» 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕖: this was in my drafts for m o n t h s oops
» 𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕖: 7 / 16 / 21
» 𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪: Katie decides Travis' company isn't the worst.
» 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤: 1212
. . .
The strawberry field was Katie's favorite spot in camp - heck, in all of New York. There wasn't a place she'd rather be than in the rows of plants, watering and tending to the little red berries. She was proud of the outcome of every batch; her siblings were amazing at making the best produce around. When she had free time, she'd bask in the sun and pick strawberries, escaping her stress-filled life for a few moments.
Until, inevitably, Travis showed up.
Then, the strawberry fields were the worst place to be.
He'd always somehow know where she was at all times, so when she tried to relax in the fields, he'd come to pester her.
Every. Single. Day.
"Heya, Katie-kat!" Travis announced his appearance by spreading his arms and raising his voice when Katie didn't look at him. "How's your day going?"
"It was going well," Katie grumbled, sticking her trowel into the deep soil, reveling in it one more time before Travis took all of her attention away from her gardening. She'd given up on ignoring him, seeing as he'd try every tactic until she talked to him.
Travis stuck out his bottom lip, faking sorrow. "Aww, sorry to hear that, Kates. Whatever could've disrupted your good day?"
"I'll give you one guess."
"Was it one of your siblings? Sucks being counselor, doesn't it?"
She rolled her eyes and would have left then. But her shift in the strawberry fields started in a few minutes, so she figured she may as well stay for productivity. (That was what she told herself, anyway.) "Go away, Stoll, I'm busy."
She wished he was gone. Katie needed serenity in her favorite place.
"Come on, Katie-kat," he crooned, "wouldn't you rather ditch the gardening and hang with me?"
It had become a new fascination of his: trying to get Katie to be around him more. She didn't understand it, but seeing as he also pressed her buttons by flirting jokingly, she wasn't much phased by the new development. Travis asking her out was now the equivalent of the old pick-up lines.
"Travis, I could spend the rest of the day listing the things I'd rather do than hang out with you."
"C'mon, you and I both know that's not true." With a smirk on his lips, he squatted next to her. "Let's just talk. I'm bored of always coming up with annoying things to say."
"You never seemed to have any trouble before."
Travis' eyes lit up at the word trouble, and Katie snorted. He's ridiculous.
She sighed. He wasn't just going to leave. "At least make yourself useful, okay?"
Before the Stoll could even get the question of her motives out of his mouth, she shoved her empty extra bucket into his grasp. She quickly showed him how to twist the strawberries so he didn't snap the stem off, and thus began their next hour of berry picking.
"-and that's when Connor turned around and I sent the dollop of Cool-Whip sailing from the catapult and it splattered all over his face!" Travis cackled, stumbling back to reenact Connor's surprise.
Katie found herself laughing along, having long forgotten her hesitancy to show positive emotions toward the Stoll. She had to admit, he was a great storyteller. "You're crazy," she threw out.
"Me? Crazy?" His feigned distain quickly melted into an easygoing smile. "Why, Katie-kat, that's the best thing you could be. Thanks for the complement."
She only grunted in reply, but inside she was still laughing. He wasn't that bad to be around after all. Plus, the berry picking had gone by much faster and they'd already finished six rows. Her siblings would never let her hear the end of it, and she knew it - they sent her amused looks that said she'd be made fun of later. But frankly, she didn't care as much as she thought she would; if being around Travis would win her some free jabs from the other Demeter kids, she thought it was a fair trade.
Wait a minute, did I just think that?
"-but I guess when you're an Ares kid, you'll do anything to get to break someone's nose, so he really didn't stand a chance." The end of Travis' story vaguely drew Katie's attention away from her mind, and he tilted his head to the side. "What?"
Her lips fell to a frown, and that was when she realized she'd been smiling at him. "Oh, uh, nothing."
"Am I just that funny and charming?" He sent a dazzling grin that could even make Aphrodite swoon (at least, Katie assumed she would).
Rolling her eyes to the sky, she picked up one of the full buckets. "You wish."
"I know."
The banter between them had always been cut short because Katie had never even given the Stoll the time of day, but she couldn't say she regretted actually listening to his antics. He was actually, dare she say, enjoyable to be around sometimes.
Maybe she wasn't so irritated at him for ruining her serenity.
"Hey, Katie, it's cabin time now!" Miranda's voice called from across the field, and she sent Katie a suggestive expression. "Better wrap up your little conversation."
Katie turned to tell Travis to beat it, but she stopped short when he was almost nose-to-nose with her. Rather, as close as that as they could get, with the height difference between them. He looked panicked at their nearness before stepping back to hand her his two strawberry buckets.
"Here ya go."
Gingerly, she lifted them from his hands and looped her arm through the handles. Katie didn't know what just shifted between them that made it awkward, but she could hardly look him in the eye now. "Thanks," she hurried out and went to leave.
"Hey, wait," he hummed, touching her free arm.
She faced him once more with what she identified as hope, but he just shuffled his feet and stared at the ground.
"Uh, I wouldn't go in the front door of your cabin when you go back." A certain brightness infected his irises, enough so that she knew he was talking about a prank.
She didn't know why he was telling her about it, though.
And for some reason, that wasn't what she wanted him to say to her in that moment.
As Katie walked to the end of the field to dump their berries, Travis followed her to walk towards his own cabin. Silence reigned over them until he exhaled and muttered, "Well, see ya."
It was a very unexpected thing to have liked being around the Stoll, especially after turning him down day after day to do that exact thing. Normally, she would've been scrambling to get away from him and yelling at him to leave her alone, but she didn't feel like doing that today.
Today, she felt like being different than their usual script.
"Hey, Trav?" She watched him wheel around to look at her with the same hope she'd had earlier, undeniably. Turning her lips upwards, she offered, "Come see me in the fields tomorrow?"
He beamed and lifted his shoulders with forced nonchalance. "Of course, Katie-kat, you're my favorite person to annoy."
Katie decided that, even if Travis came, the strawberry fields were still her favorite place in camp - heck, in all of New York.
