A Twist of Fate (Complete)

Ch. 13 - Just Friends

"What?" Keaton asked, when he noticed her staring at him.

She scrunched her eyebrows."Umm. Why are you sitting here? I thought you were mad at me?"

"No, why would you think I was mad at you?" he asked, looking confused.

"Because you just left last night and then you didn't talk to me during class today," she said, like it was obvious.

"That's not because I was mad," he told her, taking a bite of his sandwich and then a drink from his pop can. He chewed and swallowed the bite before saying, "I just didn't know what to say. I thought you were mad at me because of the whole, not wanting a girlfriend thing."

"No, I wasn't mad, just disappointed," she said, taking a deep breath in and exhaling. "and maybe a little embarrassed. That was the first time I've ever been rejected by a guy."

"Really? I was your first ever rejection?" Keaton asked, raising an eyebrow. "Actually, now that I think about it, that's not surprising. I mean what kind of a daft prick would reject you?" he asked, with a playful smile forming on his face as he nudged her with his elbow.

"Oh I don't know. Maybe a snobby, British one that thinks he's too good for the likes of me," she said in a thick fake British accent, glancing over at him with a side eye and a smile before looking down at her lap.

His smile slowly faded."You don't really believe that do you? That I think I'm too good for you?"

She pushed the food around on her plate with her fork and shrugged. 

"Hey," he said, lifting her chin and turning it towards him with his hand. "Look at me. Do you really think that?" 

She slowly lifted her eyes to look into his and hesitated before saying, "How could I not? Obviously you think I'm not good enough to be your girlfriend. Apparently I'm only good enough to have sex with you," she said, looking down and biting her lip, blinking to stop the tears from coming out.

"Hey," he said taking her arm and gently pulling her body sideways on her chair to face him. He put an arm on either side of her seat and softly said, "That's not true at all. Please look at me."

She lifted her watery, red eyes to look at him again and a tear ran down her cheek.

He searched her eyes and said, "I promise you. That's not the case. I don't think I'm too good for you. If anything, you're too good for me. I'm an asshole, but you, you're the type of person that would bake a homemade cake for your roommate's birthday, rescue a stray cat and volunteer at a nursing home," he said with a soft laugh and she looked down and sniffled. She looked back up at him and he added, "You're probably the sweetest person I've ever met Everly and you're so beautiful," he said, looking into her eyes and wiping away a tear from her cheek. "I don't think anyone's too good for you. Hell, you could probably marry a president or a prince if you really wanted to."

"Oh please," she scoffed, rolling her eyes before sniffling again and wiping a tear away. "Not the old 'I don't want you because you're too good for me' line. Are there women that actually fall for that? It's kind of like the, 'It's not you. It's me' line. It's just a way to give people the brush off without looking like a jerk," she said quietly, hanging her head.

He took her hands in his and she slowly raised her head and looked into his eyes, wiping away another tear. "I'm not trying to give you a brush off. I meant every word. You're amazing, but as great as you are, that doesn't change the fact that I don't want a girlfriend. I don't think I ever will. Relationships just aren't for me."

Hearing him say that hurt, because she had started to fall for him. She had hoped that he felt the spark between them too and wanted to be with her, but apparently he hadn't.