Beautiful Disaster (20 page)

Two tables over, one table back. America and Shepley were barely visible from my seat, and I hunched over, watching Travis stare at the empty chair I usually occupied before sitting at the end of the lunch table. I felt ridiculous for hiding, but I wasn't prepared to sit across from him for an entire hour. When I finished my meal, I took a deep breath and walked outside to where Travis was finishing his cigarette.

I had spent most of the night trying to form a plan to get us to where we were before. If I treated our encounter the way he regarded sex in general, I would have a better chance. The plan risked losing him altogether, but I hoped his enormous male ego would force him to play it off the same way.

“Hey,” I said.

He grimaced. “Hey. I thought you'd be at lunch.”

“I had to run in and out; I have to study,” I shrugged, doing my best impression of casual.

“Need some help?”

“It's Calculus. I think I've got it handled.”

“I can just hang out for moral support.” He smiled, digging his hand into his pocket. The solid muscles in his arm tensed with the movement, and the thought of them flexing as he thrust himself inside me replayed with vivid detail in my head.

“Er … what?” I asked, disoriented from the sudden erotic thought that had flashed in my mind.

“Are we supposed to pretend the other night never happened?”

“No, why?” I feigned confusion and he sighed, frustrated with my behavior.

“I don't know … because I took your virginity?” He leaned toward me, saying the words in a hushed voice.

I rolled my eyes. “I'm sure it's not the first time you've deflowered a virgin, Trav.”

Just as I had feared, my casual demeanor made him angry. “As a matter of fact, it was.”

“C'mon … I said I didn't want any weirdness between us.”

Travis took one last drag of his cigarette and flicked it to the ground. “Well, if I've learned anything in the last few days, it's that you don't always get what you want.”

“Hey, Abs,” Parker said, kissing my cheek.

Travis gave Parker a murderous expression.

“I'll pick you up around six?” Parker said.

I nodded. “Six.”

“See you in a bit,” he said, continuing to class. I watched him walk away, afraid to endure the consequences of the last ten seconds.

“You're going out with him tonight?” Travis seethed. His jaw was clenched, and I could see it working under his skin.

“I told you he was going to ask me out after I got back to Morgan. He called me yesterday.”

“Things have changed a little bit since that conversation, don't you think?”

“Why?”

He walked away from me, and I swallowed, trying to keep the tears at bay. Travis stopped and came back, leaning into my face. “That's why you said I
wouldn't miss you after today! You knew I'd find out about you and Parker, and you thought I'd just … what? Get over you? Do you not trust me, or am I just not good enough? Tell me, damn it! Tell me what the fuck I did to you to make you do this!”

I stood my ground, staring straight into his eyes. “You didn't do anything to me. Since when is sex so life or death to you?”

“Since it was with you!”

I glanced around, seeing that we were making a scene. People were walking by slowly, staring and whispering to each other. I felt my ears burn, and it spread across my face, making my eyes water.

He closed his eyes, trying to compose himself before he spoke again. “Is that it? You don't think it meant anything to me?”

“You are Travis Maddox.”

He shook his head, disgusted. “If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were shoving my past in my face.”

“I don't think four weeks ago constitutes the past.” His face contorted and I laughed. “I'm kidding! Travis, it's fine. I'm fine, you're fine. There's no need to make a big deal of it.”

All emotion disappeared from his face and he took a deep breath through his nose. “I know what you're trying to do.” His eyes unfocused for a moment, lost in thought. “I'll just have to prove it to you, then.” His eyes narrowed as he looked into my eyes, determined as he was before one of his fights. “If you think I'm just going to go back to fucking around, you're wrong. I don't want anyone else. You
wanna be friends? Fine, we're friends. But you and I both know that what happened wasn't just sex.”

He stormed past me and I closed my eyes, exhaling the breath I didn't know I'd been holding. Travis glanced back at me and then continued to his next class. An escaping tear fell down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away. The curious stares of my classmates targeted my back as I plodded to class.

Parker was on the second row, and I slid into the desk next to him.

A grin stretched across his face. “I'm looking forward to tonight.”

I took a breath and smiled, trying to change gears from my conversation with Travis. “What's the plan?”

“Well, I'm all settled in my apartment. I thought we'd have dinner there.”

“I'm looking forward to tonight, too,” I said, trying to convince myself.

With America's refusal to help, Kara was a reluctant assistant to aid me in choosing a dress for my date with Parker. As soon as I pulled it on over my head, I yanked it off and slipped on a pair of jeans instead. After brooding about my failed plan all afternoon, I couldn't talk myself into dressing up. Keeping the cool weather in mind, I pulled on a thin ivory cashmere sweater over a brown tank top, and waited by the door. When Parker's shiny Porsche pulled in front of Morgan, I pushed my way out the door before he had time to make it up the walk.

“I was going to come get you,” he said, disappointed as he held open the door.

“Then I saved you a trip,” I said, buckling my seat belt.

He slid in beside me and leaned over, touching each side of my face, kissing me with his plush, soft lips. “Wow,” he breathed, “I've missed your mouth.”

His breath was minty, his cologne smelled incredible, his hands were warm and soft, and he looked fantastic in his jeans and green dress shirt, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. That excitement I had in the beginning was noticeably absent, and I silently cursed Travis for taking that away.

I forced a smile. “I'm going to take that as a compliment.”

His apartment was exactly as I had imagined: immaculate, with expensive electronics in every corner, and most likely decorated by his mother.

“So? What do you think?” he said, grinning like a child showing off a new toy.

“It's great,” I nodded.

His expression changed from playful to intimate, and he pulled me into his arms, kissing my neck. Every muscle in my body tensed. I wanted to be anywhere than in that apartment.

My cell phone rang, and I offered him an apologetic smile before answering.

“How's the date goin', Pidge?”

I turned my back to Parker and whispered into the phone. “What do you need, Travis?” I tried to make my tone sharp, but it was softened by my relief to hear his voice.

“I wanna go bowling tomorrow. I need my partner.”

“Bowling? You couldn't have called me later?” I felt like a hypocrite for saying the words, knowing I had hoped for an excuse to keep Parker's lips off of me.

“How am I supposed to know when you're gonna get done? Oh. That didn't come out right …” he trailed off, sounding amused with himself.

“I'll call you tomorrow and we can talk about it then, okay?”

“No, it's not okay. You said you wanna be friends, but we can't hang out?” I rolled my eyes, and Travis huffed. “Don't roll your eyes at me. Are you coming or not?”

“How did you know I rolled my eyes? Are you stalking me?” I asked, noting the drawn curtains.

“You always roll your eyes. Yes? No? You're wasting precious date time.”

He knew me so well. I fought the urge to ask him to pick me up right then. I couldn't help but smile at the thought.

“Yes!” I said in a hushed voice, trying not to laugh. “I'll go.”

“I'll pick you up at seven.”

I turned to Parker, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

“Travis?” he asked with a knowing expression.

“Yes,” I frowned, caught.

“You're still just friends?”

“Still just friends,” I nodded once.

We sat at the table, eating Chinese takeout. I warmed up to him after a while, and he reminded me of how charming he was. I felt lighter, almost giggly, a marked change from earlier. As hard as I tried to push the thought from my head, I couldn't deny that
it was my plans with Travis that had brightened my mood.

After dinner, we sat on the couch to watch a movie, but before the beginning credits were over, Parker had me on my back. I was glad I had chosen to wear jeans; I wouldn't have been able to fend him off as easily in a dress. His lips traveled down to my collarbone, and his hand stopped at my belt. He clumsily worked to pull it open, and once it popped, I slid out from under him to stand up.

“Okay! I think a single is all you'll be hitting tonight,” I said, buckling my belt.

“What?”

“First base … .second base? Never mind. It's late, I better go.”

He sat up and gripped my legs. “Don't go, Abs. I don't want you to think that's why I brought you here.”

“Isn't it?”

“Of course not,” he said, pulling me onto his lap. “You're all I've thought about for two weeks. I apologize for being impatient.”

He kissed my cheek, and I leaned into him, smiling when his breath tickled my neck. I turned to him and pressed my lips against his, trying my hardest to feel something—but I didn't. I pulled away from him and sighed.

Parker furrowed his brow. “I said I was sorry.”

“I said it was late.”

We drove to Morgan, and Parker squeezed my hand after he kissed me goodnight. “Let's try again. Biasetti's tomorrow?”

I pressed my lips together. “I'm bowling with Travis tomorrow.”

“Wednesday, then?”

“Wednesday's great,” I said, offering a contrived smile.

Parker shifted in his seat. He was working up to something. “Abby? There's a date party in a couple weekends at the House. …”

I inwardly cringed, dreading the discussion we would inevitably have.

“What?” he asked, chuckling nervously.

“I can't go with you,” I said, letting myself out of the car.

He followed, meeting me at the Morgan entrance. “You have plans?”

I winced. “I have plans … Travis already asked me.”

“Travis asked you what?”

“To the date party,” I explained, a bit frustrated.

Parker's face flushed, and he shifted his weight. “You're going to the date party with Travis? He doesn't go to those things. And you're just friends. It doesn't make sense for you to go with him.”

“America wouldn't go with Shep unless I went.”

He relaxed. “Then you can go with me,” he smiled, intertwining his fingers in mine.

I grimaced at his solution. “I can't cancel with Travis and then go with you.”

“I don't see the problem,” he shrugged. “You can be there for America, and Travis will get out of having to go. He is a staunch advocate for doing away with date parties. He thinks it's a platform for our girlfriends to force us to declare a relationship.”

“It was me that didn't want to go. He talked me into it.”

“Now you have an excuse,” he shrugged. He was maddeningly confident that I was going to change my mind.

“I didn't want to go at all.”

Parker's patience had run out. “I just want to be clear; you don't want to go to the date party. Travis wants to go, he asked you, and you won't cancel with him to go with me, even though you didn't want to go in the first place?”

I had a hard time meeting his glare. “I can't do that to him, Parker, I'm sorry.”

“Do you understand what a date party is? It's something you go to with your boyfriend.”

His patronizing tone made any empathy I'd felt for him disappear. “Well, I don't have a boyfriend, so technically I shouldn't go at all.”

“I thought we were going to try again. I thought we had something.”

“I am trying.”

“What do you expect me to do? Sit at home alone while you're at my fraternity's date party with someone else? Should I ask another girl?”

“You can do what you want,” I said, irritated with his threat.

He looked up and shook his head. “I don't want to ask another girl.”

“I don't expect you not to go to your own party. I'll see you there.”

“You want me to ask someone else? And you're going with Travis. Do you not see how completely absurd that is?”

I crossed my arms, ready for a fight. “I told him I would go before you and I ever went out, Parker. I can't cancel on him.”

“You can't, or you don't want to?”

“Same difference. I'm sorry that you don't understand.” I pulled the door open to Morgan, and Parker put his hand on mine.

“All right,” he sighed in resignation. “This is obviously an issue I'm going to have to work through. Travis is one of your best friends; I do understand that. I don't want it to affect our relationship. Okay?”

“Okay,” I said, nodding.

He opened the door and gestured me to walk through, kissing my cheek before I walked inside. “See you Wednesday at six?”

“Six,” I said, waving as I walked up the stairs.

America was walking out of the shower room when I turned the corner, and her eyes brightened when she recognized me. “Hey, chickie! How'd it go?”

“It went,” I said, deflated.

“Uh-oh.”