nine: argued

Tori woke up pissed.

She stared at the still-sleeping face of Keenan in front of her, her eyes narrowing insolently. Most nights, when the only noise in the darkness was the sound of rustling sheets, Tori could feel the electricity between them. But last night, she could tell that Keenan's mind wasn't where his body was.

Slowly, Keenan's eyes opened. The pale lids revealed those captivating light green eyes. Tori had fallen for his eyes. "Morning, Tor," he mumbled. He blinked his thick black lashes.

Tori didn't speak. She knew it was juvenile, but she was not happy with him. So she just stared, letting a hint of a glare into her turquoise blue eyes. But he looked so adorable, with that eyeliner smudged under his eyes...She shook her head to dispel all thoughts like that one. She was ticked. I. Am. Ticked.

Keenan's dark brows knitted together, the ring in one of them twitching with the movement. "What's wrong?" he asked. He generally seemed to not know.

Succumbing to her nervous habit of smoothing her hair from neck to waist, Tori finally said, "What was with last night, Keen?"

"Last night?" Keenan echoed, sounding puzzled. Tori rolled her eyes in exasperation. Obviously she would have to spell it out for him.

"You seemed...distracted." Tori forced herself to meet Keenan's gaze, still taming her bedhead-wild wavy locks.

Understanding now, Keenan's tongue flicked out. The stud in it clacked against the hoop in his lip as he stayed silent. Tori's infuriation grew with every second of quiet. "What is it?" she finally demanded, her voice acidic. She tried to keep her tone under control without lessening the urgency. "What aren't you telling me. You know you can tell me anything, Keenan."

"I know," Keenan replied, heaving a sigh. "But..."

"But," Tori prompted, suddenly feeling like an insecure preadolescent again.

"Nothing," Keenan muttered. He started to pull himself into a sitting position. Tori followed, arranging her hair in two ebony rivers down her shoulders that collected on her hips and masked her bare chest. She reminded herself that Keenan had seen her naked before, but something was off, and until then, she felt like she had to cover herself.

"No. It's not nothing." Tori's hand caught his shoulder.

Keenan took a deep breath, then spoke. His words came out in an incomprehensible rush. "Wellthere'sthisgirlnamedLeahthatImetintheThriftwayyesterdayandIjustcan'tgetheroffmymind. Pleasedon'tbepissedoff'causeit'snotlikeI'mgonnagofallinlovewithLeahoranything'causeI'minlovewithyouofcoursebutIjustcan'tstopthinkingabouther."

"What?" All that had just gone in one ear and out the other.

"Um..." Keenan's rings clacked again as he prepared to say it all again. Tori eyed him suspiciously. "I met this g—this person named Leah yesterday, and God, I just can't stop thinking about her."

"What?" Tori repeated, this time her voice completely shocked, hurt, and angry.

"Tor..." Keenan began. He swallowed hard, and then continued. "Babe, I don't—"

"You don't what?" Tori yelled. Anger was overcoming shock and hurt as her dominant emotion. "Don't think like that? That's a lie, Keenan, a huge fucking lie! Obviously if you can't get her off your mind for just a little while so you can concentrate on loving me—"

"Tori, listen—"

"No, you listen! Why don't you just get the hell out of my apartment and go find your fucking Leah! Maybe she'll want you!" Whore, Tori added mentally. She wondered vaguely if she was overreacting, but she shut that voice up fast.

Without a word, Keenan pulled himself out of bed. He calmly pulled on his pants and t-shirt, slipped into his Converse, and walked out, shutting the bedroom door behind him.

It wasn't until he was gone that Tori realized she'd made a huge mistake. She wanted to cry, "Wait!" But she couldn't find her voice.

once again, penned in science. i must do my best writing there. lol. well, review my baby, and then go check out my other stories, "Meteor" and my MI fics. LONG LIVE MAIA! :) allrightythen...bye!