"Don't worry Keeley, your best friend is here to save the day," Nicky said with pride.
Keeley rolled her eyes at the antics of her friend. They had just finished their yearly fair adventure and now they were ready to go home. Since asking her twin brother Zach for a ride was not an option, because of an argument they had had, Nicky so kindly offered to take her home. She knew how frustrating Zach could be.
"Shotgun!" yelled a voice behind them. Keeley and Nicky turned just in time to see three guys run past them, all around their age.
One of them bumped into Keeley.
Keeley scowled as she nearly fell to her knees.
Someone wearing a dark blue cap turned around while still running and yelled, "Ha! Lot's of girls do that for me, I just didn't think you'd be that quick," followed by a wink. He turned back around and punched his friend's shoulder. They laughed hysterically like it was the best joke they'd heard in years and continued running to the other side of the parking lot. Their blonde friend jogging behind them shook his head and tried to hide his smile.
Keeley grimaced. Of course the one person who had bumped into her wouldn't apologize.
"The least you could do is say sorry!" yelled Nicky, but either they didn't hear her or they decided to ignore her.
Keeley, however, didn't care about an apology. After this incident, her fight with Zach, and the long day that she had had, she was more than ready to go home.
"Leave it," she told Nicky. "It's definitely not worth it."
"But- at least make them apologize."
"Come on, it's not like we're going to ever see them again."
Nicky stared at her for a long moment. Finally, she glared at the males one last time before continuing to her car. Keeley began to follow her when she looked down and noticed that her phone was on the ground. It must have fallen out of her pocket when the blonde guy had bumped into her. She just hoped her phone was ok. If it wasn't, it would just be the cherry on top of her exhausting day.
She got in the car and tried not to slam the door. She had enjoyed her day but she felt like a zombie, ready to drop and die. The car had already started when Nicky asked, "Whose phone is that?"
"What?"
"Why do you have two phones?" asked Nicky with the same perplexed expression that was on Keeley's face.
"What are you talking about? This is my phone."
Nicky cocked her head. "Yours is still in you back pocket..."
To prove Nicky wrong, Keeley pressed the home button and showed her the screen. Nicky scrunched up her face. "What happened to Tucker?"
Keeley immediately turned the phone around and saw the reason why Nicky had grimaced. There was a nearly naked woman plastered to the front of a car as the lock screen. This was clearly not her phone. She gasped. "I think I know who this belongs to!"
"Why do you have a random phone..." Nicky mumbled to herself as she backed out of their parking spot.
"Come one, get out of the car! We have to give this back!"
"But-"
"The guys. It probably belongs to one of the guys that ran past us, let's go."
She wasn't necessarily fond of the thought of having to see them again but she wasn't going to keep a stranger's belonging.
Rapidly, they both climbed out of the vehicle only to notice that the car the boys had gone into was racing past them. Keeley threw her hands up in defeat- now how was she supposed to return the phone? Nicky was anything but defeated. Keeley was more than surprised when Nicky took off, running after the racing car.
"Nicky!" she screamed.
This was it, thought Keeley. This was the end of her best friend, Nicky. When she reached, if she reached the car, she would jump in front of it or on it and she would inevitably die. How tragic, she thought, that she would die in such an ordinary and non-heroic way, but there was nothing that could be done now...
Keeley hadn't noticed that she had clamped her eyes shut until she heard the screech of tires on pavement, a car honking, and various voices shouting.
She opened her eyes and there was Nicky, very much alive, thankfully, panting, but somehow still finding the courage to look at all three strangers in the most menacing expression Nicky would muster.
Keeley took off in the direction of her friend.
As she got closer she heard the voices and what they were saying. One of them was screaming "Are you insane? What were you thinking?" followed by various gesticulations and hair pulling. Nicky had frightened them all.
When she finally reached her friend, Keeley placed her hand on Nicky's shoulder, trying to catch her breath. She was not in shape. And neither was Nicky. The only times she'd seen Nicky run was when she spotted free food samples. "Nicky," she breathed. "When I said that we needed to return this phone, I didn't mean 'Please put yourself in front of a moving car.'"
Nicky reached up and squeezed Keeley's hand, reassuring her.
Neither one of them noticed when one of the males started walking towards them. He was the only one who hadn't been yelling when Keeley got there, and somehow, his mere presence made all of them cease their speaking. She looked up when she saw his feet not very far away from her. From Nicky, to be exact, since all of his attention was on her.
"Well dang... If I was angry before then I'm definitely not anymore. Running, and almost dying"- Nicky quietly added -"was sure worth it."
Keeley nearly rolled her eyes. She knew her friend was boy crazy but she hadn't expected her friend to change her unforgiving mind that quickly.
Are you sure about that, she wanted to reason, but she stopped the words from tumbling out when she looked up into the stranger's face.
It's not that she hadn't seen her fair share of handsome people in her short years of living but something about the person standing in front of her really caught her attention and she wasn't sure it was good.
He looked Nicky up and down, smirking a little as he did.
His friends, who were now out of their vehicle, were standing nearby, close to him but not interfering. They looked amused now.
"Hello there, angel," he purred. "I never thought anyone would be this insane about me. If you wanted my number all you had to do was ask before the car started moving." He seemed not at all guilty about having almost killed her best friend. To be fair, Nicky did get in their way.
She knew the words were directed towards Nicky but he didn't look at her as he said them. He was looking right at Keeley, his electrifying blue eyes making her feel warm. Despite her flushed face, Keeley stared him down. She would not look away first.
And then he started walking towards her, completely ignoring her best friend and his offer of giving Nicky his number.
"However, I think I'd rather give my number to you."
From behind him, Nicky let out a small gasp and the two other guys sniggered.
He was now right in front of her, so close that she could feel his breath on her.
Finding the courage to speak she managed to let out, "I think I would appreciate it more if you backed off... a lot."
Even though his handsome face was nearly irresistible, she hated to admit, something about him- golden hair that caught the sunlight, well defined cheekbones, sharp jaw, and slightly crooked nose that somehow looked perfect on him -told her to back away.
He looked at her like she was simple prey and he was ready to attack.
"I think I appreciate our closeness," he drawled. It was like he was devouring her with his eyes. Since he was clearly not going to do it, she took a few steps back.
"Am I intimidating?" That smugness of his was surely not going away anytime soon.
"No. I'm just afraid that being near you will lower my IQ." She feigned innocence and smiled sweetly.
He guffawed, throwing his head back. Did he find this entertaining?
"Oh yes, you're definitely more interesting than your friend."
"Well this friend," chimed in Nicky, pointing at herself, "is going to ask for an apology on her behalf since she's obviously already forgotten." She looked pensive. "Scratch that! I demand an apology." With her demand came a stomp that made her wild curls bounce.
It took him some time to look away from Keeley but when he did, he focused on Nicky and exclaimed, "Apology? Apology for what?"
Keeley could tell that Nicky was going to start bickering with this stranger if she didn't do anything. "Nicky..." she warned.
"Keeley, it's not fine-"
"Ah," he uttered quietly. "My dear lady," he stated simply. Facing Nicky, he took a deep breath, placed a hand over his heart, and continued. "I am profoundly sorry for having almost killed you. Even though," he added loudly this time, "you were the one who nearly killed herself by deciding to place herself in front of a moving vehicle."
Nicky crossed her arms and growled at him. "How kind of you," she replied sarcastically.
He was reaching into his back pocket but his whole face dropped when he found nothing. It was entertaining seeing him lose his laid-back composure, if only slightly.
She couldn't stop a small smile from forming.
"Were you looking for this, darling?" While he had been busy looking for his phone, Keeley had reached into her own back pocket and retrieved his phone.
He looked up at her and-
His dazzling smile was back, full force and so was her growing amusement. It was a wonder, thought Keeley, how he could go from juvenile and playful to arrogant and conceited.
"Ooh, I like the sound of that... Why don't you keep calling me 'darling'? And I'll keep calling you 'doll.'" With each word he stepped closer and closer to her, with an almost predatory gait. She had to resist her urge of wanting to push him away.
She groaned.
Keeley couldn't believe his arrogance. She was sure she could tolerate anything that came out of his mouth but she sure wasn't going to tolerate pet names. And was he not going to thank her for returning his phone? She wasn't surprised. If his friend wasn't going to apologize for his lewd comment then he wasn't going to thank her. She glanced at his friends who were still intensely focused on the conversation. And slightly on Nicky...
"No," she said firmly, shaking her head.
"No?"
"I have not given you permission to call me that nor will I ever give you permission. I have a name, you know," she said, staring him down.
"Well. What should I call you then?" He regarded her for several seconds and then added, "Doll."
She glowered at him and she could tell that that didn't bother him in the least. The only effect her glower had on him was on his ego. It only made it bigger.
Trying to control her growing annoyance she asked, "Are you ever afraid that one day your ego will just be too big... that you'll float away and never come back?"
He chuckled slightly. "I like you," he said calmly, like he was stating a fact.
"Well, who wouldn't? I'm awesome." She flipped her hair over one shoulder.
"Yes, and this awesome girl hasn't told me her name."
She looked away. Even though she had no desire to know more about this egotistical boy, she was suddenly very interested in at least finding out his name. She looked behind him. Nicky's patience was running out.
Pause.
And then: "What is your name?" she asked quietly.
Slowly, he uttered, "Talon." His friends looked truly bewildered.
"Talon...?" she inquired, moving her head as she stretched out his name. She'd never heard of anyone named Talon.
Now it was his turn to look away. Keeley was still waiting for his answer. He hesitated and finally he said, "Talon Harrington."
This time, Nicky looked like she wanted a car to come around and actually hit her.
Keeley felt her eyes widen. She was speechless. She'd only ever heard of one Harrington and it was the one that her brother despised. She heard herself saying, "Harrington? As in... JT Harrington?"
A little bit of the playfulness disappeared from his eyes."Yes. That is my name."
JT cleared his throat and just like that, his boyish actions were back.
"You still haven't told me your name, doll."
She was about to start snapping again, about how he couldn't call her that when he quickly said, "If you don't tell me your name I won't have any other option but to keep on calling you 'doll'", he said grinning, knowing that he had won. "Or better yet... I'll call you 'baby doll.' I think it suits you. I like it...," he declared, looking off into the distance. "Unless... you tell me your name, baby doll." He gave her a sidelong glance.
She crossed her arms, looking defiant, looking at anything but him. She wasn't sure about what she was going to do. Should she really be telling JT Harrington who she was? Now that he had told her his name, it only seemed fair for her to tell him her name. She turned back to look at him and saw him already standing at attention. She simply said, "Keeley."
His eyes seemed to twinkle. "Delight me with your full name, please." It looked like the whole night sky was contained in his eyes.
It was getting pretty late.
"Well.... I suppose you'll find out eventually," she said with a bit of flippancy.
"Miss Keeley You'll-Find-Out-Eventually, will I find you again?" He said it almost desperately.
"I'm sure you will..." mumbled Nicky, who was now checking her nails with deep interest and leaning against the car that had nearly ended her. The other two guys were slowly inching their way towards her.
Had all of this actually happened?
"Excuse me?" he inquired. He glanced at her over his shoulder.
Keeley shuffled her feet. "I'm at all the football games. I'll be there when you are too."All three guys looked at her and then at each other quizzically.
She laughed under her breath. She laughed because this was absurd. She laughed at the impossibility of this whole situation.
"It's hard not to miss a Brewer. We come in pairs."
She was already walking in the opposite direction, Nicky close behind her, when she looked down and noticed that her fingers were still wrapped around his phone.
"Oh," she said confidently, turning around to face him once more. "Here's your phone." She tossed it at him; she had not doubt that he was going to catch it. "Although, I doubt you'll be needing it to contact me." She watched his face drop- all of their faces drop -looking as if they'd been betrayed.
"Close them up, boys. I don't think you want to catch any flies."
Now it was her turn to smirk. She was feeling more satisfied than she had ever felt before.