Taming the Beast novel Chapter 12

Gregg saw me and smiled as he started heading towards me. Before, I was excited to see Keegan, but now I was dreading having to sit through a whole lunch period listening to him and Natasha flirt and touch. I looked down at my lap as Gregg took the seat on my left and Keegan on my right. It didn’t go unnoticed that Natasha planted herself on Keegan’s other side; practically sitting in his lap. Asher, Nick, and Trevor filled in the rest of the seats at our table. My friends, John, Stacy and Mariana, all greeted them. There were less looks today from the rest of the cafeteria. I flinched away from the butterflies running amuck in my stomach. I tried to ignore the shocks of pleasure running up my leg from where Keegan’s jeans were brushing against mine. Keegan smiled at me sheepishly; like he’d just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Hey Caroline,” he greeted. I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he serious? He goes on saying that he’s attracted to me, makes me feel some kind of way, makes me excited to see him, only to rub his girlfriend in my face?

“Oh, Caroline, hey,” Natasha said as if she didn’t see me sitting there until now. Her hand rubbed up Keegan’s arm. I wanted to rip it off. I watched as each perfectly manicured, candy-colored nail moved up his chest then back down his arm. How dare she touch him! He was mine!

No he wasn’t.

I took a deep breath to calm myself He wasn’t mine. He was someone I could possibly be friends with, but he wasn’t mine; not in that way. He said a few nice things to me and I let my imagination run wild. Us being together was never even a possibility. Natasha always got what she wanted… and she had Keegan.

“Caroline, I see you’ve met my boyfriend, Keegan,” she smiled indifferently. Keegan’s eyes shot to mine as he blushed. He kind of reminded me of a shy young boy. I wanted to hug him and tell him that everything was going to be okay, but that would be weird. I shrugged and turned back to my turkey salami sandwich.

“Yeah, we’ve met,” I said. I sounded bitter. That’s not the way I wanted it to come out at all; although I did feel that way. An awkward silence fell over the table as I ate my lunch quietly. Well, everyone else was quiet while Natasha rambled on about something. I sighed ad decided to tune her back in. It didn’t sound like she was talking about Keegan anymore.