Road To Love (9 page)

The reluctance on her face was evident as she looked up.  “You’re a smart guy; figure it out.”

“I think you’re scared.”  She opened her mouth, but he continued before she could interject.  “Don’t deny it; just hear me out.  You have feelings; they are stronger than either of us
is willing to admit, but they’re there.  We know how your brother would feel about that, so we came to a stupid agreement.  You don’t want to honor it, anymore than I do.”

“Don’t act like you know what I want; you’re an arrogant jerk.  Maybe I’m not the one that’s scared, but you’re too pompous to admit that you are the one in the wrong.’  She pulled away from him, but he pulled her closer.  “Let me go.”

“No; not until the dance is over.”  She looked away from him and they continued to dance.  As the song came to an end; she pushed away.  “Abigail, don’t rush off.  I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

“
Travis; would you care to dance?”  He looked over as he saw Becca approach them.

“Becca, it’s not a good time; maybe later?”

“Actually, you should dance; I was just leaving.”  He watched as she stomped off.  He forced a smile as he turned to Becca.  He just wanted to follow Abigail, but she didn’t appear to want that.

“Sure; I would love to dance.”  He held out his arms and danced with Becca.  It wasn’t going to be easy, but he had to find some way to get through to her.

***

Abigail watched Becca and
Travis dancing; it pained her to see his arms around her bed.  She turned around and faced the bartender.  “I would like a Fuzzy Navel.”

“Coming right up;” she turned back to the dance floor and realized that
Travis didn’t seem too concerned about her.  She faced the drink that he placed in front of her and smiled.

She hadn’t taken a drink since that 21
st
birthday party.  She sat there and contemplated her options and nothing seemed obvious.  She looked at the guy as he sat next to her.  She didn’t know who he was, but that didn’t matter.  She smiled.  “Hello;” he nodded as he ordered a drink.

“Hello; are you here for the
bride or the groom?”

“I’m the
bride’s uncle, Bill.”  She nodded; he didn’t look old enough to be her uncle.  Age didn’t matter, but she was surprised.  “You’re Todd’s sister?  Abigail; right?”

“Right…you seem to know a lot about me.”  She giggled nervously.

“I read the program.”

“Oh; right.”  She looked back at the full glass in front of her; she was suddenly feeling foolish for having ordered it.

“When you’re done with your drink, would you like to dance?”

She looked at the Fuzzy Navel and then at him.  “Actually, I’m not really thirsty.”

“You can’t let the drink go to waste; I can wait.”  His smile was unnerving.  She picked up the drink; she could take just one drink and say it wasn’t very good.

She had just picked it up when she felt a hand grab it out of her hand.  “Don’t do anything stupid Abigail.”

“I already did something stupid;” she glared at Travis.  “I trusted you.”  She started to grab the glass again when he swiped it from her grasp.  “Will you stop that?”

“Abigail, is this guy bothering you?”

She turned to Carolyn’s uncle.  “I can handle him.”

Travis
looked at the guy and then turned to Abigail.  “What are you doing?  You don’t drink; remember?”

“I’m going to take it up; it beats the alternative
” She looked at him.

“What alternative?  You mean, having feelings?”

“No;” she mumbled.  “Forget it!”

“I know that you don’t want to take this drink.”  He handed the glass to the bartender.  “This isn’t needed, but thank you.  I know that you can throw out all kinds of comebacks to my pranks, but when I want to discuss something seriously, you run away.”

“Maybe, I don’t want to hear what you have to say.  Go back to dancing with Becca and just forget anything you think you need to say.”  She turned to Bill.  “I would love to dance with you.”  She turned to Travis who was blocking her from getting off of the barstool.  “Excuse me; do you mind?”

Travis
threw up his hands and moved so that she could get past him.  She wasn’t going to let anyone stop her from having a good time; even Travis.

***

Travis couldn’t take it any longer; he was tired of the cat and mouse routine.  When the dance came to an end he went out to the dance floor and grabbed her hand.  “You’re coming with me.”

“I am not a child; let me go.”  She argued.

“You’re acting like a child.  I’m not letting you go until you listen to what I have to say.”  He pushed the button to the elevator, but never let go of her hand.

“You can’t be serious.  People are going to wonder where we went.  It will get suspicious and they’ll realize we’re together.”

“Let them wonder; I don’t care.  I am dead serious;” he spoke through clenched teeth.

They got off their floor and she looked at him.  “You don’t have to keep hold of my hand to make me listen.”

“I wish I could believe that.”  He put the card in his door and it opened.

He let go of her hand and she crossed her arms in front of her.  “You’re letting go of hand now?  I could easily get in my room; especially when my door is right there.”

“You won’t do that.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because despite everything that has happened this week you want to get to the bottom of these feelings.  Plus, you’re not a prisoner and if you really want to go, I can’t stop you.”

“First of all, there are no feelings; not on my end, anyway.  You have to remember that.”

“You felt nothing when we made love?”

“You’re the one that said it didn’t mean anything.  I’m just going right along with what you said.”

“I don’t recall saying that.”

“You said it was just passion and infatuation; you said that you’re attracted to me, but that’s where it ends.”

“What do you do…write down everything I say?”  He snickered and she looked away.

“The point is I heard the message loud and clear.”

“Abigail, it meant everything to me.  I’m not the pig you think I am.  Don’t you know that I would do anything to do it all over again?  If I could find a way to make it work; I would.”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

He moved closer to her and ran his hands down her arms.  He took in the sweet scent of her perfume.  “I want to make love to you, but it could end in heartache and I don’t want that to happen to you.”

“Are you worried about Todd and what he’ll say?”

He turned away from her and groaned.  “Yes, but that’s not all.  What if something happens between us and we wound up hating each other?”

Abigail laughed.  He felt her arms slowly wrap around him.  “It wouldn’t be the first time.”  He bit back a sigh as her hands trailed down the front of his shirt.  He turned around and touched her hand.  “I can’t get you out of my head;” she whispered.  “My brother shouldn’t have such a say.  I’m old enough to come to my own choices.”

“Abigail, family should come first and that probably isn’t what you want o hear, but it’s the cold heart truth.”

“Are you pushing me away because you realize that maybe Becca is better suited for you?”

He stared at her and started to laugh.  “Are you kidding me?”

“My brother thinks she’s perfect for you.”

“It’s all starting to make sense; I was wondering why she was making a strong effort to get to know me.”  He chuckled.  “No; this has nothing to do with Becca.”

“She’s beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as you; you have to trust my words.  Just because I can’t follow my feelings, doesn’t mean I don’t still harbor those feelings for you.”

“It just doesn’t make sense.  You have feelings for me, you want to make love to me, but you won’t?”

“In time you will learn that I am only trying to protect you.”

Abigail nodded.  He could tell that she was hurt, but understood.  “Just one more kiss?”

He chuckled.  “I don’t think that’s a great idea.”

“Maybe not, but I need to feel your lips on mine; even if it’s for the last time.”

He wrapped his hand around her neck and pulled her closer.  When their lips touched he knew that he was letting it linger longer than he should.  “Abigail;” he whispered.  He pulled away and turned from her.  “You have to leave.”

“
Travis…” her pleading tone was enough to make him rethink his decision, but there was no other way.

“Abigail, please go.”  He looked at her and there were tears in her eyes.  “I’m sorry;” he whispered.  He opened her door and couldn’t look at her.

“Me too;” she disappeared in her room and he slowly closed the door.  His heart was heavy in his chest as he stared at the closed door.

He hit the wall and groaned in agony as he thought about what he did.  He knew the only thing stopping him was Todd’s reaction and he hated the fact that if he was to pursue his feelings for Abigail he would lose his friendship.  Yet, he worried that if he didn’t pursue something with Abigail he would never feel true happiness.  He didn’t know if he was willing to risk that chance.  He knocked on her door and took a deep breath.  When she opened the door, neither one said a word.  He wiped the tears from her eyes and moved closer to her.  “I love you Abigail and you are the girl for me.”  He moved closer to her and moved away a piece of her hair that had fallen across her eyes.  “I am scared, because everything points to the fact that I always have
loved you.”

“What?  What about what you said?”

“I am taking a chance; I don’t want to lose Todd as a friend, but I have to think about my happiness.  You are…that happiness, but…do you love me?”

She slowly nodded.  “I love you
Travis.”

He pulled her head closer to him as he kissed her.  The passion was even stronger that before as he kicked the door closed and then picked her up into his arms.  They continued to kiss as he lowered her onto the bed.  They each frantically tore at each other’s clothes.

She parted and he heard her ragged breathing.  “Do you have protection?”

He pulled away to grab it out of his wallet.  Her eyes got big and he shrugged.  “I told you, I’m always prepared.”  He was glad that he had stopped at the drug store earlier in the day.  He leaned down and kissed her.  They had the whole night ahead of them and he was going to take it nice and slow.  He was finally where he always wanted them to be.

Abigail smiled at Travis.  He squinted as he opened his eyes.  “It wasn’t a dream?”

She laughed.  “It wasn’t a dream.”  She kissed him as he ran his hand along the back of her neck.  “Hm…” she pulled away.  “This is how I always want to wake up.”

“So, you don’t regret it?”

She smiled as she rolled on top of him.  “My only regret is that it didn’t happen sooner.”  She leaned down and covered her mouth over his.  Their kiss was deepening when there was a knock on the door.  She looked up and held a finger to her mouth.  “They’ll go away.”  She kissed him again, but then heard another knock.

“Abigail, are you in there?”

She jumped off of him.  “What’s he doing here?”  She grabbed
Travis’s clothes and threw them at him.  He took this cue and disappeared into his room.  Abigail knew if she wanted a chance to get Todd to change his mind, he couldn’t find them in bed together.  “Coming;” she threw on a robe and straightened the bed.  When she opened the door she tried to sound natural.  “Good morning; what are you doing here?”

“You and
Travis were supposed to meet us for breakfast an hour ago.  I was just making sure everything was alright.”

“Oh;” Abigail looked at her watch.  “I didn’t realize it was so late.”

“I’ll be honest; I saw you leaving with Travis and I wanted to make sure you didn’t need help to hide a dead body.”

Abigail laughed.  “No dead body here; I…”

“What’s that?”

Abigail turned to where he was looking.  She spotted the tie and winced.  “I don’t know where that came from.”

He entered the room and grabbed the tie that was peeking from underneath the bed.  “This is the tie that my men wore.  Could you explain why you have Travis’s tie underneath your bed?  You didn’t sleep with him; did you?”

“What makes you think it’s
Travis’s?”

“Well, unless you had Carolyn’s 15 year old brother in here, I think that it’s a pretty good assumption.”

“Maybe he just took it off; remember you said you saw us leaving together.”

“Okay; that’s fair, I’ll ask him.”  He pounded on
Travis’s door.  “Travis, open the door.”

When
Travis opened the door Todd looked from him to her.  Abigail couldn’t look at him; which was probably her giveaway.  “Todd…”

“Wow; need say no more.  Abigail, get dressed.”

“Todd, let me explain.”

Abigail saw the anger in his eyes as he looked at
Travis.  “You say nothing; Abigail, get dressed…NOW!”  She wanted to object as she grabbed a change of clothes, but seeing the fire in Todd’s expression she knew it wasn’t wise.  The dream had come to an end.

***

Travis looked over at Todd; he was worried about saying anything for fear that Todd would hit him.  As Todd continued to tap his foot and look towards the bathroom when Abigail had disappeared, he knew he had to do something.  “Todd, I know what a shock this is to find out this way.”

“Ya think?”  He never turned towards him.

“You wanted us to start getting along.”

There was silence for a moment as Todd faced him.  “I wanted you to get along; I didn’t expect you would sleep with her.  You’re my best friend
; that should have been clear.”

“I didn’t expect this to happen, but I realized that I needed this; I love her Todd.”

Todd raised his eyebrows and started to chuckle.  “Sure you do; just like you loved Josephine?  Or maybe, she’s like Christina, Bethany, or Sondra?  How about that one night you spent with Deidre and you were hammered?  Travis you have told me countless times that you were sure it was love.  Yet, you’re still single; why is that?”

“You have a past too; don’t act like Carolyn is the first person you’ve been with.  This is different.  Abigail sees me in ways that I have never seen myself.  I do love her and I don’t expect you to understand that, or even accept that.”

“You’re right; I don’t understand that.  I don’t get how you can say you love her when I have countless recollections of you telling me how lucky you were to be an only child and that Abigail has ruined my social life, because I had to babysit her and she was always hanging around.”

“You said that?”

Travis turned towards the bathroom and saw Abigail staring at him.  “Abigail, it’s not like that.”

“Then, what is it like?  Last night you told me that you felt like you have always had these feelings.  Was that just to get me into bed?”

“No!  Abigail we’ve said it before, both of said a lot of things to each other and behind each other’s backs that we shouldn’t have.  We were moving on from that.  I meant every word I said to you; every word.  I love you Abigail.”

He waited until she looked at him; the tears in the corner of her eyes made him worry that she had stopped believing him.  “I never said the world would be a better place if you weren’t around.”

“Abigail, I didn’t say that.”

“I wanted to believe that this could be real, but I was only living in a fantasy.  We’re two stupid people that couldn’t control what happened.  I can’t go back, but I can control what happens now.  Have a good life
Travis.  I’ll get another ride home.”

She left the room, leaving him helpless and confused.  “Are you happy?  Is that what you wanted?” 
Travis turned to Todd and had to fight not to punch him.

“I didn’t want any of this to happen, but it’s not my fault.  You brought it on yourself.  The truth hurts, but if it’s that painful then it obviously isn’t true love.”

“Yeah; whatever.”

“
Travis, I don’t want this to affect our friendship.  As long as Abigail is stopping this silly charade then there’s no reason we can’t just put it behind us.”

“Now, I know you have gone mad.  I can think of several reasons why a friendship has been lost.  The most important one being that you don’t think I’m good enough for your sister.  The past is the past and I wanted to break free from it.  I was hoping Abigail was the
one to help me do that.  However, you ruined that chance.  Please leave.”

“Someday you’ll thank me.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”  Todd left his room and Travis sunk down to the bed.  It was all unfathomable of how that one amazing night had ended.

***

Abigail stared at her cold eggs.  She couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation she walked in on.  She didn’t know why she was so hurt.  It wasn’t like she didn’t already know about their turbulent past.  Just hearing the words out loud from Todd’s mouth, right after an amazing night of love-making, put a whole new pain in the mix.

When Todd sat down at her table she quickly brushed away the remaining teardrops.  “How are you feeling?”

“Do you really care?  How do you think?”

“Abigail, I only want what's best for you.”

She snickered.  “It doesn’t look that way.”

“Did you honestly think his intentions were noble?”

Abigail sadly nodded.  “I did, but what’s worse is I still do.  You know better than anyone the problems we have gone through.  Yet, when it’s just the two of us…”

“I don’t want to hear anymore.  It’s too much being shared.  I want you Abigail, but…”

“If you really feel that way, then you have to accept the consequences.  You said that he’s a good guy, but the minutes I started to have feelings for you him you switched.  Which is it?”

“He’s a good guy, but he has had experience and I’m worried that his past will be too much for you to deal with.”

“Todd, we all have a past.”

“Do you love him?”

“Now, that is the question you should have asked me earlier.”  She nodded.  “I personally would have laughed hysterically if someone would have said that one day I would feel this way, but I do.  I love him Todd and I don’t care about his past.  He gets me in ways that I don’t even get myself.”

He chuckled.  “That’s what he said about you.”

“He did?”

He nodded.  “Yep and as much as I still worry about you, you’re not a baby anymore.”

She smiled.  “That’s the first time I have heard you say that.”

“It takes time for me to realize when I’m wrong and in this case…I suppose I am.”

“Do you mean that?”

“As much as it pains me to say; there is only one thing for you to do.”

Abigail smiled at Todd.  They stood up and hugged.  “Thank you!”

“Tell him that if he hurts you, he answers to me.”

“I will;” Abigail rushed off; she never thought the elevator would open.  When she got to his room she pounded on his door.  When he didn’t answer she pounded again.  “Travis, are you in there?”  Still there was no answer.  She looked down the hall and spotted the maid exiting a room.  “Excuse me?  Have you seen the man in this room?”

“Yes, I have; are you Abigail?”

“I am.”

The maid handed her a note on hotel stationery.  “He asked me to give you this.”

“Thank you!”

She went back to her duties as Abigail read the note:

Dear Abigail-

I am sorry for the trouble that I have caused you and your brother.  I never wanted to hurt anyone.  My parents have been begging me to visit them in Florida and I think that I am going to take them up on it.  I have some vacation saved up, so this is the perfect time.  I will not contact you, because you need to take this time to repair the rift I’ve caused with you and your brother.  Take care Abigail!

Love,

Travis