» 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕖: this was so much fun to follow up on! thanks to britsarcasm for giving me some inspo :D
» 𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕖: 8 / 14 / 20
» 𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪: part two of the stood up shot.
» 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤: 1008
. . .
Normally, when someone stood someone up, it was a terribly depressing thing.
To Katie, nothing better could've happened.
Travis was absolutely her favorite person to be around, whether it was him helping her with English, or her giving him biology tips, or them just hanging out - she loved it. Looking at him was easy on the eyes, hearing him talk was enlightening, touching him was electricity to her fingers.
He'd even apologized for knocking the wind out of her on the first day of the semester.
She'd never fallen for someone so quickly.
The next Tuesday had arrived, marking the end of the weeklong break. Most days, she cursed the moment she'd signed up for morning classes. But today, Katie had woken up to a text reading, Good morning, beautiful from Travis. She wore the hoodie he'd left at her dorm room the other night, and her leggings were fresh out of the dryer. The local coffee shop had her favorite cold brew on tap, and she'd racked up enough rewards points to get it free.
Today was a good day.
Up until the point she walked into class and saw him.
With tunnel vision, Katie witnessed Brian walk from the top of the rows to the floor level, flashing a broad smile. Her heart would've skipped a beat a week and a half ago, but now she found it hard not to wrinkle her nose at him in distaste.
"Hey, Katie," he hummed with a rumbling morning tone that could only now make her roll her eyes.
"You stood me up," she said flatly.
His face fell for only a moment, but he recovered. "Ah, I meant to text you, but my sister's car broke down and I couldn't even get out of the driveway."
She raised an eyebrow and pushed past him to her seat. Unfortunately, he followed her.
"Come on, Kates, try to understand."
Katie looked away to pull out her laptop. "Don't call me that."
"Gimme another try. I've got plenty to offer." Brian slouched into the chair next to her, though his regular seat was in the row in front of her.
"Class is about to start."
He pouted at her before lifting himself up and getting to his own row. He turned one last time to say something when he was interrupted.
"Hey, Kates," came a voice from the door.
She glanced up to see Travis holding the door open, a small paper bag in hand. Automatically, a smile formed on her face, but she still questioned, "What are you doing here?"
He'd told her yesterday that he'd signed up for late morning classes for a reason - he never saw the clock any earlier than nine. But there he stood.
Travis skipped steps up to her seat and lifted an eyebrow. "My hoodie?"
"Mine, now."
He laughed - she still loved his laugh - and slid the bag across the table. "For you, sunshine."
Out of instinct, Katie's reaction was to look at Brian. His mouth was downturned, and his eyes showed confusion. Looking back at Travis, she grinned wider. "What is it?"
"Well, you could open it to find out."
Katie bit her lip and unfolded the top of the bag. She recognized the logo to be from the cafe they'd had their first date at. When she opened it, she found a blueberry muffin.
"You said you don't normally eat breakfast, but you also said you have a quiz today. I figured you could use the extra energy, so I decided to be a good boyfriend and got you something."
"Boyfriend?" she whispered when he propped his arms to lean next to her.
"Yeah," his whisper was gravelly, proving that he'd basically rolled out of bed to get her a muffin. "If you wanna pretend."
Heart melting, Katie eagerly nodded and took the muffin out. She pressed the bag down to act as a plate - it was still warm, exuding a gush of heat when she picked it up. Setting it back down without taking a bite yet, she gazed up at Travis. Her boyfriend.
"Thank you."
"Of course, gorgeous."
Katie found it odd that he kept calling her pet names - he hardly used them unless in greetings or goodbyes. But as soon as she noticed his eyes trail over to Brian, she realized what he was doing.
So, she stood up to hug him.
Travis responded immediately, wrapping his arms around her waist and settling his face into the scoop of her neck. A shiver went down her spine as he nestled his head further to plant a kiss just under her jawline.
Holy cheese.
Reluctantly, Katie eased back to return to her seat before their professor arrived - seeing as he usually swept into class five minutes late, she figured she had enough time to do one more thing.
She faced Brian and gripped Travis' hand. "Brian, you've met Trav, right? He's in the class after ours."
"Advanced contemporary lit," Travis clarified, and Katie chuckled.
Brian opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "Uh, I've seen him around. What's up, bro?"
Travis pinched his lips into a tight smile, but his eyes portrayed a slightly more threatening stance. "Not much, man. I'll let you get back to your work.
Having taken the hint, Brian turned back to his laptop to type furiously.
That should've taken care of things.
Katie gave Travis a grateful nod, and squeezed his hand before letting it drop. "I'll see you for lunch?"
"Eleven on the dot," he replied, taking a step down. "Good luck on your quiz."
"Thanks." She chewed on the inside of her cheek as she watched Brian's back tense. "And thanks for the muffin."
"Always, Kates."
And he slipped back out of the classroom.
Not many moments later, her professor bustled in and called out his normal apology for being late, and Katie nibbled on her muffin. The one that Travis had gotten her. In front of Brian.
She felt pretty good about today.
