Intertwined episode 3

🤝INTERTWINED🤝

💑EP THREE💑

I waited in my living room anxiously. I wore a pair of whitecapris and black halter top. I didn’t know how to dress, but Iwas pretty sure I looked nice. Not that I wanted to impressTravis, but this was a practice date.I tied my hair in a neat pony, and then put on powder

and gloss.The doorbell rang.

Maria, our maid, ran to get it.

“I’ll get it!” I said to her.

She looked at my outfit and then smiled. “It’s nice thatyou’re going out on a date on your birthday.”

I was going to correct her that it wasn’t really a date, butthen I asked her instead, “How do I look?”

She beamed at me. “Really lovely!” she replied. “Yourdate will not be able to take his eyes off you!”

I giggled nervously. I doubted that was true. If it was anyother guy, maybe. But not Travis Cross, who saw me in pajamas and shirts with h0les in the wee hours of the nightshe slept over at our house.

I never imagined Travis would be my first date. A coupleof months before, I would have vomited at the mere thoughtof it. But now, I felt like…better him than some guy I don’teven know.

I opened the door. Travis was standing in front of mewearing jeans, a white shirt, and a black jacket.

“Hey!” I greeted him cheerily.He nodded at me.

“Happy birthday,” he said.

I smiled. “Thanks!” I closed the door behind me. “Isuppose I should introduce my date to my parents first,but…first of all, they already know you. And second of all,they didn’t even bother to come home on my birthday. So,that’s out the window. Let’s proceed to step number two.”To my surprise, Travis suppressed a chuckle at my attempt to joke about the fact that my parents weren’thome on both my birthday and the first time I would begoing out on a date.

Travis opened the door of his Porsche for me.

“Quite the gentleman, aren’t we?” I teased.

“If the guy doesn’t open the passenger door for you,don’t proceed with the date at all,” he said in a seriousvoice that really sounded like he was giving a lecture.

“Note taken. Does he have to have a Porsche, too?Because that really limits my choices.”

He raised a brow at me. “Doesn’t matter. As long as hedoesn’t make you walk all the way home.”

He rounded the car and got into the driver’s seat. Hedrove to a classy restaurant that was famous for steak andoverlooking views.

“Wow!” I breathed. I stared at him. “Travis, this is settingthe standard way up high!”

“Good! Maybe I’ll have more peace if you never go outon a date at all,” he said and then got out of the car. Asecond later, he was opening the passenger door for me.

“Hey, Tom would not be so strict!” I said.

“Well, he’s the angel. I’m the devil incarnate,remember?” he asked in a cold voice.

“Do all my dates have to be sarcastic, cynical, and cold,too?” I asked back.

He stared at me for a while. Then he sighed. “You’reright,” he said. He tossed his keys to the valet. Then hereached for my hand and guided me in,side the restaurant.

“Good evening, Mr. Cross,” the receptionist greeted him.

“This way to your table, sir.”

We were led to a secure corner on the terrace. It had aperfect view of the city and offered just the right amount ofprivacy.

“Privacy,” I said.

“That’s not for you,” he said. “I prefer that you date inpublic…where lots of people can see you…hear you scre-mif your date is a lunatic. This privacy…is for me.”

I raised a brow. “You’re ashamed to be seen with me inpublic, aren’t you?”

“Accusations are to be saved for the end of therelationsh¡p,” he said. “Not when you are hoping to startone.”

He had a point. But then I remembered, I did, too.

“You’re avoiding my question.”

“No. Being seen with you is the least of my worries,” hesaid. “And if I were really a guy hoping to start a relationsh¡pwith you, I would be proud to be seen with you in public. Butenough with the compliments…the truth is…I don’t wantyou to be seen with me. At least not tonight.”

“Why?”

He sighed. “Because my father’s in town.”

“And?” I asked.

He stared at me for a moment. Then he said in awhisper, “Tom really could keep a secret.” It took him amoment to speak again. “My father and I have a brokenrelationsh¡p. It is worse than I let you know.”

“How bad?”

“Really bad,” he replied. “He lost his right to ground meand so I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.”

“How could a parent lose his right to ground his child?”

“The moment he stops doing his job of being a parent,”Travis replied coldly.

I sat back on my seat and waited for him to continue.

“And so whenever he wanted to keep me at home, heresorted to…tactics that would make you want to call child services if you found out,” Travis said. “I’m emancipated. Iwould sue his ass if it weren’t for my mother.”

“Travis…”

“He has bodyguards…hounds on the loose. Sometimes, Ithink they’re watching me, studying who moves in mycircle.”

“Who you’re close to?”

“Right now, there’s only one,” he said. He stared at mefor a long while, and in a rueful voice, he said, “I don’t wantyou to be involved in our war. I don’t want to break mypromise to your brother.”

I smiled and reached out for his hand. “Thank you,Travis,” I said. “And anytime you want to talk about yourfather…I’m here.”

He pulled his hand away. “Thanks. But nope. I’m notgoing to waste your time talking about him.” He motionedat the menu. “Order.”

I ordered a New York steak and mashed potatoes. Travisordered a ribeye and vegetables.

When the waitress was gone, we stared at each other.

“So, I suppose this is the part where I talk to my dateabout myself? And ask about him?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“Now, what could I possibly ask Travis Cross that I don’talready know?”

“A lot,” he replied. “But I don’t necessarily need toanswer every one of them.”

“Aren’t you interested to know anything about me?”

He stared at me for a while and then gave me a crookedsmile. “I know you more than you think.”

He said that with so much confidence I was actuallysurprised. “Really? You really think you know everything,don’t you?”

He shrugged. “You’re welcome to test that theory,cherie.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “My favorite color?”

“Green,” he replied without blinking. Wow! I didn’t knowhe knew that. My entire family thought it was pink.

“My favorite book?”

“Romeo and Juliet,” he said, wrinkling his nose.

I was taken aback, surprised he knew that, too.

“Movie?” I knew I had a lot of favorites. Only You, ThePrincess Bride, Some Kind of Wonderful…the list went on.Even I couldn’t answer that question easily. I would beshocked if Travis could.He thought for a while. Then he said, Ever After.I stared back at him. He raised a brow at me, as if hewas challenging me to deny that. But then I realized—hewas right. Out of all those movies, Drew’s Cinderella story

was the one I watched over and over. Sometimes, I justturned it on and played it until I fell asleep.

“Song?”

“‘Walk On,’” he replied.

I couldn’t believe it. It’s like I replied to an interview andTravis spent hours memorizing my answers. “My secretcrush.”

“If I knew that, then it wouldn’t be a secret, right?” heasked back.

Ha! There’s a page in the interview he’d missed readingafter all. And I smiled to myself proudly.He took a sip of his soda.

“But isn’t Ricky Martin g-y?”

My mouth dropped. How could Travis know that muchabout me?

He was suppressing a laugh when he sipped his sodaagain.

Our food was served. I couldn’t say anything. I was stillwondering how he knew all those things about me. Travisand I were not exactly friends when Tom was alive. Iremembered him for his snide remarks—mischievouspranks, even. But I didn’t remember ever talking to him

about anything regarding myself at all.

“You’re not upset, are you?” he asked.

I sighed. “I’m not. I’m just…shocked!” I replied. “Howcould you know all those things?”

He shrugged. He sliced his ribeye and then took a bite ofhis food. He didn’t speak for a long while.I put my fork and knife down.

“Would you tell me?”

“Tell you what?” he asked.

“How did you know my favorite color, or movies, orsongs? Even my thing for Ricky Martin?”

He shrugged again.

“Travis!” I protested. “Did you read one of my diaries?”

“Do you have a diary that has all that information?” heasked back.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

He smiled at me as if I were being ridiculous.

“Even Tom thought my favorite was pink,” I said.

“Well, he did get that wrong a lot,” he said.

“But how could you know all those things?”

He sighed. “I don’t know.”

“My favorite color, for instance,” I said. “How could youknow that?”

“The ink of your pens are green. You have a lot of greenshirts.” Then he reached out across the table to touch mybracelet. It was a chain of green Swarovski crystals. “It’s thecolor of your birthstone.”

“So that day we went to your beach house…the room Istayed in was all green. Tom asked you to make it pink. Didyou make it green on purpose? Did you already know Ipreferred that color?”

He stared at me for a while. Then he nodded. “I’vealways known you liked green.”

I sighed guiltily. I remembered that that day, I thoughthe was playing a joke on me that backfired. And yet, allalong, he actually did it because he knew I would like it. Iguess Travis really wasn’t as bad as I thought.

“What about the books I read?”

“Weren’t you carrying a Romeo and Juliet and WutheringHeights book around all the time?”

“The movie?”

“I slept next room to you about a hundred times. I couldhear Drew Barrymore’s voice through the walls,” he replied.

“I suppose I play Menudo a lot, huh,” I said.

He rolled his eyes. “And the portrait of Ricky Martin thatyou drew is stuck on your bedroom wall,” he said.

“So you got all that by observing?”

“Now you can’t say that nobody ever pays attention toyou, cherie,” he said. “You’re…patriotic when it comes tothe things you like. It’s hærd not to notice.”

I sat back in my seat. “Funny. I didn’t know anybodyreally cared before.”

“I’m a very keen observer, particularly of the peoplearound me.”

“Well, since you already know so much about me,maybe we should talk about you.”

He stared at me for a while. Then he took a bite of hisribeye.

“Can I ask the questions now?” I asked.

He shrugged.

“Favorite color.”

He stared at me for a while and then asked back,

“Looking at me, what do you think?”

“Black?”

He shrugged. “Black will do.”

“Favorite movie?”

He sat back for a while, and then he said, “The GoodSon.”

It was the way he said it that made me look at himcarefully. There were sorrow and bitterness in his voice.

“Something about the movie you want to talk about?” Iasked.

He shook his head. “Nope.” He looked at me andgrinned. “You won’t trick me into telling you about my relationsh¡p with my parents, cherie. No matter how cuteyou try to be.”

I sighed. “Fine. But I will get you to talk about yourparents. Maybe not now. But we have our lives to wait untilyou’re ready, Travis.”

“Don’t hold your breath,” he said, and somehow, I knewhe meant that.

We had dess**t. Since it was only Travis, and I didn’tneed to pretend, l ordered their Mocha Lava specialty, whichwas a molten chocolate in,side a chiffon cake with ice creamon top.

“Should I order dess**t when I’m really out with a guy?”

I asked. “I mean…will it turn guys off to know I don’t countcalories?”

He chuckled. “I find it cute, actually. I think…if I wasn’tme, I have fallen in love with you already.”

“Why?”

“I don’t really like girls who are obsessed with theirfigures. I would rather they give in to the temptation of anice Molten Lava cake. But that’s just me. And I’m not intorelationsh¡ps, really. It still depends on your guy. So Isuggest you go with what you feel. You want to be

comfortable with your boyfriend. You wouldn’t want tochange just to fit his taste. He should fit yours.”

I looked at him thoughtfully. “I hope most of the guys ourage think like you.”

“You have your wh0le life to look for him,” he said.

“Well…not your wh0le life. But a decade and a half.”

I blinked back at him. “How could you know that?”

“Since I was twelve, I have been going to your familygatherings,” he replied. “Tom told me all about theridiculous ‘curse’ the females in your family believe in.” Helooked at me from under his lashes. “You don’t really believein that, do you?”

I shrugged. “I don’t think it will hurt that much tobelieve,” I replied. “I mean…in my family, if the curse does not happen to you, the others make it seem like it did. Like,for example, you don’t get married by thirty-one, and theylook for all sorts of things that are wrong with you and theyonly talk about that at family reunions.

“I mean, who’s to say that it’s not Aunt Rosalie’s choiceto be single for life, as supposed to marrying a man whowould only break her heart? Or maybe Aunt Mildy’s dreamwas really to become Princess Jasmine she just couldn’tresist that proposal from a rich Sultan? But they talk about itat reunions and they give you a certain look, or they dish at

every table that it looks like you’re doomed after all!” Isighed. “And sometimes, I realize I don’t want that. I preferto be invisible compared to being so visible in the wrongsort of ways.”

“And so you prefer to get married before you’re thirty-one?”

I nodded. “Or be cursed for life? I think I prefer the lesserof two evils.”

He chuckled humorlessly. “Cherie, some men are not thelesser of two evils. Let’s just pray you don’t marry one whois a curse in his own right…like my father.”

I sighed. “Don’t bring up topics you don’t want to discussfurther, Travis. Because I’m really getting curious about yourfather now.”

He brought his fingers to his l-ips and made a zippinggesture.

After dess**t, Travis got the bill.

I took my wallet and pulled out some bills. “How much ismy share?”

He stared at me as if it offended him.

I rolled my eyes. “I know you’re filthy rich, Travis Cross,but I’m not a free rider.”

He chuckled. “You did half of it right, at least.”

“Half of what right?”

I watched him place a platinum card in the folder andhand it to the waiter.

“Expect that the guy must always pay,” he said. “Forme, if you cannot pay for the entire date, then don’t havethe guts to ask a girl out. But it’s good that you did thecheck dance. You got that right. It’s impressive.”

“What did I do wrong?”

“The rolling of the eyes, and the sarcastic remark thatfollowed,” he replied. “Offer to pay or split the bill, once,twice, or three times. Don’t try to insult or tease to provewhy you should pay. Because you really shouldn’t. If thesecond or third time, he insists on paying, graciously thankhim.”

I smiled at him. “Okay.” I took a deep breath. “Thankyou, Travis…for such a lovely dinner.”

He nodded back at me. “You’re welcome, cherie.”

He signed the bill and then fished through his wallet toleave a tip. It was huge. But since he paid, I wouldn’t knowhow much the bill was.

“Can I…” I started.

“What?”

I shrugged. “If it was a real date, could I ask how muchthe bill is?”

He shook his head. “You must never ask how much theguy spent on your date…and this is a real date, cherie. Soyou can’t ask me how much the bill was, either.”

We stood up from our seats and he led me toward theexit.

“It was a lovely dinner, Travis,” I said to him. “Butshouldn’t a normal teenage date usually involve going tothe movies or something? Because I will be dating normalguys. And you’re not really in that range, Travis.” I stared upat him, my eyes laughing.

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Who said I wasn’t planningon taking you to the movies?”

He drove to The One Hotel, which is one of the high-endhotels and shopping destinations in the city. He led metoward the back and we reached the entrance to a stadium.

He handed two tickets at the entrance, which meant thathe’d already purchased them beforehand.

“Are we going to watch a game?” I asked him. “I thought you said you were going to take me to the movies.”

“The purpose of first dates is usually to find somethingin common,” he replied instead. “Now, I know that neitheryou or I have patience as one of our virtues.”I rolled my eyes.

“And refrain from rolling your eyes so much. It willintimidate the guy. Unless you’re not aiming for a seconddate,” he said.

I sighed. I didn’t ask questions anymore. Travis wouldnot answer any of them. He was taking this educationaldate seriously. Maybe I should, too, I thought. This is for meanyway.

It did look like we were going to a movie theater. Travisopened a door and motioned for me to go in first. But when Istepped in, I was surprised to find that I had stepped outsideinto an open area. There were knee-high tables with candlesin the center and beanbags on each side of them with alarge projector screen in the middle. It was like a restaurant,but instead of chairs, you had comfortable beanbags to siton.

“I told you I was going to take you to the movies,” hewhispered into my ear. I could feel his breath against myneck, and I actually shivered.

“Movies Under the Stars,” I breathed. I had heard aboutthis, but not many of the kids my age actually went. Notmany of us could actually afford it.We were led to our table. I found the beanbags weremore comfortable than they looked. It was very relaxing. Awaiter approached us to take our orders.“I’m still full,” I said.

“A soda? Nuts? Popcorn?” Travis asked.

I smiled. “Pepsi and nuts will do.”

“Macadamia nuts and two diet Pepsis,” he told thewaiter.

We waited for the movie to start.

“This is really nice,” I said to him.

“I’m glad you like it,” he said. “Enjoying your date sofar?”

I nodded. “Although, if it wasn’t you, I might feelintimidated.”

The waiter served our orders and told us to press thebutton on the table if we needed more services.

“Why?” Travis asked after the waiter was gone.

I shrugged. “This is all too…surreal.”

He gave me a crooked smile. “Then it’s exactly how yourfirst date is supposed to be,” he whispered.

The lights dimmed suddenly, marking the start of themovie.

“What are we watching?” I asked him in a whisper.

He stared at me mischievously and said, “Ssshhh…”It took me a moment to realize what movie is going tobe shown.

My breath caught in my throat as I saw DrewBarrymore’s name on the screen.

“Ever After,” I whispered and I bit my lip to keep fromcrying. Because this gesture was far too touching. And itwas the very last thing I expected from Travis Cross.

We watched the movie in silence. Even though I almosthad every scene memorized, watching it under the fullmoon and stars only made it so much better for me. It wasperfect!

“Do you like it?” he asked.

I stared up at him and nodded. “Yes.” I reached out forhis hand across the table and gave it a squeeze. “Thankyou, Travis.”

He nodded and turned his hand over to intertwine ourfingers. Then he looked back at the screen. I smiled tomyself. This was the first time I’d held hands with a guy.

Travis may have been the guy I hated the most, but now Ithought we were in a much better place than we had beenin before. Because now he was the guy I knew would alwaysmean well for me. And now, on my sixteenth birthday, hewas the only family I had to celebrate with.

Travis was still holding my hand when he led me towardthe exit. I didn’t feel self-conscious. Instead, I feltcomfortable and safe…assured that an ally was withinreach.

I looked at our intertwined fingers. “So I guess it’s okayto hold hands with my date.”

“I leave that up to you,” he said. “Although, next time,let him initiate the act.”

I looked back at him. I realized I was the one who’dreached out for his hand. Immediately, I started to withdrawmy hand from his.He laughed, tightening his grip on my fingers andpreventing me from letting go of his hand. “I know, cherie,”

he said. “Your initial intention for touching my hand was tothank me.”

I glared at him. And I made a serious effort to withdrawmy hand from his. Finally, he let go. But then he put an armaround my shoulder. “Now, I initiated this. Happy?” heasked, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze.I did feel better.

He chuckled. “Your temper is cute,” he said, and then hek-ssed the top of my head.

He didn’t release me until we got to his car. Before heopened the door for me, he said, “I seriously hope Tomdidn’t intend to give you a lesson on k-ssing, too. Becauseone, that would be very weird. And two, I’m not up to giveyou that lesson.”

I raised a brow at him. “No. Because one, my brotherand I weren’t perverts. And two, I wouldn’t ask you for thatlesson even if you were up for it.”

He chuckled. “Then it’s good we got the air cleared.”

He drove me home. It was ten minutes to midnight; hepointed at the digital clock on his dashboard. “Your parentsmay not always be around, but I hope you remember thattwelve o’clock is your curfew.”

“And who set that?”

He shrugged. “For the time being, me, your designatedguardian.”

“You’re the same age as I am!” I protested.

“I’ll be seventeen in a couple of months. I’m almost ayear older than you,” he argued.

I grunted in my seat.

He took something out of his pocket. “Happy birthday,cherie,” he said, handing me a box with a ribbon tied aroundit.

“What’s this?”

“Looks like a birthday gift to me,” he said.

I raised my brow at him, and then untied the ribbon andopened the box. My mouth dropped when I saw thegleaming necklace with a large heart-shaped purplish-redpendant. The pendant was surrounded by clear diamonds.

“Wow,” I breathed. “This is beautiful. What stone isthis?”

“Alexandrite,” he replied. “You’ll probably prefer its colorin daylight. It will turn emerald green.”

I blinked back at him. “But…Travis, this is rare.”

He shrugged.

“You shouldn’t have!” I said. “You didn’t care about mybirthdays before!” That was true. In the past, Travis didn’teven wish me happy birthday. Not even after I blew out thecandles on my cake. And now, he was making everythingperfect!

“Maybe the necklace is for all the other years I didn’twish you happy birthday,” he said quietly. “Back then, Ididn’t have access to my own money. And I didn’t want tospend my father’s money on you or your family.”

“You have money that didn’t come from your parents?”

“Yes. My grandparents from my mother’s side named metheir heir,” he replied. “Maybe Grandpa knew I would not sitwell with my father’s ways and decided to treat me like anadult three years earlier.”

“Well, your Grandparents must have loved you.”

“Love died in my life the moment they did,” he saidsadly.

I reached out to touch him in the cheek. “Hey…we werehere.”

He looked up at me. “Tom was. But not anymore.”

“I’m still here,” I said.

He smiled ruefully and nodded. “Yes, cherie. You’re stillhere.”

I looked at my necklace again. “This is beautiful,” I saidto him. “And so is everything else. Thank you for makingthis birthday count, Travis.”

He nodded. “You’re welcome. And I promise, I’ll make allyour birthdays count from now on.”

And that promise warmed my heart for the first time inmany months after Tom passed…