I rolled my eyes. “I feel like a zoo animal.”
Travis watched me for a moment, noted those staring, and then stood up. “I CAN’T!” he yelled. I stared in awe as the entire room jerked their heads in his direction. Travis bobbed his head a couple of times to a beat in his head.
Shepley closed his eyes. “Oh, no.”
Travis smiled. “Get no … sa … tis … faction,” he sang. He kept belting out the lyrics as he climbed onto the table as everyone stared.
He pointed to the football players at the end of the table and they smiled and yelled the lyrics back in unison. The whole room clapped to the beat.
Travis sang into his fist and danced past me.
The whole room chanted in harmony.
Travis jerked his hips, and a few whistles and squeals from the girls in the room fired off. He walked by me again, singing the chorus to the other side of the room, the football players his backup singers.
He pointed to his clapping audience. Some people stood and danced with him, but most just watched with amused amazement.
He jumped to the adjacent table and America squealed and clapped, elbowing me. I shook my head; I had died and woken up in “High School Musical.”
The football players were humming the base line, “Na, na, nanana! Na, na, na! Na na, nanana!”
Travis held his fist-microphone high, then jumped down, leaned across the table, and sang into my face.
The room clapped to the beat, and as he hit the final note, he stood smiling and breathless.
The entire room exploded into applause, even a few whistles. I shook my head after he kissed my forehead, and then stood up to take a bow. When he returned to his seat in front of me, he chuckled.
I couldn’t help but smile. “If I wanted to take Finch out, I’d just tell him Prada went out of business, and he’d finish the job for me.”
Travis laughed, nudging toward the door. “Let’s go! I’m wasting away, here!”
We sat at the lunch table together picking on each other with pinches and elbows to the ribs. Travis’s mood was as optimistic as the night I lost the bet. Everyone at the table noticed, and when he instigated a mini-food fight with me, it garnered the attention of those sitting at the tables around us.
I rolled my eyes. “I feel like a zoo animal.”
“They’re not looking at you, now, are they?” he panted.
“Thanks. You really shouldn’t have,” I said.
“Abs?”
I looked up to see Parker standing at the end of the table. All eyes were on me once again.
“We need to talk,” Parker said, seeming nervous. I looked at America, Travis, and then to Parker. “Please?” he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.
I nodded, following him outside. He walked past the windows to the privacy of the side of the building. “I didn’t mean to draw attention to you again. I know how you hate that.”
“Then you might have just called if you wanted to talk,” I said.
He nodded, looking to the ground. “It wasn’t my intention to find you in the cafeteria. I saw the commotion, and then you, and I just went in. I’m sorry.”
I waited, and he spoke again, “I don’t know what happened with you and Travis. It’s none of my business … you and I have only been on a handful of dates. I was upset at first, but then I realized that it wouldn’t have bothered me if I didn’t have feelings for you.”
“I didn’t sleep with him, Parker. He held my hair while I hurled a pint of Patrón in his toilet. That’s as romantic as it got.”
He laughed once. “I don’t think we’ve really gotten a fair shot … not with you living with Travis. The truth is, Abby, I like you. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t seem to stop thinking about you.” I smiled and he took my hand, running his finger over my bracelet. “I probably scared you off with this ridiculous present, but I’ve never been in this situation before. I feel like I’m constantly competing with Travis for your attention.”
“You didn’t scare me off with the bracelet.”