Chapter 28

Keegan and Baylen went back to school and I tried to get back to my normal life. Jagger was texting me regularly and Jeff was still an amazing friend to me that I kissed every once in a while. I was content. I hadn’t heard from Keegan since our moment in the living room the day after Thanksgiving. That had been two weeks now and he was set to come home for Christmas soon.

I was going to Casey’s house today. Her grandparents were staying until New Year’s Day, so we planned to bake with them today. Our menu consisted of Oreo balls, peanut butter cookies, matcha Swiss rolls and black sesame cookies.

Casey was a horrible baker and made more of a mess than she did actually baking anything. She loved putting on an apron and throwing flour onto her face and taking selfies.

“Jim, can you hand me that cookie sheet?” O’bachan asked.

Casey thought it was hilarious that her grandparents called me Jim while they were here. Due to her calling me James, they thought my nickname was Jim and she died from laughter every time. I threw a kitchen towel at her and handed O’bachan the cookie sheet.

As I started mixing the first batch of mixture for the Oreo balls, my phone pinged twice, back to back. I grabbed it from my apron pocket and saw two messages from a number I didn’t recognize.

One was a photo of two collared shirts and the other one read, “Hey Squirt, which one for dinner at my coach’s house?”

Wait. Was this? Was it Keegan? He and Bay were the only two people that called me Squirt. Casey had deleted his phone number from my phone a while back. I was so tempted to call or text him that it was the only way to stop myself.

I texted back immediately, “Kee?”

I saw the dots start to dance on my screen and an instant reply, “Yes, dork!”

My heart skipped a beat and I almost knocked the bowl over that I was holding. Keegan hadn’t texted me in months. Casey had blocked him on my phone but I had unblocked him. Some part of me always wanted him to text me out of the blue like this.

“James, why are you smiling at your phone like that girl?” Casey asked running over to see who had me all giddy.

I hid my phone in my chest.

“It’s Jagger. She sends me the cutest gifs,” I said.

“Yeah ok. You two better not be being pervy while we are making goodies,” she joked.

I handed her the bowl to finish mixing, which she immediately turned into a photo op with O’bachan. I went into the den so that I could text Keegan back. Why was I so ashamed? I was hiding this from Casey and I knew it was wrong. I hated lying to her, but she also lied to me about that jerk, Cyman. I sat on the burgundy chaise lounge and started my response.

“I like the green one but the white and blue will bring out your eyes,” I said, texting vigorously.

“I will definitely go with the green one then. Can’t be having Coach thinking I’m trying to make a move, lol,” he typed.

I giggled at his sarcasm. It was cute. No Brees, it’s not cute, it’s funny. Friends didn’t call one another cute, I adjusted.

“Thanks for the advice. See you in a couple week,” he said.

I sent him a smiling emoji. That was the end of our conversation, but the beginning of long nights of texts and phone calls over the next few weeks.

Keegan would text me first thing in the morning and right before bed. We FaceTimed a lot so I could help with his math and he would help me with my history.

I started to really look forward to hearing from him every day. He and Isadora were still dating and I was seeing Jeff and Jagger, so this was absolutely platonic. I still hadn’t told Casey about it, but it was harmless and I didn’t want a huge lecture. She was still hurting from the incident with Cyman and Harper. She said she was fine, but I knew better. She threw herself into her Art more, so I knew she had lost her first love and it was killing her. So I was not going to dare bring up this little bit of nothing between my first love and myself.

We would be headed on Winter Break soon and I wanted to make sure I had everything ready for when Baylen came home and Quinn. They were coming up on their two year anniversary and he wanted that to be special. Keegan said he would help me as well. Friendsmas is their actual anniversary, but that day is still sacred.

Keegan and I asked Isadora and Casey to help us with the anniversary set up. Baylen wants it in our kitchen, but set up like a restaurant. I knew he loved her, because he has never gone to these lengths for anyone else.

I was just happy one of us found true love and unfortunately it wasn’t myself and Keegan Patts.