Chapter 21 - Surprise!
It was another boring Friday night for Aaron. His parents were off at a dinner function and he was left to his own devices. He didn't used to mind it.
Having his tyrant father and empty-headed mother around were a drag so it was better having the house to himself; especially since he was so scheduled with extracurricular activities during the week that he hardly had a moment to himself. The problem was that he didn't know what to do without that structure.
Keeley changed that when she came into his life. She was always asking him to do things with her on the weekends. He resisted at first because he didn't understand her intentions but as the school year wore on, if he wasn't physically with her on Friday nights, they were on the phone.
She pushed him out of his comfort zone more often than he liked but he was never bored when she was around. What he wouldn't give to see her now.
After dragging her into the closet and freaking her out, he realized he needed to focus on figuring out why she was afraid of him. He didn't buy her previous excuse of fearing him because everyone else did. The Keeley he knew wasn't like that. Keeley…what was she up to?
He could always text her but there was no guarantee she would respond. The worst she could do was ignore it. He was bored and lonely enough not to care about any potential consequences.
'What are you up to tonight?'
To his surprise, she responded five minutes later. 'Celebrating. Why are you texting me?'
'I'm bored. What are you celebrating?' His expression softened thinking of how she acted when she was excited about something.
'I got into my dream school. But do you really not have anything better to do than text me? I can think of at least a dozen other people you could have texted first'
'They're all busy' he lied.
It took a moment for the first part of her text to sink in. How had he forgotten that Keeley wanted to go to NYU? She was so thrilled by the news that she called him about it immediately before.
He had been disappointed they would be apart for so long but figured they could still text, call, and visit each other on school breaks. He never would have imagined she would choose Boston University instead.
His first day at Harvard was long and grueling since he was forced to network with a bunch of his father's peers and their children when he ran into them on campus during orientation. All he wanted was to go back to his room and call Keeley. Talking to her always perked him up somehow.
Back in his private dorm room, Aaron flopped onto the bed without even bothering to change. He was about to make the call when his phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Look out the window," a mischievous voice replied.
"Keeley?" he asked in confusion but nevertheless got up and opened the curtain.
There she was, four floors down, waving up to the wrong window from the lawn. So she knew his building but not his dorm room specifically. But what was she doing there? NYU classes started a couple weeks ago.
He immediately hung up and rushed downstairs, not caring that his collared shirt was wrinkled or that he wasn't wearing shoes. She beamed when she spotted him and threw her arms around him in a warm hug.
"Surprise!"
Aaron stumbled back slightly as he instinctively wrapped his arms around her. "What are you doing here?"
"I go here! Well, not here here…I go to Boston University now studying biochemistry and molecular biology. Aren't you happy to see me?" She pouted slightly as she tilted her head up towards his face.
Yes, yes he was. This was the best thing that could have happened at the end of a long day! But something bothered him about the situation. "I thought you wanted to go to NYU. You were so excited when you got in."
Keeley's expression grew flustered and she pulled away. "Um, it was more for bragging rights than anything else. BU is still a good school and I wanted to shake things up a bit for a while before settling back in New York. See more of the world."
Aaron was tempted to laugh at her logic. "Four hours away is enough of seeing the world for you?"
"No! I'd like to visit Europe someday. I've heard the architecture there is beautiful."
"It is. I could show you some pictures from my trip a few years ago if you'd like," he offered. "Would you like to come in?"
"Sure!"
He led her up the stairs in a good mood and she oohed and ahhed over his pictures as expected, pressing for specific details about famous landmarks in England and France. Aaron was more talkative than usual, telling her about everything from French breads and pastries to how he took the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower but walked all the way down just to see if he could do it. Keeley was enthralled by what he had to say even though he wasn't much of a storyteller.
Just being around her wiped all of his weariness away. He truly enjoyed himself until it was time for her to get back to her dorm before the trains stopped for the night. He offered to drive her home instead and they headed down to the parking lot together.
An acquaintance he met earlier in the day who was the son of one of his father's business contacts saw them leave together and winked as if to say 'nice job scoring one on the first day here.' It was as if a bucket of icy water had been dumped on Aaron's head.
How could he have thought his dorm was safe? People who knew his father were here! More importantly, Lacy's close friend Max Lynch lived in this building.
If he ever saw Keeley there and reported it to Lacy…she had already caused enough trouble when they were all in high school. She couldn't find out that Keeley was in town! After that he was careful to only meet her off campus.