#kareith

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Despite the brisk chill in the October air, Karen found herself sitting across from Keith at their usual study spot in the quad. Having finished her chemistry homework, she pulled out the novel she had started reading the prior day. The modern gothic authors were a new favorite of hers after recently being introduced to them in her English class, but that afternoon, the copy of Flowers in the Attic that sat in front of her was seemingly no longer enough to hold her attention.

Instead, she found herself peeking up from the pages to look at Keith, admiring the way the breeze swept through his hair and secretly wishing that her fingers could do the same. She loved the look of concentration on his face and the last thing she wanted to do was break his focus when she was so proud of him for deciding to apply to a couple of four-year universities in addition to the local community college. There was a fleeting thought of how much she would miss him next year when he was off at college, but she brushed it aside. There was something she needed to tell him, and Karen didn’t want to wait a moment longer.

“Dan and I broke up,” she said abruptly.

Keith’s head jerked back, but he kept his eyes on the application he had been filling out. “I…” He steeled himself and looked up at her expectant face. “I’m sorry to hear that, Karen.” He tapped his pen on the table as he thought about what to say next. “How are you, uh–how are you doing with that?”

“Well, first I was pissed. But that was before we broke up. And then I was relieved. Because I didn’t have to put up with his crap anymore. And now… Well, now I’m…” she looked into Keith’s eyes, her expression growing hopeful as she came closer to the words she had been holding onto for far too long. “I’m happy. Because there’s this other guy who I really like.”

She watched as Keith’s face dropped, suddenly becoming stoic.

“And I’m hoping that… Well, if he likes me too, he might ask me out.”

“Oh,” he said quietly, not picking up on her hints. “Well, I hope that works out for you.” He looked down at the application once more, and found that her news left him unable to make sense of the words on the page in front of him.

“Keith…” Karen waited for his gaze to return to hers. She gave him a look, willing him to understand. She smiled shyly.

“Oh!” A slow smile grew on his face as the realization hit him. Flustered by being put on the spot and Karen’s nervous smile as she hoped for reciprocation, Keith hardly had time to process it all. For all the time they had spent together over the years and the almost unlimited array of topics they discussed, one thing he had never come close to telling her was that he carried feelings for her of something more than friendship. He liked to think that, eventually—when enough time had passed after her break-up—he might have come up with the idea to ask her out on his own. After testing the waters to find out if she was even interested, of course.

Who am I kidding? He told himself. Left to his own devices, he would never have worked up the nerve. But now that the opportunity was here, he wasn’t going to let the moment pass him by.

“I… Karen…” his chest puffed out with confidence and his chin lifted as he asked her a question he thought he would never say. “Do you want to go out on a date with me?”

Karen’s face lit up, and Keith felt his heart soar.  

“Yes,” she answered. “I do.”

“You’re sure it’s not too soon?”

“It’s not soon enough.”

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That's all, folks!

I hope there's at least one person out there who enjoyed this, because there's a lot more where this came from.

If you did enjoy it, I'd love to hear what you think!

Lastly, here are the originals that I edited for my version above.