Growing Older (Travlyn Fic)

Travis

When I hear the pounding on the door, I know who it is. Immediately.
I sigh as I leave the cooking spaghetti noodles alone and walk over to the door, Abby attached to my hip.
"Ah daj be ha!" She says muttering gibberish.
"Yes, very," I say agreeing, hoping she didn't just say let's kill someone. I really don't want to open the door. My hand hits the cold handle and I open it... reluctantly.
"Katelyn is sleeping," I say coldly to Jason. He's holding a cake.
"I came to apologize to you."
"Yeah, that's nice."
"Ja!" Abby says. I shift my weight. Could he please just go? Please?
"Look, I don't know what got into me. I guess I was just jealous. I'm really sorry, Travis," he pleads.
"Do you know how hard it is to talk about your problems, Jason?" Before he can say anything, I continue. "It's really hard. Really, really hard. And imagine you just worked up the courage to talk to someone and some stranger just goes out of his way to eavesdrop on you. That hurts and can be embarrassing." I know how hard it is to admit something is wrong. Jason's face crumples.
"Yeah. I know. Look, I'm sorry. Anything I will do to make up to you. At least take this cake," he offers the cake. I shake my head.
"I'm not the one you have to make it up too. He's back in Phoniex Drop. Goodbye, Jason." I shut the door.
"Da?" Abby says, before continuing to mutter nonsense.
"Let's go finish dinner for Mama, hey baby girl?" She waves her hands.
"Mama! Gaa!" She's happily oblivious. I wish I could be that way.

"Dinner in bed for my queen," I say with a smile, a tray in one hand, Abby in the other. Katie rugs her eyes.
"Is that spaghetti?" She says sleepily.
"Mama!" Abby reaches out for Katelyn. I set her down on the bed, lightly and she climbs quickly to Katelyn. I smile. These are my two loves.
"Of course, my sweets." She smiles.
"Your a dork." I set the cold wooden tray over her lap.
"I'm your dork," I say dorkishly.
"Irene, I love you," She breathes.
"Love you too, dingdong," I sit, the soft bed sinking beneath my weight.
She laughs lightly.
Abby shouts something ineligible, waving her arms around.
"I love you too, silly," Katelyn kisses her on the top of her head of white hair. It was in a spout, but it fell out.
I smile. This is happiness.
Katelyn takes her fork and puts a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth.
I open my mouth and Abby mimics me.
"You two are so weird."
"Come on, Fire Girl," I beg.
"Did you not eat already?"
"Yeah, but that was fifteen minutes ago," I say.
"Ya!"
"Your on team Da aren't you, Abby? Yeah, you are," I say reaching my over and tickling her. She lies back giggling.
"Gee, it's like I have two kids not one," she jokes. I stick out my tongue. Abby mimics me. It's her phase. Mix everything. I think it's super cute.
"Ahhhh," I say, opening my mouth wide. Katie takes some spaghetti and shoves it in my mouth. "Aghhh!"
"You asked for it, idi——" she smiles looking over at Abby. She gives her a noodle. Gently. I make a pouty face.
Her phone goes off. Who is it? Aphmau? Garroth? Kitty? The only reason Kitty would call instead of just walk over is in a) an emergency or b) she couldn't babysit. Was she going to cancel on Saturday? That's date night. Every second Saturday if we can, we go out on a "date". Sometimes we just walk around O'kasis for a few hours. It's nice. Peaceful. Almost like before.
Katie looks over at it.
"Jason."
I scowl. Abby crawls into my lap.
"He stopped by earlier. With a cake."
"He doesn't get it, does he. You can't just say sorry and make it better!"
"Nope. You know he kinda reminds me of my Dad in that way. When he messed up when I was young, he'd just buy flowers or spa trips or expensive things and say sorry to my mom. She left." I laugh, kinda emptily. She left. She left me alone with him. She left and I hated her for it. She left and then she died.
I found that out when I was thirteen.
Katie senses my change of mood.
"Should I forgive him. Be seems sincere, I really don't think he meant anything bad. He just made a mistake. A big one that infuriates me. But still."
This takes my mind off that.
"Do you want to forgive him?"
Katie leans back.
Abby giggles, still babbling. She looks up at me for approval.
"That's great, sweetie," I say to her, hoping she hadn't said that she would blow up the country.
"I want too. I enjoy his company when he's not being a complete butt," she sighs.
"Then I think you should. But I don't think I can forgive him. Not yet. He intruded on something he wasn't welcome to. And I just... I don't know. I just can't." I take a deep breathe. "Maybe, I'm just odd and it's just a little thing, but..." Katelyn nods. She understands. Abby begins turning around and grabs my hoodie neckline. She tries to pull herself up, choking me a little bit.
"Your as powerful as your Mama," I say, pulling her up. She smiles. I love this. I love this more than anything else. This is my dream come true.

*****
A little shorter today. Sorry. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading. Can't wait for the next chapter. It's gonna be super awesome!
-AJKBOOKWORM