Be My Reason (A Keaton Stromberg Fan Fiction)

Chapter 9

"You look great." He said, I blush slightly and smile

"Thanks, so you do." I respond and watch Keaton's cheeks go pink.

"Keaton! Can you talk for a minute?" Lou asks from the kitchen.

Keaton smiles and responds "Of course!" I move over so he can come in and we both walk into the kitchen together.

"Keaton, I am trusting you with my daughter.. You promise me you'll take care of her?" Lou asks Keaton seriously. Keaton nods his head and licks his lips

"Of course sir. I'd do anything to make sure she's safe." Lou seems pleased by Keaton's answer.

"Rachel, text me when you get there." Lou says to me and I nod. I'm glad that that was easy. We all say our goodbyes and me and Keaton head back out to the familiar black car in the street. We pile in the back and me, Wes, and Drew greet eachother. Wes starts the hour drive to the Huntington Beach area. 

Keaton looks down and smiles at me, he puts his arm around me and I cuddle into him. He looks at me with wide eyes and places his lips to my fore head. The gesture was sweet and it calmed some of my nerves. I close my eyes and try to relax my nerves.

"Hey Rachel we're here, you might want to wake up." Keaton says lightly into my ear, I hadn't even noticed I fell asleep. My head was using Keaton's shoulder as a pillow and my legs somehow made their way onto his lap. My body was a tangled mess on his, I was suddenly glad that I don't slobber in my sleep.

"Sorry." I say as I untangle my legs from his, he laughs lightly

"It's fine, that's what I'm here for right?" He says laughing, I laugh with him.

"Are you guys ready to go inside?" Wes asks us, they're are a few cars outside a beach house. The house is nice, modern looking. Keaton looks down at me and I gulp down my nerves before answering

"Yeah I'm ready." We all pile out of the car and to my surprise Keaton grabs my hand and laces our fingers as we walk up to the house, the music is playing loudly, I can hear it out here. We go to the front door and Drew pushes it open, not bothering to knock. This 'kickback' is huge. There are a lot of people here.

"Whoa. Did we miss something?" Wesley asks us. I look up at Keaton and he looks as confused as I feel.

"Look Tyler's right there!" Keaton says pointing at a boy with brown hair, we all walk over to him and he smiles at us, I immediately recognize him. Tyler Case.

"Hey guys! I guess the news got out and more people showed up then were invited." Tyler said to us,

"Is this Rachel?" Tyler asks Keaton, he looks between me and Keaton ,he smiles sweetly. 

Keaton's mouth forms into a huge smile as he speaks "Yeah."

Tyler smiles at me "Rachel this is my best friend Tyler." Keaton explains, as if I don't already know.

"Hi Tyler." I say and he smiles, all the boys spread out and leave me and Keaton in the house full of people.

"We can leave if you want to?" Keaton asks looking down at me sympathetically, I don't want to ruin the night and make him leave so I smile and shake my head.

"You sure?" He looks at me wide eyed

"I'm sure." I say smiling, he smiles back and lead me through the house. 

Everyone is falling all over themselves, there is definitely alcohol at this party. I've drank before when I was younger and a bit rebellious but I haven't recently and I don't plan too. Keaton leads me to the kitchen, past a couple making out against the wall and a few drunk girls. He grabs me a cup and goes to the fridge to fill it with water, he knows his way around.

"Is this Tyler's house?" I ask him over the music

"No." He says and takes my hand and leads me past people dancing, through a sliding door outside. There are few people outside and we take a sit around a small fire place. We are the only ones sitting by the fire place and Keaton hands me my water. I thank him and he smiles nervously. I take a drink and set the cup back down, and look over at him. 

He looks great in the fire light, I don't think about the people around us when I grab him and pull his lips to mine. I want to make the kiss fast but I know I shouldn't so I press my lips lightly to his. He's surprised by my sudden movement but quickly recovers and kisses me back. The kiss was short but it didn't hesitate to take my breath away. Keaton smiles at me and I smile back

"What the hell.. Is that you  Keaton?"  I hear a male voice slur from behind us, Keaton stiffens beside me and I watch his eyes go wide as he turns to look behind him. I look too. there is a boy with black hair looking at us. He has dark features and is stumbling around. They scare me, the way they look at me. The boy with black hair stares at my chest and doesn't make it subtle. I shift uncomfortably and Keaton sighs.

"Ken." Keaton says, faking a smile.

"What's up baby Stromberg?" The boy with black hair asks. He looks at Keaton then his eyes go back to me. Keaton notices the boys wandering eyes and his jaw clenches and he takes a deep breath.

"Nothing man, we're about to leave." Keaton says pulling me to stand up, he walks away pulling me behind him into the house.

"Keaton what's going on?" I ask, he's acting weird.

"We have to leave." He says plainly walking through the house. I stop and plant my feet to the ground.

"Keaton. Tell me what's going on." I demand. Keaton looks back at me and I see his eyes soften.

"Okay." He says and pulls me through a hallway and into a door, he opens it revealing a clean bedroom, Keaton knows where everything is in this house.

Keaton closes the door and lets go of my hand, I stand in the middle of the room as he paces back and forth.

"I uh.. I used to not be good," Keaton says stopping the pacing and standing in front of me, he looks as if he may cry,

"I used to go to parties all the time.. and I used to get high and drink." Keaton forces out and he looks down away from me. 

"That guy used to party with me, he's trouble and I don't want him to be around you. He's done some.. ridiculous things." He says, He runs his hands through his hair and I don't know what to say to him.. I can tell he's keeping something from me, this new information about his past should worry me but it doesn't.

I'm with him because I like who he is, his past has nothing to do with our present and our future together.

I grab his chin and make him look at me, he looks crushed. It's heartbreaking to see him like this.

"Keaton.. Your past doesn't matter to me, it's okay you screwed up in the past. It doesn't matter to me." I tell him and give him a smile, Keaton's eyes brighten slightly and he kisses me sweetly. I know this isn't the end of us discussing this but I don't want to push him

"I'm going to go get Wes and Drew, stay here.. Please." Keaton pleads looking into my eyes.

"Okay." I nod and Keaton walks towards the door, he looks back at me once and smiles before closing the door behind him.