Coastal Runaway (Coast to Coast #1)

Twelve

twelve

Keegan

School was never my strong suit, I’ve always been more of a creative. I didn’t thrive writing essays and doing busy work. That wasn’t how the real world would be. Creating social media feeds that were captivating and sold products?

I could do that in my sleep, most of the cheerleading team had me curate their entire Instagram aesthetic.

“This class is not going to be fun,” Maggie mumbled next to me as she doodled on her notebook.

We decided to take an American Literature lecture as one of our last required general courses. We thought it would be fun to take together. The class had mostly underclassmen and we thought it would be an easy A.

Unfortunately for us, we got stuck with the one professor who didn’t believe in the easy way out. It was only the second week of classes and she had already assigned two essays and a quiz. She even had mandatory clicker questions in the beginning of the class to mark attendance so if you weren’t here then your grade got marked down.

When the lecture was released, we walked with the hordes of excited freshmen out into the sunny September sun. I tilted my head up to the sky and took in the warmth. While sometimes I missed where I grew up, I really came to love the mild weather here on the west coast.

“Are you coming over for Love Island tonight?” I looked at Maggie.

“Is that tonight?” She looked at me with guilt on her face, “sorry babe, I made plans with that cute new guy on the track team.”

“Wow, throwing away our tradition for a boy. I thought you were a girl’s girl.” I crossed my arms to look mad, even though she knew that I wasn’t.

“Next week I promise!” She laughed, swatting my arms.

“Okay, okay, but make sure you’re caught up. Have fun tonight.” I gave her a hug and she skipped off. I yelled after her, “and make good choices!”

She flipped a dismissive wave in my direction. Guess it’s just me tonight.

When I got home, I ordered enough Chinese food to feed my entire family and broke out a bottle of wine, ready to take in the drama of the new bombshells entering the villa.

Halfway through the newest episode, I heard the door open and voices drifted into the living room. Nolan and Luke came strolling in with a couple of girls that I recognized from parties that we’ve thrown over the years. Nolan had his arm draped over one of them as she giggled and leaned into his side.

When they noticed me, Luke paused as if he was caught doing something wrong but Nolan smiled wide.

“Sup, Keegan Russ.” He plopped down on the couch with me, his girl scooting on his lap possessively like I was a threat and not his sister.

“You gotta stop with the nicknames.” I rolled my eyes.

“Aw, but it’s so fun.” He winked.

Luke walked towards the couch but didn’t sit, his girl nervously stood next to him.

I looked at him suspiciously and gestured towards the couch. We called a truce which meant we could be in the same room together and not set it on fire, right? They sat side by side and the perky blonde next to him draped his arm around her.

“I see you still have a thing for trashy reality TV,” Luke said with a ghost of a smile.

“Uh yes. Where else can you shamelessly watch people embarrass themselves to this degree and not feel bad about it because they’re making tons of money?”

“I love this show too.” Luke's date answered, pointedly only to him and not the group. I thought I might have hated her.

No, you don’t, Luke can bang whatever mindless airhead he wants.

Nolan chimed in, breaking my attention away from the couple sitting opposite of me on the large sectional, “Remember that time Keegan forced us to watch an entire season with her so we started making bets on the couples? ”

“Yeah, she ran us dry that year. I think I lost like two hundred dollars when my favorite couple got voted out,” Luke laughed.

“You guys kept voting for the boring ones. It’s not my fault that I love the drama like the rest of America,” I laughed.

“You hustled us,” Nolan scoffed.

“And I would do it again.” I nodded and took a sip of my wine.

After the show ended, we found ourselves on the beach around a fire pit that the boys dug in the sand. I felt a pang of sadness as Nolan sat making out with the girl he brought over. Now that Sinclair was off the table— good riddance —I didn’t have any other solid hook ups that I could rely on.

Luke plopped down next to me in the sand, alone.

“What happened to your girl?” I asked, acting like I didn’t get a little pleasure when I looked around and didn’t see her here anymore.

“Wasn’t feeling it,” He said, staring into the fire.

This was awkward. We’re not friends, but I found myself not feeling that fire of hatred that once fueled me. I didn’t know how to just sit and have a conversation with this man anymore.

“So, how are classes?” I asked, trying to break the uncomfortable tension.

“Yup, they’re good. It’s definitely a different culture here, but I’m adjusting.”

I nodded my head, glancing up at him, and we were silent again. The silence was familiar but uncomfortable. Once there was a time where I reveled in how nice it felt to exist in each other's orbit without having to fill the time with mindless conversation. But that was too comfortable now.

He looked up and caught me staring at him, I looked away and he chuckled. Glad he’s amused.

“Are you excited for your birthday?” He asked, taking a sip of his drink.

“Yeah, it should be fun.”

“Fun?” He nudged my shoulder. “What happened to the girl who was so obsessed with her birthday that she made an itemized itinerary for the entire day?”

I laughed, “that girl is long gone.” We kept eye contact for a moment, as if my words hit somewhere deeper, and I was no longer just talking about my birthday. Maybe I wasn’t.

Luke glanced down at my lips and I held my breath.

What would I do if he kissed me?

The thoughts quickly dissipated when Nolan spoke up, “We’re going inside,” he shouted over the fire.

I jumped up, needing to separate myself from the situation, “yeah, me too.”

I quickly grabbed my shoes and shuffled towards the house as the boys put out the fire with wet sand. This whole interaction with Luke felt too normal, too easy. I couldn’t deny the fact that my body reacted to him. If he leaned in for a kiss, would I have let him?

Probably.

But I couldn’t let myself go there again. I couldn’t forget the past, even if it’s for a very hot hookup . Luke and I had chemistry, history, and if I was not careful I would find myself giving in to what my body wanted, but what my mind knew was a bad idea.

I locked my bedroom door behind me and walked out onto the patio breathing in to calm myself. He got me worked up like no one else, but that was dangerous for my heart. I took a beat to remind myself of what I declared all those years ago.

Luke Cavan was dead to me.

And it needed to stay that way.