Page 85 of Catch Me
“Is that what happens?”
“I don’t know.”
I watched him until he was out of sight, then returned to my task. Tessa sat beside me, wagging her tail and cocking her head every once in a while when a bird passed by or a fish jumped.
“He’s crazy, huh?”
She nudged my arm with her nose, which I took as agreement. We were often on the same wavelength, although she wouldn’t admit it when her dad was around. He would scoff and look all offended as if he didn’t know he was a basket case sometimes.
I found myself smiling while I cast the line. Balancing the pole between my knees, I grabbed my phone from behind me. There were some texts in the group chat I had with my friends, but I hadn’t sent anything for a while. I hadn’t even read any of it because I knew it’d be the same old bullshit.
Exiting out of the messages, I started taking pictures. Tessa came up and perched her chin on my shoulder.
“Oh, yeah. You like selfies. Ready?”
After taking a few, I laid back and patted my chest. She laid her head on me and nuzzled against my neck. I took a couple more pictures, then uploaded some of them to Instagram with the caption, ‘Am I a thief if she chooses me? If I entice her with tacos, it’s not cheating.’
Irene liked it within seconds and left a comment telling me how sexy I looked. Navigating to her page, I removed her as a follower. She probably wouldn’t notice that I wasn’t coming up on her feed anymore.
Footsteps made me look over my shoulder. Travis was wearing his blue hoodie with a pair of dark jeans. His damp hair was loose underneath a ball cap that seemed like an extension of him at this point.
“Should I be jealous?” Travis asked, nodding toward the phone.
“You’re super funny. Do you know that?”
“That’s why I was voted most likely to find love when I was in high school. Whoever predicted that should be stoned.”
“Allegedly, some things are worth waiting for.”
“We’re still young.”
“To being young,” I said as I took the beer he passed me.
“And to falling in love.”
“Maybe.”
He laughed around the bottle. “Maybe. It can’t be that great, right?”
When I glanced at him, he was already looking at me. He offered me a smile before he grabbed his pole. I convinced myself that he wouldn’t notice that I was still staring at him.
I wanted to see his eyes again. No matter what I did, I couldn’t capture them. Every time I looked at my drawings, they didn’t feel like him, but I couldn’t figure it out.
What the fuck is hiding in your eyes, Travis McKinney?
*****
Travis watched me with a wrinkled nose, and every second that he stared, the harder it was not to laugh. Bringing the skewer to my mouth, I blew out the fire, then carefully pulled the marshmallow off of it.
“That’s burnt,” he said as if I couldn’t see it.
I popped it into my mouth and groaned. “Fucking delicious.”
“Great. I’ve invited a sociopath into my home. Someone could’ve warned me.”
“I’m sure Til said plenty of things about me.”
He chuckled and held his skewer over the fire, keeping it at the perfect height to lightly brown it. Of all people, I thought he’d be unhinged when it came to fire. Or s’mores. Or swimming in December. It seemed like we were opposites in a way that somehow complimented each other. Where I was tame, he was wild, and where he was controlled, I followed my impulses. Sometimes, the roles reversed and I never knew where the chips would fall.
