fake | tratie | EDITING |

| twenty five |

My heart stopped as I took in the situation before me. I'd felt so confident leaving my cabin with Connor and my friends, but now everything I felt good about fled from me and I wavered. What was going on?

"You've gotta stop this, Ashley!" Travis' voice boomed, though we were the only ones on the pathway besides him and her. It was like he was only yelling for the sake of stirring her up, not to attract attention.

Ashley's face was steely and calm as Travis sharpened his tone with every word he spoke. His arms tensed up, he lifted his chest to appear more sure of himself, and he looked like he was ready to take her out by force. If I hadn't known from experience that Travis strategized his attacks through pranks, I'd have thought he was about to throw hands.

She scowled and hissed, "I bet Katie would just love to hear my side of the story, huh?"

"Don't even say her name."

Warmth spread through me, and I let myself smile through my worry. I couldn't help it - even if I had mixed feelings about him, he was being protective of me. Standing up for me.

Maybe Connor was right. Maybe Travis wasn't pranking me.

Unless he was a part of all this, too.

Was this a cruel setup?

"Travis, when will you see I'm the only one who can treat you right?" Flipping on her sultry voice like a switch, she crept closer to Travis' angrily-trembling form. "Katie can't offer you anything I couldn't give you twice as good."

She's right, my conscience nagged. But I was sick of hearing from the voice in my head.

You know what, brain? Shut up.

"Travis?" Connor called out, breaking the thick air.

My enemy, my fake boyfriend, my real boyfriend, my possible heartbreaker... he turned to look at us. At me.

All my opinions changed in one glance.

He was being honest.

He had his focus off of Ashley long enough for her to grow impatient. She stomped her foot. "Go, see your fake little girlfriend. I know the truth, and so does she."

The gorgeous blue eyes that had been on me a second before were now lasers aimed at Ashley. "What?"

"That's right. I told her everything."

The brilliant grin on her face made me want to march over and smack it off her. I didn't have the strength to. I knew I'd panic if I even moved an inch. So, I hoped that Travis would do something. Do anything. Say that she was lying, or that he didn't know what she was talking about. His ignorance would give me so much affirmation... but instead, his face fell.

Oh, no.

"She knows it all. The fake dating, the prank," she rolled her wrist to motion going on and on. "So, you tell me: do you want a relationship based off of lies, or a real one with a real girlfriend?"

Dead silence.

My scattered thoughts collected themselves enough for me to gather that Travis was much more concerned than he should've been, had Ashley been lying. His cinched brow and pursed lips made me more anxious by the second, but he finally spoke.

"You're right."

What?

Ashley beamed, staring around Travis to look at me with pride in her eyes. I looked at my friends, who crowded around me for comfort. They were prepared for the worst, and they were ready to dogpile Travis if he made the wrong move. It became increasingly obvious that he would.