east of eden 𑁋 salvis.

XXXVI

♥̩̥̩♥̩̩̥͙♥̩͙ˊˎ

The truck sputtered into the parking lot of Addison Apartments, and Travis tried not to throw up as he stared at the brick building ahead of him. Sal's dad was gonna be pissed, and he knew that. Who was that anger most likely going to be directed towards? Travis. Henry trusted Travis with his child, and Travis took his trust and shattered it. He snatched Sal right from his bedroom and ran off to Hollywood, allowing Sal to die in their grungy motel room after Travis had almost died the very same night. If he was Henry Fisher, he'd be pissed too.

As if he could tell exactly what Travis was thinking, Larry put his hand on Travis' shoulder. After earlier, the two were already feeling more comfortable with each other. They hadn't moved past Larry's hand on Travis' shoulder, but that was more than the two had been doing before today. They were slowly making progress, it was as though Sal had internally knitted their broken connection back together just by being friends with both of them. Travis was sure if Sal had never come into the mix, Larry and Travis would still be smashing each other's teeth in. He figured they'd be doing that for the rest of their lives if Sal had never shown up.

"Henry's.. Not very happy. He's been wandering around drunk, asking about you. I doubt he could throw a straight punch, but if he manages to I'll be around to fend him off." The image of that situation makes Travis giggle, and then it develops into a full blown laugh. Larry seems caught off guard- This may very well be the first time he's seen Travis laugh since childhood. But soon he's joining in, and then they're sharing their first laugh together in years.

And then their laughter's dying down. Travis wipes away a tear- a result of the laughter this time- and sniffles. After driving all the way to Addison Apartments with the windows down, he was freezing. He's shivering as he lets out a few last laughs. He learned on the drive there that it was February of 1992. No wonder it was so cold still. Nockfell still had a few more months before the snow would melt and the sun would come out.

"Sorry, just the image of Henry stumbling around trying to beat my ass was hilarious. I think I'd be able to manage, but thanks for the offer to protect me." Like my knight in shining armor. Travis bit his lip to keep himself shut up. No need for stupid jokes that might send the wrong signals. He didn't mean it in a romantic way, but he knew Larry would take it that way. Travis' grief for Sal was still a raw, open wound. It was far too early for him to even think about moving on- besides, that would be the betrayal of the century. He was sure Sal would be okay with it, but Travis would feel far too guilty- And he didn't like Larry that way. They had hardly recovered their friendship yet. One step at a time.