Road To Love (3 page)

“It’s about time I get to meet her.”  Abigail laughed.  “Where did you two meet?”

“She’s a
junior at the University.  We met at the bowling alley.”

“Where’s she from?”

“She lives in Colorado.”

Abigail nodded.  “I can’t wait to meet her.”

“Well before that, let’s get to why we’re here.”  He turned to Travis.  “I hear you are in need of a place to stay and I can’t say that I’m stunned.”  Travis groaned and Todd laughed.  “However, it is your place and I do think that you went about it the wrong way.  It’s over and done with; so, Abby has been gracious enough to agree for you to stay.”

Travis
rolled his eyes as she giggled.  “What’s the rules; I am sure the top rule is that we yell whenever we’re about to run around half naked?”  When he looked at her she glowered at him; it was fun to watch her squirm.

“I suppose that could be one;” Todd shook his head.  He clearly had no idea of the predicament
Travis and Abigail was in earlier in the day.  “I do only have two showers; so you guys may have to share.”

“What?”  Abigail yelled.

Todd started to laugh.  “Not at the same time; get your mind out of the gutter.  I simply meant that the shower downstairs can be yours, but you’ll have to work out a schedule.”

Travis
about died laughing inside seeing the expression on Abigail’s face.  When he started to laugh quietly she gave him another evil eye so he quickly stopped.  “I really appreciate this Abigail and Todd; you both have no idea how much.”

“I’ll remember that when I need a favor.”  She raised her eyebrows and he smiled and nodded.

“Okay; does anyone else have another request?”

Abigail shook her head.  “I’m good!”

“Me too;” Travis agreed as there was a knock on the door.

“That must be Carolyn.”

“It better be, because we’re running out of rooms to give out.”  Abigail added with a grin.

Todd laughed.  “Remember what you promised Abby.”

He hurried away and Travis turned to Abigail.  “What did you promise?”

“I told him that if he ever needs time alone with her to just let me know and I’ll make myself scarce.  I do believe that goes for you too.”

He would go with that; he looked at Abigail as she went off to meet Carolyn.  He would agree to just about anything; they were the one offering him a place.  He would not take that for granted.

Abigail took in a deep breath; it was a beautiful night, but she didn’t expect to be spending it outside.  When they had finished eating and had carried the conversation to football she knew that it was time to make her getaway.  She wasn’t interested in sports, but the 21 year old College junior seemed all too eager.  Abigail had to laugh when she realized that her brother’s girlfriend was younger than she was.  It seemed strange, but she had to admit she saw the love in both of their eyes.  She knew it was real and Carolyn did seem
authentic.

“Can anyone
sit on this bench?”

She looked up as she saw
Travis entering the backyard.  She looked down at the bench and moved over to allow him room.  “Sure; it’s a free bench.”

He laughed as he took a seat.  “Apparently you were right.”

“Aren’t I always?”

He snickered and shrugged.  “Your brother made it painfully obvious that I wasn’t welcome.”

Abigail laughed.  “That’s why I chose to leave prior to having to be faced with how in love he is.”

“Yeah; you were the smart one.”

“Again…aren’t I always?”

She raised her eyebrows and he chuckled.  Their eyes locked for a moment, but she casually broke the gaze.  The night turned
deadly still as they both just sat there.  Neither one wanted to be the first to talk.  After several minutes of an awkward silence and casual glance at one another, he cleared his throat.  “Are you sure you really don’t mind?  I mean; will it be too awkward that I am staying here?”

“Are you trying to have some reason not to stay?”

“No; why would you ask that?”

“I don’t know; it just seems that you keep trying to get an out.  If you want an out and you don’t want to have to be the one to look like the immature one then fine; I don’t want you to stay.  ”His eyes got big and he looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t have the words in him.  “
I am fine with this arrangement.  Maybe you need to look in a mirror to see who really has the problem.”

“What?  Why would I have a problem with it? 
I was the one that wanted to stay here.”  He argued.

“Yes, but you didn’t intend on getting two roommates and after the incident between us earlier today, I think you’re scared.”

“Scared?  Scared, of what?”

“I think you’re scared of being too close to me.  After all, I always thought you did have a crush on me.”

She stared at him and he looked a lot more nervous than she would have expected; especially when she thought she was only giving him a hard time.  “I…you are nuts; you know that?  I do not have a crush on you and I have never had a crush on you.  I was the one that was there when you were just a whiny brat.”

“Brat?”  She stood up and stared at him.  “I don’t know who you think you’re calling a brat, but I wasn’t the one that pulled a girl’s pigtails just for laughs and I wasn’t the one that grew up into a jerk.”

“That’s a matter of opinion.”  She heard him mumble.

“Are you serious?  Now you’re calling me a jerk?  You can stay, but just remember you’re on your si
de of the hallway and I am on mine.  Don’t even breathe my way.”  She turned away from him and stormed into the backdoor of the house.  She stopped short of seeing Carolyn and Todd making out on the couch.  “Don’t mind me;” she fumed as she hurried up the stairs.  She slammed the door and flopped herself on the bed.  She was so used to teasing him that she expected him to take it in stride.  Things just turned too personal and hurtful; even if it was all in fun, there was no telling.

***

Travis watched as she rushed away from him and after a few minutes of sitting there dumbfounded he saw the bedroom light turn on.  He didn’t understand her need to be so mad; she was the one that initiated the fight.  He didn’t know why things had to always be so tense between them; he had hoped that things were beginning to get better, but there were obviously still some hard feelings on her end.

He looked at his watch; it was going on midnight.  Even if Carolyn was still there he knew that he needed to get some sleep.  He had to be to work at 6:00 and it was going to be a hectic day.  He headed towards the house and when he was inside he saw Carolyn and Todd kissing by the door; he hoped that meant that she was going to be leaving.  When he saw that she was walking out the door he sighed with relief.  Todd turned to
Travis and smiled.  “I love that girl.”

Travis
rolled his eyes.  “You would never know that.”

Todd laughed.  “Sorry about that.” 
Travis didn’t respond.  He couldn’t be mad about that; he was lucky to have found a woman that he cared so much about.  “Did I hear Abby come into the house?  She stormed past us, mumbled something, and then headed upstairs.”

“Oh; you didn’t get the brunt of the hurricane?”

Travis fell onto the couch and turned to where Todd was still standing.  “What happened?  I thought things were better.”

“You and me both;”
Travis snickered.  “I don’t know; one minute we were laughing and teasing about how you kicked me out of the house and the next she was storming away from me like I was the last person she would talk to.”

Todd laughed.  “She’s a woman; that should be all you need to know.”

“No; this is different.  It turned into a match of personal attacks.  I didn’t want it to turn out that way.”

“What kind of personal attacks?”

“I called her a brat; she called me a jerk.  Pretty much the normal;” even as the words exited Travis’s mouth he had to wince.  It wasn’t normal; they were two adults that should have been able to just handle themselves with a more mature nature.

“You called her a brat?”

“Yes, but in my defense I was saying she was a brat when she was younger; not now.”

Todd sat down in the chair and shook his head.  “That’s so much better; I don’t understand why she’s so upset with you.”

“You don’t get the picture; she started it.”

“Seriously; what are you…two?”

“I know that it got carried away, but there’s nothing I can do about that.  She told me that she doesn’t want me to even breathe in her direction.”

“This coming from two people that I offered a place to stay;” he snickered.  “There’s only one thing you can do; you have to apologize.”

Travis knew that was easier said than done.  “Wouldn’t it be better for me just to not breathe in her direction and find another place to stay?”

“
Travis, you’re my best friend and she’s my sister.  I want you to be able to finally get along.  Is that really too much to ask?”

“I guess not, but I doubt she’ll hear me out.”

“Maybe not, but you have to try.  It has been 5 years and that’s long enough for a person to grow up.”  Travis nodded, but felt like he was being scolded by his father.  “We better go to bed; I know that you have a busy day tomorrow and so do I.”

Travis
nodded.  “Okay;” he stood up and they headed out of the living room.  “I’ll try to talk to her tomorrow, but I can’t make any guarantees.”

“I know you can’t, but I would appreciate the attempt.”

Todd went into his room and shut the door.  Travis stood outside of Abigail’s room.  He could tell from the light that was peeking out of her door that she was still awake.  He considered knocking, but then changed his mind.  He had to think about what he wanted to say.  Tomorrow would be there soon enough.

***

Abigail found herself restless; she looked over at the clock and realized that even though she felt tired, she didn’t see sleep in her near future.  It was 5:30 and she could hear the sound of hurried feet and water and knew that Travis was getting ready to head out to work.  She rolled out of bed and grabbed her robe.  She peeked out into the hallway and was glad to see that there was no one in sight.  She heard the slamming of the front door and let out a sigh.  She knew that Travis was going to work at 6:00 so she knew it would have been him.  She needed to hold on a conversation with him, but she was hoping that it would be later.  She saw Todd’s door closed and figured he was still sleeping.  She went down the stairs and was about to enter the kitchen when she saw the bathroom door open and Travis stood there dripping wet and his shirt was in his hands.  When their eyes met she quickly looked away.  It was no big deal; he was only their topless and she saw men topless all the time.  Will it wasn’t all the time, but it was definitely noticeable that her eyes fell over his toned body.  A sigh escaped her lips as she thought about him, but then she realized rather quickly how crazy that was.

“Abigail?”

She turned around; she was half hoping his shirt was still off.  However, sadly, it wasn’t.  “Hey!”  She nonchalantly spoke as if nothing had happened.

“I’m in a hurry, but I was hoping that we could talk tonight.”

She nodded.  “Sure, whatever;” even she picked up on how cold she sounded.

He was about to walk out of the door, but then stopped.  “Todd had to go out of town, but he wrote you a
note.  See ya later.”  With that he was out the door.

Abigail picked up the letter that was on the kitchen table and read it:

Dear Abby

I was called away to Tulsa; I won’t be home till late tonight.  There is some emergency cash in cookie jar if you need money for supper; or you can you fix whatever you want in the house.  If I see that it’s too late I will plan on staying overnight.  Try not to murder Travis before I get back.

Love ya sis,

Todd

She didn’t know if she could make any promises about not murdering Travis, but she would try her best.  She smiled; finally peace and quiet.  Maybe she could get some sleep after all.  Then she would have to get a move on, because the quicker she could find a job and place to move the better.

Abigail looked in the refrigerator with disgust; Todd had offered her the house and said that she could eat anything in it.  The problem with that was she was having a hard time finding anything to eat.  She pulled out a
container of chicken salad and shrugged.  “It would have to do.”

“What’s for supper?”
  He laughed; his nervousness was bold, but Abigail found herself happy that he seemed so nervous.

“
I’m having chicken salad.  I know that he offered money, but I didn’t want to sponge off of him.  Until I get a job, I can’t afford to eat out.  So, this is the best alternative.”

“I could order a pizza; it’s just a call away.”

Abigail snickered and made sure not to look him in the eyes.  “Then I would feel indebted to you; no thank you.”  She put the chicken salad on some bread and took a bite.  “Hm…perfect.”  She finally looked at him and he was smiling.  “What?”  She responded with her mouth half full.

“
You have a little on the corner of your mouth.”

“Oh;” she quickly wiped it
away.  She could feel herself flush.

“I’ll take a sandwich.”  She looked at him and she couldn’t tell if he was just teasing her, but she didn’t think so.  “Unless you’re keeping it all for yourself;” he laughed and she fumbled with the bread.

“By all means;” she handed him the sandwich.

He took a bite and smiled.  “You do make a mean
chicken salad sandwich.”

She glowered at him.  “Are you making fun of me?”

Travis shook his head; she noticed the frown lines around his eyes.  “I think we do need to talk.”

“I don’t have anything that I need to say to you.”  She turned away and started to leave, but he grabbed her hand.  Their eyes were both locke
d on the touch and she pulled away.  She put the container back in the refrigerator and turned to face him.

“Then you have to listen; even if you say nothing at all, you have to hear me out.”

“Why?  Every time we open our mouths we end up spewing out angry words.  If Todd doesn’t come back tonight do you really want to be here with someone that you can’t even stand being around?”

“I’m not the one that
feels that way.”

“Please!  You called me a brat.” 

“I called you a brat when you were younger.”

Abigail rolled her eyes.  “What’s the difference?”

“I only said that because I was trying to get back at you.  You said that I had a crush on you; I was trying to point out that I didn’t.”

Abigail didn’t know why that one little comment annoyed her more than anything.  “
You made yourself perfectly clear.  After all, how could the big man on campus ever have a crush on little ole’ me?  It’s no wonder I’m still single; I must be crazy to think that any guy would fall for me.”

“Now you’re putting words into my mouth.”

“Am I?  I don’t think so; you said that you were trying to point out that you didn’t have a crush on me.  I’m trying to tell you that you painted that picture perfectly.”

“Abigail when I was 18, you were only 13.  How could I have had any sort of crush on you?  When I hit puberty you were 7; come on you can’t possibly think that I could have thought of you in any other way, but a pest.”

“Wow, I went from being a brat to a pest.  I’m moving up in society.”

“The bottom line is you didn’t hold back on the name calling.  You said I grew up to be a jerk.  You’re just as guilty as I am in name calling.”

Abigail nodded; he was right, but there was one main difference.  “You see, the thing is I was only kidding.  You’re the one that took everything to heart.  I never believed you had a crush on me.  The fact is, maybe I was a pest and brat.  I’ll admit to that; I was 5 years younger than you and my brother.  I looked up to you guys and sadly that was my downfall, because I didn’t receive anything in the end.  You won’t have to worry about this bratty 23 year old getting in your way.  I found an apartment and in a few days I will be out of your hair.”  She turned away from him and didn’t stop even as she heard him calling her name.

***

Travis thought about the last words that Abigail had spoken before tearing off to her room.  She was 23 years old now and suddenly the 5 year age difference didn’t seem to matter.  If they weren’t so aggravating to each other, they could have had something there.  As the time passed slowly by and the evening turned into night he realized that the chances of Todd being home wasn’t looking promising.  He also felt that the chicken salad he had for his supper wasn’t going to hold him over for the rest of the night.

He went out to the kitchen and looked through the cabinets.  His eyes fell on a box of popcorn; while it wasn’t of much substantiation, it was quick to fix.  He put it into the microwave and waited for it to finish.  Abigail had to have been feeling the same about supper, but he didn’t suspect that she would be willing to afford him the gratitude of her company.  He put the popcorn in two bowls and went up the stairs.  He had to ask anyway; he wouldn’t have felt right eating it with her hungry in bed.  There was no light coming from her room, but that wasn’t going to stop him.  He knocked on the door; there was no answer so he knocked again.  “Abigail?”  His watch read 10:12 and he wasn’t going to just assume she was asleep.  It was still pretty early.  “Abigail, are you awake?”  He heard rustling in her room and that was his answer.  “Abigail, I’m not going away; so you better answer the door.”

“Travis, go away; can’t a girl get any rest?”

“No; open your door.”

After only a few seconds the door flew open and she crossed her arms and stared at him.  She was wearing shorts and a tank top and he was careful not to look too long at her legs.  “Are you satisfied?  What do you want?”

“I made popcorn; I thought you would be hungry.”

“That’s interesting; I didn’t think you would want to be saddled down with a pest.”

“Abigail, everything I said was taken out of context.  You have to understand where I’m coming from, but I don’t want to argue anymore.  Do you want popcorn or not?”

As they stood there he heard the slight grumble of her stomach.  “I’ll take that as a yes.”  He tried to hide his smile as he turned away and headed back down the stairs.

As he sat at the kitchen table he noticed her walking down the stairs.  She stopped shy of entering the kitchen; it was as if she was afraid something was going to jump out and scare her.  She then reluctantly made her way in the room and sat down.  “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

The awkward silence was not easy to deal with, but he tried not to look at her as they each ate their bowl of popcorn.  “It doesn’t look like Todd’s coming home tonight.”  She replied quietly; her eyes continued to look into her popcorn bowl and he could tell she was trying
desperately to avoid looking at him.

“That’s what I was thinking.”  He played with some kernels that were in the bottom of his bowl and then finally looked at her.  “Do you mind if I say something without you jumping down my throat?"

“I can try to be civil.”

“I think that I always teased you when you were younger because I never had any siblings.”

“So, you decided to take it out on me?”

He laughed and shook his head.  “No; I thought of you as a little sister and most brothers can be jerks to their sisters.  I know that Todd never was, but I figure that’s really why I was.”

“Teasing is all fun and games, but there comes a time when it moves past teasing into personal jabs.  Unfortunately I think that’s where last night and tonight has gone.  I guess I’m sorry for saying a lot of things I did.”

“I’m sorry too Abigail.  Also, just for the record I didn’t think you were a pest all of the time.”

“Well, while we’re being honest I don’t really consider you a jerk.  I was just spouting off because you called me a brat.”

Travis
smiled.  “Do you think that maybe we could officially start over?”

“I suppose we could try.”  She stuck her hand out and he shook it.  “Hello, my name is Abigail Johnson; what’s yours?”

“My name is Travis Jessup; it is a pleasure to meet you Abigail.”

Abigail smiled and he noticed a flicker of light pass over her blue eyes.  “What?”

“Nothing; I just hope that this time it can work out.”  He didn’t dare tell her the real reason of what he was thinking.  It would start a whole new area of confusion.

She shrugged.  “I hope so; I really do.”  In that moment he believed those words and he hoped that she believed them too.

“I heard you said you found an apartment?”

“Yeah; it’s Waverly Apartments over on Sedgwick Drive.  I can move in on Monday.”

“Maybe they would have another vacant apartment for Josephine;” he joked.

“Have you talked to her?”

He shook his head; he didn’t know what he would say if she wasn’t close to moving out.  “I know that I need to see her and make sure that she’s on task of finding a place.”

“You have a right to have your house back.”

He laughed at that.  “I know that I do, but I feel bad that she had no idea that I was going to break up with her.  She honestly believed that wedding bells would soon be in our future.”

“At least this way she found out sooner than later.”

“You’re right; I have to keep thinking of that.”  He looked at her as she yawned; when her eyes met his she started to laugh.  “I agree with you; let’s go to bed.”  When the words left his mouth he heard a hesitant laugh from her.  “I mean, I’ll go to my bed and you go to yours.”

She nodded.  “I know what you meant.”

“Of course you did;” he shook his head.

“Do you work tomorrow?”  She asked him as they headed up the stairs.

“Nope; it’s my Saturday off.  Do you have plans?”

They stopped outside her door and she acted like she was thinking.  “Uh…not really; I don’t have many things to pack up, so that’s good.  Oh and thank you for the popcorn again.”

“It was no trouble; goodnight Abigail.”

“Goodnight
Travis.”  She shut the door and he went to his room.  If only it was always like that between them, but nothing was ever that simple.