As he hit the person, he immediately grabbed a hold of their arm so they wouldn't fall back. Bad idea. She came flying back and bumped into his chest, which almost knocked him out of balance. When they pulled apart, Travis' eyes widened as he saw the new girl for the second time that day. She looked at him and gave some sort of effortless smile.
"You seem to have made a habit of running into people."
Since they were close (and she wasn't in a rush going anywhere) he could see her facial features. She had high cheekbones and piercing honey brown eyes. Her button like nose hovered over her pink lips and her chin was cute and curved. He smiled and stepped back, scratching his head and chuckling somewhat.
"Yeah, I-uh...sorry."
She shook her head and shrugged.
"At least you caught me this time." She seemed to be in a better mood and he liked that. He didn't know why he was interested in her, but he liked to think it was because of her interest in Buddha, and NOT her brown eyes."I'm Echo," she stretched her hand out for his so she could properly introduce herself. He smiled and gave her his hand.
"I'm Travis." They shook hands and she grinned. Then, they started walking. Starting conversation, Echo spoke up.
"I saw you with that girl back there. You seem to like her." There was nothing uplifting about this girl's voice. Everything she said sounded like a statement. Travis kept on walking silently; not sure what she wanted him to say.
"But you know, if you do like her I wouldn't go near her, she seems like the type that would break your heart."
At this point in time, Travis stopped and faced Echo with a sort of angry expression on his face.
"You don't even know her so how can you judge her?"
Echo's face had no expression. She was like a closed book, Travis thought...he couldn't read her at all.
"It looks like she's breaking yours."
It was true...Lily was hurting and confusing him. She took away his feelings he had for Audrey and then spit them out again. Travis continued walking and Echo followed a few steps beside him. She sighed.
"I didn't mean to get all up in your personal business...I have a tendency to do that."
Travis shook his head.
"It's alright...I just don't know why you are so interested."
Echo shrugged.
"You noticed me."
With that, she nodded her head and then went an opposite way down the street. Travis, checking his watch, decided to head to the station.
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As Travis entered his sanctuary, thoughts of Echo's words buzzed in his mind. How did she know Lily was hurting him? He sighed for the one thousandth time that day as he slipped on his earphones and starting mixing music together. After a while, visions of Audrey, Ray, Echo, and even Lily floated out of his brain while he disappeared into his own little world. The little room, however, became a bit too steamy and when he opened his eyes so he could walk himself out, who stood there but the very own Lily Randalls (A/N: Don't know how to spell her last name, but I think you can cut me SOME slack!).
She was sitting on the couch, staring at him with a look of pure wonder in her eyes. Those eyes he swore to Ray he would never forget. Lord, he was putty in that girl's hands, but he didn't want HER to know that. So, with a furrowed brow and a stern face, he took off the headphones and walked out of his little caged room to see what she wanted.
"You're here a bit early," he stated. His voice reminded himself of Echo...why did she keep popping to his mind?
Her eyes looked to the ceiling and she shrugged.
"Ray had a little...accident. He, uh..." She was stalling again, he though. Why did she always stall around him? "He spilt a milkshake all over his pants at Mickey's and had to go home and change. So I said I'd meet him here."
Travis imagined that didn't go well with Ray's mind...since now Lily and him were alone. But he can't think for her all the time. He nodded and sat on the table in the middle of the room where RFR's voices protruded through the microphones to give RFR radio station to the willing listeners. He loved everything about Radio Free Roscoe, but recently, attending the sessions was becoming quite a chore. Reminding himself of chores, he all of a sudden remembered he forgot his math book.
'Book,' he thought, 'wasn't I carrying that today when Echo bumped into me? Or, I bumped into Echo...' He shook his head to clear his thoughts when Lily cleared her throat to bring him from them.
As if realizing she was in the room for the first time, Travis looked at her.
"Sorry...I'm a little off today."
"Yeah...uh...you didn't sit by us today in lunch..."
'Because I couldn't stand Ray sucking up to you.' Travis grit his teeth at this thought, so he thought up an excuse instead. "Well you know, busy stuff. I had to visit teachers."
Lily squinted her eyes as if trying to read him. Travis tried to act cool so she couldn't in fact see what he was thinking. Kind of like Echo did.
"My Lord," he whispered harshly to himself. Lily curiously looked at him. Travis shook his head and then the door flew open. There was Ray, out of breath, looking between the two of them with suspicion written all over his face. Travis laughed and then walked back to his little room.
"Ray, where's Robby?" He asked. Travis was becoming more and more comfortable spending time with Lily and Ray. If one was without the other, fine...but these days that didn't really work. He tried to block them out of his mind, but whenever he did that, a very odd thing happened. The new girl would pop in his mind. Firstly because she read him so well, secondly because she read about Buddha, and thirdly her eyes were-
The door opened once more and there was Robby, looking just as frustrated as Travis was. Even though, Travis was at least glad he wasn't stuck in that uncomfortable silence Ray and Lily tended to weigh the room down with.
"What's the matter, Robby?" Ray slapped him on the back as they all got up to sit at their proper seats.
"Bad day, proceeded by a bad year." Robby plopped down in his chair and grabbed the microphone. Lily's eyebrow raised and she was about to say something when Travis gave the cue they were about to go on air.
When the switch was turned on, and the theme song ended, all four of them had pulled a superman act and were now Smog, Shady Lane, Pronto, and Question Mark. Robby, like always, was the first one to speak.
"Hey, I'm Question Mark, and I'm wondering...why is it that when you try to make things a whole lot better, they just crash and burn...preferably right back into your face?"
Everyone looked at Robby like he was insane, but they all (as always) kept their posture and continued on with their answers. The day moved on, and the show was done after the songs, the discussions, and Travis' "Buddha once said" ordeals. With that, they all left and Travis was the last to leave...as always.
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Hoped ya'll liked it! Heehee...I hope you're getting the hints about Travis thinkin' bout Echo...cause there will be more of her later! Sorry the chapter's kind of short, but I don't have much time...what with school starting again and homework piling up in my locker and what not. Well, thank you for the reviews! (I know I only got 2 but STILL...gotta start somewhere!). HEEHEE....thank you!
Loviet