First Sight (27 page)

“
Well,
I was at the gym—I
finished lifting early.”

I nodded, and noticed that he watched me as I brushed back a strand of hair that fell in my face.
 
“
A
t least
we
were able to get
seats
. 
Marissa
and
I
come here all the time
since we both live nearby
; it
fills up quickly most week
nights
.”

Travis didn’t respond but
tilted his head slightly
,
his eyes crinkling a litt
l
e
as he looked at me intently
.  “I always thought your eyes
we
re brown,
” he said
,
his voice deep
,
“
but they have a
little circle
of green around them.”

“Yeah, I know,” I replied
,
surprised that he noticed.

Our eyes locked a moment longer, and he looked like
he was about to say something else but
seemed to catch himself and
changed the subject
. 
“
Do y
ou want a drink?”

“Yeah
,
”
I said, looking around for the bartender.
  “I’d love a beer.”

He raised h
is hand
to signal the bartender for me, and a
twentysomething
guy walked over to take my order.
 
I ordered a
Corona
and then flushed slightly when the bartender asked for my ID.
 
Travis seemed amused at my embarrassment.  “How old are you anyway?” he teased. 
“Twenty-three?
 
Twenty-four?”

“Twenty-five,” I said defensively.  “And you’ve never been carded?”

“Not recently.”  He grinned and took another swig of his beer.

“So how old
are
you
, Mr. ‘I don’t get carded’?
”

“Thirty-one.”
There was still a hint of amusement in his eyes.

“And what makes you think you’ll never be carded
again
?”

“Years of experience,” he replied
smoothly, his brown eyes
gazing
down at me
as a smile once again played on his lips
.  I didn’t answer
him
, confused at the entire direction our conversation was taking. 
He was suddenly teasing
me about
how old I was, commenting
on the color of my eyes. 
Was he flirting with me?

Before I could think of a reply, I heard
Marissa
calling
out to
us from across the bar.

“
Maddy
!  Travis!”
  She waved as she walked over.

“Hey
Marissa
,” Travis said with an easy smile.

“
Hey!  You got here quickly
.
 
I
thought you’d be stuck at work a while longer, so I headed over without you
,” I said, feeling slightly guilty that if I’d waited a few minutes, we could have come together.

“Oh, no worries,” she said.  “Besides, it looked like you two were having a fun time without me.”

“Huh?” I asked, confused, and glanc
ed
over at Travis.  He shrugged.

“Hi guys,”
Elizabeth
said, following closely behind her.
 
“Travis, your phone was ringing when I left….”
  S
he started
relaying a message
to Travis a
s
Marissa
eagerly plopped down on the barstool beside me.

“You won’t believe what
just happened
!
”
she
squealed
, flipping her long blond
e
hair over her shoulder.  I noticed a few guys standing nearby watching her,
but she was completely oblivious as she leaned closer and proceed
ed
to tell me all about th
e new guy that she had
just met. 
“
We were both
at the coffee shop. 
I stopped by on the way over here because I was dying—I
needed
some caffeine.  Anyway, h
e
accidentally cut in front of me in line—well, he said he didn’t realize that I was in line.  I
was reading a text on my phone, s
o I didn’t move up fast enough.  But then when he stepped in front of me….
”
As
Marissa
went on with her story
about the guy asking her out
,
someone saying my name suddenly caught my att
ent
ion.

“…
Maddy
and you
, huh?”
I
heard
Elizabeth
ask.

“What?  No,”
Travis
quickly replied
in a low voice
.

“…how you were looking at her.”

“
Elizabeth
… must be imagining things.”

“…don’t think so
…
retreat….
”

Her voice was muffled, and I couldn’t make out exactly what she’d been saying. 
Travis changed the subject
then, and
I wondered what
they had been talking
about. 
I wished that I had been able to hear the rest of their conversation.  Had
Elizabeth
noticed how Travis had been teasing me before
she and
Marissa
arrived
? 
How he’d
looked at me? 
Maybe it wasn’t just my imagination. 
And I was pretty sure people other than
Elizabeth
had noticed us together at the retreat over the weekend. 
I flushed as I remembered standing in front of him at the end of the zip l
ine, his hands on top of mine, neither of us moving even after he’d finished helping me.

“
Maddy
, are you listening?”
Marissa
asked
, drawing my attention back to the present.

“Oh yeah, totally,” I said,
m
y focus
slowly
returning
to what
Marissa
was saying.  She
had just finished
her story about how they’d met—his name was Rob
, I think
—and
was now
excitedly
telling me about
the date they’d planned for the weekend
.

“So what do you think?” she persisted when I didn’t say anything else.

“Wow,” I said, trying to muster some enthusiasm.  I’d missed half of what she said.  “
He
sounds great.”

“I know, right?
That was so sweet of him to buy my coffee.
”

“Who sounds great?”
Elizabeth
asked
,
saving me from
answering any more of Marissa’s questions about what I thought of her story.

“
Marissa
’s new boyfriend,” I said
with a smile
,
hoping
Elizabeth
and Travis
would ask a few questions so I
would be off the hook
.

Marissa
immediately restar
ted
the story of how
she and Rob had
met earlier. 
Marissa
was so
picky;
it was hard
to imagine anyone being perfect for her. 
The whole Mike scenario hadn’t lasted very long.  And
despite the
several new
prospects
after him
, n
one of
them
had
made it past
a single date.
  I wasn’t sure if I could even name any of them now.
 
She seemed really excited though, and I hoped something would work out for her this time.

We
ordered
another round of
beers
,
and
as Marissa continued to wax poetic about Rob,
Elizabeth
and I
teased
her
about
the
“
problems
”
she’d had with her
last few
dat
e
s
while Travis looked on
in
wonder
. 
One
guy
had been
too shy, another too
much of a jock
, and yet another lived in her building, so she said it
wouldn’t work because there would never be any mystery in their relationship
. 
She didn’t seem too
troubled
by her “discerning taste,” as she called
it.

Travis
rolled his eyes
jokingly
and sighed.  “You three are terrible.  I don’t think a guy has a chance with any of you!”

“
Elizabeth
’s married,”
Marissa
pointed out, “so evidently someone
had
a chance.”

“
Well, she lucked out with Steve,” he agreed as
Elizabeth
laughed.  “B
ut you two are definitely trouble.”
  He looked pointedly at each of us.

“Maybe, maybe not,
” I said with a smile.

“In that case,
Marissa
is definitely
maybe
,
”
Travis replied.  “I should call the poor guy to warn him!”

“
Marissa
m
ay
be
trouble?”
Elizabeth
asked.

“Exactly.”

“So
Maddy
’
s
maybe not
?”
Marissa
asked
, laughing.
  “That doesn’t sound right.”

“
I would never be trouble,” I said, feigning offense
at
Travis.
  “But at any rate, i
t’s time for ‘Maybe Not’ to get going
.
  It
’
s been a long day.
”

I saw Travis smirk a little
at my response
. 
He had been teasing all of us tonight, so maybe I had just been imagining things before. 
I
pull
ed
some
money
out
of my
wallet
and
laid the bills
on the bar.

“
Yeah, me
too,”
Marissa
said, hopping off her barstool and throwing some money
down
on top of mine.
 
“I need to get my beauty sleep after all.” 
She slipped on her brown suede jacket and looked over at me.

“You don’t have a coat?”

“No, it was nice out earl
ier.
”
I shrugged.

“Do either of you need a ride?” Travis asked casually.  “I drove
over here
from the gym earlier
.”

“Sure, that’d be great. 
Maddy
and I are
right around the corner from
one another,
”
Marissa
said.

“I drove
,
but thanks
anyway
,
”
Elizabeth
said as she
grabbed her coat and purse
.

After we each
gathered up our things
, we headed
out. 
W
e said goodbye to
Elizabeth
,
and
t
he three of us
walked
down the block to Travis’s car.  He’d found a
prime
spot on the street, and as he clicked his car alarm, the beep-beep from the black BMW convertible
parked a few feet away
showed me which car was his. 
Funny that I hadn’t even paid attention the last time he’d given me a ride.
Of course my mind had been completely preoccupied then with worry about my
mom. 
Travis walked
over
to the driver’s side,
and
Marissa
got in the back, so I
climbed into
the front passenger seat
. 
As
Travis
started the engine,
I shivered and crossed my arms across my chest to keep warm.