Angels and Kings

(Callie’s POV)

I woke up early the next morning not from the bright sun or the sounds of the road but from Travis kissing me all over. I giggled. "What are you doing so early in the morning Mr. McCoy?"

"Mmm…" he groaned, "Making up for all that sleeping we did last night."

I grabbed at his shoulders as he peppered my chest with kisses and began to remove my pajamas. My shirt was halfway off when I distinctly heard Nonnie’s voice ask Disashi, "Have you seen Callie?"

"I think she’s still in bed", was the response.

Oh crap. Travis scrambled to put him pants back on and I had just buttoned the last button of my shirt when Nonnie threw open the curtain.

"Callie we need to…what the hell are you two doing?" Surprisingly her voice was very even-toned.

I had to think fast. "Well, good morning to you too sunshine. And we were sleeping ‘til you came and woke up the entire state."

"Together? You were sleeping together?"

"Yeah you know the same way you’ve been 'sleeping' with William for practically the entire tour," I said snidely raising an eyebrow. She looked skeptical but just asked to talk to me privately. I climbed out of my bunk, after Travis squeezed my hand comfortingly and followed her to the back lounge and pulled the curtain closed. "What’s up?"

"I was just talking to Victoria and something she said made me realized that the only time we’ve really spent together has been at the merch table. I’ve been…preoccupied and I just felt like we needed to talk. Is there something going on?"

I was extremely nervous. She’d been talking to Vicky-T?! I had to stay calm.
"What did she say to make you feel that way," I asked diplomatically.

"I don’t know, she just kept saying that you and I need to talk. I figured maybe she knows something that I don’t."

I breathed an inward sigh of relief and made a mental note to kill Victoria later. "No. I mean… I guess. Only just that you and I haven’t been spending a lot of time together," I lied. "This is our last ta-da before college. I know that NYU and Columbia aren’t that far from one another. But it’s far compared to living across the street for our entire lives and having almost all the same classes from kindergarten on up. I just don’t see why you’ve been ditching me so much? What’s so special about Bill anyway, you don’t even have feelings for him?"

"I…uh…he’s just a really nice guy. It’s nice to be around a genuinely good guy especially after Taylor."

I nodded. "I understand. It’s kind of like that with Travis. What you just saw…well, he’s kind of been a substitute best friend if you know what I mean," I said quietly. This was terrible, I’m lying to her and trying to make her feel bad.

She looked sad. Then she hugged me and said, "I’m sorry, we still have half the tour left and from now on I’m going to be there every time you turn around."

"Greeeaaat," I thought to myself. She gave me one last squeeze and a kiss on the cheek before getting up to leave. "Where are you going already?"

"I just have to talk to Bill really quickly and when I come back we’ll go for a walk."

As soon as she left Travis came to the back. "What happened," he asked nervously.

"It’s fine, don’t worry, she believed me that it wasn’t anything. Travie I feel terrible. I can’t keep doing this." I tried to fight it but I shed a few tears.

Travis pulled me close to him and wiped my eyes with his thumbs. "Ok, we’ll tell her. Tonight."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

(Nonnie’s POV)

I hope this doesn’t blow up in my face. I thought as I boarded the TAI bus. Everyone was in the common area. "Bill, can we go for a walk," I said.

"Sure," he said getting up and following me outside. "You didn’t come to bed last night," he said with a smirk.

"And I won’t be coming anymore," I said with more confidence than I actually felt. "I’m going to tell Travis. So no more blackmailing me."

"Not if I tell him first."

"Look Bill I’m tired of you doing this to me. It ends now," I said grabbing hold of his arm. "I’m going to tell him, and if you interfere I will never talk to you again."

"Are you sure you want to do that," he said turning and looking me in the eye. "That’s going to cause a boat load of trouble."

"Yes, I should have told him a long time ago."

"Good. That’s why I’ve been blackmailing you."

"What," I said confused.

"If I wasn’t getting on your last nerve these past few days would you have agreed to tell your brother," he said, "Secrets don’t make friends. Besides I never would have told on you. You’re my friend." He took a step closer.

"And so is Pete but, if you ever get tired of that leprechaun I’ll be here." Before I could respond his lips brushed against mine in a short kiss. Then he retreated back onto the bus.

(Callie’s POV)

When Nonnie came back we did go for a walk. The promise of finally being able to tell her the truth did scare me a bit; but mostly I felt really relieved. So much so, that I was finally able to enjoy myself around Nonnie without being nervous and guilt-ridden for the first time in a long time. On our walk we came across the boys sliding down a hill on wet plastic; like a make shift slip 'n' slide. Dirty, Pete, Charlie, Gabe, Bill, and Travis were all there. As soon as they saw us they waved us over. We watched Dirty go and watched Pete and Charlie let go of the plastic as Dirty tumbled down the hill. Then Gabe went then Pete; followed closely by Charlie who ended up in a heap.
"Crazy white folk," commented Travis shaking his head as Nonnie, I, and even Gabe laughed.

When Pete came back up he pointed at Nonnie. "Your turn." Before she could protest he had pulled her down with him onto the "slide". They both laughed and screamed as they went down the hill.
Nonnie ran back up the hill and grabbed Bill’s arm. "Come on your turn."
We laughed hysterically as Nonnie got tangled in Bill’s long limbs at the bottom of the slide. When she came back up she looked at me, "Come on Callie you have to go. It’s so much fun!"

"Um…you must have bumped your head on a rock on the way down," I
responded.

"Come on Callie do it," chimed in Gabe.

"Ok fine, but only if Travie comes with me," I said smiling mischievously at him.

"What! Now you know that is not going to happen," he said

"Come on Travis, 'you jump, I jump remember'," I said quoting Titanic.
He laughed and grabbed my hand. "Fine." We slid down on our stomachs. We were holding hands at first put they got pulled apart mid-hill. Near the bottom I hit a small rock causing me to turn over and land on top of him.

"Are you ok," he asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I’m fine," I said still laughing into his chest. I jumped up and grabbed his hand to help him up. "Come on let’s go again," I yelled already on my way back up the hill.

(Nonnie’s POV)

I pulled Pete into the empty dressing room; everyone was waiting for the show to start. "Hey," I said, "I need to talk to you." We walked in and sat on the couch.

"What’s wrong," he asked concern on his face. "What did Bill do?"

"Nothing, I took care of that, and honestly he meant no harm," I said with a smile. "He just wanted me to do the right thing."

"Meaning," he said bewildered.

"Meaning, telling Travis about you and I," I said. His face fell. "I know you aren’t really ready for this, but its time I mean I’ve been so preoccupied with Bill and you that I let my best friend feel like she didn’t matter." Tears were starting to come to my eyes.

"I’m sorry and please don’t cry," he said, "I don’t do well with crying." He put his arm around me. "If you are ready to tell him then we will." He took a deep breath. "Do I have to be there," he asked. I looked up at him like he was crazy only to be met by his goofy smile which let me know he was just joking.

"Very funny," I said.

"God, you're beautiful," he said before leaning in and kissing me. I kissed him back his hand went to the back of my neck pulling me closer for a deeper kiss. I leaned over him never breaking the kiss till he was laying down with me on top of him. His hand started up my shirt. I broke the kiss to take off my shirt and he started kissing down my neck hitting that spot, causing me to moan loudly. The warnings weren’t going off in my head. So I pulled off his shirt looking at all his tattoos. I bit my bottom lip. "I love it when you do that," he said.

Then we heard the door open. We both turned and there stood Travis. My shirt was off I was straddling Pete and his shirt was off. This can’t look good.

"What the hell..." He rushed over and pulled me off of Pete, basically throwing me on the floor, and started at Pete, who had no chance because he was laying on the couch.

"Travis calm down." I said getting back to my feet. He started punching Pete in the face. Pete finally got himself together enough to start fighting back.

"Stop, Travis." I said this was basically my worst nightmare. I tried to pull them apart but the fists were flying and my efforts were rewarded with a blow to my left cheek from Travis. Pete saw and got distracted giving Travis an opening to hit him square in the jaw. "Stop it." realizing that I wasn’t helping I finally I ran to the door and called for help.