Run, Girl (If You Can)

Chapter 214: I Really Don\'t Get You

Ryan wanted to come over and see Keeley\'s new place and there was absolutely no way she could allow that. For one, this was a temporary stop over. Two, she would have to explain she was staying with a friend and he knew all of her friends. He would realize instantly that it was Aaron and get pissed off.

She knew he was just looking out for her in his own way but Ryan didn\'t have the full story. She didn\'t want to be lectured so she suggested they go get burgers instead.

"So, what have you been up to this week aside from unpacking?" he asked after swallowing a bite of his meal.

Keeley hadn\'t been unpacking at all. "Watching TV, hanging with the cats, swimming. Not much. I have to say though I am loving not having homework so I can just relax after work."

He laughed. "I remember that feeling. It is really nice. Hang on though, cats? Plural? Did you get another one?"

Oops. "No, this is my…roommate\'s…cat."

They weren\'t actually roommates—she was a house and cat sitter—but she couldn\'t exactly explain that without giving away that she was staying at Aaron\'s.

"Does Molly get along with the other cat?"

She was relieved he didn\'t press her for details. "Oh yeah, they\'re totally buds now. I caught them grooming each other yesterday."

"That\'s good. I\'ve heard cats can be pretty territorial. I had a neighbor growing up whose cat died. She got a kitten as a replacement but her other cat never accepted it."

How sad. That poor kitten must have suffered! Keeley knew how it felt not being accepted into a family. It was different between the species obviously but the story still struck a chord with her.

She chewed on a French fry dipped in ketchup morosely until Ryan spoke again. "Have you seen Valentina at all?"

Keeley snorted. She hadn\'t even heard from Valentina other than a text reminder to be sure to keep up with Rico y Reencarnado so they could discuss it over video chat when she had a break between rotations.

"No but that hasn\'t stopped her from reminding me to watch my telenovela."

Ryan smiled. "You need a reminder to watch your own show? Don\'t most people get excited when something they created gets put out into the world?"

"They portray my two main characters wrong," she said grumpily. "You wouldn\'t like seeing your characters get butchered either, would you?"

She imagined it was similar for an actual artist who created characters but her problem was that Luz was way weaker and more of a damsel-in-distress than she had ever been and Hector Garza played Aaron completely wrong.

The show was cliché, overdramatic, and nothing at all like what had actually happened. The showrunners took her idea and ran too far with it.

"I see your point. What\'s wrong with them?"

"They got telenovela-ized," she said with a sigh. "They made the girl weaker and the guy more suave and sexy. I\'m more bothered by him than I am by her, to be honest."

"What\'s the guy supposed to be like?" Ryan asked curiously.

"A complete ice cube."

A frown appeared on his face. "Like your ex?"

How on earth did he make that connection?! She was quick to defend herself by defending Aaron.

"He\'s not an ice cube!"

Obvious doubt clouded his features. "Keeley, I\'ve only seen the guy a few times but he\'s the coldest human being I\'ve ever encountered. He\'s totally an ice cube. Did you base your character on him?"

Her face turned bright red and she didn\'t answer, which was an answer in and of itself. Was she really such an open book?

"So you did. Why would you do something like that?"

She became even more ashamed and mumbled so he could barely hear. "I was bitter so I made him the villain. I told you, the showrunners changed everything. They turned him into a typical telenovela male lead."

Ryan\'s brow furrowed. "You know, I really don\'t get you. One minute you slam the guy and the next you defend him. I\'ve never seen someone be so ambivalent about someone else. Either you hate him or you don\'t. Which is it?"

Keeley had been wondering the same thing herself. She really was too hot and cold about the whole thing.

If she looked deep inside herself…she really didn\'t hate Aaron anymore. He did a lot of stupid things in the past but he was doing his best to make up for them. She was conflicted, but it wasn\'t because she hated him.

"I don\'t. He\'s…not as bad as I thought."

"You said he left you for his side chick. In what world is that not bad?"

She had said way too much that time she was drunk on appletinis. No wonder Ryan was determined to see him in a bad light.

"…that was a misunderstanding," she said lamely. She sounded like every girl who ever ignored obvious signs of cheating but it was actually the truth!

He didn\'t buy it. Of course.

"Uh huh. That\'s what they all say. My sister\'s boyfriend was the same—tried to claim the girl he was cheating on her with was his cousin. Too bad cousins don\'t hold hands and kiss. She may have actually fallen for it."

"I\'m serious!" Keeley insisted. "His parents were trying to push them together but he actually hated her and wanted nothing to do with her."

"Can you even hear yourself?" he asked in frustration, crushing a handful of French fries in his fist. "You\'re making excuses for someone who hurt you!"

It totally sounded like that. Ugh, this was so irritating! This was why she should have kept her stupid drunk mouth shut!

"Ryan, I—"

He suddenly reached out across the table to grab her hand with his non fry-covered one. "You. Deserve. Better. Ditch that guy permanently."

"I never said I was with him! How did you get from basing a villain off of him to getting back together with him?" she demanded. He was being unreasonable.

Ryan scowled. "I\'ve seen how you are with him. At first you were afraid of him but now…you almost seem to care about that creep. If you didn\'t, you wouldn\'t have taken care of him when he got that black eye!"

"I was just being nice! He helped me out the other day so I was returning the favor!"

Why were they even having this conversation? Ryan was normally such a relaxed person. It was strange that he was getting this worked up, even if he did dislike Aaron.