A Bittersweet Mystreet

{Chapter 26}

{A/N: Ayyyee! It only took me one month this time!}

On Saturday, Aphmau dragged her feet down her driveway in the early morning sun. It was actually 11 a.m., but she woke up an hour ago. She yawned, her hand on her back as she stretched in front of the mailbox. Shuffling through the daily mail, she murmured to herself while remaining blissfully unaware of her surroundings.

"Bills, bills, a coupon we won't use, and another bill," Aphmau muttered. A crunch of gravel directly behind her snapped her out of her morning daze. Turning swiftly, she smacked today's mail across the perpetrator's face before letting out a yelp.

Travis stood behind her, his hand outstretched to tap her shoulder before being smacked across the face with an electricity bill. Startled, but not at all hurt, he furrowed his brows.

"Well, good morning to you too, Aphmau," he greeted sarcastically, shoving his hands into his hoodie. Aphmau pressed a hand to her chest as she took a sigh of relief.

"Travis!" She scolded, lowering her weapon, "Why did you scare me like that?"

"Scare you?" Travis scoffed, his eyes wide, "I've been calling your name over from my house. I had to be right next to you for you to finally hear me, and I didn't even say anything!"

Aphmau cringed before apologizing. Maybe she should have drank some coffee before coming out to the world.

"My bad..."

Travis waved her off, truly not bothered by it after his history of beatdowns by Katelyn.

"No worries! I actually came over here to ask you what your plans were for Valentine's Day."

"Absolutely nothing," Aphmau swiftly responded. She took a moment to think before leaning back slightly, raising her brow at him. "Why? You're not trying to set me up with someone are you?"

Travis took his hands out of his pockets and held them up.

"Woah! Woah! Woah! Absolutely not! There's no way I'd— I mean, I was actually—" Travis took a breath to collect himself. "Listen, I know what's going on between you and Aaron—"

Aphmau's stomach turned.

"— and I know that, despite everything, you two still like each other. Trust me when I say that me and all of our friends want nothing to do with that drama and that includes trying to get you guys to get together or move on.

I wanted to invite you to the Valentine's event I'm hosting. It's for friends and couples, but everyone has to come in pairs. It'll be fun! We'll start the night at this cocktail lounge downtown. I've got us reserved for one of their private rooms and it has a pool table and a couple of dart boards. Then, we'll head back to mine and Aaron's for a homemade pasta and cheesecake dessert made by yours truly."

Her stomach now turned for a whole different reason. The butterflies of having to interact with Aaron so soon and the thought of delicious pasta mixed in her stomach produced one feeling: nausea. It was most likely because she hadn't eaten anything this morning and the nervousness made her stomach bubble, but her mind was set on her internal dilemma with the man she claimed she loved.

"That... that sounds great—" Aphmau quickly clamped a hand over her mouth— "give me one second." She didn't wait for his response before she bolted back into her house, leaving Travis alone to look around aimlessly for an answer to her weird behavior. Thankfully, he didn't have to look around for long when he saw a familiar black minivan roll into the driveway a few doors down. Zane and Kawaii~Chan hopped out of the car and opened the trunk, chatting to each other giddily.

Travis glanced at Aphmau's house one last time before heading to the other side.

"Zane! KC! How's it going?"