Promise the Stars

All I saw was a flash of his red hair, but it was enough.
Although it was his ‘thing’, his fiery mane was to be his downfall today, because it gave away his location.
I crept quietly around the trees, barrels and the fort, gun at the ready. I could see him now, crouched down behind a barrel with his own gun poised; but the only problem was that he was looking the wrong way.
“GOTCHA!” I cried, as I let loose with my gun, hitting him over and over again.
“Dude, how the hell did you get behind me?! You are one sneaky paintball ninja.” Travis called over to me, wiping paint off his overalls and mask.
“Cause I’m awesome. And you are the most unobservant person in the entire world.” I replied as we walked back to base camp.
“I am too! I just couldn’t hear you sneak up on me because I’m practically deaf from all the shows.”
“Excuses, excuses.” I laughed.
We were now stripping off the overalls to reveal our clothes underneath and making our way to the car to go home. That had been our last game for the day, and I had completely owned Travis...again.
Oh yeah, I’m Meg by the way, Meg Boardman. And the fact that my name is Meg gives an endless amount of amusement to Travis and the guys, oh hooray for Family Guy.
In the car driving home I thought back to the first time I had seen that mop of crazy red hair. Back in 5th grade; I had just moved to Florida from Manchester, England. My parents had very sadly passed away in a car crash so I was sent to live with my godparents, the Thomsen’s. Yes, Hunter and Drew were my god brothers. I still had most of my English accent, though I did say some things in an American accent.
That amazing red hair fascinated me, and at the end of class I had gone up to him and said:
“You’re ginger.”
Of course he had no idea what I meant, I don’t think they really know the word ginger here except for the root vegetable.
But since that moment we had been close friends. Travis, Drew, Hunter and I liked to think of ourselves as a little gang. And when we met Danny a few years later, it just became even better.
I think my crush on Travis started with those first words I spoke to him. Leading to proper feelings when we started high school. All through high school the five of us stuck together, and we came out at the end closer than ever.
None of us were planning on going to university, the boys were going to continue with their band We The Kings in hopes of getting big and I was their merch girl/ photographer/ videographer/ anything and everything else. There was no question that I would be with them for the whole thing, supporting and encouraging them all to reach for their dreams.
And boy did they, they reached for the stars and managed to net Jupiter. They got their dreams and then some. It blew us all away. But the boys loved every second of it and never wanted it to change.
And so nothing changed, we all went along with this amazing life. The only thing that did change was my feelings for Travis. Yes I had carried these feelings for him since we were kids, but now it was turning into something else again. Morphing into something warmer, more lasting. I felt like I could talk to him forever and never get bored, just lie watching films with him all night long and never feel tired, watch him play shows and always sing along to every word.
I think I loved Travis Clark.
“Hellooooo, Meg? We’re here.”
I snapped out of my reverie and came back into the present. We were back home, the place the boys and I bought together when we had enough money.
Walking into the house I was so conscious of the fact that Travis was holding my hand, we always held hands, but for me it was always something more.
When we opened the door the sound of excited barking greeted us. It was Elvis and Annie. Travis scooped up his beloved Chihuahua into his arms and started fussing over him. I bent down to my gorgeous whippet, hugging her and giving her all the attention and belly rubs she wanted.
*Travis’s P.O.V.*
As I watched her playing with Annie, her gorgeous dark red hair fell into her face. And I wanted nothing more to be able to push it away so that I could look into her sea green eyes. But that would raise questions that I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t tell her all the things I felt about her and how I felt when I was around her. I didn’t want to ruin our amazing friendship. Damn, I always get caught in the friend zone.
We were going on tour again in a few weeks, I will definitely tell her before then. I can’t tell her on tour, cause if it didn’t go the way I wished a thousand times that it would, then that would make things awkward for everyone.
Ever since she called me a ginger when we first met, I knew she was the girl for me. It didn’t matter how many girlfriends I had or boyfriends she had, I knew in the back of my mind that she is the one that I truly wanted to be with no matter what.
*Regular P.O.V.*
After showering, getting changed and showing each other the welts we got from paintballing, Travis and I settled down in the living room; snacks, drinks and movies at the ready. The rest of the boys had gone out to some bar.
After watching Ice Age 1 and 2, and halfway through 3 Travis and I were no longer paying attention to the screen, we were playing ‘catch the marshmallow with your mouth’. So far we were neck and neck.
“OK, this is the deciding throw.” Travis said, aiming the marshmallow at my face. I caught it easily.
“Ha, you need to catch this one or I win!” I smiled, grabbing a marshmallow out of the bag.
“Yessss! 13-12! I win!!” I yelled, running around the living room, picking up the marshmallow Travis missed.
“Nuh-uh, you threw it in completely the wrong direction! I demand a re-match!” Travis started chasing after me.
My victory lap became run away from Travis before he tackles you. However, my little legs were no match for his very long ones, he caught up with me in a matter of seconds.
Our momentum took us to the floor. We rolled a few times and when we finally came to a stop, Travis was on top of me.
All I could think of was the feel of his body against mine, our warm breath mixing. We’d play-fought before and ended up in similar positions, but this felt different.
He was looking at me differently. As if he were looking right into my soul.
Before I knew what was happening, his soft lips were caressing my own. When I finally grasped what was going on, his lips were gone, as was his warmth on top of me.
He was rapidly walking away, up the stairs.
“Travis wait!”
“I’m sorry Meg, I didn’t mean to do that, I don’t know what came over me.”
“It doesn’t matter. Stop running away!”
“I’m sorry.”
“Travis Randall Clark, you stop your arse right now!”
And with that, he skidded to a stop, still facing away from me. I walked around until I was stood in front of him. From my height of 5ft4in, I had to look way up to see his face.
“Trav, look at me. It’s OK. Honestly.” I smiled, trying my hardest not to let my eyes well up. The only thing I wanted in the world was for his lips to be on mine again, but it obviously wasn’t what he wanted from the way he was acting.
“No it’s not Meggie. It really isn’t.”
“Was I that bad?” I tried to joke.
“No no, its not that, its just not fair.”
“OK, now you’ve lost me.”
“Crap, well I did tell myself I’d do it before tour.”
“Tour? Yay another tour! And do what?”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me back downstairs to the living room, sitting me down on the sofa and joining me. He took my hands into his, I could feel them shaking, though from what I had no idea.
“OK, um, this is the thing.....the thing is....fuck...”
I’d never seen Travis have trouble saying something. He seemed so nervous, it was starting to make me nervous, what the hell was going on?
“I’minlovewithyou.” He said it so quickly and quietly that I almost completely missed it, the only bits I heard were I’m and you.
“Sorry Trav, you may need to speak up, I cant understand you.” I said quietly.
Taking a deep breath, Travis steadied his hands and looks straight into my eyes.
“I’m in love with you.”
I sat there shocked, was my dream actually coming true? Or was I still just dreaming again? Why wasn’t I saying anything back?
“Fuck, I knew I shouldn’t have said anything. Now I’ve screwed everything up. Crap!”
He started to walk away from me, running his hands through his messy red hair.
It took me a few seconds to regain myself and fully understand what just happened. Travis was still pacing through the room beating himself up for what he had just confessed to me.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to get him to listen to anything I had to say at the moment, but it didn’t matter, because no words could express what I felt for him, so I decided to show him instead. Getting up off the sofa I walked over to him and stood in front of him, causing him to stop.
“I’m so sor-“ He began, before I grabbed his tie and pulled his face down to my level.
And without letting him get another word in, I pressed my lips to his, showing him how much I loved him with as much passion as I could in that one kiss.
When our lips finally separated, we were both breathless.
“If you had let me say anything before you freaked out...” I began, resting our foreheads together.
“Sorr-“
“Shush! I would have told you that I was completely in love with you too.” I smiled, I had finally admitted my love to the most amazing man, and he loved me as well, nothing could get better than this day.
His responding smile was so big I thought his face would split in half.
“Really?”
“Really really you mad ginger.” I laughed.
And with that Travis scooped me up into his arms and proceeded to kiss me all the way up the stairs.
Tour was going to be very interesting, and the most amazing one ever.