» 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕖: i was able to finish it, surprise! anyway, this is my new layout of things - i wanted to make the author's notes a little more organized and aesthetic, lol. enjoy!
» 𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕖: 7 / 14 / 20
» 𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪: an intro to their relationship i guess, fluff, confession of feelings
» 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤: 1125
. . .
Travis Stoll was sick of hearing it.
But Katie Gardner wouldn't stop saying it - not since the day she came to camp and he poured a glass of water over her head in welcome. She'd utter the words to him any time she saw him, any time she felt like it.
"I hate you."
The words were singed into his memory, every syllable thundering through his mind any time he so much as thought of her. It was their entire dynamic, enemies from the start.
Then why did it feel so wrong?
Travis knew.
He noticed the longing glances cast across the pavilion. He noticed the surge of emotions that rocketed between them any time they made eye contact. He noticed the thud of his heart when he heard her voice, no matter the words she spoke. He noticed the smile that briefly dusted her lips every time he walked into her view. He noticed how he held his breath when she came into his.
It wasn't hatred that dwelt in their consciences for one another.
"Stolls!"
Travis' daily alarm clock woke him up for yet another morning of yelling indiscrepancies at Katie when he knew he should've been whispering sweet nothings to her. Another morning of the nightmare he dreaded to face - hearing her say it all over again.
Connor burrowed further under his blanket and groaned. "Please give us one morning to sleep in. You can't go a single day without pranking her, dude?"
"You wish," he laughed in return, though he knew the words that would leave his brother's mouth next all too well.
"It's because you're in love with her."
Yeah, it was.
Not to be dramatic, but his constant thought was how piercing the heartache was.
"Stolls, I know you hear me!"
"I'm staying in here, good luck." Connor lifted his head long enough to roll his eyes at his brother before faceplanting back into his pillow.
Travis had no choice but to exit his cabin with a pained smirk plastered onto his face. He'd be facing this go-around alone. He hollered, "Coming, Katie-kat!"
He may have once found joy in the beyond irritated expression on Katie's marker-covered face, but he couldn't force himself to that morning. He knew what was coming - she'd shout him down for scrawling suns with sunglasses on her cheeks in her sleep, he'd retort with a witty comeback. She'd say she hated him. They'd leave each other alone for the rest of the day, spare some sporadic death glares. Cue prep for the next morning's prank.
They'd set up a miserable cycle for themselves.
"Marker? Really?" Her squinted eyes still made his heart patter. "Are you five?"
"Yeah, out of five." He managed a grin through his pain.
She scoffed.
"And it's because you're the sunshine of my life, Katie dearest!"
Her face didn't exactly portray a sunny attitude, but his stupid heart never took a hint well. He nearly melted when she marched up to be in his face with the rage only she could possess.
"I hate you," she spat.
But... her heart wasn't in it.
Maybe it was his arrogant romanticism, but he thought he saw a glimmer of regret in her face. Travis studied Katie, from the way she bit her lip to how she avoided eye contact with him. She rubbed her toe into the dirt as she awaited his inevitable response of reciprocating the emotion, but he could tell that she didn't want to hear it just as much as he didn't want to say it. The growing awkwardness even made him uncomfortable due to his failure to shoot back.
So, he implored of her to prove his point. "Say it again."
"What?"
"Tell me you hate me." He searched for any sign of readiness to do so, but he was accomplished in finding none. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you hate me, because I don't believe you for a second."
"What do you mean, you don't believe me?" she stammered, cheeks turning red from either anger or embarrassment, Travis couldn't tell. She looked at the ground. "I said I hated you, I mean it."
Travis dared to touch her chin and force her eyes to look at him, but she didn't punch him in the stomach like he would've supposed, so he continued in his endeavors. "And I said, I didn't believe you. I mean it."
He didn't miss how her breath caught when he bent to be at eye level with her, and he stooped even closer to whisper, "Say it again."
Staying in her personal space was suffocating for them both, he was certain. He could hardly get his lungs to work around her anyway, but sharing air with her made him dizzy. He wasn't going to back down, though.
She wasn't, either, if she could help it.
Her hesitation gave him hope, and he knew she realized it. In that moment, he became aware of three things.
Firstly, that if she didn't say it again without faltering, she would've worried that he'd hold it over her head. To be fair, she had reason to fear it. He'd dug up tons of information to tease her about in the past, so why should she think this was anything different?
Second, she probably thought he was playing mind games with her. She'd have kicked herself for opening an emotional door that was meant to stay locked, had Travis not been actually invested.
Finally, he knew that if she didn't say she hated him, they risked walking a dangerous line crossing into reckless abandon of their hatred.
He knew she couldn't say it.
"I-"
She stopped herself short. Furrowing her brow, she humphed.
"I can't."
Though that was the exact response he'd been hoping for, Travis was taken aback. He hadn't expected her to give in so easily, or to admit her view of their relationship wasn't what it seemed.
He knew she didn't hate him.
"I'm going to get this stupid stuff off my face." Katie stepped back, giving Travis some breathing room he desperately needed but didn't want.
He wanted her closer.
"Uh, okay," he said dumbly.
She offered him a sliver of a smile before lowering her voice to a mumble. "See you at breakfast?"
"Yeah."
She couldn't say it again.
"Okay." With a new light in her eyes, Katie slipped away from him and disappeared into her cabin.
A refreshing feeling overtook Travis as well as he spun on his heels and strolled back to the Hermes cabin to wake up the rest of his siblings. Something in him said this breakfast wouldn't be the regular steely glares and torching comments.
This was the start of something good.
