Keegan, fanciedhimself quite the ladies man, if only in his own mind. Slighter instructure and standing at five-eleven, he wasn’t as imposing as theother three Goths in Becky’s life, yet to her, he was still a forceto be reckoned with, especially when he thought nothing of tacklingher into a nearby snow bank.
“There now, what do you think of that, girlie?” He laughed,rolling around so that he absorbed the impact of thefall.
“I think you’re impossible!” she half-shouted, attempting toright herself.
“Haha, not so fast!” Grabbing her wrist, he shook the fistfulof snow from her hand, laughing when she attempted to shove it downthe front of his jacket.
Becky didn’tknow whether to laugh along or cry at Keegan’s steely grip on herbody. The problem was, he never quite knew when to quit. Takingwhat snow she had left on her mitten, he turned it and playfullysmacked it against her own face.
“Keegan!” she cried out indignantly.
“Oh… stop,” he said with a rueful pout, flashing her a goofygrin. “Hey, you’re the one on top.” He flippantly pointed out witha playful buck of his hips.
Frustrated,Becky reactively bent his fingers back on his right hand. “Shit,Becky… ah, stop!” he cried out while laughing at the fury in hereyes.
“Say uncle!” she said, staring him down.
“Becky, please… I’ll never play guitar again if you don’t letgo.”
“You should have thought of that before you attacked me,” shesaid with a mocking smile, knowing full well that he was lovingthis.
So absorbed intheir melee in the snow, they both startled when suddenly a carpulled up by the sidewalk behind them. There were three of them.Three very large guys with baseball caps came barreling towardsthem with murderous intent in their eyes.
“Shit, I’m fucked…” Keegan gasped, realizing that they werecoming at him like heat-seeking missiles. Before he could manoeuvreBecky out of the way, one of the Neanderthals had her up in theair, flailing away from him.
“Fucking freak!” said the one that jumped on himfirst.
“Hey… no, stop this! Let me go!” Becky shouted, kicking andfighting at the large oaf who held her. “What are you doing?”Twisting around him, she watched in horror as the other two punchedand kicked at Keegan.
“Helping you!” he shouted back, confused. “The freak wasattacking you!”
“No… stop!” she cried out, fighting to free herself. “He’s myfriend! My housemate. We were just messing around!”
Coming in andout of consciousness, hearing her voice, Keegan looked over atBecky and hoped to hell that she was okay. God help these fuckersif they laid a hand on her. In a fleeting attempt to free himself,Keegan grabbed a fistful of snow and pounded it into the face ofthe guy who held him down.
“You piece of shit, freaking Goth punk, bastard!” the guyshouted, catching Keegan’s hand and twisting it back. “This willteach you to keep your fucking dirty hands off ourwomen.”
At the sound ofKeegan’s strangled cry of pain, Becky screamed. “Let him go! Lethim go!” She kicked and struggled against her self-proclaimedguardian.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” he scoffed, releasing her with ashove towards Keegan. “Guys, let’s get the fuck out ofhere.”
“What the fuck?” said the guy, holding Keegan down. Without athought for herself, Becky threw herself on top of him. She priedhis meaty mitts away from the Goth’s mangled hand. “Bitch, youdeserve everything you get.” Disgusted, he shook her off, got upand kicked snow at the both of them.
“Come on, let’s get the hell out of here,” the third guy saidas they got in their car and sped way.
They were aright mess, the both of them. Becky and Keegan, lying panting inthe snow, his arm around her, holding her safely to him. “Shit,Becky, I’m so sorry you had to see that.”
“Keegan, your hand?” she said, taking it, watching him wince.“Is it broken?”
“No, I don’t think so,” he said, tentatively wiggling hisfingers. “You okay? Did they touch you? Did they hurtyou?”
“No… but why did they…”
“Never mind, eh. I suppose they thought they were beingchivalrous. They probably assumed I was jumping you. I mean look atme. You can’t blame them, really. Besides, I think I might’ve madeout with one of their girlfriends,” he joked, making light of thesituation.
He was tryingto make her laugh, but it wasn’t working. All she could see werethe bruises on his face, the cut on his already swollen lip. “Theydidn’t even stop to ask me, though,” she said as her eyes welledup. “You weren’t doing anything wrong. We were just playingaround.”
“Sh… hey, it’s all right,” he soothed her as he helped her upand dusted himself off of snow. “It’s nothing that hasn’t happenedbefore.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, checking his hand onceagain.
“Happens all the time. They call it a hate crime. I call itfear of the unknown,” he said, wrapping his fingers around herhand, limping as he walked with her.
“It’s not right, whatever it is,” she said, helping him alongwhile thinking back to the day she met Kelley. He had been knockedinto her by a similar group of guys on that fateful day.
DespiteKeegan’s reassurances, Becky couldn’t get the distressing incidentfrom her mind. Needing to be alone, she once again, barricadedherself in her room.
“Becky?” Kelley called, knocking gently on her door. “Love,don’t be sad.” He let himself in and knelt by her side. “Keegan’snone the worse for wear.”
“I can’t help but feel like it was my fault,” she said, lookinginto his fathomless black eyes. “They hit him because they thoughthe…”
“None of it is your fault. If anything it was amisunderstanding.”
“They didn’t even stop to let me explain,” she lamented. “Theynearly broke his hand, Kelley. What if he can’t play guitarnow?”
“Oh, Becky, he’s fine. Come on downstairs.” He leaned in andkissed her forehead. The poor sweet girl was obviously shaken up.It tore at his heart to see her this way. “Don’t let this eventruin our Christmas.”
“He wasn’t doing anything wrong…” she sobbed, wracked withguilt. “We were just playing around. It’s just because of the wayhe looks.”
“Yes, as unfortunate as that sounds, it’s all very true,” hesaid with a deep sigh of regret.
“Just like with you.” She blinked back her tears. “When thoseguys pushed you into me.”
“Wow, you still remember that?”
