Loving You to the Stars and Back // Keith x OC //

The Mutual Feelings

18

The next day, I woke up earlier than usual, not being able to sleep at all thinking about last night. My heart wouldn't stop racing after Keith had left me in the hall. All I could think about was how close we were last night. I mean, there were times in the past where we would be several inches apart, but not like how it happened last night.

I closed my eyes, remember how intimate it felt being close to Keith. We were so close that I could feel him breathing against my skin. What never left my mind was when Keith leaned even closer to me as if he was about to ----

I stopped my train of thought, not wanting to think any further of what might have possibly happened. My heart skipped a beat once more, making me flop back onto my bed with my face down on the pillow. "Why?" I whined, "Why is this happening now? Why am I going insane over this?"

Turning over, I looked up at the ceiling deep in thought. What did all of that mean? Maybe I was just hallucinating about everything. Yeah, I'm imagining things. Keith reacted like a child when I was helping Lance get back on his feet. Then Keith takes me back to our doors, attempting to make his move on me before he went into his room. Sometimes, I wonder why I do this to myself; to act as if I'm dense and deny my feelings as if I don't know.

Something is definitely there.

"Athena, are you awake?" Allura's voice came from the intercom, snapping me out of my thoughts, "If you are, I would like to speak to you." As much as I wanted to spend a little more time in my thoughts, it was best that I keep my mind occupied with more important matters.

I headed over to the communicator device and leaned in, "I'll be there."

Princess Allura asked me to meet her at the medical wing so we could talk. As soon as I arrived, Allura was standing in front of Lance's pod where he was going through a healing process. Altean technology was pretty neat and far more advanced than it is on earth.

Hearing the door opened caused the princess to turn around and greet me with a smile, "Good morning, Athena."

"Good morning," I replied. "How's Lance?" I asked walking towards the princess.

"He's doing fairly well. Lance's body is coping quickly with the pod. He should be out of there in around twenty dobashes or so." I looked at Lance through the glass, seeing Lance in his vulnerable state. Though he looked like he was sleeping, I could sense Lance slowly recovering from the blast that he took the night before.

"Is there something that you wanted to talk about, Allura?" I asked.

"I wanted to commend you on saving that Arusian child yesterday. I didn't think you would go great lengths to protect that boy." Allura said with a smile on her face. It felt nice to receive a kind remark about my deed. "So, what happened yesterday?" The princess turned to me quickly with a massive grin on her face.

"What do you mean?"

Allura places her hands on her hips, "You know when Keith dragged you out of the bridge deck because he was being jealous of Lance?" The scene played in my mind again. It was fresh as if it just happened moments ago before coming to the medical deck.

"Keith was not jealous," I denied. I mean, it was obvious that he was furious seeing how Lance was still being himself around me. Keith even told me himself that Lance knew how to bother him, "He didn't like the fact that Lance was trying to hit on me again. He always does."

The princess rolled her eyes, "Yes, but Lance does that to every cute girl he sees so Keith should be used it by now." Which was what I tried explaining to Keith. He didn't want to have any of it, so I didn't press on the topic for too long.