Intertwined episode 11

🤝INTERTWINED🤝

💑EP ELEVEN💑

Travis took me to a private house party that night. It washosted in a six-bedroom house owned by one of the guys heknew from one of his classes. They served alcohol. Weshouldn’t be drinking, but I figured that Travis was with me,a few glasses of margarita wouldn’t hurt. But I didn’t realizeI have very low alcohol tolerance, I think I almost passed outafter my fourth glass. Travis decided it wouldn’t be good forme to come back to my dorm looking witless, and he

thought it was better for me to spend the night in his apartment. Ithink he was right.

When I woke up again, it was already afternoon. I slippedout of bed and went to Travis’s luxurious bathroom to take ashower. I put on the same jeans I had worn the day beforeand the extra halter-top I could fit into my bag before I lefthome.

I was trying to zip the back of my blouse, but somehowthe zipper was giving me trouble.

“Damn it!” I cursed. The thing about living with a girlroommate is that you always have somebody to zip you upwhen your clothes prove to be difficult.

Just then, from the mirror, I saw Travis approach behindme. He saw me struggling with my blouse. Without a word,he took the end of the zipper and gently but firmly pulled itup to zip it.

I smiled at him. “Thank you.”

He looked into my eyes from the mirror. “Hungry?” heasked.

“Yep. And still a little dizzy,” I replied.

He stared at me as if he was measuring me up, decidingif I was sober enough to handle myself without furtherassistance from him. When he was convinced I was going to be okay, he said, “I’ll just take a quick shower and let’s go tolunch.”

Half an hour later, I was feeling a little better after I’dhad a soda and some hot Chinese noodles.

“Heaven,” I breathed.

“Do you remember half the things you did last night?”he asked.

My eyes w¡dened and I felt nervous. I prepared myselffor what he was about to say.

“You made out with one of the frat boys.”

“Shit!” I gasped. “You’re kidding!” Did I really do that? Icouldn’t remember anything.

He laughed. “Of course I am,” he said. “Did you reallythink a guy can come less than a foot away from you when you’re with me?”

“Thanks!” I muttered. “You’re my potential-boyfriendrepellant!”

“That I am,” he said, taking a sip of his soda.

“Continue doing that, Travis, and I really will end upmarrying you! I still have to be married by the time I’mthirty-one, remember?”

He laughed. “You’re right! I should actually be pimpingyou. Fancy guys who go to Yale—what do you want? Blueeyes? Green eyes? Blond hair? Black hair?” he teased.

“Stop that, Travis!” I said. “Let me find my own boyfrienat my own time. Besides, I’ve learned a lot from Trip. I wouldonly be worrying about my relationsh¡ps four years beforemy deadline. College is just about having fun.”

He nodded. “Good. Just warn me if anybody sticksaround long enough.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want you to me marry the guy of your dreams.”

“Why would you do that?”

“I won’t. But…Brianne…do you even notice the kind ofrelationsh¡p we have?” he raised a brow at me, asking me a serious question.

“We’re…friends. And we’re really close. I don’t hideanything from you. I can tell you everything. You’re the onlyfamily I have. I love you, like I loved Tom.”

“And you sure hug me a lot,” he pointed out.

I shrugged. “I hugged Tom a lot, too.”

“Except that I’m not Tom. I’m not your brother.”

I stared up at him, wondering what his point really was.Was he telling me I should stop being affectionate towardhim? Oh God, this is embarrassing!

I looked away from him. But he was quick to tilt my chinup so I could look into his eyes. “Don’t get me wrong,princess. I like it when you hug me. And just in case youdidn’t notice, I hug you a lot, too. When Tom was alive, I sawhow affectionate you were with each other and I alwayswished I had a brother or a sister that I could share that

bond with. I always envied him…because he had you.” Painand guilt crossed his face. “Now…I have you…I have whatyou had with him. I’m happy. But it…came with a greatprice.”

I bit my lip, and pain stabbed through me again as Iremembered Tom.

“I’m just saying we both like what we have. We know thetie that binds us together. Tom was more a brother to methan a friend. And the worst pain I went through when I losthim…there is only one other person in the world who feltthat exact same pain. Only one person went through what Iwent through. That’s you, Brianne. But this relationsh¡p…your future boyfriends might not always understand this…because they know I’m not your brother. We’re not related

by blood at all. So…if you fall in love and get serious with aguy, let me know.”

“And what? You’ll stay away?”

He smiled ruefully. “I think I’ve proven that no matterhow bad the circ-mstances are, I still can’t stay away fromyou. After all, how can I keep you safe if I am not around?

But I won’t make it difficult for you, Brianne. I know where Ishould stand. I’ll draw my boundaries once the right guy foryou comes along.”

I smiled at him and leaned forward to k-ss his cheek.

“Thank you, Travis.”I don’t know why…I wasn’t entirely happy about what hesaid. A part of me felt surprisingly…sad.

After lunch, I told Travis that I needed to go shopping.Travis patiently walked around the mall with me while Ibought some clothes. He sat on couches and when I cameout after trying on some clothes, he told me whether theylooked okay or not, or he shrugged or grunted, which,according to my interpretation, meant either ‘okay’ or ‘noway.’

When I walked into a lingerie shop, he rolled his eyes.

“You’re not serious, are you?”

I laughed. “Then don’t come in,side. Stay here. I’ll do thisalone.”

It’d been months since I’d last bought undergarments,and I took that moment to buy different colors and styles.Most of them were my usual, lacy-elegance and cottony-innocence types of undies and pajamas.

I realized I didn’t have a s€×y pair of underwear. The lasttime I bought one was when I was with Cindy. When I boughta nice pair of underwear…in lieu of my night with…I shut the memory out and instead concentrated on thetwo styles of night garments. One was a green, lacy, long-sleeved nightgown with a deep neckline and ruffles down to

the ankle, but with a slit all the way up to the th-gh. The

other one was a lavender spaghetti-strap nightdress with

lace over the silk br-ast line that ended inches above the

knees.

They both looked nice. I held them both in front of me,and I couldn’t decide which one to buy. I was not even surewhen I would wear them. But they just might come in handy, I thought. And besides, how often did I get a chanceto shop for underwear?

Just then, Travis came from behind me and took thegreen nightgown from me and placed it back on the rack. Istared up at him. He stared at me for a moment. He gaveme a wink and then he sat on the couch and scannedthrough a magazine. I knew I was blushing. I turned awayfrom Travis and took the lavender nightie along with the rest

of the items I want to buy to the counter.

No! No! No! I tried to calm myself. I don’t think I gavethe cashier the right amount of cash and I was sure the lookshe gave me was meant to say, Stop smoking your socks,okay?

I took a few short breaths to calm myself before I facedTravis again. He stood up from the couch and headed out ofthe shop without looking at me.

When Travis drove me back home, it was almost eight inthe evening.

He parked in my driveway and rounded the car so hecould open the door for me.

“So, this was a nice catch-up,” I said.

He nodded.

I looked up at him. I could see the contours of hishandsome face illuminated by the moonlight. I could tellwhy hundreds of girls went crazy for him. Even I, in somesmall weird moments, found myself dazzled by him.

“We should really do this more often, Trav,” I said. “It’s ashame that we don’t see each other often when we’re in thesame city!”

He smiled. “I guess you’re right. We should hang outmore.”

I nodded. Then I held out my pinky to him. He andThomas hooked pinkies and bumped fists when Thomas wasalive.

The look on his face when he saw my pinky was hærdand pained. But he managed to raise his eyes to me and smiled. He hooked his pinky to mine and gently bumped hisfist with mine, careful not to hurt me even just a little bit.

“Stay safe, until we see each other again,” he said.

“Stay sane…until we see each other again.” I smiled.I turned toward my dorm again. Just then, my phonerang. An unregistered number appeared on the screen. Ianswered it.

“My new number,” Travis said.

I turned around to face him. “When did you change yournumber?”

“The other night.”

“There are only two possible reasons why you would do that.”

He grinned. “The first one you thought of.” His father.

“And the second reason?” Girls.

He chuckled. “Not even close. I don’t loosely give mynumber around, sweetheart.”

I laughed. “All right, I’ll put it on my speed dial,” Ipromised him. “I mean it, Travis. I hope we can see eachother more. College life can be…scary. It’s nice to know Ihave an ally close by.”

He nodded. “Anyway, you have my number. Call meanytime you need me.”

“Thanks, Travis.” I smiled at him. “Drive safely…if not foryour sake, then for mine.”

“For you, I will.” He gave me one last wink and then hedrove off.

When I got to my room, I stared at Travis’s number for awhile. I saved it on my speed dial, and then I smiled tomyself.

“You said you weren’t sleeping with that guy!” Sarahinterrupted my thoughts.

I sighed and put my paper bags on the bed.

“I’m not.”

“Where did you sleep last night?” she asked accusingly.

“Just because I slept in his apartment does not mean Iwas actually sleeping with him.”

“I don’t understand how you could spend one wh0leweekend with a guy as hot as that and not feel anything!”

I smiled at her. “I love him,” I said. “As I would my lostbrother. He’s a replacement brother. I probably am areplacement best friend. He’s got a complicated life. He’salone most of the time. He feels that the people he lovesusually leave him, and so he finds it difficult to love.”

“And you’re honestly telling me that…you never feltanything for him?”

I hesitated for a while. I saw Travis as a brother. Okay,there were times when he actually stole my breath andmade me blush from head to toe. I guess Travis was right.Although in my heart I wanted to treat him like Tom, a hugepart of my brain knew that he wasn’t really my blood. But Icouldn’t entertain any of those thoughts. That was preciselythe reason why he tried his best to make me forget that

night…

I looked up at Sarah, hoping she couldn’t see thehesitation or doubt in my face. “It’s especially hærd whenyou grew up with the guy. I was used to always having himthere.”

I guessed I would always have him around from then on.Remembering Travis and how at ease and emotionless was when he zipped my blouse, and chose that lavender nightdress, what happened between us at prom seemed eons away. It was like he didn’t remember it at all.

Well, of course! He was, after all, Travis Cross! That nightwas probably just another night for him. And I was justanother girl. And if that were the case, I refused to be partof a statistic. The memory of that night was best leftforgotten.