chapter 22
“Are you okay Paige?” Jared asked, picking up on my mood as I returned.
“I’m fine Jared,” I answered and my voice did not hide my frustrations.
“Does this have to do with you and Travis?” he asked. Jared was either extremely perceptive or had been tipped off by Tracey.
“Yes, it does. How did you know?” I asked curiously.
“It’s pretty obvious that he likes you. I definitely picked up on all of the glares he was sending my way earlier. Once I realized that the feelings were mutual with you, I turned my attention to Britney which seemed to get the heat off of my back,” he admitted.
“I’m sorry Jared. I hope you don’t regret coming up here to see me.”
“I’m disappointed but it serves me right for not taking you off the market when I had the chance, so I only have myself to blame,” he said.
“Why did it take you so long to come around?” I asked. The question flew out of my mouth before I processed it and I hoped that he wouldn’t mind being put on the spot.
“Paige, I stupidly thought that I needed to sow my wild oats first.”
“Huh?” I asked, confused by his remark.
“You are the girl that I thought I could marry. You’re beautiful, sweet, smart, an incredibly sexy dancer, and such an amazing person with all that you do for others. I knew that once we got into a relationship together that I would be done for and you would be the one. Therefore, I kept away and dated other girls in town just for fun. I figured I was young and needed to have an active dating life before tying myself down, which I had plenty of time for later. So, that is why I never asked you out.” His admission was sweet, a little over presumptuous assuming that I might want to marry him one day, but sweet nonetheless. However, I did find it a little frustrating learning now that all of the time I had spent pining over him, he really had liked me. It didn’t matter anymore because I was happy with the way things turned out and if he and I had been together than I probably wouldn’t have met Travis, who I believe is the one I’m truly meant to be with.
“Wow, that is an interesting piece of information Jared. So, how come you chose now to finally ask me out?” I asked.
“I started to realize that I was being an idiot and none of the other girls were really who I wanted to be with, so I decided to just go for it and if I found myself happily tied down, so be it. It would probably be a lot better than unhappily gallivanting around,” he explained. “Unfortunately, my efforts were a little too late,” he said and I could see the look of disappointment on his face.
“Sorry,” I apologized, feeling guilty for causing him regret.
“Don’t be. But what’s going on with you and Travis, why were you two not being open about your relationship? I hope it wasn’t to spare my feelings,” he said.
“No, we haven’t told anyone we are dating yet. It’s a long story,” I answered.
“It’s a long night. I’m a guy maybe I can help,” he offered.
I liked that Jared and I were able to talk as friends, and that there wasn’t any awkwardness between us. If anything, I figured he could give me a male perspective and help me see things from Travis’s point of view. So, I took the time and filled him in on enough of the details as necessary to paint the full picture leading us up to this evening.
“Yikes, who knew there would be this much drama out here in the woods,” Jared teased with a look of horror on his face.
“Yeah right, it’s a mess, huh?” I said.
“Well honestly Paige, I think Travis is an idiot. If you were my girlfriend, everyone would know it. I would be bragging,” he sheepishly admitted.
“Thanks Jared!” I said.
“I get that he didn’t want the girls to have a problem with you at the beginning Paige, but I don’t know. So what if he gets a call from Cora, the guy doesn’t strike me as lacking in the balls area,” Jared teased. I wasn’t going to say anything, but it was true, Travis definitely did not lack in that area at all.
Although our talk was supposed to make me feel better, I found myself feeling worse. Jared clearly could read it on my face and tried to console me. “Listen Paige, I’m sure that Travis will come around and do what’s necessary. He’s not going to let you go over this, well, not unless he’s an absolute idiot. But it may take you having to walk away first before he realizes that he’s got to put the past behind him. If it’s truly because he doesn’t want to rub it in Britney’s face, then before long he will realize that’s not necessary. She seemed pretty happy to me; I would not have picked up on the fact that she just ended a serious relationship,” he stated.
“I know. She seems to be handling it very well,” I agreed.
“I’ll even ask her out tomorrow in front of Travis, so he can see that she’s moving on,” he said.
“You like her, don’t you?” I smiled, nudging his arm.
“She’s cute,” He answered.
“She is a really awesome girl, so don’t ask her out if you think she may just be one of your flings,” I stated firmly. Although his intentions might be good, Britney was too fragile to suffer another heartbreak at the moment.
“I’ll just see if she wants to hang out as friends and take it from there. Besides, since she will be in New York with us next year, there’s no need to rush things.”
Jared really was a nice guy, if I wasn’t in love right now, I would be extremely jealous that Britney had won his attention so quickly. “Well, I think I need to go to bed.” I said, rising to stretch and then walk back to my RV. “Thanks for the talk Jared,” I added.
“Anytime Paige. Do you want me to walk you back?” he offered.
“No, I’m good. Just two sites over,” I said.
“Okay, well come and wake us in the morning so that we can grab breakfast.”
“Okay. I will. Sleep tight. Hope you get some sleep on the ground,” I teased.
“Yeah, my night’s going to suck.” He laughed at the fact. He gave me a hug and then I returned to the camper.
I woke up late the next morning and got myself dressed, before going to see if Tracey, Tom and Jared were awake. When I arrived at their site, Tracey and Tom were nowhere to be found. I peeked in their tent but they weren’t inside, then I noticed that the car was gone. I wanted to know where they went, so I decided to wake Jared and see if he knew. I called him from outside of his tent, but he didn’t answer. Instead of letting him continue and sleep, I snuck inside and woke him. “Up and at’em, mister,” I said, pushing against his side. “Morning,” he said, groggily trying to focus. “Sorry to wake you, do you know where your campmates took off to?” I asked.
“They went to grab food, I think. I was out of it when Tom told me,” he answered.
“Oh, okay, well, I’ll let you sleep more if you want,” I offered.
“No, I’ll get up,” he said.
We both made our way out of the tent, and Jared nearly fell onto me as we climbed out. Just as I was regaining my balance, I noticed Travis and Ashley standing on the path watching us.
“Hey you two!” Ashley teased, waggling her eyebrows. “How’d you all sleep? That is if you slept?” she continued with her insinuation, which I knew was just making this whole situation look worse in Travis’s eyes.
Travis had an angry expression on his face, but I couldn’t exactly defend myself in front of Ashley. He turned toward Ashley and said he needed to get up to the office and then took off. Ashley shrugged off his sudden change in mood and came over to chat with us. Jared and I immediately diffused her speculation and made sure she was aware that nothing had happened. I even added the little bit about him thinking Britney is cute just so she would really believe us.
“Aw, well, I know you caught Britney’s eye too Jared. But that’s all I’m going to say,” she said giving a deliberate wink.
“Nice! Well, I’m going to get cleaned up then I hope the others will be back with some food. I’m starved,” he said, rubbing his eyes with his hands to wipe the sleep away. I left him so that I could go up and smooth things out with Travis.
“Hey!” I said, coming into the office where Travis was restocking some of the shelves with food.
“Hi!” he barely mustered up the greeting.
“It’s not what you think Travis.” I said.
“What? You’re going to deny sleeping with Jared in his tent last night, you two were climbing out of it together,” he stated harshly.
“Yes we were, but that’s because I went in to wake him to find out where Tracey and Tom went. My mom can vouch for the fact that I slept in the RV last night, if you really don’t believe me,” I said, moving to where I was blocking his task.
“It looked bad,” he admitted. “You walked away so mad at me last night, that I immediately thought you might have found comfort in Jared’s arms,” he exclaimed.
“Let me just tell you this again Travis. I have not, nor will I ever, cheat on anyone. I feel strongly about it, so this is one thing that you can remove from your mind. You don’t ever have to worry about that,” I stated adamantly. From the look on Travis’s face I couldn’t tell whether he believed me or not.
“Paige, we need to talk,” he said and his tone sounded somber. A terrible feeling hit the pit of my stomach and I immediately thought that Travis might be leading into a break up conversation. With the way things had gone for us over the last couple of days and then him finding me this morning, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
“Hey Travis!” Barney came in and interrupted our conversation. “Can you get campsite thirty-one cleared of any debris and take down some firewood while you’re at it? The Compsons are pulling in in a couple of minutes,” he stated.
Site thirty-one was the adjoining campsite to ours so I realized we were about to get neighbors.
“Hey Paige! You guys are going to get to meet the Compsons. They’ll be parked next to your site,” he said. “Trav, you’ll have to introduce Paige to Cora. I bet you’re excited to see your girl,” Barney said, making his way over to where we were standing. “He hasn’t seen her since Christmas break, so we may not see this handsome face for a few days while they get reacquainted,” Barney teased, grabbing Travis’s chin and shaking it back and forth with his hand. “In fact, she was in the background on the phone saying ‘tell my lovey I’ll be there soon’,” Barney teased in a high pitched voice and then gave his son a pat on the back.
The words registered in my head as reality unfolded in front of me. Travis… is… still… with… Cora, my thoughts were silently coming out in slow motion and I felt like I was in the twilight zone. Travis… still… has… a… girlfriend… I looked up to see Travis’s face as my mind was stuttering, and his eyes confirmed it. He…lied…to…me.
Tears pooled in my eyes, and I knew I needed to escape before I fainted from the pain that overwhelmed me as my heart crashed into my chest. I knew the tears had already spilled over, but I spoke anyway. “I look forward to meeting her Travis, hope you bring her by before I leave.” On that note, I turned and ran out of the office as fast as I could.
I let the door slam shut behind me and rushed down the stairs of the front porch not looking up until I found myself running smack into someone. “Sorry, I’m sorry” I cried out, barely able to look up.
“Paige, what’s wrong?” Ashley asked with her voice full of concern as she saw the tears streaming down my cheeks. I was startled to see it was her, and didn’t know what to say. After all, Cora was her cousin and my having had an affair with Travis wasn’t going to win me any points. So I avoided the conversation all together.
“Nothing, I have to go,” I mumbled out, before turning to take off down the path to find Tracey. I was thankful in that moment for my running speed, because I couldn’t get there fast enough.