travis
ella: age 3
kansas city, missouri
i'm at a game right now against the raiders and i'm just in a pissed off mood. taylor and i got into a pretty heated argument right before i left for the game. it was about ella going to daycare. i was saying that it's viable for her personal growth to go to daycare and have separation from me and taylor and also have the chance to make friends while also learning and getting skills that she's not getting at home. taylor got all pissed and said that she's too young, it's not safe, we can do everything from home, etc. it turned into a much bigger thing than it was supposed to as the phrases "that's the dumbest fucking thing i've ever heard", "are you hearing yourself", "you're not even fucking listening to me." may have been uttered between me and taylor. she didn't even text me to wish me luck before the game which was disappointing. i can see her however with ella up in the suite watching. she definitely doesn't look as thrilled as usual. she's mainly watching ella and and only looking when there appears to be nothing else to do.
"trav, get your head in the game." pat pushes me and i try to shake myself out of the headspace but i hate that's taylor's mad at me.
it's one of the last plays of the game and we're winning but i'm still just as pissed off and i just want to go home. pat tells me he's throwing to me and get open, so we get on the line and the play starts and i charge down the field and see the ball coming towards me. i jump up and grab the ball but as i'm pulling it into my chest it's grabbed out of arms and throw to the ground with me following. my body thuds to the ground and my opponent lands on top of me. he gets up quickly as the fall didn't hurt him near as bad as it hurt me. he stands over me and glares
"maybe stop messing around with that little pop singer of a wife and start learning how to play football." the guy snarls
what the fuck did this fucking jabronie just say to me.
"don't talk about my wife." i almost growl and push him off me and stand up
"don't even start kelce, she's probably cheating on you like whore she is. i mean i'd take her all day." that's fucking it. i take him by the helmet and growl at him "i said don't fucking talk about my wife jackass." i push him by the helmet and take my other hand and push his chest hard to ensure he hits the ground hard enough to leave an indent.
out of the corner of my eye i see about three black jerseys coming towards me and one of the guys gets to me and tries to push me but not before i can push him first. two of my teammates come running over and people are pushing everyone to the ground and getting in faces.
the refs come between us and break it up. i swear i can only see red, i wanna beat this guys ass so bad right now. it is so utterly disrespectful to talk about someone else's spouse. though taylor and i just had a big fight, she's still the love of my life and my best friend. no one is going to talk down about her. not on my watch.
as i walk away i finally realize the fee i'm about to receive from the nfl. it's not a problem, it's just annoying that i'm going to get charged an a crazy amount for this altercation
the game finishes not too long after that and i go immediately to the locker room to change and get ready to go home. taylor and ella always drive home with me and the driver just takes the car they came in home. they usually wait for me in the family area so i hope they're there.
i turn the corner to the family area with my bag in hand only in search for my girls
"daddy!" i hear my favorite little voice squeal and see the little bright blonde girl running at me
"hey princess." i say and bend down and pick her up
"mommy said you got in fight." ella says to me as taylor walks towards me and i know she can hear us
"well somebody said not so nice things about mommy." i say and look up at taylor
"what did they say?" ella asks curiously
"oh just something that wasn't very nice. don't worry about it. let's go home get you into your pajamas." i say and tickle her stomach making her erupt into laughter and the three of us begin to walk away. taylor has yet to speak to me, so now i need to make the first move
"you still mad?" i lean down to her as we walk
"yup." is all she manages to get out but continues to look straight ahead
"tay-" i start to say
"we'll talk later." she states without missing a beat. oh yay this should be fun
the whole drive home was awkward. every time i put my hand on her leg and she'd push it away.
we go home and get ella ready for bed. she ate dinner at the stadium so we didn't have to worry about that. we put her to bed.
"tay can we please talk now?" i beg as i follow her back into the bedroom
"what is there to talk about?" she snaps at me and whips her head around
"well to start you made it abundantly clear that you think that i don't care about our daughters safety!" i raise my voice in frustration.
"don't you dare raise your voice at me. and you know it's not even just that. she's too young travis!" she yells at me. i can't even point out the fact to her that she's yelling at me right after she told me not to raise my voice because that would just make her more mad.
"but tay she can't always be with us. she needs to meet kids her own age and the school can teach her stuff." i explain at a normal volume
"you already said that." taylor states bringing her voice back down
"because it's true taylor!" i say using her full name which i rarely do
"well we can't throw her into school in november. would you be okay if we do a couple days a week in january, because she's not doing five days a week out of no where, but like tuesdays and thursdays and then she'll go the preschool next year." she says as she takes a deep breath.
"see that would work." i say sighing in relief that we came to a compromise "sometimes you just need a little compromise." i say and notice taylor is slowly calming down.
"i'm sorry i yelled at you." taylor says
"me too tay. i think we both just care about ella so much that it makes us crazy sometimes when it comes to us making decisions about her." i explain and walk towards her and close the small gap between us.
taylor nods. she knows i'm absolutely right. our most heated arguments are when we are making decisions for our daughter.
"i'm sorry." she whispers and wraps her arms around my torso and i wrap my arms around her as well
"it's okay tay. i'm sorry too." i say basically into her hair
"i love you so much trav." she says into my chest
"i love you more than words can describe." i say
