One Step Forward and Two Steps Back

Lauren’s phone went off for about the hundredth time today. She handled it like she did every other ninety-nine times; she hit the ignore button. Sighing as she put her head in her hands, Travis came into the living room where she was sitting.

“What’s wrong, LP?” he asked as he sat down right next to her and put his arm around her.

Since their conversation a little over two and a half weeks ago, things between them have been pretty normal. Travis hasn’t been as annoyed with Lauren hanging out with Luke, which has, despite her willingness not to, been daily.

“He’s leaving today,” she said avoiding eye contact with him.

“That is the most amazing thing you have told me, like, ever,” he said teasingly.

“I know what he wants and I don’t want to give it to him,” she said playing with the hymn of her shirt.

“Then hang out with us today,” Travis suggested with a small smile.

“Who’s us?” she asked shooting a look at him.

“Just some friends.”

“What friends?” she asked not decreasing her glare one bit.

“You know… just the guys. Jolene’s here. You get along with her right?” he asked with his way too big smile.

“Not the Nitro guys,” Lauren whined.

“Oh yeah… Come on. We have tons to do,” he said excitedly as he pulled her arm for her to stand up.

He ignored all of her excuses not to go see them as he led her outside. Even though she was complaining, she had a smile that matched Travis’s. Before they even step foot out the door, laughter could be heard along with the sound of a dying motor.

“Travis, get out here. You missed it,” Lauren detected the voice of Ronnie saying.

Travis quickened his step while still dragging Lauren behind. She couldn’t keep laughter from escaping her when they were finally out of the house. Tommy was lying on the ground, shirtless, with bright green and orange paint splatters all over.

“Do I even want to know?” Lauren asked as her laughter died down.

“Travis, why didn’t you tell us that Lauren was here?” Jolene asked as she walked over to Lauren with a huge smile to give her a hug. “God, I haven’t seen you in so long. How long have you been here?” she went on as they parted.

“Three weeks. Travis hasn’t told you guys at all?” Lauren asked glancing in Travis’s direction.

“Looks like he just wanted you all to himself,” Greg said as he put his arm around Travis’s shoulder with a smirk.

“No I don’t… It just slipped my mind,” he stated as Lauren noticed his face turning a light shade of red.She thought it was cute.

“Alright boys, I just got an amazing idea,” Jolene started once Tommy was able to peal himself off of the pavement.

“All of your ideas always have something to do with inflicting pain,” Jim piped in.

“Well then you better run,” Jolene said as she pulled a paintball gun on all of the men.

All of them stared back at her, wide-eyed, before taking off running. Jolene smiled at Lauren before tossing her a weapon.

“Let’s have some fun,” she continued smiling.

The two followed the guys’ route into the small woods. Laughter and ‘shushes’ could be heard as the girls walked on. Just for laughs, Lauren shot the gun in the direction of the noises.

“Jesus Christ Lauren. What the hell did I do to you?” Ronnie, she believed, yelled.

Jolene and her laughed.

“That was a lucky shot. She won’t hit anyone else.”

There was no mistaking that voice.

“Pastrana is mine,” Lauren said as she crept towards the snickering boys.

Jolene went in the other direction so that the two could encircle them. Luckily, none of the snickering boys saw either of them. Lauren sat her feet so to make sure she hit her target. Ironically, he was wearing a red and white Thor shirt. The only thing missing was a bull’s eye right on the center of his chest.

“Three… Two… One,” she thought right before she pulled the trigger.

The little ball full of bright green paint had hit its mark, perfectly. Lauren smiled at herself, satisfied as she heard Travis’s reaction.

“What the hell was that? Lauren where the hell are you?” he shouted as he started in the direction she was in.

He couldn’t see her yet, but Lauren wasn’t taking any chances. She started running the opposite way as she heard Jolene fired away. The boys all started yelling and scattering in all directions. Lauren chanced a look over her shoulder.

“You’re so going down, Payton,” Travis said, a few steps behind her.

“You have to catch me first Pastrana,” she shouted back as she shot the gun off a few times.

“Shit,” she heard him say as he stumbled without falling.

She pumped her legs harder, doing everything she could to put as much distance between her and Travis as possible. Once she had thought she had a good amount of distance from him, she chanced another look back. What she saw made her stop.

“Where the hell did you go?” she said out loud to herself.

Travis was nowhere to be seen. She couldn’t even hear footsteps anywhere. The only thing that was audible was the distant cries of Jolene hitting the others. Her mind slowly starting working again and she started walking gradually back towards the house. She didn’t want to be near Travis once he got hit with paintballs.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she heard once her hand rested on the doorknob.

Before looking back, she wanted to bang her head against the door. She had put the paintball gun down. She didn’t even have to turn around to know that Travis now held the weapon. When she did turn around, him holding the gun didn’t surprise her. He did have the firearm in his possession, but he was holding it at his side.

“What are you doing?” she asked staring at him strangely.

“What kind of man would I be to shoot a woman?” he asked genuinely.

“I don’t know. You tell me?”

No matter what he said, she didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. She wanted to keep a little conversation with him as she swiftly made her way towards the foam pit. That was her safety zone.

“I don’t think a very good,” he said with a smirk as he brought the mass of black metal and plastic up to examine.

He wasn’t pointing it at her, but she knew he soon would. She wasn't worried about it yet. She was about three fourths of the way to foam pit.

“Then don’t do it Travis. Just think. The famous Travis Pastrana is going to be known as a woman shooter,” she teased as she started going up the ramp.

“Yeah… but I think they’ll make an exception with this one,” he said bringing the barrel up to aim at her.

“Wait, Travis… remember how long we’ve been friends,” she tried stalling.

She was just about at the top. Just a few more steps and she could jump in.

“Were you thinking about that when you shot me?” he asked as he walked towards her promptly.

“Yes, I was actually. I was thinking that, God please forgive me. I have no idea what came over me. I just shot my friend that I care about oh so very much,” she said as he was almost at the bottom of the ramp.

“But unlike you, I can’t,” he said tossing the gun aside.

The act caused her to stop short… just want Travis wanted. It gave him just enough time to take action. Charging towards her hurriedly, he wrapped his arms around her waist and tackled her into the foam pit.

“Travis,” Lauren yelled once they landed.

He didn’t have a reply. There was only a smile on his face.

“I hate you,” she glared as she tried kicking cubes away from around them.

“No you don’t. Shouldn’t I be hating you? Look at this,” he snickered as he lifted his shirt up.

Lauren tried to hide the fact that her eyes got big. Once she ‘unfocused’ away from his physique, she noticed two round wounds that were faintly scabbed over. Lauren couldn’t hide it. She had to laugh.

“Now that’s just polite,” he said letting his shirt fall back down.

“How many times do you fall off your bike daily? You can’t take a paintball shot?” she laughed harder.

“Shut up,” he said playfully while throwing a blue cube at her lightly.

They continued throwing the objects at each other until Lauren cried out in pain.

“What happened?” Travis asked confused as he leaned down next to her.

She had her face covered so that he couldn’t see her. His hand found the small of her back as he tried to get her hands away from her face.

“Lauren let me see,” he said nicely.

“You hit me in the eyeball you fucker,” she spat as her hands went to her sides.

“I’m sorry,” he smiled as her eye watered uncontrollably.

“No you’re not. I knew I should have went and saw Luke before he left,” she smirked as her glare weaken on him.

“Lauren you know I love you,” he said teasingly as he wrapped his arms around her.

She mumbled something, but he couldn’t make it out. When he looked back down at her, she was staring back up at him. Travis wasn’t completely sure, but Lauren seemed to be inching closer to him. Not caring if she was or not, he started doing the same. A substantial sensation ran all the way from his lips to his toes once there lips met. Just as Lauren’s lips parted a little for him, she pulled away.

“Um… I’m just going to… go… inside,” she stuttered as she stumbled around in the foam trying to get out.

She fell backwards, but Travis was there to catch her. While smiling at him nervously, she got her balance back and lifted her way up out of the pit. He watched as she disappeared behind the backdoor. Once she shut the door, he sank back down into the foam and smiled as a blissful sigh escaped him.

When Lauren was inside the house, she leaned back against the door… and smiled giddily. For the longest time, she’s wanted to know how Travis’s lips would feel against hers. But that smile soon faded as her phone could be heard in the distance. The ringtone kept singing about coming from a land down under.

“Fucking Parslow,” she huffed as she thumped up the stairs, leaving her phone to ring in the living room.