The Heartbreaker's Home

Chapter 8

The First Reconciliation

Declan never expected that sort of outburst from his Kelsey. He had fallen for her gentle nature, the way she seemed to want to hide in the shadows, yet the shadows rejected her as if she didn't belong there. And he had to agree. With her wide eyes, innocent like Bambi's, brunette hair that reflected any light shone on it to make it look like spun gold, it was safe to say that Declan Reed was hopelessly in love with one Kelsey Lee Harrington. So when she had exploded in his face, for reasons he couldn't even comprehend, he only wandered back into the milkshake bar with a confused expression on his face.

"What's up man? You look like your cat dragged a dead mouse onto your pillow." His best friend, Grant waved him over to resume his seat back at the large table they were at.

He looked at Grant, looking all rugged and handsome with his naturally curled brunette locks and charming smile that had the younger girls mooning over him. Grant was a good looking bastard, but he didn't flaunt it, not the way Declan did. No, Grant had long been single, but Declan knew why.

He was sworn to secrecy though.

"Kelsey... is confusing me." he admitted to his friend. They've grown up together. Well, technically everyone they knew in high school had grown up together, since they all lived in the small, stowaway town off from Los Angeles. But he and Grant had been neighbors all their lives.

"What did you- Ah, never mind. I know." Grant had always been more astute then Declan had. He raised his brows in a silent question. "Dude, have you seen the way they've been looking at you?"

Declan knitted his brows together, and looked up. Sure, the cheerleaders were grinning at him, often by his side, but wasn't that normal? He had just won a  game. Grant snorted and rolled his eyes. "Don't be so full of yourself. If... Felix, for example, had placed an arm around Kelsey's shoulder and then continued to handfeed her fries, would you still be sitting here?"

"Fuck no." I cursed. The very image itself made Declan's blood boil. He couldn't stand anyone touching his Kay.

"And you're asking me why she's mad at you? When the cheerleaders have had their hands all over you all night?"

Grant wondered for the thousandth time, just how dense his best friend could be as he watched the slow realization dawn on Declan's face, before he began cursing beneath his breath. Unluckily for her, Vivian chose that time to sidle up, laying her fingers on Declan's forearm. "All alone, quarterback?"

To say Declan's reaction was explosive was an understatement. He had pushed Vivian away, she would've fallen if Felix, their team mate had not grabbed her just in time. In no time at all, Declan was dashing out the milkshake bar, pulling out his phone as he ran into the dark night.

Declan Reed, Sent 12.05AM: 'Baby, I'm sorry. Please come to your door in 5 minutes.'

---

He drove me back that night, after we had spent an hour or so laying on the pier, with his arms wrapped firmly around me. My confession was stolen out of my lips, because the moment my words left them, he had swept me up and I lost myself in his lips. At some point we almost fell into the pier, had I not realized my heel was pressing down on thin air. We had laughed, and Declan declared that he wanted to show me the stars again. He pointed out more then just the constellations to me that night, chased away from the pier when the skies finally opened and we dashed to the car, but not before getting drenched to the bone. As he pulled up to the front door of my place, I sat huddled under his hoodie dripping water on to the carpet of his car. Even the hoodie did little to help, as there was more water on me then the summer hoodie could handle.