Chapter Twenty-Four

Alice sped forwards like lightning and closed her hands around her journal before he could get a good look at the words she had written, or worse, that portrait she had drawn on the first page. She backed away and her legs hit the bottom of the couch, and she fell over on top. Clutching her journal to her chest, her breathing grew ragged as she watched Keanu approach the couch.

He placed a hand on the arm rest and neared her, causing her pulse rate to devolve into a frenzy. She swallowed hard as he hovered over her, the small smile on his lips widening slowly.

Loud footsteps.

Both their heads snapped up and Keanu's back straightened in the blink of an eye. Looking behind her, she saw her dad entering the home.

"Oh hey guys," Mike said. "Fancy seeing you here, Keanu."

"I came over to hang out with Alice," Keanu said.

"Really?" Alice asked.

"What?"

"Huh," Mike said. "I had no idea you guys were this close."

"It just happened," Keanu said.

"I mean, you guys do work at the same place," he said. "I just thought because of the age gap…"

"I guess it was hard at first," Alice said.

Mike shrugged as he put his keys down. "Since you're here, Keanu, do you want to catch up on Criminal?"

"Sure," he said.

"Wanna join?" Mike asked her.

She shook her head. "I'll just be at the lawn doing my thing."

They nodded and she went to the garage to remove a foldable chair from it. Taking it out to the lawn, she placed it on the grass and sat on it. It smelled slightly mouldy, but she was fine with that. Her notebook was in her hands and she flipped it open to resume where she left off.

As she wrote, the sunlight beat mercilessly on her skin and beads of perspiration formed at her temples. Feeling hot, she dropped the book onto the grass beside the chair and went back into the garage to fetch an umbrella stand. It took her a while to uncover it from all the crap that was stored there, but she finally made it back to the lawn.

Opening it, she positioned the umbrella stand over the beach chair and the shade fell onto it. Smiling, she took her seat again and reached down blindly to the side of it to pick her book up, but her hands connected with grass instead.

Craning her neck down beside the chair, she found the notebook sitting under it and she lifted it back up to herself. She continued the short story where it left off and smiled every now and then as she wrote. When she reached page ten, drowsiness overtook her, her eyelids growing heavy. She placed the book on the armrest and drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

She awoke to laughter.

Her eyes blinked a few times as she tried to orient herself back to earth. Her vision focused gradually and she stared blankly at her surroundings. An ache grew at the side of her neck and she rubbed it, easing the tension away. She was about to stretch and yawn when she saw the shock of her life.

Keanu was seated beside her on the grass, laughing to himself as he read from her journal. He flipped another page, his eyes glued to the pages, seemingly engrossed in her words.

She jumped out of the seat. "Keanu!" Her hands flew towards her journal but he held it just out of her reach.

He stood up and lifted the journal high above his head. Since he towered over her, she could only stare at him in horror.

"You didn't even use a different name," he laughed. "You used my name."

"I-I just thought it was a nice name!"

"Do you spend your days and nights fantasising about fucking me, huh?"

She bit her lips. "Are you crazy?"

He lowered his hand with the journal and patted it. "So you're writing erotica about me. Do you want me to do these things to you?"

"N-No," she said, stammering. "I - " He held the journal out to her and she snatched it away from his hands. "I - "

Tense silence hung in the air between them for a while.

"Alice," Keanu said, his expression turning serious. "Why do you always challenge everything I know about myself?"

She stilled. "What do you mean?"

He placed the journal on the beach chair and approached her step by step. Stopping inches before her, he lowered his head down to look at her. She stared up, her breath hitching in her throat. Every inch of her skin was lit afire in burning acid and her lips parted.

"You know what I mean," he said, his lips hovering over hers.

Hot air escaped from his lips to graze hers, and her heart must've stopped in its tracks. She neared her face to his but before she could touch her lips to his, his hand reached to the back of her head.

He fisted her hair and yanked it backwards roughly. Her face tilted upwards, her mouth exposed under his face. His jaw clenched as her chest rose and fell in short irregular bursts, her breasts softly grazing his other arm that was holding onto her shoulder.

"I don't," she breathed out.

"Then I'll show you what I mean."