

“I vote we eat first,” Josh said and
everyone agreed.

After everyone had eaten, Donald couldn’t be
put off any longer.

“Let’s see what you got, Donald.” Keegan
turned on the TV and Xbox.

“Yes! You are so going down Keegan. We’ll
start with an easy one,
FunkyTown
.”

Within minutes they were all cracking up.
Keegan didn’t stand a chance. She laughed so hard she was crying.
What made it even funnier was the fact that Donald was so serious
about it. He was good even though he did look ridiculous. It just
made him even cuter in her eyes. Xavier was taking a video and said
he was going to put it on YouTube with no sound.

They were sweating by the end of the song
and Donald was still dancing when Anna and Xavier went. Keegan
pulled him down on the couch with her. “That was fun.”

“I told you.” He reached over and gave her a
quick kiss.

Keegan and Lauren were loudly singing,
“
Can’t get you out
of my head
,” while Anna and Xavier fumbled around with the
steps. The game was no joke.

Josh didn’t stand a chance against Lauren.
All of her years as a cheerleader meant she could pick up dance
moves quickly. They decided Lauren and Donald should have a big
dance off with a level five song, “
Satisfaction
.”

Lauren won. Donald was impressed with her
skills. He said he’d have to do some more practicing and have a
rematch.

***

Richard came home and Emerald filled him in
on what had happened with Keegan earlier.

“I wish there was something we could do to
help her.” Emerald stood up and got her husband a drink.

“Maybe we should just let the boy go with
us. I could threaten him and I doubt he’d do anything
inappropriate.”

“Richard, we can’t just keep giving in to
her.”

“Listen to them all downstairs. How long has
it been since we’ve heard her laughing like that? Maybe he is good
for her.”

“What about Rourk?” Emerald wanted to
know.

“Rourk is a big boy; he can take care of
himself. And he is the one that decided to leave. Of course, I
would much rather Keegan be with Rourk than a shapeshifter.
However, the bottom line is it’s Keegan’s choice not ours. She’s
not a little girl anymore. She will be eighteen before we know it.
Maybe if we act like we approve of Donald she will get over him
quicker. You know forbidden fruit is always sweeter.”

“You’re probably right. I just wish we could
figure out how to get her bond back.”

Richard reached across and grabbed his
wife’s hand. “Emerald, we are so lucky to have her alive. I really
just want her to be happy and enjoy the chance she has been
given.”

“You always know the right thing to say.
It’s one of the reasons I love you so much.”

“I love you. So are we in agreement?” He
raised his eyebrow.

“I guess so. I hope I don’t regret
this.”

***

Donald stayed after everyone else left, the
two of them sat close together on the couch in the basement. While
they talked Keegan’s father yelled down for them to come
upstairs.

“Okay, Dad, we’ll be right up,” Keegan
called. She glanced over at Donald and noticed he looked
nervous.

“Don’t worry; I’m sure it’s nothing. My mom
probably just wants me to clean up something.”

When they got upstairs, Keegan saw her
father sitting at the table and thought,
Oh no.

Nothing good happened when her parents
called for her to meet them at the kitchen table.

“So I heard about your little incident
today, Keegan.” Richard had his hands clasped on the table top. He
was still in his uniform from camp. With the camouflage and his
size, not to mention the bushy beard, he looked threatening. Keegan
could feel Donald’s nerves beside her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to.” Keegan sighed
and sat down at the table, leaving Donald standing by himself.

“Have you been doing the breathing exercises
I went over with you? You’re not supposed to do them just when you
are angry. You can do them throughout the day.”

“Not really. I always forget.”

“You need to remember. This cannot happen
out in public Keegan. I’m sure you don’t want us to pull you out of
school because you can’t control your temper.”

Panic raced through her. It was her senior
year she couldn’t imagine not finishing school with all her
friends. “I’ll work on it, I promise. Please, don’t take me out of
school.”

“Donald, I heard my daughter wants to bring
you on our little vacation. Do you think your parents would allow
it?”

Donald stared at Richard. It took him a
minute to compose himself. “I’m not sure. To be honest we don’t
have a lot of money, so I’m not sure they would.”

Richard stood up and walked over to Donald
and put a hand on his shoulder. “We would never take a cent from
you or any of Keegan’s friends. She often brings Lauren or Anna on
trips. If your parents will let you, we would like you to join us.
I think we need to get to know more about the person that has
caught our daughter’s attention.”

“I’ll talk to them tonight and let Keegan
know.”

“Donald, I don’t think I need to say this
out loud. We trust you not to do anything inappropriate with our
daughter. She has not yet left this house.”

“Of course not, sir. I hope you don’t think
that is why I’m interested in Keegan.” Donald’s face flushed a deep
shade of red.

“You would be a fool not to be interested in
Keegan, she’s a terrific girl. Call me Richard. I hate being called
sir.”

Keegan ran over and hugged her dad. “You are
the best dad ever!” Her squeals echoed off the walls as she jumped
up and down, “We’re going to Italy. I can’t believe we are going to
Italy! When are we leaving? How long are we going to be gone?”

“Thursday night. You’ll have to miss a day
of school, but I’m sure you’ll get over it. We’ll be gone ten days
I believe. Seven nights on the cruise and a couple of nights on
land. Your brother is very excited. Now that you are bringing
Donald, I’ll have him invite Sam. This might actually be a good
trip. Hopefully, we won’t have to hear you and your brother
arguing.”

“I think we can manage. Ack, I can’t believe
you are letting Donald go! We’ll be good, I promise.”

“Famous last words.” Richard tried to be
surly but he was smiling. His daughter’s happiness was
infectious.

“Donald, you need to go home and ask your
parents. Make sure you text me right away. If they need to talk to
my parents, just call my phone.” Keegan practically pushed him out
the door.

“Where’s mom? She’s okay with this?” Keegan
asked after she’d waved Donald down the driveway.

“She’s not thrilled, but I convinced her.
You owe me one.”

“Sure, Dad.” Her mind shifted gears.
“Hopefully Mom wants to take me shopping. I love shopping for new
trips.”

Keegan ran up and hugged her dad again and
then barreled up the stairs. She had to text Lauren and Anna to let
them know. She was so excited she could hardly stand it.

She jumped online and searched Italy, even
though she wasn’t even sure what part they were going to. She
should have asked more details but she was just too excited.
Cruises were a quick way to add more countries to her list, so she
loved taking them. Keegan walked over to the map on her wall and
ran her fingers over all the pins that stuck out. Ever since she
was little her parents had kept a map of all the places they have
visited. Soon, she would have a pin on the big boot.

Keegan headed down the hall for her mom’s
room so they could talk about the trip.

Seven weeks had passed since Rourk started
basic training.

His days were long and somewhat irritating
because he often didn’t agree with the instructors’ methods of
teaching. Even more irritating was the fact he had to sit back and
act like he was learning all of it for the first time when he could
probably teach it better himself.

He had managed, however, to stay out of
trouble and go virtually unnoticed, which was his goal. Well, maybe
not completely unnoticed. It was hard to stay invisible when he
consistently finished first in everything.

On the diagnostic PT test, only four
trainees scored a 300, Rourk being one of them. In both unarmed
combatives and pugil stick fighting, Rourk was undefeated. On the
rifle qualification, Rourk and one other soldier scored a perfect
40 out of 40 hits.

Tommy on the other hand had not been so
lucky. He was always doing stupid things to draw attention to
himself and there was only so much Rourk could do to help him.
Truth be told, he would be shocked if Tommy made it past the first
nine weeks.

The kid wouldn’t shut up about his
girlfriend and how wonderful she was, which was starting to irk
Rourk. Every time Tommy mentioned his girlfriend it was a reminder
to Rourk that Keegan was no longer his.

Rourk’s thoughts were constantly centered on
Keegan. He was unable to escape the memories of their short time
together and constantly wondered how she was doing. Through Anna
and Lauren, he tried to check on her a few times but the three
girls were never together.

He needed to practice more restraint because
he was starting to feel like a stalker.

As he pushed himself from where he rested on
his bunk, he vowed that he would not check up on her any longer.
His heart sunk at the idea.

Rourk headed to the shower and quickly hosed
off before the water turned cold. When he came back to his bunk,
Tommy was sitting on his bed crying.
Now what…
“What’s wrong, Tommy?”

“My girl broke up with me. In a god damn
letter. She said she had met someone else and didn’t think she
could wait for me.” Another sob ripped from him, and Rourk couldn’t
help but understand his pain. “I wish I knew who the jerk was, I
would beat the shit out of him.”

“I’m sorry, Tommy,” Rourk said, standing
awkwardly over him. “I really am. Don’t waste your time being angry
at the guy. It’s probably better this happened sooner than later.
Now you can focus on your training.”

Tommy looked down, picking at the blanket
and unable to meet Rourk’s eyes. “Rourk, I could give a shit about
this training. I feel like quitting and running back to her. Maybe
she’ll give me another chance if I don’t join the Army.”

“Tommy, would you listen to yourself? You
want to give up on your dream for a girl who hasn’t even waited a
few weeks for you. If she cared about you, she would have waited.
You need to make a choice. You can quit now and run home with your
tail between our legs or you can act like a man and finish what you
started.”

Tommy wiped his nose with the back of his
shirt, pleadingly looking up at Rourk. “I’ve wanted to be a Green
Beret since I was a little boy but do you really think I can even
make it? I keep messing up and getting in trouble.”

“If you want to make it you can, Tommy, but
you need to decide here and now if this is what you want. You can
throw it all away for a girl who cheated on you or you can move
forward with your life-long dream. That is your choice to
make.”

Tommy laid back on the bed and kicked his
feet up on the metal bar. “I want to stay. As much as it sucks,
you’re right. If she hadn’t cheated on me now, she would have
sooner or later.” He became quiet, and his jaw hardened. “I just
really love her. I thought we were going to get married. When we
graduated, I was going to buy a ring.”

“That’s good that you want to stay. Now you
need to direct your anger towards your training. I know it’s easier
said than done. Do this for yourself. I can tell you one thing, a
Green Beret would not run home crying because his girl left him.
You need to change your mentality starting right now. Let this
lesson harden you. Use it to your advantage.”

“You sure talk funny, Rourk. I don’t know
what I would do if you hadn’t been here. If you see me off crying
in the corner, hit me.”