Wow, only two reviews on that last chapter. You guys would tell me if I started to suck, right? Right!? AH! Anyyyhoo, a few quick notes!
1. Let's say for the sake of the story that the guys are now, say, 17? Juniors. Sorry, but once I started writing this I realized it's easier to write about seventeen year olds in love than fourteen year olds. So they're 17 in this.
2. Someone pointed out a similarity to another RFR story they had read, so I'm gonna NOT read any stories until I get this done. I don't like having similarities, because then sometimes mean people accuse you of stealing ideas. Happened to a friend of mine, and it got her really upset, so I'm just gonna hold off for now. Maybe once I get this done there'll be a whole lot of new chappies for me to read! *hint, hint!*
3. *sniff* Review me! Let me know if you want something to change, etc, etc...I hope this is still interesting.
So, without further delay...Enjoy!
***
"I feel really bad dumping you guys like this," Robbie said, standing on Lily's front porch. "My dad will kill me if I'm any later, though."
"It's okay," Lily assured. "Thanks for helping me get him this far."
"Yeah," Robbie nodded. "Travis, take care, okay?"
Travis nodded, staring at the ground.
"Hey," Robbie said, waiting until Travis looked at him. "He'll get over it. Give it time."
Travis offered a small smile in return, and Lily tightened her arm around his waist, offering support emotionally as well as physically. Robbie nodded once more, then turned and headed down the sidewalk.
"Come on, let's get you inside," she said, unlocking the door and holding it open for him.
He limped inside, and she followed, locking the door behind them, and switching on the hall lights.
"Think you can make it upstairs?" she asked, turning on the lights of the second floor as well.
"Yeah," he nodded.
"Okay. I'll meet you up there," she said. "I'm gonna get my mom's first aid kit."
He nodded again, heading for the stairwell, gripping the banister with white knuckles.
Lily watched for a moment to make sure he was okay, then headed to the downstairs bathroom to grab the huge white kit her mother had put together and stored under the sink. She opened it to check out the contents and, feeling confident that everything she needed was there, jogged up the steps to her room.
Travis was standing in the middle of her room, staring out the window.
"Hey, you should be sitting down," she said, tossing the kit on her bed.
"I didn't want to mess up your bed," he said, waving a hand listlessly.
"Don't worry about it," she said, frowning. "It's just a bedspread."
He nodded, but made no move to sit.
"Come on, Travis, cooperate with me," she pleaded, taking his arm. "Sit down."
He let her lead him to the bed, pushing him down gently.
"Hang on," she said, "I'll be right back."
She disappeared and came back a minute later holding a large bowl filled with warm water, and a clean white rag in her arms.
"'Kay," she said. "All set."
She tried hard to ignore his creepy unblinking gaze as she dipped the towel in the water and gently tried to remove some of the blood from his face. She had to be extra careful around his cheek, she knew, because that would be extra painful. Still, she had to mop off enough of the dried blood to see how much gravel was stuck in there.
"Okay," she said, looking at him closely. "This part might hurt...a lot. Feel free to...y'know, blink? Make any move that shows me you're still with me, Trav."
He turned his gaze to hers, his intense eyes boring into hers for a moment, then returned to staring at the wall.
"Okay..." she drew out, and set to using the tweezers to gently remove what gravel was stuck in his skin.
Having accomplished the task in no time at all, she ran the towel gently over his cheek, taking off the rest of the dried blood, and what little had appeared while removing the stone.
Ringing out the rag, she sat back on her heels. "You're gonna have to take off your shirt so I can look at your back."
"No, it's fine," he said softly, still staring.
"Travis, you're really scaring me," she admitted, watching him closely.
"He had such...hatred in his eyes," Travis said so softly she had to strain to hear.
"Ray?"
"Yeah," he nodded.
"He'll get over it," she said. "He had no right to do this to you. You didn't deserve it."
"It's not just that," he said, sighing, and finally looking at her.
"What, then?" she wanted to know.
"I did deserve it," he said quickly. "I knew how much he cared for you, but I kissed you anyway."
She wanted to talk, but sensed there was more, so she kept quiet.
"When I kissed you...I didn't care how much liked you," Travis explained, his eyes radiating emotion. "Because I do, too. I care for you."
"You...do?" she said in a small voice.
"Yeah. I always have, I guess...when I met you, you didn't treat me like a freak. You saw me for who I was," he stated. "No one's ever really done that before."
She sat, watching him quietly.
"It's not just that, either. You're so...different from other people. You've got a beautiful soul," he said.
That was so a Travis thing to say, that she began laughing.
He knew that she wasn't laughing at him, and so he cracked a smile.
"Travis, I really like you, too," she said. "And not just 'cause you've got a beautiful soul."
He regarded her with a soft look, searching her.
"I like you 'cause you're Travis. Utterly and totally you," she said, not caring if what she said didn't make sense. It made sense to her.
His smile gradually faded. "I never told you because I knew how Ray felt about you. But today... I couldn't stop myself. You looked so beautiful, so pure... it didn't matter that he would hate me."
"It doesn't," she amended. "I don't care if he's mad. He'll have to get over him. I had a crush on him before, but...it passed. It's nothing anymore. Not like...I just don't feel the same as he does."
Travis only nodded.
Feeling unsure, she cleared her throat. "Okay...so, um, your back. I need to clean that. Can you lay on your stomach?"
He shifted positions, holding his shirt up so that she would have access to his lower back, and stretched out onto his stomach, wincing at the pressure it put on his ribs.
She gently ran her fingers over the bruise starting to form there. "He really hurt you."
"Don't hate him for it," Travis pleaded. "He wasn't thinking."
"I don't know how you can not be mad at him," she said, shaking her head. "I am."
He didn't answer, so Lily pulled her hair back in a ponytail and set to work on his back.
Again, she had to clean off the old blood, and gently work with the tweezers, monotonously pulling out tiny pieces of gravel and tossing them in her trash can, applying the warm towel to the torn flesh afterwards.
"How's your head?" she thought to ask. "You hit pretty hard...you're not dizzy or anything, are you?"
"No," he said softly. "Not really."
"Nausea? Double vision?" she kept at it.
He laughed. "You're good at this nurse thing. You gonna follow in your Mom's footsteps?"
She thought about it for a minute. "Nah. That's not for me."
"Well, thanks for doing it," he said, sitting up carefully, wincing as his shirt rode over the scrapes.
"Oh, no problem," she said, waving her arm. "All in a day's work."
"No, I mean it," he said seriously. "Thank you."
"Your welcome," she replied. "So, uh...what's your dad going to say about it?"
Travis laughed again, but this time there was no humor in his voice. "Probably tell me a real man wouldn't have ended up in this situation. A real man would fight for his honor."
She frowned.
"I didn't have a reason to fight him," Travis said, shaking his head. "There would have been no honor in it."
"Sounds like your dad's pretty tough," she reasoned.
"Only sometimes," he shrugged. "You know how parents are."
"Yeah," she agreed. "Speaking of which...mine are gonna be home soon."
He took in her apologetic look and smiled. "I should be going anyway."
"I'll walk you out," she said, getting to her feet and offering an arm to help hm up.
He waved her arm away. "I'm okay now, I think. Thanks."
She nodded, watching him closely as her rose, and then walked with him to the door, where she stood, still watching, as he left.
"Think about what I said," he told her, turning as he stepped onto the porch. "About Ray."
"I will," she promised softly, clutching the door frame.
"Thank you," he said, reaching up a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.
And like that, Travis was gone, off the porch and vanishing into the night.
Lily watched the darkness for a long time, eventually closing the front door and locking it behind her. She climbed the stairs to her room to clean up, putting away the first aid kit, tossing the towel in the laundry.
In her room, sitting in the same spot Travis had just occupied, she picked up the phone. She dialed, but hung up before the second ring. Then dialed again, clutching the phone, forcing herself to listen to the rings, to not hang up.
"Hello?"
He sounded angry.
"Ray...it's me," she said.
"Oh..."
"Please don't hang up!" she pleaded.
"I wasn't gonna."
"Oh. Okay. Look...about what happened..." she started.
"Lily, don't," he said softly. "I know. You hate me, right?"
"No," she said. "I just...I'm really angry, Ray."
"I know," he sighed. "Look. I'm sorry, okay? But he knew how I felt, and he...he did what he did. I just couldn't help myself, you know? I was so mad!"
"Like I am now?" she asked. "Only I'm not kicking your ass."
"He could've fought back!" Ray protested. "He should have."
"He didn't want to hurt you," Lily told him. "He knew why you did it. Would you believe he's not even mad at you for hurting him? He thinks he deserved it."
"He did," Ray grumbled, but with less conviction.
There was a pause.
"How bad is he, anyway?" he asked softly.
"Do you want to know so you can gloat, or because he's your friend?" she sneered.
"I..."
"He's pretty bad," she said, her tone holding none of the previous animosity. "You did a number on him."
Silence. Then, "I didn't mean to hurt him so bad. I just...I felt so betrayed."
"He felt really bad about doing it in the firs tplace, Ray, because he worried how it would hurt you," she said.
"But he still did it!"
"It's not exactly a one way street, Ray," Lily said in exasperation.
"Lily...I've liked you for a really long time," Ray said, finally admitting it. "For a lot longer than we've even known Travis."
"I get that, Ray," she said slowly. "But...you're too late."
A sigh from the other end.
"Do you like him, Lily? Really?" Ray said, sounding broken up.
"Yeah," she said softly. "I do."
He sighed again. "As long as you're happy, I guess."
She smiled. "Thanks, Ray. But you're still not out of hot water with me."
"Yeah, I figured," he said. "But as long as you're still my friend."
"Of course," she said and rolled her eyes. "Good friends, but...no more."
"I understand," he said, still sounding sad. "Tell Swami I'm sorry?"
"Tell him yourself," Lily replied.
"Right."
"Goodnight, Ray," she responded.
"'Night."
She hung up, feeling only slightly better.
Ray liked her. At one point, she might have felt the same way. At one point she thought she did. But what she felt was love, she had realized was only jealousy, and that tore her up inside. And then Travis...she really liked him, and he felt the same. Ray was still important to her, and she hated hurting him, but her heart would never be his.
Lily sighed and flopped back on her bed.
Life was complicated.
1. Let's say for the sake of the story that the guys are now, say, 17? Juniors. Sorry, but once I started writing this I realized it's easier to write about seventeen year olds in love than fourteen year olds. So they're 17 in this.
2. Someone pointed out a similarity to another RFR story they had read, so I'm gonna NOT read any stories until I get this done. I don't like having similarities, because then sometimes mean people accuse you of stealing ideas. Happened to a friend of mine, and it got her really upset, so I'm just gonna hold off for now. Maybe once I get this done there'll be a whole lot of new chappies for me to read! *hint, hint!*
3. *sniff* Review me! Let me know if you want something to change, etc, etc...I hope this is still interesting.
So, without further delay...Enjoy!
***
"I feel really bad dumping you guys like this," Robbie said, standing on Lily's front porch. "My dad will kill me if I'm any later, though."
"It's okay," Lily assured. "Thanks for helping me get him this far."
"Yeah," Robbie nodded. "Travis, take care, okay?"
Travis nodded, staring at the ground.
"Hey," Robbie said, waiting until Travis looked at him. "He'll get over it. Give it time."
Travis offered a small smile in return, and Lily tightened her arm around his waist, offering support emotionally as well as physically. Robbie nodded once more, then turned and headed down the sidewalk.
"Come on, let's get you inside," she said, unlocking the door and holding it open for him.
He limped inside, and she followed, locking the door behind them, and switching on the hall lights.
"Think you can make it upstairs?" she asked, turning on the lights of the second floor as well.
"Yeah," he nodded.
"Okay. I'll meet you up there," she said. "I'm gonna get my mom's first aid kit."
He nodded again, heading for the stairwell, gripping the banister with white knuckles.
Lily watched for a moment to make sure he was okay, then headed to the downstairs bathroom to grab the huge white kit her mother had put together and stored under the sink. She opened it to check out the contents and, feeling confident that everything she needed was there, jogged up the steps to her room.
Travis was standing in the middle of her room, staring out the window.
"Hey, you should be sitting down," she said, tossing the kit on her bed.
"I didn't want to mess up your bed," he said, waving a hand listlessly.
"Don't worry about it," she said, frowning. "It's just a bedspread."
He nodded, but made no move to sit.
"Come on, Travis, cooperate with me," she pleaded, taking his arm. "Sit down."
He let her lead him to the bed, pushing him down gently.
"Hang on," she said, "I'll be right back."
She disappeared and came back a minute later holding a large bowl filled with warm water, and a clean white rag in her arms.
"'Kay," she said. "All set."
She tried hard to ignore his creepy unblinking gaze as she dipped the towel in the water and gently tried to remove some of the blood from his face. She had to be extra careful around his cheek, she knew, because that would be extra painful. Still, she had to mop off enough of the dried blood to see how much gravel was stuck in there.
"Okay," she said, looking at him closely. "This part might hurt...a lot. Feel free to...y'know, blink? Make any move that shows me you're still with me, Trav."
He turned his gaze to hers, his intense eyes boring into hers for a moment, then returned to staring at the wall.
"Okay..." she drew out, and set to using the tweezers to gently remove what gravel was stuck in his skin.
Having accomplished the task in no time at all, she ran the towel gently over his cheek, taking off the rest of the dried blood, and what little had appeared while removing the stone.
Ringing out the rag, she sat back on her heels. "You're gonna have to take off your shirt so I can look at your back."
"No, it's fine," he said softly, still staring.
"Travis, you're really scaring me," she admitted, watching him closely.
"He had such...hatred in his eyes," Travis said so softly she had to strain to hear.
"Ray?"
"Yeah," he nodded.
"He'll get over it," she said. "He had no right to do this to you. You didn't deserve it."
"It's not just that," he said, sighing, and finally looking at her.
"What, then?" she wanted to know.
"I did deserve it," he said quickly. "I knew how much he cared for you, but I kissed you anyway."
She wanted to talk, but sensed there was more, so she kept quiet.
"When I kissed you...I didn't care how much liked you," Travis explained, his eyes radiating emotion. "Because I do, too. I care for you."
"You...do?" she said in a small voice.
"Yeah. I always have, I guess...when I met you, you didn't treat me like a freak. You saw me for who I was," he stated. "No one's ever really done that before."
She sat, watching him quietly.
"It's not just that, either. You're so...different from other people. You've got a beautiful soul," he said.
That was so a Travis thing to say, that she began laughing.
He knew that she wasn't laughing at him, and so he cracked a smile.
"Travis, I really like you, too," she said. "And not just 'cause you've got a beautiful soul."
He regarded her with a soft look, searching her.
"I like you 'cause you're Travis. Utterly and totally you," she said, not caring if what she said didn't make sense. It made sense to her.
His smile gradually faded. "I never told you because I knew how Ray felt about you. But today... I couldn't stop myself. You looked so beautiful, so pure... it didn't matter that he would hate me."
"It doesn't," she amended. "I don't care if he's mad. He'll have to get over him. I had a crush on him before, but...it passed. It's nothing anymore. Not like...I just don't feel the same as he does."
Travis only nodded.
Feeling unsure, she cleared her throat. "Okay...so, um, your back. I need to clean that. Can you lay on your stomach?"
He shifted positions, holding his shirt up so that she would have access to his lower back, and stretched out onto his stomach, wincing at the pressure it put on his ribs.
She gently ran her fingers over the bruise starting to form there. "He really hurt you."
"Don't hate him for it," Travis pleaded. "He wasn't thinking."
"I don't know how you can not be mad at him," she said, shaking her head. "I am."
He didn't answer, so Lily pulled her hair back in a ponytail and set to work on his back.
Again, she had to clean off the old blood, and gently work with the tweezers, monotonously pulling out tiny pieces of gravel and tossing them in her trash can, applying the warm towel to the torn flesh afterwards.
"How's your head?" she thought to ask. "You hit pretty hard...you're not dizzy or anything, are you?"
"No," he said softly. "Not really."
"Nausea? Double vision?" she kept at it.
He laughed. "You're good at this nurse thing. You gonna follow in your Mom's footsteps?"
She thought about it for a minute. "Nah. That's not for me."
"Well, thanks for doing it," he said, sitting up carefully, wincing as his shirt rode over the scrapes.
"Oh, no problem," she said, waving her arm. "All in a day's work."
"No, I mean it," he said seriously. "Thank you."
"Your welcome," she replied. "So, uh...what's your dad going to say about it?"
Travis laughed again, but this time there was no humor in his voice. "Probably tell me a real man wouldn't have ended up in this situation. A real man would fight for his honor."
She frowned.
"I didn't have a reason to fight him," Travis said, shaking his head. "There would have been no honor in it."
"Sounds like your dad's pretty tough," she reasoned.
"Only sometimes," he shrugged. "You know how parents are."
"Yeah," she agreed. "Speaking of which...mine are gonna be home soon."
He took in her apologetic look and smiled. "I should be going anyway."
"I'll walk you out," she said, getting to her feet and offering an arm to help hm up.
He waved her arm away. "I'm okay now, I think. Thanks."
She nodded, watching him closely as her rose, and then walked with him to the door, where she stood, still watching, as he left.
"Think about what I said," he told her, turning as he stepped onto the porch. "About Ray."
"I will," she promised softly, clutching the door frame.
"Thank you," he said, reaching up a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.
And like that, Travis was gone, off the porch and vanishing into the night.
Lily watched the darkness for a long time, eventually closing the front door and locking it behind her. She climbed the stairs to her room to clean up, putting away the first aid kit, tossing the towel in the laundry.
In her room, sitting in the same spot Travis had just occupied, she picked up the phone. She dialed, but hung up before the second ring. Then dialed again, clutching the phone, forcing herself to listen to the rings, to not hang up.
"Hello?"
He sounded angry.
"Ray...it's me," she said.
"Oh..."
"Please don't hang up!" she pleaded.
"I wasn't gonna."
"Oh. Okay. Look...about what happened..." she started.
"Lily, don't," he said softly. "I know. You hate me, right?"
"No," she said. "I just...I'm really angry, Ray."
"I know," he sighed. "Look. I'm sorry, okay? But he knew how I felt, and he...he did what he did. I just couldn't help myself, you know? I was so mad!"
"Like I am now?" she asked. "Only I'm not kicking your ass."
"He could've fought back!" Ray protested. "He should have."
"He didn't want to hurt you," Lily told him. "He knew why you did it. Would you believe he's not even mad at you for hurting him? He thinks he deserved it."
"He did," Ray grumbled, but with less conviction.
There was a pause.
"How bad is he, anyway?" he asked softly.
"Do you want to know so you can gloat, or because he's your friend?" she sneered.
"I..."
"He's pretty bad," she said, her tone holding none of the previous animosity. "You did a number on him."
Silence. Then, "I didn't mean to hurt him so bad. I just...I felt so betrayed."
"He felt really bad about doing it in the firs tplace, Ray, because he worried how it would hurt you," she said.
"But he still did it!"
"It's not exactly a one way street, Ray," Lily said in exasperation.
"Lily...I've liked you for a really long time," Ray said, finally admitting it. "For a lot longer than we've even known Travis."
"I get that, Ray," she said slowly. "But...you're too late."
A sigh from the other end.
"Do you like him, Lily? Really?" Ray said, sounding broken up.
"Yeah," she said softly. "I do."
He sighed again. "As long as you're happy, I guess."
She smiled. "Thanks, Ray. But you're still not out of hot water with me."
"Yeah, I figured," he said. "But as long as you're still my friend."
"Of course," she said and rolled her eyes. "Good friends, but...no more."
"I understand," he said, still sounding sad. "Tell Swami I'm sorry?"
"Tell him yourself," Lily replied.
"Right."
"Goodnight, Ray," she responded.
"'Night."
She hung up, feeling only slightly better.
Ray liked her. At one point, she might have felt the same way. At one point she thought she did. But what she felt was love, she had realized was only jealousy, and that tore her up inside. And then Travis...she really liked him, and he felt the same. Ray was still important to her, and she hated hurting him, but her heart would never be his.
Lily sighed and flopped back on her bed.
Life was complicated.