One Step Forward and Two Steps Back

“I want to ride. This is such torture,” Lauren whined as she watched Travis crawl out of the foam pit.

“You can pedal around. Just stay away from jumps,” Travis grinned as he walked over towards her.

“You’re so funny, Travis,” she smirked once his arm went around her.

“I’m not the one that’s prego either,” he smirked back.

“I blame you,” she replied as she crossed her arms.

He took her seriously. A frown came over him before he dropped his gaze from hers. Even though it’s been two weeks since Lauren’s confession to him, the two still consider themselves just friends…that are expecting a baby.

“Aw, Travie, I was just teasing, honey,” she cooed as she hugged him.

“I don’t like it when you do that,” he whined as he hugged her back.

“I’m sorry, Travie. I’ll stop. I promise,” she cooed once again as she pinched his cheeks this time.

“What do you want to do other than mope around because you can’t ride?” he asked, changing his tone as he picked her and started back towards the house.

“I don’t care. As long as I’m with you,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder.

He smiled down at her as he kissed her forehead. As he continued through the house, Lauren seemed to hold on tighter. He came to a stop in front of the couch and gently put her down. She looked up at him with a pout as she crossed her arms.

“What now?” he asked with his grin fighting its way through.

“You’re going to go do something fun and leave me here because of this,” she whined as she pointed to her stomach that was just beginning to form.

“I never said anything about leaving. I am going to hop in the shower real quick, but I’ll be right back,” he said, bending down to kiss her cheek

Her eyes followed him up the stairs until he wasn’t visible anymore. A few sighs escaped her as she relaxed a little more against the couch. Ever since she’s told Travis, her emotions have been everywhere. For the most part, she blamed it on being pregnant. But about 25 percent of it, she thought, was her feelings for him. She’s still doesn’t want to completely accept the idea of them going to the ‘next stage’ in their relationship. She hated that she felt that way.

“LP, check out what I found,” Travis yelled excitedly from up the stairs.

Lauren looked but couldn’t see him.

“What, Trav?” she rolled her eyes.

He didn’t answer, but seconds later he was thudding down the stairs with an arm full of DVDs.

“What are those?” she asked, eyeing the cases, trying to get her answer.

“You’ll see,” he said with a smirk that Lauren knew all too well.

He put a disc into the player and retreated back to the couch. Lauren instantly went up and cuddled into his arms. He smiled down at her as he hit the play button on the remote. It took a second for the video to start, but once it did, Lauren smiled.

“Why do you still have this?” she asked, looking up into his hazel eyes.

“Memories.”

“Oh my gosh, Trav,” she went on, feeling her face get red.

Playing on the screen in front of her was a home movie of her and Travis… when they were 16. At the time, Lauren only rode dirt bikes. BMX wasn’t something that interested her yet. But the video was of them just starting freestyle. They have been only hitting jumps, but it brought back so many good memories...and bad.

“Look how young we were,” she stated, ignoring the bad.

“Why did you give up motocross? It seemed so natural for you.”

She sighed at his question. He’s not the only person that’s asked it. Family, friends, sponsors, interviewers. And she’s never answered ittruthfully.

“BMX just seemed like the better choice for me,” she said with a shrugged, loosing his gaze.

“But you’re not happy. I can tell.”

“Yeah, because I can’t ride.”

“I’m talking about in general. With BMX, you’re only happy when you win. You don’t like to ride just to ride. I can see it. Lauren, please don’t lie to me,” he said, gently placing his hand on the side of her cheek forcing her to look at him.

She looked back away quickly. No matter how hard she tried, she could never lie to Travis to his face. But she didn’t want to tell him. It would make her situation so much harder for her.

“Lauren, just tell me,” he said sweetly, hugging her closer.

“It took my best friend away from me. I didn’t want to be involved in a sport that took you away,” she said, bringing her eyes back up to meet his.

“So you’ve been in a sport that you don’t like for like seven years for that reason?” he questioned.

“It was just my way of dealing with it. I guess it doesn’t make much sense but…” she trailed off.

“You have me now… well, maybe fifty percent,” he grinned.

“Fifty percent?” she asked confused.

“Yeah. Twenty-five of me is your friend. Then twenty-five is me being the father of our child,” he smirked. “So seventy-five would be your boyfriend and then one hundred would be you husband.”

“How the hell do you come up with this stuff with all those head injuries you suffered?” she asked with a smile.

“I think it helped to tell you the truth.” They both let out a small laugh.

“Well, I think we should up it by twenty-five percent huh?” she asked with a raised eyebrow, letting her feelings finally come out.

“I am more than willing to give you that and more,” he said sincerely with a sparkle to his eyes that Lauren loved.

“I love you Travis,” she said with a smile before she pressed her lips tightly against his.

With the passionate kiss that they shared, everything that was negative seemed to leave Lauren. She was finally a hundred percent happy. She didn’t care anymore about her BMX career that Travis now knows she never liked. She didn’t care that she had fallen in love with her best friend. All that mattered to her was that she was happy… with Travis. And she was now ready to be one hundred percent committed to motherhood.