Run, Girl (If You Can)

Chapter 184: You're The Best!

"Keeley, let me replace your laptop for you," Aaron said simply, practically reading her mind. "It wouldn't cost me anything at all and it would last you through the rest of school and longer."

She bit her lip. She really did need the laptop but she didn't want to accept handouts. He had already helped her so much today just by having the data recovered.

"Your birthday is only a few weeks away; consider it an early birthday present if it makes you feel better."

It did make her feel better. She had accepted much more expensive presents from him before on special occasions. A weight on her heart lifted.

"Okay."

Aaron led her to the laptop section and immediately started looking at the most expensive ones because they had a lot of different special features on them plus extra storage space. He read over each of their specifications so seriously that Keeley was tempted to laugh.

In the end, he picked one that was a little over a thousand dollars because it had the best warranty and came with a free pair of headphones.

David came back eventually with the hard drive and said that he could help her set up her new laptop right now if she was interested. She definitely trusted a professional more than she trusted herself and left him to it. He even went as far as copying all the files from the external drive onto her new computer.

Aaron stood silently behind her throughout this entire process so she nearly forgot he was there. She was so focused on whether or not her specific unsaved paper file had been rescued.

"David? Was there an autosaved file anywhere titled 'Mapping the Human Genome' by chance?" she asked hopefully.

"Oh yeah, it's right here."

He pulled it up and she pounced on it like it was meat and she was a starving lion. She scrolled through it and was overjoyed to discover that she had only lost one paragraph. That would be simple to rewrite! And it was only 7 PM; she still had time to finish this thing!

She squealed and clapped her hand over her mouth before jumping up and down in excitement. She wasn't doomed after all.

With shining eyes she turned around and stared at true savior of the day. She was so overwhelmed with emotion that she launched herself into his arms and cried "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! You're the best!"

Aaron stumbled a bit before returning the hug tightly with a bright smile on his face that she couldn't see because her face was buried in his chest. "I guess I should save lost paper files more often."

She stepped away and slugged him on the arm, suddenly embarrassed. "Really though. Thank you. Is there anything I can do to return the favor?"

He had just dropped a lot of money (at least to Keeley) to save her butt; she felt like she owed him something.

"Make me some sort of dessert? You can choose what."

Why was it that he only ever wanted her to bake for him? Not that she was complaining; it was an easy enough thing to do. She just didn't understand why somebody who could afford going to the best bakeries in the city wanted her relatively average baking.

There were a bunch of Pinterest recipes she had been meaning to try. She could make him something fancy once finals were over.

"I will once finals are over," she promised.

"…don't you have finals on your birthday this year?"

She slumped at the reminder. "Yes. Two of them. One's at 9 AM and the other is at 2 PM. Since I still have to work, my dad is taking me out to lunch in between them but that's it."

"You aren't doing anything to celebrate at all?"

"My friends are taking me to the movies once finals are done. They said they would pitch in to buy me all the snacks I want. I think I'll get nachos; I've never gotten nachos at the movies before."

Why was she telling him this? She was totally rambling.

"Sounds fun."

David handed her new, fully running laptop over to her and took the old one away to be recycled at her request. She thanked him again and he told them both to have a nice day as he waved them off.

They had only been in the store for an hour and a half and all of her problems were solved. Life was beautiful. She practically skipped out the door.

Keeley was feeling so giddy that she handed the laptop to Aaron and looked both ways to make sure no cars were coming before doing a cartwheel right in the middle of the parking lot. She did another one just for fun and popped back up exhilarated with messy hair and bright eyes.

He was staring at her with a look of astonishment on his face.

"What? Have you never seen me do that before?"

"No. I didn't even know you could."

Huh. Well, it was a childish thing to do. Way back when she must have avoided doing it in front of him so she wouldn't embarrass herself if she fell. It was nice not caring about your image in front of someone.

"If you don't use it, you lose it. I practice every few months or so just to make sure I still can. I used to be really good at them when I was a kid! My dad has a video somewhere of me doing ten in a row down the shoreline at the beach," she said a bit sheepishly.

"It's cool," Aaron said once they were in his car and on the road. "That you know how to cartwheel, I mean."

He was still thinking about this? It happened more than five minutes ago.

"Thanks, I guess."

She settled back in her seat with a sigh. She still had three more pages to write. There was technically enough time but it would be tight. She hadn't eaten dinner yet either.

Aaron surprised her by pulling into a fried chicken restaurant's drive thru on the way back. He turned to her with expectant eyes.

"What do you want? You need to eat something so you'll be able to focus on your paper."

She blinked several times before responding. "Uh…I'll take a chicken sandwich and some waffle fries."

"Anything to drink?"

"Just water." Soda would give her a sugar crash and that was the last thing she needed right now.

After receiving her order in a white paper bag, Keeley sat there and fiddled with the opening at the top. The food smelled amazing but she didn't dare mess up his car.

"Eat," Aaron instructed. "You need to start writing as soon as you get home and the food will be cold by then anyway."

"What if I spill something?"

"Then I'll get it cleaned. Eat up."

No use being told twice. She was hungry. The sandwich really hit the spot after a stressful day.