24. FADES

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I HAVEN'T HAVE ANY TIME TO SLEEP but with Travis here, beside me, with his arms around me and legs entangled with mine, it helped keeping the nightmares away. I just wish I could say the same when I'm conscious and living in reality. Truth is, I'm still so afraid of just letting him even when I had already told him the story about Max when I told no one else.

          When I was already awake, my eyes were still closed, the heaviness of them just overpowering me but I was still aware of my surroundings, including the fact that I could feel Travis' staring at me. I couldn't help but force out a little smile. "How long have you been awake?"

          "About an hour before you did," he answered, fingers on my hair trailing down my arms. "I just can't believe that you're here. In bed. With me."

          My eyes fluttered open so I could get a good look at him. It's just like the first time we slept together. Only this time, I found him more handsome than he was, and I found myself filling the void in myself that missed him terribly. "We slept together once."

          He nodded, chuckling. "If you're saying that time that I was sick, it wasn't the first time we slept together."

          "What do you mean?" My brows furrowed, scouring my mind to remember those memories I had with him. Then, my mouth opened into an 'O' shape. "Oh, you were drunk and when I woke up you were gone. I never even got to ask why you got drunk in the first place because I seem to remember that you got sick after that."

          "Yeah, being drunk gets me sick," he shook his head a little bit, that small smile on his face turning to a grin. "I got drunk because I was starting to like you when I shouldn't and you still hated me and wanted to scratch my eyes out that time. And after we fought, Elizabeth called me that night and told me that mom and dad wouldn't be able to go to my graduation. It's funny because they made Elizabeth told me, hoping that the blow would be less if they were the ones who talked to me."

          The thought of the people you love not coming to your own graduation was something I could relate to. Mom was no longer here, so she had no longer the opportunity of seeing me walk up the stage and wave to her, which same goes for Sean but I knew that he had dad. He always did. So, seeing Travis' perspective on his parents using his sister to tell him that they weren't coming was disappointing.

          I mean, the least they could've done was talked to Travis themselves.

          Suddenly, I found myself caressing his cheeks. "You never talked about them. You somehow just mention Elizabeth a few times and Mrs. Aries is there but you never really told me a thing about them."

          "That's because my family is what you call 'dysfunctional' and that's something I don't really tell a lot of people," he stated, shaking his head lightly. "Since I was a kid, I always had Mrs. Aries and Elizabeth there to be with me as I was growing up. You could say that they practically raised me while my parents provided the money for me to afford the things that I could want. When I would be in kindergarten and it was time to bring your parents to school, Mrs. Aries would sit in for them because my parents are always so busy running an empire. They miss most of my birthdays, thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and so on.

          "But once a while when they do come home and stay for a week or two, they make sure to criticize everything that I've done. Especially when I started gaining the reputation of a heartbreaker. I remember mom calling me about it and saying that I was such a disappointment to the family and that I should look to Elizabeth as my example. Don't get me wrong, I love my sister and she always protects me and I do that too but sometimes, it gets so overwhelming when your parents prefer one sibling over the other. You get me?"

          Without saying anything, I nodded, letting him know at least that I agreed with him.

          "Anyways," he continued, taking my hand from his cheek and intertwining our fingers. "I got mad and started ticking their boxes. You could say it was their payment for leaving me and then, when they come back, act as if they were really parents to me. But, once in a while, when I'm just over with everything that's happening currently, I go to this beach that belonged to my Aunt Kara who gave it to Elizabeth and I when she passed. It had a huge cabin in front of it so I would spend days there. It was a place where I could feel calm and I could even scream and no one will hear me. I just wish we could go there."

          My brows furrowed. "Well, why not go?"

          Travis looked at me like I've grown two heads. "Go? Sammy, you do realize that you're in danger, right? How will your brother even let us? What would I tell the guys if we just go there without saying anything? And what would I tell Alex?"

          What? He's been talking to Alex? "What do you mean? Don't tell me you guys are friends now."

          He sent me a flat look like I was stupid enough not to understand what he was saying. "We aren't friends. Acquaintances? Sure. Besides, why would I be friends with the guy who still clearly loves you?" Before I could ask how he knew, he was already answering it. "You two were together before we were, and when I first saw you as Ice at the room, he was protective of you and didn't want to leave you alone with me. It's also got to do with the fact that the guy had people knocking on our door every day to check on us. So, yes, I know he's in love with you; and that's also the reason why I don't like him."

          My brows furrowed. "Is that why you got really angry when a picture of me and him on the couch? I passed it off as an act even if I was angry at you."

          He rolled his eyes which was interpreted as a yes.

          I couldn't help but chuckle at his expression of being jealous before rolling over and standing up. "I'm going to take a shower and go to school."

          "Isn't that the opposite thing you should do?" He followed suit, standing behind me. "You should stay here and have—"

          Before he could even continue, I already interjected him. "I'm not going to stay here and have someone watch over me like a babysitter. Besides, I think me running away is considered as a break enough for me to contemplate how Max will eventually find me because it's Max. I can't stay cooped up because I might go crazy."

          No matter how much we both wanted for me to stay inside the house and be safe, the logic of being in a public place means that there would be a greater chance for Max not to try anything to get to me. Plus, it will actually mean that I get to finally see the guys.

          The door suddenly opens, and my brother walking in the room with me just wearing a t-shirt and Travis wearing nothing. In the fast reflex, Travis grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around his waist.

          "O-kay," Sean's eyes were wide, turning to me and then to Travis. "I did not expect this to happen." His eyes narrowed. "Dude, my sister gets back and you sleep with her?"

          Travis starts shaking his head before saying anything. "Okay, I admit that we probably shouldn't have done it—" did he just indirectly say that it was a mistake? "But, I don't regret a second of it. Plus, she's my girlfriend who just happens to be your sister."

          Oh, that did not sit well with Sean. By the looks of it, he was about to punch him. So, I did what any reasonable person would have done. I stepped in between them with my hands up in surrender. "This is obviously an awkward situation and I will listen to you yell at the two of us later. We're going to fix ourselves up, eat breakfast, and go to school. You can yell at me at the car."

          Sean's eyes were finally fixated on mine, still narrowed. "What the hell are you talking about? You're not going to school. Alex's going over here in a few hours to keep an eye on you. Apparently, he finally checked the cameras at the street and I forgot to tell you that they installed some cameras at the porch so they saw you."

          My eyes widened. I was not ready for Alex to come here and finally talk to me. The last time we talked, he said that he still loved me and I didn't even know how to respond then. What makes them think I'm ready to talk to him?

          Oh, he's definitely going to be angry at me.

          "Can we just—" I was already waving my hands around as some kind of gesture. "—press pause and let me shower? I need to just shower."

          Sean nodded slowly before turning to Travis, who just called me his girlfriend and it just registered in my head now. We never even talked about that. The last time he called me his girlfriend was at dinner with the guys, before everything went to shit. "Don't do anything anymore."

          Oh my God, because saying "anything" instead of "sex" makes it sound less awkward.

          Closing the door behind my brother, I turned back around to Travis, whose smirk turned into a full blown grin. "What?" I glared at him. "That was not funny. At all."

          "It kind of was," he replied, laughing lightly. "Your brother never threatened me before. I never expected for him to be scarier than I imagined. It is scary and it's also funny at the same time but thank you, for stepping in front of me and making sure I don't get punched in the face again."

          "Of course I did, I don't want people thinking I actually punched you in the face," I shrugged. "Plus, I already did that remember?"

          He rolled his eyes at me again, his free hand taking my arm and pulling me close in front of him. We were too close—the tip of our noses touching—and my heart still kept beating like crazy in my chest. "If I kiss you right now, would you be able to stop flinching when you hear me saying that you're my girlfriend?"

          I couldn't concentrate. Everything was distracting me—his gray eyes, his lips close to mine, and his warmth just engulfing me. But, I had to somehow get a grip and we needed to talk about our relationship right now with his question but, I couldn't. All I could think of was those lips. On mine.

          So, I kissed him. And every bit of my worry in my head finally faded.

          Don't worry, we didn't do anything more as we got into shower together.

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