(Y/N) (L/N) is devastated after getting dumped all of a sudden by her boyfriend of two years Determined to pick up the pieces of her broken heart, she takes a chance on Travis Valkrum-the last person she ever expected to date, much less trust, in a...
"So, this is home." Travis took a step back to open the door wider, gesturing for me to come in. "Is...is anyone home?" Travis shook his head as he unhersed me in,closing the door and locking it behind us. The two of us just stood there awkwardly. I took it as an opportunity to check out the living room, which looked straight out of a catalogue-shiny, clean, and completely devoid of any personality. "Make yourself at home." He looked around uncertainly before saying, "Wait here. I'll go see if I have clothes that'll fit you." when I asked him if i could stay over, I expected something different, like him sneaking up to his room, the two of us didn't expect to see a house that felt emptier than mine. Perhaps Travis and I might not be so different at all. He came back with some clothes and a neatly folded towel. "Shower's up there," he said, handing the folded pile to me. "Come on. I'll show you.'' "Where's everybody else?" I asked as we went up the stairs. "It's just me and my mom," Travis replied. "She's alway for work right now. She won't be back till Monday.'' He opened the door at the end of the hallway, and I walked past him to go into the bathroon. As I was making my way back downstairs, I passed by a door with three light blue wooden letters S-A-M hung on it. It was the first decor I'd seen here that seemed the slightest bit personal. I found Travis sitting on the coach, hunded over something, too engrosed with whatever he was doing to notice that I was back. I peered over his shoulder to find out what he was busy with, and i was stunned to see that he was drawing. "Is that a rose?" "O my Irene," he said, jumping a little as he snapped the sketchpad close. He stood up, clutching it to his side and looked at me accusingly. "You scared the crap out of me." I raised an eyebrow. "You never told me you could draw." He cleard his throat. "I'm not really good." "May i see?" I said, already stretching my hand out, but he inched away from me and vehemently shook his head. "Are you feeling better?" He asked instead, trying to change the topic. "I'm all right," I replied without looking at him. I walked over to the couch, grabbing the TV remote control on top of the glass table and took a seat. "Will you tell me what happened back there?" He asked as he eased into a seat next to mine. "I'd rather not," I replied, flipping through the channels. I stopped when i came across a rerun of How I met Your Mother. "Talking about it might make you feel better," he insisted. "I'm fine." "One does not simply ask for a sleepover if nothing's wrong," he countered without missing a beat. I glared at him. "Stop forcing me to talk about myself when you hardly tall aboit yourself." "Then let's talk," he suddenly suggested. I studied , taking in his pursed lips and determined stare. "Let's play a game. We get to ask 10 questions each." "This is ridiculous," I said, quickly looking away before his light green eyes could impair my ability to think straight. "Ten questions," Travis insisted. "A give and take." My head snapped to his direction. "Why do you want to know so much about me, Valkrum?" "If were in this together, then I'm not going to do a half-assed job at faking dating. I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted to get to know you, so please stop being stubborn." The offer was tempting-he was so closed-off, so secretive, and my curiosity was burning even stronger now that I'd seen his house and realized that Travis might not be who i thought he was. "Ten questions," I finally said, more to myself than to him. He nodded. "What if I don't want to answere a question?" "Then you can pass. For every pass we use, the other gets another question." After what felt like forever, I agreed to play his game. "I'll go first," I said He plopped down on the other end of the coach, turned off the TV, before turning to me. I looked around their spotless living room, once again reminded of how similar it was to my house. "You said it's just you and your mother here, Where's your dad?" Without looking at me, he replied, "New York. He moved there a few years back. Around five years ago." I waited for an explanation, but instead he shifted and turned to me. I braced myself for the worst "What happened back there?" I didn't know where to start, or how I could even explain it to him, so I was grateful that he didn't rush me. "Adelina was my dad's favorite restaurant. He died when I was eight." I bit on my lower lip to keep it fron quivering. "Ever since he died, my mom and I avoided eating there. It sounds childish, but when I saw her there eating thete with a man, I...I just lost it." I shook my head. "I can't even remember the last time we had dinner together, and there she was, eating with someone else. Now i can't help but wonder if she had been out of dates on all those days when i had to eat on my own." Travis just sat there without saying anything. I coudn't tell what he was thinking, but there was a distance look in his eyes "I tild you it was stupid." "It's not." His eyes settle on mine with a sincerity that caught me off gaurd. "My mom's pretty much the same. She's always busy with work, so she's hardly around. And even when she is, it's like she might as well be somewhere else." He gave a wry smile. "Your turn," he said. I slowly became aware that playing this "game" might be just difficult for him as it was for me. "Are your parents seperated?" I asked "Jumping right to it, aren't you?" "I'm sorry," I murmured. He nodded, as if to say I was forgiven, and the smile slowly slipped away from his face. "They're not legally seperated yet, but things between them aren't good." I listened attentively. I was seeing him in a new light, and I was suddenly sorry for prying into his business, even though he was the one who suggested at it in first. "Dad moved to New York because of his Job," he continued. "He wanted all of us to go there, but Mom wanted to stay for he Job. Things were okay for a while. Then two years ago, started ti drift apart." My throat went dry upon hearing the way his voice startero waver. "What happened?" He raised his eyes to look at me. "My sister died. Mom never really said it put loud, but she blames Dad," he said. "She started to fight with him until things eventually got worse." "I'm sorry," I said. "Her name was Sam. She was eighteen when she and her boyfriend got into a car accident. She was living in New York with Dad for college," he continued. "I hadn't seen her in three months when it happened. Suddenly, she was just...gone." At that moment, Travis seemed younger. "Sh*t started to slip and..." He trailed off . He took a deep breath, swallowed, and turned to look at me. "My mom is cheating on him." "I'm sorry," I said soflty. I could see his sadness in the way he tried to smile. "Yeah, I am too."
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