The Beautiful Truth

// 135

Just like Penny Lane said it would in Almost Famous, it was all happening. The school year was winding down, and Summit had confirmed our shooting schedule on the Berkeley campus for the two middle weeks of July. Deciphering their call sheets and schedules was a little like trying to teach myself Greek in the beginning. I spent a lot of time on the phone with Julian asking what things like 'light capture' and 'principal photography' actually meant.

He was very patient. I had a trillion questions. I was trying not to be so high-maintenance and micro-managerial. It wasn't necessary—Julian understood exactly what I wanted, and because of that, he was able to laugh off most of my neuroticism. For that, I was unbelievably thankful.

Travis was, as expected, drafted in the first round by the Minnesota Vikings. And, with his massive signing bonus, he did something neither Chase, nor I expected.

"Yeah, so I bought the house," Travis announced to us over a dinner he'd cooked for the three of us only a couple days after returning from New York and the media rounds.

"What house?" I asked. He hadn't shown us any houses in Minnesota yet—I didn't even know he was planning to move there already.

Chase and I looked up at Travis when he didn't answer. He gave us a big grin. "This one, obviously."

I looked at Chase, then back at Travis. "Oh great, you're our landlord now? How much are you raising the rent?"

Travis laughed. "With you going off to be a Hollywood bigshot and Chase being put on salary by Cal football, I should raise the rent, shouldn't I..."

I groaned. "Jesus. Here we go. Man's been in the NFL for two weeks and he's already forgetting his friends."

Chase laughed next to me, pushing away from the table. "I'll let the two of you figure this out."

Travis smiled again. "Rent is free, SF. I want to have a place to stay when I come back to visit, and I want my friends to be taken care of in the mean time. My house," he opened his arms and turned around to wave them over the expanse of the first floor behind him, "is your house."

I wrinkled up my forehead in disbelief. "But Travis—"

"Ah, but Travis nothing," he stopped me. "I paid in cash, duh. There aren't any more payments. So stop it."

I let out a deep breath. "OK then."

Chase and Travis looked at each other and smiled, then. "And see," Chase offered, "bet you never thought living with us would work out so nicely, did you?"

I smiled back at them, as genuine as ever. "No, but I'm glad it did. Thanks, you guys."

"Oh my, Travis—Sawyer's going soft on us," Chase exclaimed, feigning being taken aback by my display of affection for my two saviors.

Things were back to normal, but I knew, deep down, that it was true. Travis and Chase had saved me from myself almost a year ago, and for that, I considered them to be among the best friends I'd ever had.

Meanwhile, the school year came to a relatively uneventful end. Finals were followed with a Phi Delt blow-out, as per usual. Given my movie situation, I'd decided to stay in Berkeley for the summer...the entire summer this time. After all, I had a place to live for as long as I wanted.

I did, though, make a trip to Norman to visit Jason Mandrino. Seems he'd decided to stick around campus for his summer break, too.

It was easy, being with Jason. Like I'd told Micki—we knew it was never going to work out. For as long as I'd know him, we'd been headed in different directions. It wasn't as if we weren't friends, or interested in the same things, or anything else that would make any relationship challenging. We just...always seemed to be saying 'goodbye,' rather than 'what's next?'