I watched them for a moment, and then pushed past them, running up the stairs. I burst through the doors to find an empty living room. The door to Travis’s room was closed, so I knocked.
“Travis? It’s me, open up.”
“Walk away, Pidge,” he called from the other side of the door.
I peeked in to see him sitting on the edge of his bed, facing the window. Toto pawed at his back, unhappy about being ignored.
“What is going on with you, Trav?” I asked. He didn’t answer, so I stood beside him, crossing my arms. His jaw tensed, but he no longer wore the frightening expression he had in the cafeteria. He seemed sad. The deep, hopeless kind.
“You’re not going to talk to me about this?”
I waited, but he remained quiet. I turned for the door and he finally sighed. “You know the other day when Brazil mouthed off to me and you rushed to my defense? Well … that’s what happened. I just got a little carried away.”
“You were angry before Chris said anything,” I said, returning to sit beside him on the bed.
He continued to stare out the window. “I meant what I said before. You need to walk away, Pidge. God knows I can’t walk away from you.”
I touched his arm. “You don’t want me to leave.”
Travis’s jaws tensed again, and then he took me under his arm. He paused for a moment and then kissed my forehead, pressing his cheek against my temple. “It doesn’t matter how hard I try. You’re going to hate me when it’s all said and done.”
I wrapped my arms around him. “We have to be friends. I won’t take no for an answer,” I quoted.
His eyebrows pulled in, and then he cradled me to him with both arms, still staring out the window. “I watch you sleeping a lot. You always look so peaceful. I don’t have that kind of quiet. I have all this anger and rage boiling inside of me—except when I watch you sleep.
“That’s what I was doing when Parker walked in,” he continued. “I was awake, and he walked in and just stood there with this shocked look on his face. I knew what he thought, but I didn’t set him straight. I didn’t explain because I wanted him to think something happened. Now the whole school thinks you were with us both in the same night.”
Toto nuzzled his way onto my lap, and I rubbed his ears. Travis reached over to pet him once and then rested his hand on mine. “I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. “If he believes the gossip, it’s his own fault.”
“It’s hard to think anything else when he sees us in bed together.”
“He knows I’m staying with you. I was fully clothed, for Christ’s sake.”
Travis sighed. “He was probably too pissed to notice. I know you like him, Pidge. I should have explained. I owe you t
hat much.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“You’re not mad?” he asked, surprised.
“Is that what you’re so upset about? You thought I’d be mad at you when you told me the truth?”
“You should be. If someone single-handedly sunk my reputation, I’d be a little pissed.”
“You don’t care about reputations. What happened to the Travis that doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks?” I teased, nudging him.
“That was before I saw the look on your face when you heard what everyone’s saying. I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”
“You would never do anything to hurt me.”
“I’d rather cut off my arm,” he sighed.
He relaxed his cheek against my hair. I didn’t have a reply, and Travis seemed to have said everything he needed to, so we sat in silence. Once in a while, Travis would squeeze me tighter to his side. I gripped his shirt, not knowing how else to make him feel better other than to just let him hold me.
When the sun began to set, I heard a faint knock at the door. “Abby?” America’s voice sounded small on the other side of the wood.