Conflicted: Keegan's Chronicles (19 page)

It had seemed so real. He couldn’t remember
the last time he had heard his mother’s voice. Rourk ran his hand
through his hair. His heart was pounding. He glanced over at the
clock to see it was barely past midnight. He hadn’t been out very
long. Closing his eyes, he tried to will himself to fall
asleep.

His father was holding the ruby ring in his hand.
Crystalline red prisms of light danced on the walls. “Your mother
would want her to have it, son.”

Rourk reached for the ring, taking it from his
father’s hand. “What if she says no?”

“
You will never know unless you ask. The ring
belongs to her.”

Rourk tossed and turned, wondering where the
dreams were coming from. They were so lifelike and he rarely
recalled his dreams.

Keegan’s face lit up, the ring on her hand glowing
with a brilliant light. “I love it! I love it! Thank you, Rourk.”
She threw her arms around him and kissed him, sending electricity
through his body.

Rourk angrily threw off his sheet and jumped
out of bed. Wrapping his arms around his waist, he leaned forward,
squeezing his eyes shut. He wasn’t sure he could take the pain much
longer. He missed her so much. The dreams were just another element
of torture.

It was useless trying to go back to bed.
Stepping into his running shorts, he headed out for a ten mile
run.

As if he could run from her.

***

Anna smiled as she blew out the candle and
wondered if it worked. She figured that would be enough for
tonight. She planned on sending him dreams for the next three days,
and after that once or twice a week. She couldn’t believe it could
be this simple.

Please, goddess, let this work.

He was avoiding sleep as much as possible
because every time he closed his eyes, the dreams haunted him. He
threw himself into his training and pushed himself as far as he
could, trying to push the images out of his head. That damn ring
was driving him crazy, and hearing his mother so often made him
want to punch something.

There was one point during training they had
to go four days without sleep or eating. He started hallucinating
scenes with his mother and Keegan. They were spinning around and
around with their hands clasped between them. The ruby ring was
throwing light around like a disco ball. Rourk tried to get to
them, but every time he got close, they disappeared. He was worried
he was losing his mind. Although, he knew lack of sleep and food
could make a mind do strange things.

He finally gave in and called his
father.

“Father, I will need the ring for Keegan’s
birthday.”

“I advised against this.” His father’s deep,
gruff voice came crisply across the line.

“Yes, I know.”

“Then, why?”

“I won’t know unless I try. The worst she
can say is no.” Although, Rourk thought, that would be the most
terrible thing to ever happen to him if she did.

“How do you know you’ll be here for her
birthday? What about training?”

“I got selected as weapons specialist so I
will have plenty of weekends free. I will be able to make it for
her birthday. I would be there even if I had to go AWOL.”

“You’re a grown man. I won’t stand in your
way.”

“Thanks Dad.” Rourk hung up the phone. He
was exhausted, but he still fought sleep as long as he could.
Eventually, when he drifted off, his mother came to him again.

“
You did the right thing son. You know the ring
belongs to her.”

Rourk woke up and he could have sworn he
felt his mother brush his hair to the side. He was losing it.

Rourk wasn’t sure what happened, but that
was the last dream he had about the ring. He was relieved; his body
needed the rest.

He couldn’t wait to see Keegan again, even
if she did turn him down. He knew he had to ask her. That is what
chosens do. He had told her he was coming back for her on her
birthday and he wasn’t about to break that promise.

He didn’t get to see Tommy as much, because
he got picked up for the engineer program. Rourk got selected for
the weapons slot which was fine by him. The training was much
shorter, and they had a lot more freedom to do what they wanted.
They had their own rooms, and were able to come and go as they
pleased as long as they didn’t miss training. The training was fun
for Rourk. He loved guns and he got to shoot a lot. He figured
Tommy was having a good time learning how to blow up things.

When they got their duty stations, Rourk was
surprised that Tommy also got 1st Group in Washington State.

“That is pretty crazy. I’m sorry you didn’t
get 5th Group like you wanted.”

“I actually requested 1st. I figured if you
could put up with rain and cold, so could I.”

Rourk gave his friend a big smile. “I’m
glad, Tommy. Maybe we will even get on the same team.”

“That’s what I’m hoping.” Tommy grinned.

***

“Mom, I’m going to get the girls. We're
going to look for our prom dresses.” Keegan reached over her mom
and grabbed a chip from the bag on the table.

“I thought I was going to take you?” Keegan
had never seen her mom pout before.

“Sorry, I’ll text you the pics and you can
help me decide.”

“Ok, don’t forget.”

“I won’t.” Keegan kissed her mom and headed
out the door.

Summer was quickly approaching. Keegan
decided to take down the top to her Jeep before she went to get her
friends. Two seconds after trying, she realized what a pain it was
to do it alone and ran back inside the house.

Her mother was still at the table. “Mom, can
you help me take the top down?”

“Sure, give me a second.” She slipped on her
shoes and headed out.

With the two of them doing it, they got the
top down in record time and Keegan slid in to the driver’s seat,
cranking the engine.

“Don’t forget to send me the pictures,” her
mom yelled as Keegan pulled out of the driveway. Keegan waved an
arm to show she had heard her.

She loved the breeze against her skin and
the sun beating down on her bare shoulders. She cranked up the
radio and sang along on the drive, navigating the roads with
ease.

Keegan stopped at Lauren’s first. Lauren ran
out in a yellow tank top, cut off jean shorts, and flip flops. She
pouted as she hopped in the passenger seat and slammed the door
behind her. “Ah Keegan, my hair is going to get messed up.”

“Stop being a baby.” Keegan reached over and
popped open the glove box, pulling out a bandana. “Here, put this
on till we get to the mall.”

“Fine.” Lauren pulled down the mirror while
she pushed her mass of curls under the bandana. “I actually look
pretty cute.”

“You always look beautiful,” Keegan
answered, signaling as she turned off of Lauren’s street. “Now,
let’s get Anna. I’m so excited she actually wanted to go shopping
with us.”

“I know. I think she’s sad we are all going
to be moving soon for college,” Lauren said loudly over the sound
of the wind in the car.

The thought of it subdued Keegan, as well.
“It is sad! You’ll be in California, I’ll be in Alaska, and Anna
will be in Seattle. At least we’ll all be on the west coast. I’m
sure we’ll manage to get together often.”

“I hope so. Although, don’t plan on me
visiting you too often in Alaska. I have no idea why you want to go
to that frozen Tundra.”

“It has a great marine biology program.”

“So does California and you don’t have to
freeze to death.”

They pulled into Anna’s driveway and she
came bouncing out. She was dressed pretty mild today with a black
T-shirt and a black tutu skirt. She had black flats on her feet and
streaks of red in her hair.

“You make us look so boring.” Lauren turned
in the seat to stick her tongue out at Anna.

“Can we stop at Starbucks on the way? I’m in
need of caffeine,” Anna said as she vaulted the side of the Jeep
and plopped into the backseat.

“You won’t get any arguments from us,”
Keegan told her, aiming for the nearest Starbucks.

Once they got to the mall with coffee cups
in hand, they chose to check out the dresses at Macy’s first.

“I know short dresses are in, but I really
want to wear a long dress to prom. That’s been my vision of prom
since I was a little girl.” Wrinkling her nose, Keegan put the
short purple dress she was holding back on the rack.

“Good luck finding one.” Anna spread her
hands out at the sea of short dresses in front of them.

“Plus, you’re so short you’re going to have
to get it tailored big time.” Lauren fingered a shimmering blue
dress. “Let’s just try on some of the short ones first. If you
still want a long dress we’ll search the whole mall if we have to.
What do you think of this one?” Lauren held up the short strapless
dress with scrunching and fake gems she had been eyeing.

Keegan glanced over. “For you? I don’t think
so. You have that athletic straight figure, so you want to make it
appear that you have curves. You know, an optical illusion.”

“Shut up, Keegan. I’m not that straight. We
can’t all have a J-Lo booty like you.” She pouted, putting the
dress back.

Keegan grabbed a black strapless number that
flared out at the waist, and had a purple ribbon around the waist,
shoving it in Lauren’s hands. “Here try this one on.”

“It’s so plain.”

“Just try it on.”

Lauren stepped out of the dressing room, and
spun around. “Keegan, how do you know this stuff? It’s
perfect.”

“That really does look good. What dress do
you think would look good on me?” Anna asked.

Keegan looked Anna up and down. “You can
really wear anything. It’s gotta be funky to match your style. Oh,
what about this?” She picked up an all black lacy dress with
ruffles. “It’s so vintage looking.”

“That’s cute, but I kinda like this one.”
Anna showed them an off-the-shoulder teal dress that had a flowing
top and ruffles on the bottom.

“You do? That doesn’t look like your style
at all. Try them both on.” Keegan pushed her in the dressing
room.

A few minutes later she came out in the all
black dress and the girls cooed about how great it looked. Lauren
clapped her hands together and said, “Go try on the teal one. I
can’t wait to see it on you.”

When she emerged a couple moments later,
both Lauren and Keegan gasped.

“Wow, Anna, you look amazing. You’re right.
You have to go with that one.” Keegan snapped a picture.

Keegan grabbed a few dresses and tried them
on. She could try on clothes all day. She loved them all, but
nothing felt like the one. So they moved on to the next store.

Three stores later, when they were about to
give up, Keegan’s phone chirped in her pocket.
Where are my pictures?

“Ugh, guys I forgot to send my mom pictures.
Let’s go to the next shop we see and try some on and I’ll go to
another mall later with my mom.”

“What about that store?” Anna pointed to a
bridal shop.

“That’s a wedding shop.” Lauren looked at
Anna like she was crazy.

“Yeah, but they have colorful gowns. Let’s
just go try some on, it might be fun.”

“Sure, why not?” Keegan laced her arms
between theirs and they headed to the store.

The sales lady must have been bored or in
need of a sale, because she treated them like royalty. She ran
around, grabbing gowns for them to try on and shoving them over the
top of the dressing rooms.

The girls walked their self-made runway,
twirling around and posing dramatically. The sales woman seemed to
be having as much fun as they were. They snapped tons of pictures
to send to Keegan’s mother.

“Ok, Keegan, you were right. Long gowns are
so much cooler. I vote we take back these short dresses and get
long ones.” Lauren spun around in a hot pink a-line gown with
glitter all over.

“As long as you promise you are not going to
buy that one!” Keegan was laughing so hard her eyes were
watering.

“I didn’t mean this one.” Lauren rolled her
eyes. “We need to start looking seriously instead of just playing
around.”

“I’m not taking back my dress. I’ll find
somewhere else to wear it. I will get a long gown, though. I hope
we’re the only ones with long gowns. We’ll really stand out.” Anna
grinned.

Keegan flung the curtain open and came out
in a strapless silver mermaid dress that clung to her curves and
sashayed down the walkway.

“Oh my god! Keegan, that dress is stunning.
It looks like it was made just for you.” Lauren took a picture with
her phone.

“She’s right, this is the one you have been
looking for. Do you love it?”

Keegan’s face beamed. “It is perfect!”

“I love how it has the drop waist to show
off your booty, and your tiny waist.” Anna laughed. “Spin around
again. Oooh, it even has the corset lace in the back. You have to
get this one.”

“Send a picture to my mom.”

Anna laughed. “Your mom replied back ‘wrap
it up.’”

“Yay! Okay, let’s find dresses for both of
you now.”

“Oh, I forgot we just got a shipment in,”
the clerk said quickly, snapping her fingers. “One minute. I think
I might have the perfect dress for both of you.” She hurried to the
back of the store.

She came out holding a long black gown with
polka dots, and a few others in various styles and colors.

Anna grabbed the polka dotted dress. “I call
this one.”

She disappeared into the dressing room. She
popped out in the strapless gown, laughing as she spun in a circle.
“I love this one! Take my picture and send it to my mom.”

It was simple and beautiful at the same
time. A small dark pink belt was wrapped around the waist, and the
bottom of the dress flared out in the front shorter than it was in
the back.

“Okay, now I have to find something,” Lauren
said. “What else do you have in that pile?”