Disclaimer: Neither of us owns it... :) Nathan got away...sorry, but he just had to run away to be with Lily..I mean, Kate...

Chapter 5

Travis and Lily decided to hang out at Mickey's before they had to be at the CPR class that afternoon. Just hanging out by the CD racks, Travis drinking an herbal tea and Lily a cream soda, everything seemed natural. There was no forced conversation, just comfortable silence as they shuffled through second-hand CDs and observed other customers at Mickey's.

"You know, I never thought that I'd last this long in Roscoe," said Travis.

Lily just nodded, knowing that Travis was talking more to himself than he was her. She let him sort his thoughts before she interupted him.

"Don't you think we'd better get back to school? I don't know what he'll do if we're late."

He looked up at the clock then at Lily, his eyes concentrated.

"Let's go," he said simply, yet Lily couldn't help but feel anxious – wondering if there was a hidden meaning to everything he said, if he was talking to her with his soul. Then again, maybe not. At least this wasn't mouth-to-mouth. That would be extremely embarrassing and awkward. Not that she would mind... Lily shook her
head to stop the thoughts that were headed in the direction of a big no-no.

They walked together to the school's entrance and finally to the classroom where the CPR class would now be held.

Lily was sitting in the front row of chairs, chin resting on the back of her hand, her eyes focused on Travis and the way his muscular arms flexed when he pointed to something written on the chalkboard. At first he was nervous when the class questioned his credibility, but when Lily flashed him a sincere smile he loosened up a bit and actually made the course somewhat interesting. (Only Travis...) Now he was calling Lily's name so she could help him demonstrate, but she hadn't noticed. All else was tuned out; Travis was the only one in the room and he was saying "Lily... Lily."

She snapped out of her reverie due to a waving hand in front of her face. It belonged to none other than Travis Strong. She stood up, not quite knowing what she should be prepared for. Travis' voice was a little buzzing in her ear...

When Lily was finally up there with him in front of the class, Travis was very distracted. He started to ramble on about how there were signs in the cafeteria if you forgot a step and how important it was to follow the directions and procedure carefully until Lily yawned and requested he get on with the demonstration.

Slightly embarassed, his face turned pink. He wondered if anyone noticed how intently he was staring at the newly found freckle on the back of Lily's earlobe. He
was surprisingly fascinated by it. Standing behind Lily and still gazing at her beauty mark, Travis wrapped his arms around Lily's abdomen and started to explain the steps he was taking. She tensed up at his touch, startled even though she knew what he was doing.

Travis and Lily were the only ones left in the classroom. They were left with the task of cleaning up the now disassembled and even more tattered Caroline. Somewhere in the middle of the class two students had become restless and started throwing the dummy around, pulling on her fragile limbs and carelessly kicking her across the ground. There were cotton poofs scattered on the ground and different limbs distributed in odd places about the room.

Travis and Lily were having fun trying to toss the pathetic doll – or what remained of her – in the trashcan.

"So we have two legs but only one arm so far? Travis, why didn't you say something when they were destroying her?"

Travis cocked an eyebrow at Lily and replied, "Well I didn't want to sound like Mr. Wexler, and I didn't want to distract from the lesson..."

Lily shook her head and seemed to observe a moment of silence for the doll. "Now she's going to be, ah...put to rest in this garbage can missing a limb?" Surveying the cotton stuffing strewn across the classroom paused for a moment. "And with her innards all taken out and," she toed a particularly large pile of fluff mixed with dirt and dust from the classroom floor, wrinkled her nose she finished, "dirty."

At this Travis had to roll his eyes. "Now you're just being silly. She doesn't know that she has no insides left, and I'm sure she won't miss that arm too much."

"Fine, fine. She won't care. But really I don't see the arm anywhere. Where could her arm have gone?"

They poked around the classroom a bit more, finding nothing. "In light of the missing arm tragedy I think Caroline should be honored at least with a ceremonial head-throwing-away-thing."

Lily looked determined, so Travis only heckled her a little. "Head-throwing-away ceremony? Is there such a thing?" He emphasized the last word, smiling at her.

"Yes, Travis, and it's very serious," she answered with a straight face. Lily motioned with a solemn nod and they seemed to know what the other was thinking.

Walking over together they bent down in unison to pick up her head, but when
they came up to stand they bonked heads. "Oww!" Travis complained.

"Perhaps Caroline wanted us to feel some of her misery?" Lily looked at him sternly and he wasn't sure for a moment if she wanted him to continue playing along. When a broad smile broke out over her face and they took stock of the stuffing and limbs sticking haphazardly out of the garbage bin they both fell to their knees, laughing hysterically at themselves. When their cackles dies down, Lily looked up to see Travis gazing at her with his eyes. His beautiful, deep, gray, mysterious, unreadable, yet pleasant eyes. Oh, those eyes.

He took her small hands in his after a moment of eager silence. What he said next startled Lily into silence, now even her mind remained silent.

"If I kissed you right now, would you say it was a mistake like... like last time," Travis whispered questioningly, obviously surprised he had the courage to say what he did.

Eyes wide, Lily shook her head.

And in the next moment Travis moved his head closer to Lily's and Lily moved her head in closer too. Their lips connected and it was impossible to tell where Lily ended and Travis began as they brought each other closer. Still on their knees, they shared a kiss that was the beginning of something they would remember and cherish for the rest of their lives.

Walking down the front steps of Henry Roscoe High, arm in arm and giddy, Lily and Travis finally spotted Caroline's arm. It was somehow hanging halfway up the flagpole, tied to the ropes. It almost looked as if Caroline were waving a final goodbye to them.