Sativa.

26- Tempt.

It's eleven p.m.

Blaine doesn't have the faintest idea where she could flee at such a late hour but she's too heated to focus beyond getting away. She concentrates on the big picture, knowing if she doesn't leave Travis now then it will be too easy to stay.

Rialed, and unable to rationalize any of this, she ignores his attempts at conversation then sets a brisk pace toward the back of the house. She pauses only to grab a trash-bag from the kitchen cabinet.

"You're leaving?" Actual surprise laces Travis's tone. As if he expected any different.

The plastic bag fans behind her as she scurries for clothes she left strewn on the floor. Once Blaine Sativa has her mind set she's as unstoppable as a force of nature. But being stuck in the bedroom, packing the first clothes she can grab, backs her in a corner.

Travis nudges the door open until it falls back with a familiar creak. Her stomach's in knots, she can barely breathe, but she continues to ball up her shirts stuffing them in the bag with little care for order.

"Not even gonna talk to me, huh?" He leans against the wall with his arms crossed.

"You've made it clear there's nothing to talk about." It's difficult to keep everything bottled in when she feels so much pressure welling up within her that she wants to pop like an overfilled water balloon. "And I don't even think I'm mad about what you're doing. I'm more mad that you had to lie to me about it!"

"I should have come home."

"Damn right you should have!" The sack, thick with wadded clothes, serves as a good punching bag. She hits it twice before turning to face him.

"How did you find me anyway?" Travis asks.

She can't help but chuckle wryly. "Gloria sent me to the store up the road from her house and I got lost. Just happened to be my luck that the place I asked for directions was Methville and, oh yeah, my boyfriend happens to be mayor there."

Travis tilts his head to the side, trying to process her response before forming his own. "The only store is back in town..." Realization dawns and he trails off. "She knew. She sent you down the road 'cause she knew that it was the first house you'd stop at."

After twisting the bag shut Blaine turns to go while she has the strength to. "It doesn't matter how it happened. There was a reason you never told me. You knew there was a chance we'd end up like this."

He side-steps in front of her, blocking the doorway with his solid body. "It doesn't have to."

This is the most difficult part of it all, looking him in the eye knowing it will be the last time she'll see his face. All week was an emotional breakdown. Life has a twisted way of making sure she's dealt the worst hand possible.

"I waited for you Travis." Averting her gaze to her feet she finishes weakly, "And I'm done waiting."

"Where are you even going to go?"

"I'll figure it out. I always do."

The conversation has been remarkably civil. Even when he protests his voice hardens only slightly. "It's midnight and I'll be damned if I let you sleep on the street. You're going to have to give me something better than I'll figure it out."

It hasn't sunk in yet -- their wrecking -- perhaps that's why her resolve is this unfaltering. "I know you're not going to stop me. Because if you were you wouldn't be this calm right now."

"I was protecting you."

"Yeah, well. You protected me right out of your life." The prolonged absence of reaction fizzles to the surface then erupts in a sudden fit of yelling. "Do you think it's fair that you left for a fucking week? I didn't know if you were alive or dead! You didn't care then! Why is it any different now?"