Better Than I'd Thought | Sally Face x Travis Phelps

seven

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"A party?" Travis sighed, raising his eyebrows. "None of those kids even like me."

"I don't know if I'd call it a party." Sal shrugged. "Only three people are coming over. Larry, Todd, and Ash."

"Yeah, well, " He looked away, "I'll go talk to Mr. Addison... Instead."

Sal laughed, squeezing his eyes shut, "That would be awkward. You're going to stand there all night and talk to him through the door slot?"

  "What else am I gonna do?"

   "Stay with me." Sal insisted. "My friends, they don't hate you. They just had some bad experiences, and they don't know you."

   "When you brought me to see Larry that one time, he looked like he was about to kill me."

   "Larry wouldn't kill anyone." He laughed. "Especially not a friend of mine. Just trust me and stay here tonight, okay?"

__

   "Sally face! My dude!" Larry walked into the apartment without knocking.

   "Hey, Larry!" Sal grinned.

   Travis stood awkwardly behind the blue-haired boy. "Hi, Larry."

   "Hey, man." Larry smiled and nodded to him in an attempt to be friendly.

   "Sal told me you two are stepbrothers," Travis mumbled, trying to make conversation as Sal went off to talk to Todd.

   "Oh, yeah." Larry slouched. "Our parents are on a date right now. My mom wanted to go to some fancy place downtown. She got all dressed up and everything."

   Sal caught onto the conversation and smiled at him over his shoulder. "You should've seen my dad. He was like, wearing a suit and everything."

   Larry turned back to Travis once he was sure that Sal was distracted again. "Henry became real depressed after Sal's mom passed. He's pretty much been a complete mess up until recently." He shrugged. "At least, that's what Sal told me."

   Travis's heart pounded. He nodded hesitantly, not sure what Larry wanted him to say.

   "He carries himself well, most of the time, " Larry pat his shoulder stiffly, "but Sal's been through a lot, you know, man? Just keep that in mind."

__

The events of the day unfolded as Travis had predicted. Sal was unintentionally busy with his friends, and none of them seemed to be interested in talking to him.

Travis was one hell of a wallflower. Especially considering that nearly everyone at the 'party' disliked him.

He was happy watching Sal smile and have fun. Who knew such a positive, kind person could have such a dark past. Travis knew it was better not to ask Sal about it.

"Hey! Does your dad have any liquor, Sal?" Larry grinned, leaning on his shoulder.

  "Huh?" Sal stiffened, raising his eyebrows. "No! Well-" He sighed. "I mean, yeah. Of course, he does. He's an alcoholic, but don't touch any of it, please?" Sal begged. "He'll think that I was the one who drank it, and then he'll get all mad at me and he'll ground me or something. So-"

   "Don't worry, little dude." Larry laughed, "I was joking."

"Don't do that!" Sal exclaimed with a relieved smile. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

Travis felt his chest twist into knots. It kind of hurt, seeing Sal play around and act happy with everyone other than him.

He hated to admit it, but he was lonely. Travis longed for another movie night alone with Sal. One where they could hold hands and not feel awkward. He wanted to be able to kiss another boy; not just any boy, but Sal.

Travis wanted to be loved romantically, if only for a little while.

"Sal is such a cutie." Ashley smiled. "You're so short."

Travis tensed up/

"I'm 5'2"!" Sal defended himself. "That's about average for a kid my age, right?"

"You're seventeen." Larry scoffed. "That's below average for a girl your age."

"It's ok, " Sal laughed, pointing at his mask, "my height is certainly not my worst feature."

The room when silent for a moment.

Travis winced. Ouch.

"You guys didn't laugh, " Sal frowned. "I thought you'd all laugh."

Ashley leaned forward, planting a kiss against his cheek. "You don't have a worst, feature, Sal." She smiled.

Travis swore he felt his eye twitch.

Sal flushed dark red and pressed his hand against where her lips were. "Did you just kiss my prosthetic?" He smiled shyly at the girl and she scooched closer to him.

That was enough. Travis shot up from where he was sitting and began making his way down the hallway, practically stopping as he walked into the bathroom.

Sal jumped to his feet, forgetting about the exchange that he had with Ashley almost immediately. "Travis, wait!"