And I'm Back...Writing This Is Really Going To Mess With My Head The Next Time I Watch The Movie *sigh* .. Anyways, Hope Everyone Enjoys!

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A Concrete Goal

Part 5

Month 4

April 1st. Better known as April Fool's Day. Since it has landed on a Tuesday, there's not much excitement for it this year. At least not for her. It's been almost two weeks since the incident with Raff. On the outside, nothing had changed between them. But she knew. And so did Keith. He was frustrating her beyond belief.

He'd kissed her. Maybe only once, and maybe it was a while back ago, but still.

"I'm going," she tells her mom.

"Natalie, I'm not ready," her mother calls. She ignores her, grabbing her tennis gear and going out to her car. Raff's is parked in front of the house but she ignores it, along with his voice calling her.

He follows her, unsurprisingly. She is forced to stop and he gets out of the car and taps on her window.

"What the hell is going on, Natalie?"

"What's going on is I have a match," she replies.

"Look, if there's something wrong, you'd better tell me about it," he responds.

"It has nothing to do with you!" She yells back.

"Why? Because it has to do with Keith?" He snips back.

"No, it has to do with me!"

"Than it's about me too!" He yells back. "In case you haven't noticed, you and I are a little involved right now!"

"I'll call you later," she says.

"Look, if we want the lakehouse, I gotta call my uncle today..." She guns it when it's clear, not hearing the rest of his speech.

When she pulls up at the match location, she lets the tears fall. So much had happened. So many things had changed. She had changed. Wiping away the tears, she got out of the car. She walked up to the check-in stand and checked in. The man smiled at her, but she could only nod.

When it was her turn, she tried to block everything out. Everything but Keith. Thinking of his quirky sense of humor and his eyes. She'd thought they were brown, but on closer inspection earlier, she'd seen they were a blue-hazel. The most gorgeous color she'd ever seen. She closes her eyes as his fill up her mind.

She serves and scores a point. After a few minutes, she wins her first match in almost two months. Her body tingles, but not from the win.

ooo

That Friday she has another match. She can't stand the growing feeling in her heart. So she drives away. She goes to Keith's house and sees a man working on the truck.

"Are you Keith's dad?" She asks.

"Yea, how can I help you?" He reponds.

"I'm...A friend of Keith's. I have something for him. Could I come in?" She asks.

"Uh, yea, sure. Come on in," he says to her. She smiles and grabs the box from her backseat. She follows him into the house and waits in the living room. "I'll go get him for you," he says.

She hears them talking and then a door slamming. She jumps and turns when his father comes in.

"I'm sorry. he doesn't want to see you right now." She looks down.

"Oh. Okay. Thanks anyways." He nods and she goes back outside and gets in her car.

She starts to drive away but changes her mind, deciding to hide her car down the street in the trees. When she does, she walks back up to his house and waits for his father to go back in the house before she opens the box and hangs the die around the rearview mirror. She leaves the box on the bucket seat and gets into the bed of the truck, hiding under the blankets.

An hour passes and then she hears him. He pauses at the door and then gets in, starting the truck. She watches the sky above her as daytime turns to nighttime. He drives for another hour before heading to the cliff.

When he gets out of the truck and walks towards the ledge, she sits up and gets out of the truck as well. His back is to her and she sees a bonfire at The Brick going. She walks up behind him and stops a few feet away.

"I...I don't..." Tears clog her throat and she swallows before speaking again. "I don't care where you're going to be next year. I don't care if you're crazy, or if you killed someone. I just...I just know that I want to be with you." The tears fall freely now. "God...It just seems so pointless. Everything just seems so...pointless. But when I'm with you? It's different...And I don't know why." A sob builds up in her throat and escapes. "Please," she whispers.

Before she realizes it, he's holding her face in his hands and kissing her. That same jolt of electricity goes through her and she kisses him back, helpless. All thoughts of reason escape her as she feels his ardor.

Her hands go around his neck, and his around her waist. He pulls her closer and she sighs in pleasure. Their kisses become frenzied and, before she realizes it, they are in the flatbed.

And even sooner, their clothes come off and she feels him, really feels him. And she realizes she's always been ready...Just not with Raff, but Keith. So when he hesitates just the slightest bit, she pulls him tighter against her. And as they say...The rest is history. Sort of.

ooo

A million thoughts race through his head as he drives back to where her car is parked. He wanted her, more than anything, and in those few moments, he had forgotten the truth. he had forgotten his plan. He forgot the truth. And, now that the truth was smacking him in the face, he couldn't put her through any of that. He hated what he was about to do, but it had to be done.

"So, we should actually go bowling," she says. He smiles and laughs.

"Yea, we should."

"So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Come on," she says, and he can hear how happy she is.

"I don't know about any of this actually," he says.

"What?" Shje responds.

"I mean, a guy like me, with a truck...I mean, I'm not one for the whole committments thing anyways...Let's just forget it, okay?" He glances over at her and sees how hurt she is.

"Fuck you," she says. And, to add more salt on the wounds, he looks over at her and drives the final nail in his coffin.

"Ya just did, partner." She scoffs and gets out of the truck, slamming the door. As soon as it's closed, his eyes close painfully. He knew she would never forgive him, not after this. So, he does the only thing he can do: drive.

Miraculously, he ends up on the cliffs again. God help him, he didn't know why he was here. As he stops and gets out of the truck, memories of just minutes ago flood his mind. He leans his forehead on the cold glass of the window and moves to the bed of the truck. He picks up the blanket and breathes in deep. It smells just like her.

Crying out, he kicks the rear bumper of the truck. He climbs into the drivers' seat and hits the dashboard repeatedly, slamming his fist against it. When he stops, his forehead falls onto the steering wheel. Tears slip down his cheeks and hit his hands. He knew what he was doing when he chose her as his lab partner.

He knew how his life was going to play out. He wanted to break her down, to get beneath her high and mighty walls. But now that he did, he knew she was more than just a pretty face and Miss Popular. She had dreams just like him. Dreams that would never satisfy the rest of the world.

Finally, after another hour of sitting there, he musters up the strength to drive back home. When he finally gets into his bed, he stares up at the ceiling, feeling like a monster. He got what he wanted: her surrender. BUt he hated it, almost as much as he hated himself.

ooo

After a disastrous weekend, the days dragged on and on. Raff knew something was up, but she refused to acknowledge it. Finally, on the 10th, a Friday as luck would have it, she couldn't take it any longer. She is sitting with Raff and Brooke And Travis in the quad.

"Can...Can we talk?" She asks, trying to be polite.

"Sure," he responds. She feels everyone's eyes on her, but she forces the feeling away. They stop a few feet away. "What is it, Natalie?" He asks. She pulls out her bookbag and pulls out a few shirts and hands them to him, along with a black button up.

"I couldn't find the Caribbean Mix, so I'll have to get that to you later," she says. He grabs her arm.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"Look...We had a good time. I like you..."

"Than why are you doing this?" He asks, interrupting her. She swallows and looks around, seeing the stares.

"I'm just going through a really hard time right now. Things are complicated."

"Yea, because you started bullshitting me, Natalie!" He yells and she winces.

"I'll try and get that CD to you when I can find it..."

"Look at me!" He yells, grabbing her by the arms. She freezes and looks up into his eyes. "What? You going to let that little psycho get between us?"

"Have you really forgotten what you did to me?" She asks in a whisper. He tightens his grip.

"I did nothing you didn't want," he responds.

"Let go of me," she pleads.

"No, not until you tell me what you're problem is! What, you gonna give it up to that little shit?"

"STOP IT!" She screams, pushing him away from her. He stumbles and falls into the fountain. She's breathing heavily and notices belatedly that the whole quad is staring at her. Tears fill her eyes. "You know, I only hope good things for you. 'Cause really bad shit happens to people. I hope to God it never happens to you," she whispers, turning and running towards the parking lot. She gets in her car and closes the door, locking it.

She cries again. Not only had he lacerated her pride, but her reputation.

After she calms down, she sees that school is about to end. Already going to be counted as skipping, and not giving a damn, she starts the car and drives away.

ooo

He'd watched the entire thing. He'd seen him grab her, and her shove him away. He felt pride in that, watching him go into the fountain. What hurt was seeing the tears on her face. They seemed to be there constantly nowadays. He swallows and starts the truck, heading nowhere.

He couldn't let her under his skin any further than she already was. Good God, she was all he thought about. He couldn't get her out of his mind.

But, no matter how much it hurt, he couldn't let her get closer. He kept telling himself it was for the best...Even though he knew he was only lying to himself.

ooo

The next two weeks were pure torture. Everywhere she went, everyone stared. Some openly gawked at her as she passed by them. All anyone seemed to know about what happened was Raff's version. No one bothered to listen to hers, so she stopped trying to tell it. Brooke stopped talking to her. Her grades began to slip. And she lost her scholarship to Duke.

"I just don't understand what is happening, Natalie," her mom says one day at a 'family meeting.' "You were there, you had the scholarship in our hands! Why'd you let it go?"

"Maybe I don't want to play tennis for six hours a day, Mom. Maybe, after ten stupid years, I am sick and tired of it! Maybe I want something different for myself! Has it ever occurred to you that I have dreams of my own?"

"Natalie, get back here!" Her mom yells, but she doesn't hear her. She grabs her keys and leaves the house.

As she is driving, she sees the guy she'd met with the boy, Billy. An urge hits her and she turns the car around and follows him.

He stops at a gas station and she follows him inside.

"Hi," she says and he turns to her. "We met. I'm Keith's friend?" He nods.

"Hi. How is Keith?" She shakes her head.

"I don't really know, I don't see him much. Does he still see that boy, Billy?"

"Billy passed away." He turns to pay the cashier.

"What?" The shock is palpable.

"I thought you knew..."

"Well, how did he know him?"

"Oh, they were in chemo together," he says nochalantly.

"Wait...what?"

"You didn't know that either?" She shakes her head.

"So, were you his doctor?"

"Counselor, actually."

"Well, how sick is he? He's going to be okay, right?" The look he gives her is so full of remorse that tears fill her eyes. She shakes her head and leaves the store.

She heads to Keith;s house and knocks on the door. She hears him playing the guitar inside.

"Keith?" She asks. The music stops for a couple of seconds before he starts, louder this time. "Keith, open the door. Keith?" He continues to ignore her. "Keith, please come out here and talk to me. Keith? Keith!" By now the tears are flowing freely and she can't help it.

ooo

She walks around in a constant daze, everything flipped upside down. If only she knew that he was hurting too...

WOOHOO! ANOTHER CHAPTER FINISHED! I AM SO SAD TO SEE THIS COME TO AN END REAL SOON, BUT IT HAS BEEN REALLY FUN.