by D. C. Renee
We watched Travis flirt and finally pick out a shirt and buy it. He told Abby he had to thank her for her help, especially since his mom would love the shirt. She had to let him buy her dinner. She protested a bit, but he insisted (just as I’d taught him! Aw, my baby was all grown up!). And she relented (duh!) and now they had a date the next day. He was going to take her to that quaint little Italian restaurant a few blocks down. It wasn’t fancy, but it was no diner, so it was perfect for a first date with a girl like her. He’d show her that he cared about her more than just to grab a quick bite, but he was down to earth and didn’t expect diva behavior, not that she would give him any trouble. So naturally, Brent and I were going on a “date” to the same restaurant.
Brent had made a grand bow as if he was from Shakespeare’s time toward me. “Milady, will you do me the honor of spying on Travis and his fake date?”
“Why, Brent, are you asking me on our own fake date?”
“Yes, yes, I believe I am.” We all laughed.
“Well, then I guess my answer is yes. But you’re paying,” I added.
“I knew you were only friends with me for one reason.”
“Oh?”
“You’re trying to get a free meal from me.”
“Yes, that is exactly it. I’m a gold digger with very low ambitions. You’ve found me out. Too bad I won’t let you off the hook.” Yes, I was a dork but that didn’t stop Travis and Brent from laughing some more.
“Oh, and Travis’ date isn’t fake,” I added and turned to Travis. “It’s not fake, mister. You’d better treat her right, and I want your full cooperation and participation. You better like this date!”
“Yes ma’am!”
Now, I had to get him prepped. He needed to be himself, just less him. Dear Lord, how was I going to get him to understand? If I could pull this off, then I was a miracle worker.
chapter twenty
I spent a good hour picking out what Travis was going to wear that night. It would have taken me about five minutes if he hadn’t kept arguing with me. And it only took me about forty minutes to realize that he was doing it on purpose to get me all riled up.
“What the hell is wrong with this shirt?” I asked after he shook his head for the hundredth time. “You wore this when we went out! You looked good!”
“So you finally admit you like how I look,” Travis smirked.
“Ah!” I yelled. “You’re impossible! You know you are a hottie so stop trying to get compliments out of me. Tell me what’s wrong with this shirt. Now!” I demanded.
Travis cocked his head to the side, seeming to think before taking a step toward me. He was invading my personal space, but I didn’t mind. Nope, I didn’t mind at all. Not one bit. He dropped his voice so that it was low and husky and then lowered his gaze to my lips. “Because if I wear that shirt, I won’t be able to think of anything but the feel of your body against mine. That’s what wearing that shirt does to me.” Oh. My mouth might have gone a little dry. And he looked so serious when he said it that I almost wanted to believe him. Okay, I didn’t almost want to believe him. I wanted to, desperately, but I wasn’t a dummy. I finally figured it out. Stupid Travis wanted to see me frustrated so he could get his kicks for the day. Well, he wasn’t going to win.
I composed myself so quickly that he didn’t even notice I was frazzled and laughed. “Damn, you are good. No wonder the girls fall at your feet. You’ve been playing with me this entire time, haven’t you?” I said and stepped back from the inviting cocoon his body was forming. I even started to clap. “Well, then it’s the perfect shirt, Trav,” I told him.
“Huh? What?” His gaze snapped up to my eyes, and the confusion in his eyes clouded the hooded look he was sporting a minute ago.
“Well, it seems only fair that you’ve been having your fun with me this entire time. Now, I get to have my fun with you. I want you to wear this shirt. Every time it rubs against your body, I want you to imagine it’s me. Let’s see how well you do on your date then.”
“I thought we were supposed to win.”
“We are.”
“And how am I going to concentrate on my date when all I’ll want to do is be with you?” He sounded so sincere. People do say you hear what you want to hear – I clearly wanted to hear sincerity.
“All right, all right, fine, you win. Just stop with the overt sexual tones, will you? I can’t even one-up you anymore. You’re just too good. It might be all fun and games with me, but you can’t do that with Abby tonight. She doesn’t know this is part of your nature to have fun. You need to be serious and show her you care.”
“I was serious,” he mumbled while he turned around away from me. I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but I clearly had some work to do if he wasn’t going to drop the “let’s go have sex now” attitude he was constantly sporting.
“Okay, so you don’t really care what I pick out for you to wear?”
“No,” he responded grumpily, his back still turned to me.
“Okay, the dark blue polo and the gray jeans. I love the way you fill them. Might as well let Abby have some eye candy too, not that the face isn’t enough. You don’t realize how appreciative we are of a nice ass, and I must say yours, Trav, is pretty nice.”
That got him to turn around. Actually, he whipped around, a smile playing on his lips. He reached out and grabbed the jeans I was holding.
“You like these on me?”
“Uh-huh.” I nodded.
“Well, then I’ll be sure to wear them often, starting now.”
He proceeded to take off his jeans and put those on then. He was wearing black boxer briefs, and I tried really hard not to look. Yeah, right. I was staring. Oh boy, was I staring. Well, hot damn, it was getting stifling in his room suddenly. And I swore he was taking his time on purpose.
“You have a bit of drool there, Kim.” He chuckled.
“Well, then get dressed quickly so I can stop looking.” I didn’t bother trying to deny it. Hell, he knew I looked. Didn’t mean anything, right? Right?
“Okay. Now that you are dressed, let’s deal with the conversation aspect.”
“What’s there to deal with?”
“What are you going to talk about with her over dinner?”
“I don’t know. We’ll see, I guess.”
“Yeah, just go wherever the conversation takes you. But you need to be engaging and let it flow naturally. Want to practice?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Let’s have a conversation. We’ll talk about random first date type of things, and you can get a feel for how it’s supposed to flow. It will obviously be different with Abby, but you’ll get an idea.”
“Sure, why not. Maybe I’ll learn a few interesting things about you.”
“Yeah, you wish,” I added.
“Okay, so …” he trailed off.
“Do I have to do everything?” He nodded and then motioned for me to sit down, and he sat right beside me on his bed. He was so close his leg brushed up against mine. It sent a little shiver through me, and as much as I liked it, it wasn’t practical.
“Scoot back, bud. How can you face me and have a normal conversation if you’re practically close enough to eat my face.”
“Maybe I want to eat your face.”
I laughed. “That probably sounded way sexier in your head, didn’t it?” He only laughed in response, but he did back up a little. “So, Travis, did your mom like the shirt?”
“What shirt?”
“Ugh! Already? I’m trying to start a conversation as if I don’t really know you. And as Abby, the only thing I really know about you is that you bought your mom a shirt.”
“Oh! Oh, okay. I haven’t had a chance to give it to her yet. I won’t see her for a few weeks, so I’ll give it to her then. But I know she’ll love it. She likes anything I get her where she could be proud of me.” Travis seemed to be lost in thought when he chuckled. “I remember this one time. I must have been like twelve or s
omething. We made these Mother’s Day gifts for our moms in school. You know how teachers in elementary school used to make you do those?” I nodded. “Well, at twelve, we don’t do that anymore. But according to my English teacher, we needed to appreciate our moms or something like that. I don’t remember her exact words. I think hers had recently passed away, so we didn’t actually give her any shit about it. And it was a free period essentially, so we were all up for it. Well, our assignment was to incorporate the book we had just read into some kind of card. The problem was that I hadn’t read the book. I don’t even remember what it was about. All the girls in the class made these fancy cards with love quotes from the book. Well, not only could I not figure out what to add from the book, but I wasn’t very creative. So my card was pretty much an ‘I love you’ on the front and something like ‘Thanks for being a great mom’ inside. It literally looked like a first grader had made it. But when I gave it to my mom later that day, she cried. At first, I thought it was because the card was so terrible. I was seriously rethinking the idea that I should have given it to her instead of trashing it, but then she hugged me and told me it was the best thing ever. That I was her sweet boy and I made her so proud. She couldn’t wait to show it off to everyone. I was dying of embarrassment when she proceeded to show it to all her friends. It was really stupid, but later on, I kind of realized that it was because I took the time to make it even if it wasn’t anything good.”
My eyes were watery by the time he finished that story. He was still smiling, lost in the memory, and I took that chance to study him. He looked so young and vulnerable at that moment. I didn’t know what possessed him to tell me the story, but it warmed my heart. I knew Travis was a good guy, but the way he remembered that said something about his character and his family values. I couldn’t help myself. I launched myself at him and hugged him real tight. He was stiff at first, but then I felt his arms start to wrap around me.
“Thank you,” I whispered into his shoulder.
“Uh, you’re welcome?” He said it more like a question.
“That was an amazing story. Thank you for sharing it with me.”
“It was silly. I’m not even sure why I told you. It was just something I remembered.”
“It was perfect. You’re perfect,” I said before I caught myself. “I mean, you are going to be perfect today. You don’t need me. You know exactly what you are doing. Just be yourself and she’ll not only like you by the end of tonight, but she'll also be head over heels!” We broke apart and I smiled at Travis, but he was looking at me kind of funny. I couldn’t tell what it meant, but it didn’t matter. He was going to be great tonight, and we were going to win. And then this whole mess would be over and I would be able to continue being friends with both of them without all this hanging over our heads.
“Don’t worry, Trav. Tonight will be a piece of cake for you. I just know it.”
“Yeah,” he added quietly, but there was still something odd in his expression. I didn’t let it bother me. We had a bet to win, and I needed to go get ready for my fake date, too.
chapter twenty-one
“My, my, my, don’t you look delish!” I exclaimed as Brent picked me up for our “date.” He was wearing a black v-neck sweater and dark blue jeans. He really did look pretty yummy.
“You don’t look so bad yourself.” He smiled.
“Oh, this ole thang?” I drawled in my best Southern accent. I had worn a flowing deep sea green cotton dress that was tighter on top and had a little belt right under my bust, accentuating my nice perky boobies. Yes, I said boobies. Sue me. Even though this wasn’t a real date—it was only Brent, and we were just going out to spy on Travis—I hadn’t been out like this in a while and I deserved to get all dolled up. I had curled my hair so it hung in loose curls around my shoulders, and I had done my makeup so it was subtle but allowed my eyes to pop. Lauren had said I looked edible before she headed out to hang out with her boyfriend. I swear if we didn’t live together, I’d never see her anymore.
I could tell by Brent’s appreciative gaze when he looked me up and down that I had done a good job of sprucing myself up. I told you before that I knew how to work my assets and make myself appealing when I wanted.
“You ready to watch Travis crash and burn?” Brent mused as he held his arm out for me to take.
“Oh, puh-leez, you know he’s going to do great. We are winning this bet with a week to spare, hands down.”
“No way. Just because he’s had a few good moments doesn’t mean anything. I am going to win this. But don’t worry, I’ll still let you buy those shoes you wanted.”
“Let me, huh? What a sweetheart,” I sniped.
“I know, I know, I am amazing. I can’t help it. I was born this way.” He chuckled.
“Yeah, not so much. But, whatever, let’s go.”
“Did you manage to get us a booth where we could watch them easily?” he asked.
“Who do you think I am? Of course, I did.”
I had stopped by the restaurant earlier and handpicked the tables I wanted Travis and Abby to sit at, as well as Brent and I. It took just a bit of flirting and eyelash batting to convince the young, cute host that he should save those tables for us. I might have implied that I would be forever grateful if he did. What? I didn’t say how I would thank him, just that I would. A small peck on the cheek and a pat on the back should suffice.
We went to the restaurant and immediately saw Travis standing with Abby. They looked like there was a fire between them, and they couldn’t cross it to touch each other. Oh, God, maybe Brent was right. This wasn’t good.
So I did what I had to do. I pulled Brent along and made my way to the front where Travis was. “Come on, slow poke. I need your help.”
“Oh, so you admit Travis sucks?”
“Yeah, fine, whatever. Are you going to help me or just stand there staring at me?”
“Well …”
“Oh, stop it. And just play along,” I mumbled as we got to Travis.
“Hey, Trav, fancy seeing you here,” I said as I went up and hugged him. I did that so I could whisper, “Watch,” in his ear.
“Hey, Kim,” he responded a little startled and looking a bit amused. His eyebrows were drawn together, waiting for instructions.
He then did the stupid guy fist bump thingy with Brent.
I was waiting for him to introduce Abby—you know, the normal, polite thing to do—but I must have missed giving him that lesson because he didn’t.
I stuck out my hand. “Hi, I’m Kim.”
“Hi, Abby, nice to meet you.” She sounded so shy and sweet; it almost made my heart break to know that Travis wasn’t one hundred percent into her. He should be. She was nice and cute and decent. And maybe it was time for him to change his man-whoring ways. I mean, I got that he was young and having fun, but how long could he go on like that? I just also sort of envisioned it was me instead of her.
“Nice to meet you, too,” I said and then narrowed my gaze on Travis quickly to make sure he was paying attention. I rested my hand on Brent’s arm and nuzzled a little closer to him, forcing him to put his arm around me. “This is a date, huh?” I teased while holding Brent close.
“I, uh …” Abby started to stutter.
“Yes,” Travis responded, finally finding his manhood somewhere along the way and moving closer to Abby. Good start, but not enough.
“I love this place. This is where Brent and I had our first date, too, and look, here we are,” I said as I gazed lovingly into Brent’s eyes. He parted his lips as if he was going to say something, so I shifted my gaze back to Abby and Travis and spoke before anyone could contradict. “So it’s got to be good luck, right, babe?” I asked Brent and nudged him a bit.
“Uh, yeah, that was the best day of my life,” he added with a giant smile. Damn, he was good. Maybe I should have bet that Brent would find an Abby. Oh well, too bad. Too late now.
I turned back to Travis and tilted my head toward Abby. It took him
a few seconds, but he finally got the picture and put his hand on the small of her back. I saw her sigh into him. That was a good sign. But that was thanks to my help. It wasn’t as if I could sit with them all night. I needed a cushion just in case.
“And Abby, I love Travis like a brother, so be easy on him, yeah? He can be rough around the edges and a bit of a flirt, too.” I chuckled. “But if you caught his eye, he’ll treat you right. Don’t let him fool you, but you hurt him and you’ll answer to me. Come on, babe, let’s leave these two to enjoy themselves.” I might have sounded like a possessive sister; I hoped I did, at least. I didn’t need her thinking I was a jealous ex or anything, but I needed her to know he was a good guy and not to take any of the bullshit I was sure he would spew today to heart. Damn, why couldn’t he act the way he acted toward me? Why was it so easy for him to be himself around me? Oh yeah, because I was like “one of the guys” with him, just with tits.
“So since we are dating and in love, do I get a kiss?” Brent laughed as we followed the host to our table.
“Let me think … hmmm … magic eight ball says ‘Not today, you don’t.’”
“So there is a possibility for one tomorrow? Who knew all I had to do was wine and dine you and we’d be a happy couple giving Travis some pointers on his first date?”
“Oh, shush!” He laughed. I tried to see if I could hear Travis and Abby, but with the commotion in the restaurant, there was no way. I’d have to settle for just observing. They had sat down, and he had waited until she was seated before he sat. Wow, I was impressed. Good boy. Then I watched them have a few moments of awkward silence. “Damn.”
“What?” Brent asked.
“They’re not talking.”
“So?” He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
“So how is she supposed to like him if she doesn’t get to know him?”
Brent laughed really hard at that.
“What?” I asked.
“That’s probably the only way she’ll like him. If she doesn’t know him.”
“Oh, you …”