The Heart broken Heart Breaker Travis X Reader

Chapter 11

My heart was still hammering loudly against my rib cage. Even though I didn't do any pedaling, I still had to catch my breath.
Travis just stood there looking at me with that infuriating ever amused smile before saying, "Your hair."
"What?" I asked. Instictevly, I ran my fingers through it to smoothen it out, before I could even begin to untangle the mess, Travis reached out and ruffled it even further.
"Hey!" I ducked out of his reach, but it wasn't hard for him to continue his assault.
After he was done playing hairdresser, I narrowed my eyes at him. He ignored me as he secured the bike to the nearest lamppost. He then started walking.
"Come on," Travis called out. He waited until I could catch up to him and resumed walking only when we were side by side.
"We used to come here alot. Sam loved picnics. She used to wake everyone up just so she could force us to go."
"Well, the forcing thing must run in the family then," I pointed out.
"Admit it. It's better than staying in the house all day."
I felt his eyes on me when I peered out at him, there was a cryptic smile on his face.
"Where are we going?" I asked him, eyeing the uneven, rocky path the he seened to be following.
"Just follow my lead," he replied without turning to look at me.
"Travis," I hissed. He was still looking ahead. Suppresing a groan, I followed, holding my hands out to the side for balance. I tried to step past the fallen branches and twigs scattered all over the place, using every ounce of concentraton I had. Meanwhile, he trudged through with such ease I wondered if he trekked around areas like this in his free time.
When we finally emerged from the tree line, he took off and ran across the clearing. The lake was surrounded by trees. He stopped at once of the large trees and turned back to me, yelling at me to hurry up.
"This was our favorite spot," Travis told me when I was close enough. He walked over to the tree and beckoned for me to cone closer. "Look at this."
I inched forward to stand next to him. He lifted a hand to trace the jagged lunes carved onto the trunk of the old tree. When I was sure what it was, I brought my gaze back at him.
"V for Valkrum?" I asked him.
"The two of us carved it there. We were claiming tree as ours."
"What's so special about it?"
"Dad told us he was the one who planted it here. They had this tree-planting project when he was in middle school."
By the time I decided to turn away from the tree, he had already finished spreading the blanket out on the grass.
"Come on," he told me, already kicking his shoes off as he sat on the blanket. "I'm starving."
I removed my (Favorite color) sandals and stepped onto the blanket. I sat next to him, making sure there was enough space between us, and we both began to bring the food out from the basket.
The moment he popped an egg roll in his mouth, he let out a moan that made my cheeks heat up.
"I think I just found my new favorite food," he said. "These are amazing."
"They're really not," I said looking at my food as I willed my blush to go away. "But thanks."
"You should be a chef or something."
I let out a small laugh. "I just...happen to love cooking."
The look of genuine curiosity appeared on his face. "Why?"
"My dad loved wayching those cooking shows on TV," I told him. "I guess I ended up liking them, too."
"Was he as good as you?"
"He sucked." I turned to him, unable to stop myself from grinning.
"So he sucks at cooking," he said, his furrowed as he slid his eyes to mine. "But he loves cooking?"
"He was friendzoned when he and Mom were in college,"
I told him. "Mom was dating a guy whose parents owned a restaurant. Naturally, the guy was a great cook, and he would always bring her food or invite her ober a home-cooked meal. She told Dad something about she'd never settle for a guy who can't cook, so he started watching all these cooking shows to learn how to cook," I added." He never really got the hang of it, but watching the shows stuck with him. Long story short, he eventually fell in love with her. She had no idea until much, much later on."
He met my gaze and a smile flickered on his lips. "I think his awesome."
"Yeah," I muttered. " I always thought so, too."
Neither of us said anything for a while.
"Hey." I snapped out of my thoughts. "Question game."
"Okay," he gamely replied.
"How did...how did he die?" He said hesitantly.
Over the past few years, I had hardly ever talked about Dad Not to Mom, Not to Sasha, and not even to Laurance. Eight years was a long time to grieve. Maybe the initial sadness had worn off, but I never stopped missing him. It wad just easier to avoid talking about him completely.
Laurance and Sasha did their best not to bring him up ever. Now, looking at Travis's expectant gaze, I felt compelled to answere.
So, taking a deep breath, I said, "Cancer. It was already too late when we found out."
After a prolonged moment of silence, he said, "What was he like?"
Somehow I found it easy to talk to him about this. He lost someone important to him, too, and he understood me more than anyone else did.
"Once, he watched this episode of Barefoot Contessa and it suddenly inspired him to cook this really complicated dish," I told him. "He messed it up, and in the end, Mom had to save the dish so it woudn't go to waste. She basically created a new recipe altogether and suprisingly, it turned out well." I smiled a little, remembering the way Mom tried her best to keep him from adding too much pepper. Dad used the pepper grinder a lot because it made feel like a "pro chef."
"After we ate his revised recipe, he told me, 'kid, when you grow up, you're going to mess up, and you're going to fail miserably, but never forget that it only takes a little bit of spicing up to turn thing around."
"It must have been hard." Travis picked up a stone and carelessly threw ot out lake, where it landed with a small splash" Watching someone you love die without able to do anything."
I took in the foughtful expression on his face, and for the first time in years, I was staring at somoene oit of the blue, too."
"Maybe it's all just the same," he replied, his eyes fixed on the lake. "Whether it's a car accident or a f*cked up disease, it hurts all the time."
"Yeah," I replied, picking up a pebble. I pulled my arm back, swung it froward, and let go. I watched as the stone soared for a moment before falling i to the lake. "It probably does."
~
I didn't realize we'd been here for four hours. When we decided to leave, Travis and I made our way through the uneven path again. I focused o taking step after careful step, and just when I thought I was getting the hang of it, something snagged onto the strap of my (favorite color) sandal.
I nearly fell forward, but before I could join the twigs amd leaves scattered on the groind, Travis rushed to catch me.
"Careful there," he said, releasing his holdon my waist when I recovered my balance.
"How can you walk with these?" I asked
"On what?" He asked.
I was about to elaborate, but then he suddenly held his hand out, and the words died in my throat. I stood there, eyeing his outstreched hand.
With a frustrated groan, he grabbed my hand wothout waiting for me to give it.
"You're always like this," he said as he began to navigate things on your own. There's nothing wrong with letting peaple help you."
I said nothing as we trudged back ti the bike. His hand was warm on mine, and I felt slowing down in order ro match my pace.
I realized how different he was from the Travis I thought I knew back then. I never thought that was hiding beneath his reputation was this person who would extend a helping hand when I didn't even ask for it. He didn't let go until we reacjed the gravel path
"Thanks," I said, suddenly unable to look him in the eye.
"No problem."
"No." I kept my gaze on the ground. "Not just for helping me there. for...everything else, too."
"Don't worry aboit it. I'm pretty sure we can call it even."
He gave me another quick grin before turning to walk. I struggled to make sense of him. Before I could stop myself, I said,
"Question game."
He stopped abruptly, his shoulders going stiff for a second before turning around to face me. "Yeah?"
"Why are you helping me in the first place?"
With tje weight of his scruntinizing stare on me, I wanted to hide fom him for fear that he would see right through me.
After what felt like forever, he replied. "Honestly, I don't know why either, but...I just feel like I need to. And that's good enough for me."
I didn't know what to say, so I shut up. We began to walk in pleasant silence, and I was just about to tell him that I had a good time when something stopped me in my tracks.
I froze. It was like somebody just punched me in the gut, knocking the air out of me. For a moment, I was completely disoriented.
Travis gave me a puzzled glance before following direction
I was looking at.
Laurance was here with another girl. He was with Sasha.