The Road to L.A. (21 page)

              “That wasn’t funny, Travis,” she said.  But she smiled nonetheless.  “Did you see your dad?”

Travis nodded, slipping his arm around her waist.  She gazed at him and felt a strong sense of attraction to him.  Travis was exceptionally good-looking.  His light brown eyes were as bright and lively as Jake’s, and he also had that same boyish charm that made Jake so irresistible.  Even his light blonde hair was the same length as her best friend’s, running down the length of his neck.  Travis wasn’t nearly as tall as Jake, though.  But, he still stood at about six feet.  And his build was the same as Jake’s, strong and athletic.  She placed her hands on his sturdy shoulders and smiled at the dimples that had formed on his animated face.

              “Travis, you know you can’t be seducing me while I’m at work,” Carly said in a low voice. Behind her, Johnny - the bartender for the evening - placed the ordered shots onto the tray.

              “According to my dad, I’m in charge of this place now.  So, I can do whatever I want,” Travis returned in a flirtatious tone.

Mr. Jamison owned not only the karaoke bar in Clanton, but he also owned a very popular nightclub and a small automobile dealership in Columbus, Ohio.  Travis and his father had agreed that Travis would take over operations at the karaoke bar, while Mr. Jamison maintained responsibility for the businesses in Columbus.  Once Travis had proven himself in Clanton, Mr. Jamison had promised the ambitious young man an opportunity to assume management over the nightclub in Columbus, which was something Travis eagerly longed for. 

So far, Carly had to admit that Travis was doing a good job running the bar.  Although, at times he was a little too playful and easy-going.

              “Your order is ready,” Johnny called out somewhat impatiently.  Carly unlatched herself from Travis and grabbed the tray to deliver the shots.   

              “You did that on purpose, didn't you?” Travis asked Johnny.

Johnny shrugged his shoulders and said aloofly, “Just doin’ my job.”

Travis knew it was more than just doing his job.  It was well known that Johnny was infatuated with Carly and had been deeply upset when Travis had moved in first. 

              “Still not over her, are you?” Travis asked.  A supercilious grin graced his lips. 

Johnny quickly turned away and continued his work, pretending to be unaffected by his manager’s remark.  He didn't feel like jeopardizing his job tonight by getting into heated conflict with his boss. 

Carly reappeared, and as she placed her tray on the bar counter she yelled to Johnny.

              “I’m on break!” 

Johnny nodded.

Carly and Travis slipped into the manager’s office at the rear of the bar.  As soon as Travis had shut the door behind them, he reached for her and pulled her close to him.  He reached down and kissed her while carefully backing her in the direction of the sofa.  He fell on top of her, and then fumbled eagerly with the buttons on the front of her blouse.  Before Travis was able to undo the first button, there was a loud rap at the door.  He groaned and stumbled up. 

              "Why am I not surprised," he grumbled impatiently.

Johnny stood in the doorway, and his eyes immediately focused on the beautiful girl seated on the sofa who was in the process of straightening her disheveled blouse.  His eyes clouded at the sight.

“It’s getting pretty packed out there.  We need you, Carly,” he mumbled, struggling to hide the venom in his tone.

Carly jumped up and shot out of the room.  Travis watched as she left and then shot Johnny a look of resentment. 

              “I’m getting pretty fed up with your bullshit,” Travis growled.  The bartender glared dangerously at his young manager.

              “Just because she’s with me and not you doesn’t mean you have to act like a total jackass about it,” Travis continued.

              “Fine, pretty boy!” Johnny bellowed, tossing his apron to the ground.  “Find yourself another bartender!  ‘Cause I’m outta here!”

With that, Johnny stomped away, leaving Travis momentarily stunned. 

Minutes later, Carly hurried back to the bar to put in an order she had just taken from a table full of rowdy men in wranglers and cowboy hats.  She threw Travis a puzzled look when she saw him standing behind the bar dropping a cherry into a cherry vodka sour.

              “What are you doing?” she asked.  She looked around for Johnny.

              “Johnny,” Travis began, “decided he doesn’t want to work here anymore.  So, I’m taking over for him.”

Carly laughed while she said, “You really think you can do this?”

Travis pretended to be hurt by her lack of confidence in him.

              “I’ll just have to prove to you how good of a bartender I can be,” he said, grinning. 

              “We’ll see,” she said playfully.

Halfway through the long night, she praised him for his good work.  He wasn’t as good as Johnny, but she had to admit that for a novice he certainly deserved some recognition for keeping things running smoothly.  Several of the other waitresses who had been concerned upon learning of Johnny’s sudden departure and Travis’ decision to take over were now able to relax as they realized Travis could handle things.  Carly kissed him and whispered that she would reward him later for his hard work.  Just then, she glanced at the television set mounted above the bar and caught sight of a band performing on what looked to be a show very similar to Saturday Night Live.  The band appeared to be halfway through its performance, and the television audience was already cheering.

              “Oh my God, that’s Jake!” she said almost to herself. 

Everything around her seemed to come to a standstill.  Jake looked so handsome on t.v.  She listened to them perform the song she had played over and over again after buying the single.  She was absolutely mesmerized by their flaring performance.  It wasn’t long before Travis snapped her back to reality. 

              “What is so ‘wow’?” he asked.  He then glanced at the television.  His face fell as he realized who the performing band was.  He knew about Jake.  In fact, he had heard a lot about his girlfriend’s best friend, much to his disdain.  Before they had started dating, Carly had talked a lot about Jake, to the point of excruciating agony.  It seemed to Travis that she was nearly captivated by the guy.   At the point she had agreed to be his girlfriend, Travis immediately decided he would try to erase as much of Jake from her mind as he could.  He fumbled under the bar for the remote controller and switched the channel.

              “Hey!” Carly cried out.   

              “Sorry,” Travis said. “I don’t want you to be distracted by the television.  We gotta get these drinks out to the customers.”

Carly could have laughed at this most obvious pretense.  She knew with definite certainty that he was jealous.  She couldn’t really blame him.  Who wouldn’t be jealous of Jake?  Even a guy like Travis must surely count his shortcomings in light of such a fierce male competitor as Jake.  She decided to shrug it off for Travis’s sake.  Travis looked at his watch and remarked about how fast the night was flying by.  Carly had to agree with him.  And it didn’t seem that much longer for the clock behind the bar to announce the two o’clock hour.  Every last patron was ushered out by two-thirty, and Travis, Carly, and the other two waitresses had the bar closed by no later than three-thirty.  Carly was dead tired as she followed Travis to his car, and she couldn’t help but yawn no less than a dozen times. 

              “My house?” Travis asked her as they both climbed into his Mustang GT convertible.  She leaned her head against the soft leather seat and replied in a meek voice, “Yeah.  As long as I can crawl into your bed once we get there.” 

She yawned for the thirteenth time.

Along the way, Carly beckoned for him to stop by Amanda’s house for just a few minutes.  StoneLief's album had finally come out and she hadn't gotten a chance to buy a copy yet.  Amanda had agreed to let her borrow it.  The twin had reminded her she could download it online, but Carly preferred a hard copy she could hold on to.  Travis begrudgingly complied.  He didn’t like the crude twin at all.  Thus, he waited in the car while Carly walked up to the front door.  She knocked once and Amanda almost immediately opened it.  Before anything was said, Amanda produced the compact disc and Carly eagerly took it from her.  They stared at the cover for what seemed hours, studying Jake’s image like two infatuated teenagers. 

              “He’s photogenic.  You have to give him that,” Amanda sighed. 

Carly just nodded her head.  Her fatigue had rendered her mute.

              “Don’t lose it or break it,” Amanda warned, her eyes narrowing into two menacing slits. 

Carly rolled her eyes and turned away, prompting Amanda to reiterate her warning.

              “I know where you live, Cabrerra!” Amanda yelled from the door while Carly climbed into the car.

              “What’s that?” Travis asked.    

              “StoneLief’s album,” Carly answered him.

She waved at the twin while they backed out of the driveway. 

              “Oh,” Travis replied.  It had actually sounded more like a vexed “oh.”

He refused to allow her to play it during the ride home.  He claimed he needed to listen to his favorite rock station to unwind after a tough night at the bar.  She reminded him that StoneLief was an alternative rock band and the station was likely to play one of their songs.  But this did little to sway him.  When they got to his house, though, he gave in to her chilling silence and agreed to let her play it in the house.  They walked through the back door into the kitchen.  He grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and asked if she wanted one.  She vehemently shook her head.  She just wanted to get out of her clothes, climb into bed, and listen to the CD.   

              “You go on up,” he said. “I gotta get on the computer really quickly.  Be up there soon.” 

She just nodded and trudged up the stairs and down the hallway to the master bedroom.  After plopping down on the king-sized bed, she reached into her purse and pulled out the CD.  She wasted no time in sliding the disc into the laptop on the nightstand.  She fell back, resting her head against the pillow.  As the music started to fill the room, she closed her eyes and thought of him.  She thought of his big, bright blue eyes and his disarming smile.  She imagined his strong hands so skillfully pricking the strings of his beloved guitar.  She smiled as she reminisced about the kiss they had shared at the baseball field, their bodies becoming increasingly wet from the heavy droplets of rain that gushed from above while his tongue explored the sweet depths of her mouth.  She suddenly felt a warm stirring of desire, and she opened her eyes just in time to find Travis standing at the foot of the bed.  She smiled at him and felt her fatigue fade as lust seemed to replace all weariness.  Travis turned the music off and flipped the television set on.  Then he turned to look at her.  He felt a stirring within his loins as he noticed the raw desire in her dark eyes.   He climbed onto the bed next to her and began rubbing his hand on her taut stomach.  He leaned down until his lips touched hers, and he kissed her passionately.  His lips momentarily left hers as he struggled to lift her shirt up over her head.  Once he had relieved her body of her top, his tongue began to tease the erect nipples on her supple breasts.  She closed her eyes and moaned with pleasure, then turned her head to the side.  When she reopened them, she saw Jake on the television screen being interviewed by a young and attractive woman on an entertainment television news show.

              “It’s Jake!” she squealed aloud.

Travis jumped up and turned to look at the television, then groaned aloud.  Jake’s menacing face was once again haunting him.  Travis reached for the remote controller and watched as the screen faded to dark with the click of a small button.

              “Why did you do that?” she cried, “I wanted to watch that!”

              “I am tired of seeing that guy every-fucking-where,” Travis growled.  “And I am tired of hearing his songs on the radio.  I can’t even have sex with my girlfriend without having to see his annoying face.”

Carly furrowed her brow in slight irritation, and she firmly crossed her arms across her chest.

              “You’re jealous, Travis.”

Travis shot her an incredulous look and then burst into laughter.  He replied with overt cynicism, “I think it’s you.  You are the one who is so obsessed with the guy.”

Carly let out an angry howl and she threw a pillow at him.  Travis caught it before it hit him in the face.

              “I can’t believe you would say something like that!” she shot back.

He tucked the pillow under his arm and said frigidly, “I think I’ll sleep in the other room tonight.”

With that he stormed out, leaving Carly to ponder what had just happened.  She laid her head on the remaining pillow and contemplated whether or not there was actually some truth to Travis’s words.  She sighed heavily.  No matter how far away he was and how rarely they communicated, Jake was still very much a large part of her life.

Chapter Seventeen

              The driveway was filled to capacity with cars parked at every angle, with some even littering the front lawn.  Masses of people were piled inside the house, and several were crowded around the swimming pool in the backyard.  The music blared loudly, seeming to shake the two-story house to its core.  Carly ambled down the staircase and searched among the boisterous crowd of partygoers for any sign of her boyfriend.  She finally spotted him standing with a group of young men near a beer tap.