Big Bad World

We're In This Together

The days had become a blur of nothing. My clothes were scattered all over Keith’s room, and all I had worn for days was leggings and a baggy T-Shirt of Keith’s. Aubrey’s confession had invaded my mind. It was difficult to not let it get to me the way it had, but there were so many possibilities in her story that could connect me to the death of Cooper. I was a suspect, and I unfortunately had ever right to be. The sleepless nights were the worst for me. Keith was getting very little sleep because of it. Nightmares would begin as soon as I would shut my eyes. Luckily, I had a man that wanted to protect and comfort me, but I could see in his eyes how worried he was.

During the days, I would sit in bed and look at wedding magazines envisioning what our wedding will look like. Those kinds of moments were joyous. Keith would take me to the studio every once in a while since he was working on an album to distract my mind of the thoughts that were plaguing it. He would hardly leave my side because of it, which I was thankful for. I wouldn’t ask him to leave my side because I knew he made me feel safer. He had diminished the haunting thoughts overtaking me.

It had been a week and a half since Aubrey’s confession. I wasn’t angry with her, I was angry with myself for allowing a guy to take advantage of me. She was my best friend, and if anything I knew she was probably just trying to protect me by not telling me what had happened. Blocking the thoughts out of my mind, I had been looking through pinterest for wedding dresses, resting my head on Keith’s shoulder while he strummed on his guitar. There wasn’t much else to do besides focus on wedding stuff to erase the thoughts. Keith looked over at me and kissed my head softly as I looked through wedding dresses. “You are going to be breathtaking in a wedding dress,” he whispered.

A weak smiled came upon my lips as my golden eyes looked up to him. “You’re sweet, baby.”

He smiled while setting down his guitar to pull me closer to him. “How are you?”

I shrugged snuggling into him. “I don’t know. I could’ve potentially killed your best friend, so it’s hard to say.”

The man kissed the top of my head once more and shook his head. “I don’t think you did, baby. If anything, that guy forced you to do something. You weren’t sober.”

I looked up to him. “That doesn’t mean anything. Sober or not, I could’ve killed him. Whatever it was, this guy had a plan, and I was the girl he took advantage of and I hate myself because of it.” Tears began to form as I buried my head in his chest.

Keith gently comforted me with a few soft kisses on the top of my head. “It doesn’t make me love you less. No matter what the verdict is, I still love you and I’m always going to love you. We’re in this together.”

That was one of the things I had learned while being with Keith that there becomes a point in life where you have to step back and stop fighting for everyone else and look who fights for you. Keith always fought for me. Only then when I realized this was when I truly knew who to cherish and to fight for. Even though everything around us was crumbling down, we weren’t. He was my sanity. It was in that moment that all the voices in my head and come to a close, because he was the remedy to my heartbreak. Whether I was involved or not, he still loved me just the same. It had amazed me. “I love you so much,” I whispered before reaching up to kiss his soft lips.

Keith kissed back gently. “I love you too, so much. I can’t even express to you how much I love you.”

The man was making all the worries of the world go away by his sweet remarks toward me. “You have no idea what you do to me,” I giggled softly. We continued to kiss on each other for a good twenty minutes before someone had knocked on the door of Keith’s home. Keith broke the kiss hesitantly and rose up from the sofa to get the door as I followed close behind. Keith cracked the door open to see an unfamiliar face. “Who is it?” I whispered.

Keith pushed me back lovingly taking a hold of my hand. I hadn’t recognized the man, but Keith had appeared to. “What are doing here?” he asked. I hid behind him patiently, wondering what was going on.

The man scowled. “You know why I’m here, Keith. That stupid case about Cooper is why I’m here. I had to come all the way here from Australia. Apparently, someone had to mention my name. Was it you?” he said getting close to Keith’s face. I couldn’t help but flinch, holding onto him tightly.

Keith sighed calmly. “What? I had no idea you even knew about how Cooper died. Why would I mention you?”

The man looked to me, and stepped back unannounced. “Why is she here?”

I bit down on my lip and buried my head into Keith. How did he know me? Keith pushed me behind him before going on. “She’s my fiancé. How do you know her, Henry?” he asked.

The unfamiliar face stepped back and darted out of the door before giving a response almost as if he was afraid of something. I breathed heavily coming out from behind Keith. “Who was that?” I asked in a nervous tone.

Keith pulled me into a hug and sighed. “We used to be friends. He claims I stole Nicole from him, and that they were in love. I’m so sorry if that scared you.”

I shook my head and placed a kiss on his lips. “It’s okay. I’m so sorry he showed up. Keith, why did he run away? Does he know me? He almost looked afraid of me.”

Keith shook his head, caressing my cheek. “I don’t know. I don’t know why his name has even come up in this whole thing. We’ll figure it out, okay? Maybe Aubrey knows something. She seems to have the most memory about that night. I thought I had caused it. I thought so many things, but now there are so many questions that I don’t even know what to think anymore. But I’m by your side every step of the way, okay? I love you so much, Lacey. We’re in this together.”

I closed my eyes nodding to his words. “I love you too, Keith. I love you so much…I’ve loved you before I even knew the name of it. Everyday I just sit beside you, inhaling your scent, looking at your beautiful face. Every night I dream about you. You’ve eclipsed everything else. It’s you, and it’s always going to be you,” I whispered softly before kissing him softly. As soon as his lips gently touched mine, I suddenly felt everything stirring up inside of me. He pulled me closer until his lips breathed me in. It was then that we were sharing one breath.

“We’re in this together. I won’t stop fighting for you,” he said against my lips.

He was right about everything. Whoever that guy was, and however he knew me was a scary unknown, but I had Keith on my side. Whether I was involved or not, I was still loved by him. Either way I looked at, I was still always going to be his. Even though the past week and a half had been excruciatingly difficult, it was left with comfort knowing where I belonged: his arms.

We were in this together.