Too Young (Travlyn Fic)

Aphmau

There really is nothing like early morning meetings where everyone is sleep deprived.

Aaron, Travis, Kacey, Eric, and I sit around Eric's worn dining room table, knights of the round table style. Normally I'd crack a joke about it, try to ease the tension, but honestly it's taking all my efforts to not fall asleep sitting up. I couldn't sleep a wink last night, Katelyn in the forefront of my mind.

"I can't believe she just broke up with you like that," Eric says in disbelief to Travis. He took a while to get use to Travis, though never to the extent of my mom and Aaron. Mind you, it was still awkward and I had to sit between the two of them as a precaution, but now he's like a father to Travis. Especially because Terry is possibly the worse piece of trash on this earth. Trust me on that one. I am in that position to make that judgement considering the amount of scumbag, deadbeat dads I know.

I take a deep breath. Aaron's grip on my hand tightens. I don't like thinking about Terry. If there is one person I'd like to beat with a sandal, it's him. I bite my lip. Focus, Aph.

"I should of realized something was wrong," Kacey says angrily. "Then maybe I could of stopped her."

I shake my head. No one stops Katelyn when she wants something. She's an umoveable force of nature.

"I don't think you could," Aaron says, speaking my thoughts exactly. I nod in agreement, still chewing on my lip.

"If Kate didn't want us to find out, she'd make sure we wouldn't. None of could've stopped her." It sounds almost as if I'm trying to convince myself as much as I am Kace.

"But I could of," Kacey exclaims, his fist hitting the table. We all wince. "Sorry." He's really beating himself up over this. I hate seeing him upset almost as much as I hate seeing Aaron or Alina upset. Katelyn and I have been friends since we were babies. Kacey's like my little brother. Just like Katelyn is like my sister.

Which is another reason I'm just as frustrated at myself as he is.

That's what I thought of last night. That is all I thought of. It's what kept me up, haunting my thoughts.

Because I should of noticed something about Katelyn. I should of noticed something was off. But I didn't. Because I was too busy thinking about myself. How could I be so stupid? Because now that I think back, there was something wrong with Katelyn. She was so much more emotional and so much more quiet.

Stop it, I scold. This is exactly what you're telling Kacey not to do.

"Aphmau?"

I blink back to reality.

"Sorry, I was thinking."

"We called Lucinda to see if she heard from her. She hasn't. Do you have any other ideas?"

Eric is oddly calm. I think he's just so focused about finding his little girl, he's putting aside anything that could get in his way. Including feelings which probably isn't healthy. Still, who am I to judge.

"No. Maybe check her room again?"

I don't know what to do. Travis drums his fingers against the table. His phone rings causing all of us to wince once more at the noise. Irene, we really need sleep.

Travis's phone continutes to blare. He takes one look at it before his face falls.

"It's my dad," Travis says. Speak of the actual devil. Anger burn in my stomach. As for mention Terry makes me mad. So mad. He hasn't called Travis in months, hasn't done anything for him, but still has the audacity to call him.

Honestly, maybe I should beat him with my shoe. If nothing else, it'll bring me great pressure.

"Trav, don't."

"I told him about Katie. He might know something."

"He won't." Despite Aaron's warning, Travis picks up the phone. We are all silent. I exchange several looks with everyone at the table. I think I found my alibi.

Terry's voice is audible and obviously not speaking about Kate. Travis pulls the phone back from his ear, skin paler than usual. The anger in my belly is growing. After another minute I can't take it anymore I pounce up, reaching across the table, my chair scraping against the floor. Yanking the phone from Travis's hand, I bring to my ear with an audible huff.

"Who is this?" Terry asks, grumbling. Murder flashes in my eyes. Aaron shakes his head, warning me to just hang up. As much as he'd also like to hit Terry with a pound of bricks, my lovely boyfriend has always had one thing I don't. Impulse control.

"Sorry, Travis can't come to phone right now or ever. Please loose this number and stop calling." My tone is dangerously low.

"I don't know who you think you are, but I can call my son anytime I want."

"Your son almost killed himself because of you!"

"Girl, give the phone back to my son," Terry all but growls at me.

"!Eres horrible, no eres un hombre bueno y estúpido! !Ni siquiera te preocupas por Travis! !Debería golpearte con mis chanclas!" I say, Spanish flying out of my mouth. That's the great thing about being bilingual. Insulting people is really easy. "!De hecho, mi madre y yo te pegamos con nuestras chanclas!"

"Excuse me?" Terry says. My face feels hot with rage.

"!Adios, sucker!" I press end call, resisting the urge to throw the phone against the wall. Maybe I do have impulse control after all.

"Aphmau you shouldn't have done that," Travis says.

"I don't care." I cross my arms.

"You don't live with him. Anyways, I can come live with me if he takes away your apartment," Aaron says. I nod. Travis smiles.

"I don't mean to be rude," Kacey says. "But I think that we should return to the subject of finding my sister. Obviously this is important, but it is something that we can figure out later. Katelyn needs to be found soon."

Travis nods.

"Yeah. I'll figure something out. Probably go stay with Aaron. Katelyn's more important," Travis agrees. I don't know if I agree. There both important. But if Travis is staying with Aaron then I guess he will be fine.

"Okay. So should we check her room again?"

"Yes. Most definitely. I'll called the police last night, but I'll see who else I can call," Eric says.

"Eric, Katelyn turned eighteen earlier this month. Legally, under the laws of Ru'an, she... she."

"I know. But we have to find her. I can't force her to come back, but I can at least know where she is."

I close my eyes. I never thought I'd be in this situation. Never thought I'd be searching for my missing best friend or yelling in Spanish at Travis's dad.
But I guess that's just life.

At least I got some satisfaction out of the Spanish part. Yay.