Beautiful Disaster 02 Walking Disaster (21 page)

We sat together on the couch, and I pulled her legs onto my lap.

“What do you wanna do today, Pidge?”

“Sleep. Or rest . . . or sleep.”

“Can I give you your present, first?”

She pushed my shoulder. “Shut up. You got me a present?”

“It’s not a diamond bracelet, but I thought you’d like it.”

“I’ll love it, sight unseen.”

I lifted her legs off of my lap and went to retrieve her gift. I tried not to shake the box, hoping the puppy wouldn’t wake up and make any noises to tip her off. “Ssshhhh, little
man. No crying, okay? Be a good boy.”

I sat the box at her feet, crouching behind it. “Hurry, I want you to be surprised.”

“
Hurry
?” she asked, lifting the lid. Her mouth fell open. “A
puppy
?” she shrieked, reaching into the box. She lifted the puppy to her face, trying to
keep hold of it as it wiggled and stretched its neck, desperate to cover her mouth with kisses.

“You like him?”

“Him? I love him! You got me a puppy!”

“It’s a cairn terrier. I had to drive three hours to pick him up Thursday after class.”

“So when you said you were going with Shepley to take his car to the shop . . .”

“We went to get your present.” I nodded.

“He’s wiggly!” She laughed.

“Every girl from Kansas needs a Toto,” I said, trying to keep the fur ball from falling off her lap.

“He does look like Toto! That’s what I’m going to call him,” she said, wrinkling her nose at him.

She was happy, and that made me happy.

“You can keep him here. I’ll take care of him for you when you’re back at Morgan, and it’s my security that you’ll visit when your month is up.”

“I would have come back anyway, Trav.”

“I’d do anything for that smile that’s on your face right now.”

My words made her pause, but she quickly turned her attention back to the dog. “I think you need a nap, Toto. Yes, you do.”

I nodded, pulled her onto my lap, and then lifted her with me as I stood. “Come on, then.”

I carried her to the bedroom, pulled back the covers, and then lowered her to the mattress. The action itself would have been a turn-on, but I was too tired. I reached over her to pull the
curtains closed, and then fell onto my pillow.

“Thanks for staying with me last night,” she said, her voice a bit hoarse and sleepy. “You didn’t have to sleep on the bathroom floor.”

“Last night was one of the best nights of my life.”

She turned to shoot me a dubious look. “Sleeping in between the toilet and the tub on a cold, hard tile floor with a vomiting idiot was one of your best nights? That’s sad,
Trav.”

“No, sitting up with you when you were sick, and you falling asleep in my lap, was one of my best nights. It wasn’t comfortable, I didn’t sleep worth a shit, but I brought in
your nineteenth birthday with you, and you’re actually pretty sweet when you’re drunk.”

“I’m sure between the heaving and purging I was very charming.”

I pulled her close, patting Toto, who was snuggled up to her neck. “You’re the only woman I know that still looks incredible with your head in the toilet. That’s saying
something.”

“Thanks, Trav. I won’t make you babysit me again.”

I leaned against my pillow. “Whatever. No one can hold your hair back like I can.”

She giggled and closed her eyes. As tired as I was, it was difficult to stop watching her. Her face was makeup free except for the thin skin under her lower lashes that was still a little
stained with mascara. She fidgeted a bit before her shoulders relaxed.

I blinked a few times, my eyes getting heavier each time they closed. It seemed I’d just fallen asleep when I heard the doorbell.

Abby didn’t even stir.

Two male voices murmured in the living room, one of them Shepley’s. America’s voice was a high-pitched break between the two, but none of them sounded happy. Whoever it was
wasn’t just making a social call.

Footsteps sounded in the hall, and then the door blew open. Parker stood in the doorway. He looked at me, and then at Abby, his jaw tense.

I knew what he thought, and it crossed my mind to explain why Abby was in my bed, but I didn’t. Instead I reached over and rested my hand on her hip.

“Shut the door when you’re finished being in my business,” I said, resting my head next to Abby’s.

Parker walked away without a word. He didn’t slam my door, instead putting his full force behind closing the front door. Shepley peeked into my room. “Shit, bro. That’s not
good.” It was done; couldn’t change it now. The consequences weren’t a concern in the moment, but lying next to Abby, scanning over her perfectly content, beautiful face, the
panic slowly crept in. When she found out what I’d done, she would hate me.

THE GIRLS LEFT FOR CLASS THE NEXT MORNING IN A
rush. Pidge barely had time to speak to me before she left, so her feelings about the day before were
definitely less than clear.

I brushed my teeth and got dressed, and then found Shepley in the kitchen.

He sat on a stool in front of the breakfast bar, slurping milk from his spoon. He wore a hoodie and the pink boxers America had bought him because she thought they were “sexy.”

I pulled a glass from the dishwasher and filled it with OJ. “Looks like you two worked it out.”

Shepley smiled, looking nearly drunk with contentment. “We did. Have I ever told you what America is like in bed right after we argue?”

I made a face. “No, and please don’t.”

“Fighting with her like that is scary as hell, but tempting if we make up like that every time.” When I didn’t answer, Shepley continued. “I’m going to marry that
woman.”

“Yeah. Well, when you’re done being a pansy ass, we need to be on our way.”

“Shut your face, Travis. Don’t think I’m oblivious to what’s going on with you.”

I crossed my arms. “And what’s going on with me?”

“You’re in love with Abby.”

“
Pft
. You were obviously making shit up in your head to keep your mind off America.”

“You’re denying it?” Shepley’s eyes didn’t flinch, and I tried to look everywhere but into them.

After a full minute, I shifted nervously but remained silent.

“Who’s being a pansy ass, now?”

“Fuck you.”

“Admit it.”

“No.”

“No, you’re not denying that you’re in love with Abby, or no you won’t admit it? Because either way, asshole, you’re in love with her.”

“. . . So?”

“I KNEW IT!” Shepley said, kicking the stool back, making it skid to where the wood floor met the rug in the living room.

“I . . . just . . . shut up, Shep,” I said. My lips formed a hard line.

Shepley pointed at me while walking to his room. “You just admitted to it. Travis Maddox in love. Now I’ve heard everything.”

“Just put your panties on, and let’s go!”

Shepley chuckled to himself in his bedroom, and I stared at the floor. Saying it out loud—to someone else—made it real, and I wasn’t sure what to do with it.

Less than five minutes later, I was fiddling with the radio in the Charger while Shepley was pulling out of the parking lot of our apartment complex.

Shepley seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood as we weaved through traffic and slowed down just enough to keep from tossing pedestrians over the hood. He finally found a suitable parking
space, and we headed to English Comp II—the one class we shared.

The top row had been me and Shepley’s new seating arrangement for several weeks in an attempt to break free of the flock of baggable females that usually crowded my desk.

Dr. Park breezed into the classroom, dumping off a tote bag, a briefcase, and a cup of coffee onto her desk. “Christ! It’s cold!” she said, pulling her coat tighter around her
tiny frame. “Is everyone here?” Hands shot up, and she nodded, not really paying attention. “Great. Good news. Pop quiz!”

Everyone groaned, and she smiled. “You’ll still love me. Paper and pen, people, I don’t have all day.”

The room filled with the same sound as everyone reached for their supplies. I scribbled my name at the top of my paper and smiled at Shepley’s panicked whispers.

“Why? Pop quiz in Comp Two? Fucking ridiculous,” he hissed.

The quiz was fairly harmless, and her lecture ended with another paper being due by the end of the week. In the last minutes of class, a guy in the row directly ahead of me craned his neck back.
I recognized him from class. His name was Levi, but I only knew that because I’d heard Dr. Park call on him several times. His greasy dark hair was always slicked back, away from his
pockmarked face. Levi was never in the cafeteria, or in any fraternity. He wasn’t on the football team, either, and never at any parties. Not any that I frequented, anyway.

I looked down at him, and then turned my attention back to Dr. Park, who was sharing a story about the latest visit from her favorite gay friend.

My eyes drifted down again. He was still staring.

“Need something?” I asked.

“I just heard about Brazil’s party this weekend. Well played.”

“Huh?”

The girl to his right, Elizabeth, turned too, her light brown hair bouncing. Elizabeth was the girlfriend of one of my frat brothers. Her eyes lit up. “Yeah. Sorry I missed that
show.”

Shepley leaned forward. “What? Me and Mare’s fight?”

The guy chuckled. “No. Abby’s party.”

“The birthday party?” I asked, trying to think of what he could be referring to. Several things had happened that would have the rumor mills churning, but nothing some random guy
from oblivion would hear about.

Elizabeth checked to see if Dr. Park was looking in our direction, and then turned back around. “Abby and Parker.”

Another girl turned. “Oh, yeah. I heard Parker walked in on you two the next morning. Is it true?”

“You heard where?” I asked, adrenaline screaming through my veins.

Elizabeth shrugged. “Everywhere. People were talking about it in my class this morning.”

“Mine, too,” Levi said.

The other girl just nodded.

Elizabeth turned around a bit more, leaning in my direction. “Did she really go at it with Parker in Brazil’s hallway, and then go home with you?”

Shepley frowned. “She’s staying with us.”

“No,” the girl beside Elizabeth said. “Her and Parker were making out on Brazil’s couch, and then she got up, danced with Travis, Parker left all pissed, and she left
with Travis . . . and Shepley.”

“That’s not what I heard,” Elizabeth said, visibly trying to contain her enthusiasm. “I heard it was a threesome sort of deal. So . . . which is it, Travis?”

Levi seemed to be enjoying the conversation. “I’d always heard it was the other way around.”

“What’s that?” I asked, already irritated with his tone.

“Parker getting
your
sloppy seconds.”

I narrowed my eyes. Whoever this guy was, he knew way more about me than he should. I leaned down. “That’s some more of your fucking business, asshole.”

“Okay,” Shepley said, putting his hand on my desk.

Levi immediately turned, and Elizabeth’s eyebrows shot up before she followed behind him.

“Fucking dirtbag,” I grumbled. I looked to Shepley. “Lunch is next. Someone’s going to say something to her. They’re saying we both bagged her. Fuck.
Fuck,
Shepley what do I do?”

Shepley immediately began shoving his things in his backpack, and I did the same.

“Dismissed,” Dr. Park said. “Get the hell out and be productive citizens today.”

My backpack thumped against my lower back as I sprinted across campus, making a beeline for the cafeteria. America and Abby came into sight, just a few steps from the entrance.

Shepley grabbed America’s arm. “Mare,” he puffed.

I grabbed my hips, trying to catch my breath.

“Is there a mob of angry women chasing you?” Abby teased.

I shook my head. My hands were trembling, so I gripped the straps of my backpack. “I was trying to catch you . . . before you . . . went in,” I breathed.

“What’s going on?” America asked Shepley.

“There’s a rumor,” Shepley began. “Everyone’s saying that Travis took Abby home and . . . the details are different, but it’s pretty bad.”

“
What?
Are you serious?” Abby cried.

America rolled her eyes. “Who cares, Abby? People have been speculating about you and Trav for weeks. It’s not the first time someone has accused you two of sleeping
together.”

I looked at Shepley, hoping he’d figured a way out of the predicament I’d gotten myself into.

“What?” Abby said. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

Shepley winced. “They’re saying you slept with Parker at Brazil’s, and then you let Travis . . . take you home, if you know what I mean.”

Her mouth fell open. “Great! So I’m the school slut now?”

I had done this, and of course it was Abby that was getting the shit end of the stick. “This is my fault. If it was anyone else, they wouldn’t be saying that about you.” I
walked into the cafeteria, my hands in fists at my sides.

Abby sat, and I made sure to sit a few seats across and down from her. Rumors had been spread about me bagging girls before, and sometimes Parker’s name was even mentioned, too, but I
never cared until now. Abby didn’t deserve to be thought of that way just because she was my friend.

“You don’t have to sit down there, Trav. Come on, come sit,” Abby said, patting the empty table space in front of her.

“I heard you had quite a birthday, Abby,” Chris Jenks said, throwing a piece of lettuce onto my plate.

“Don’t start with her, Jenks,” I warned, glowering.

Chris smiled, pushing up his round, pink cheeks. “I heard Parker is furious. He said he came by your apartment yesterday, and you and Travis were still in bed.”

“They were taking a nap, Chris,” America sneered.

Abby’s eyes darted to me. “Parker came by?”

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. “I was gonna tell you.”

“
When
?” she snapped.

America leaned into her ear, probably explaining what everyone else but Abby knew.

Abby put her elbows on the table, covering her face with her hands. “This just keeps getting better.”