"You got a weird phone call?" Robert asked with concern in his voice as he sat at the kitchen table watching Keeley mix together a bowl of cookie dough.
She sighed as she poured in the chocolate chips and kept stirring.
"Yeah. I don't understand it. They didn't give a real name either; it was a code name. It sounded like a kid though! Like a thirteen-year-old boy whose voice was still cracking. What reason would a thirteen-year-old have to stalk me?"
"I'll get you pepper spray right away," he said seriously. "It might just be a prank but in case it wasn't…"
After the incident on her birthday, Robert was even more nervous letting Keeley out of his sight than he had been before though he tried to hide it for her sake. They never caught the culprits. Could this be related to that?
She was all he had left. If he lost her too…
"I know, Dad. I'll be careful. I'll make sure I walk home with other people from now on."
She wasn't sure how she would make that work since she got off after dark and didn't have any other friends who typically stayed on campus that late but she would figure something out.
Her dorm was less than ten blocks from the library but in the dark…Great, now she was freaking herself out.
Robert changed the subject. "So, on a happier note, tell me more about school."
"Well, I'm not sure what to tell you that's new since last week…oh! Valentina introduced me to telenovelas. They're like Spanish soap operas and the plots are so convoluted you wouldn't believe…"
Keeley described the joys of telenovelas for the next twenty minutes, omitting the part where she stayed up all night because of them. She may be an adult but she still didn't want to be lectured by her dad.
As the cookies baked, she sprawled out on the couch under a blanket. It was getting chillier as November drew to a close.
"By any chance have you been in contact with your friend Aaron lately?" her father asked nonchalantly.
She sat up instantly, the blanket tangling around her.
"No, why would I? We weren't as close as you think, Dad. We were just desk mates for one quarter. I wouldn't even call us friends."
He frowned. Just a desk mate wouldn't have been so distraught when Keeley got drugged.
He wished he understood the relationship between those two. Something about them didn't quite make sense.
It was almost like there was an invisible wall between them. Some sort of secret.
Keeley wasn't the type to keep secrets though; when she was little she fessed up the moment she did something wrong and then cried because she felt bad.
His baby girl was growing up. She wasn't that innocent, naïve little kid anymore.
She was an adult and he shouldn't be prying into her business but he felt sorry for that young man. He got the sense that nobody really cared for him, least of all his stubborn daughter.
Keeley's actions with Aaron, as limited as the ones he saw had been, were a bit hot and cold. She acted rudely toward him a lot of the time but still did nice things such as making him brownies in return for the scrapbooking supplies and calling him over so that he would have at least a few graduation pictures even though no one came to watch.
He got the sense that very deep down, she did care. Why she wouldn't show it to someone who obviously valued her was the real mystery.
"Hmm, that's not the feeling I got. He probably misses you. You should give him a call."
"Dad! We aren't like that. I don't even have his number anymore," she said, annoyed.
What was her dad's deal with Aaron? Why did he always seem to take his side? Aaron was a thing of the past!
Sure, he still crept into her thoughts without warning now and then but that wasn't her fault! Memories just pop up sometimes. She had a lot with him.
"That's a shame. I get the feeling he doesn't have a lot of friends," Robert sighed.
Her annoyance grew.
"That's because he doesn't want them. Aaron doesn't feel human emotions the way normal people do. He uses people that can benefit him and that's it. He's like a little business robot programmed by his dad."
"You know his father?" Oops. She wasn't supposed to.
"He mentioned something about it once," she lied. "His father has been training him to be his successor since he was a toddler. Dad, he reads magazines like Time and Forbes for fun! That's not normal."
He eyed her sternly. "I think you should cut the poor kid a little slack."
"Why are we even talking about this?" she cried in confusion. "You don't care about anyone else I knew in high school! You never ask about Jeffrey or Lydia—they're both doing great, by the way. Why does Aaron matter?"
"I told you, I feel sorry for him."
"Is that enough reason to give me a hard time about it though?!"
"Yes."
Keeley blew out a frustrated breath. "You're being unfair, you know. You wouldn't be so nice to him if you knew what he was really like. You're biased because he's only ever acted polite toward you. I'm trying to forget I ever knew him. Can't you respect my decision?"
"Why?" he asked simply.
"There's too much to possibly tell!"
He wouldn't believe her. Aaron practically killed him! He's the reason all of the Halls got wiped out!
He never treated her nicely, respected her opinions, or showed her any real degree of warmth. There wasn't a single decent thing about his personality.
Keeley crossed her arms over her chest irately. "Why don't you believe me?"
"Whatever you've seen…I think he genuinely cares about you. Just be nice to him if he talks to you again, okay?" Robert finished his bit by snitching some cookie dough out of the bowl.
"No cookie dough for you," she muttered as she pulled the bowl out of his reach.
He had no idea what he was talking about. Besides, why on earth would Aaron talk to her again? They were nothing to each other.
That chapter of her life was over and she had no intention of going back. Things were much better without him! She was able to live her life freely, the way she always wanted to! Who needed him?