Angels and Kings

(Callie)

"Hey Non, do you have the box for these Parachute t-shirts," I asked turning around and seeing Gabe standing where Nonnie had been just a few seconds ago. I started to laugh and Gabe just smiled.

"Why are you laughing at me," he asked.

"I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing at myself because you appeared out of nowhere. I didn’t even know Non had left, but you know I’m always happy to see you Gabe." I hugged him around the waist.

He wrapped his arms around me, pulling our bodies close. "Your forgiven," he said looking deep into my eyes.

"So where did Nonnie go," I asked untangling myself from his grasp, and picking up the box I’d been looking for.

"I dunno. Somewhere with Bill I think. He said he had a surprise for her."

A surprise? What kind of surprise? We continued packing in silence.

"So, what are you going to do when this tour is all over," he asked.

I shrugged, "Go to college. Is that what you mean?"

"I mean do you think you’ll ever come out on tour again? Will you keep in touch with us?"

"I don’t know about touring again. I mean I’m having a great time it’s just that with school and everything…I might come for a few days I don’t know about an entire summer, though. But I’ll definitely keep in touch, I’ve made some really great friends here."

"Does that include me?"

"Of course it does."

"Well then that means you will have dinner with me on our next off day right," He asked. I didn’t even hear what he said cause, then I saw Travis walk past the table. He didn’t say anything he just gave me a look. I knew he wanted me to meet him in the bus. "So…" Gabe began.

"I’m sorry, I have to go," I interrupted him and started walking towards the bus.

Before I stepped in, I checked to see if anyone was around. I opened the door and walked up the steps. I had barely reached the top step before Travis engulfed me with his arms and began kissing me deeply. I gave in for a second, letting myself drown in his embrace. It felt good. It felt nice. It felt…electric, like a lightening bolt struck my lips each time he kissed me. He started to move us backwards towards the bunks and he began unbuttoning my shirt. I knew what he wanted, a repeat of last night, and as I felt his warm hands touch the skin above my jeans I wanted to oblige. But Victoria’s words from this morning kept repeating in my head and finally I pushed him away. "Travis, stop," I said firmly.

He looked at me questioningly and with a hint of frustration at my stopping him. "What’s wrong?"

"We need to talk." I buttoned my shirt back up as we headed toward the back lounge. We sat down on the couch and Travis looked at me waiting for me to begin. "We need to figure out what the hell we’re doing here. Nonnie’s going to be really pissed and really hurt and if she is, we need to know what we’re doing that to her for. Is all of that worth it for just great sex?" I left out a long breath that I had been holding, waiting to see how Travis would respond.

"Is that all this is to you, just sex," he asked.

Huh? I was startled. I hadn’t expected him to answer that way. He was looking at me with a very serious look on his face waiting for my response. I wanted to tell him no, that I’d had feelings for him for a long time, that I wanted us to be together, that I longed to hear him introduce me to someone as his girlfriend. But I couldn’t do that. "Uh…well, what is it to you?"

He took a deep breath and grabbed my hand. "I like you Callie. I have for a long time, I just couldn’t show it. I have no idea how you went from being my sister to being this beautiful, sexy, amazing girl that I thought about constantly when I was away. This isn’t just sex, believe me, I want to give us a chance. I don’t think we should rush things at all. I mean you have to admit this is still kind of weird. But I think we should give it a shot at least."

I was still in shock that he was saying these things. "Ok so what exactly do you mean by 'giving it a try' do you want to still, like, see other people," I asked gently.
He thought for a moment and then started to laugh, "Sorry I just pictured what would happen if I saw you kissing another guy and I can tell that us seeing other people wouldn’t work out well."

"Ok so what do you mean then?"

"I guess I just mean we should try not to get caught up too soon. You know, get really serious. I think if we rush into this we could ruin our relationship and I guess I hope that if or when this thing ends we can still be close."

I nodded. "That makes since. So what do we do about Nonnie?"

He sighed. "I don’t think we should tell her yet. Who knows what could happen? At the end of the summer you’re going off to college and we may decide to stay together or we may not. I think we should wait until we know how serious this is. What do you think?"

"I hate lying to her. And I hate sneaking around. As long as you know this could blow up in our faces really bad if she finds out."

"Yeah I know," he said. "Now can we please get back to what we were doing before everyone comes back?" He gave me a sad puppy dog look with his lip poked out and I couldn’t resist those big brown eyes.

"Oh absolutely," I growled as he scooped me up and carried me to the bunks.