The Good Ones Go

Travis wakes up a few hours later stretching under the warmth of his black satin sheets. His brown eyes open and dance over to Chelsea who's sitting on the side of the bed whispering into her phone. When he looks at his watch and realizes its already 10 in the morning he groans. She would be leaving soon wouldn’t she? He had hoped to wake up early enough to at least spend the morning with her. Travis turns to wrap an arm around her waist pulling his body as close to her as he can as if he could keep her there with him just by holding on.

"I'm sorry, Rico, I just really need a couple days away," he hears her admit to her co-worker, and he can't help but to feel like he's part to blame in this mess that's become her life. Still, a smile inches its way across his face at the thought that she would, in fact, stay awhile.

"Just tell Goltsiker he owes me for coming back early from my honeymoon," she adds not whispering anymore when she feels Travis roll over in the bed and scoop her up. His hand sits on her bare belly, and she brings her own down to cover his, rubbing it with her thumb absentmindedly.

The words she speak make him groan audibly. He remembers ruining that for her too, and he hates himself for it. When she hears him, he feels her give his hand a squeeze, and he tries to look up at her, but her long brown hair is shielding her face.

"Alright thanks. I'll see you on Monday," she finishes the conversation and throws her phone to the side letting out a deep sigh. They stay like that for a moment before she lets out a groan of her own. "Travis," her voice is warning as she peels his arm away from her.

"What?" he asks getting defensive. It seems as if she doesn't want him to touch her all of a sudden. They're always this close, and she's only now making it a big deal.

"Don't you think we're crossing some sort of line here?" she asks him seriously as she stands up to put her clothes back on. She doesn't remember taking them off in the first place, but maybe at some point in her sleep she mindlessly reached to peel her leggings off her body. Her arms cross over her chest as if she's trying to shield herself from him, but it seems to only make him roll his eyes.

"Really, Chels? How is this any different than what we do everyday?" What's gotten into her? Sure, maybe they're a little too touchy-feely for friends, especially since she's married now, but this is how they always were for as long as he can remember.

"Maybe we need to stop then," she suggests reaching up to tie her hair into a messy bun. The awkwardness settles in the space between them, and she looks everywhere except directly at him in fear that he'll see exactly why she's pushing him away.

"Whatever you say, Chelsea," Travis pushes himself to the edge of the bed reaching for the long sleeved tee shirt laying on his bedroom floor.

Chelsea bites her lip as she takes in the image of him in his grey Calvin Klein boxer briefs. Her eyes trail up following the path of tattoos watching as he pulls the shirt over his head. She purses her lips when their eyes meet because he's caught her staring. She thinks he's going to tease her about it, but the face he gives her instead is clearly annoyed, and it makes her heart skip a beat.

"What?" he asks watching her squirm in front of him. The frown that's settled on his lips bothers her so much. Her and Travis have been through a lot of shit in the last ten years, but they've never fought about their own relationship, and Chelsea doesn't like it one bit.

"Nothing, I just," she pauses and nibbles on her lip again. She doesn't understand what these feeling are. Does she really like Travis?

He can tell that she's nervous, but he doesn't know why. "You just what?" Travis asks her. He wants to wrap this up and move on. He's never felt annoyed by her before, but these half-assed answers, the secrets, they seem to be catching up to him.

He's never used that tone with her. She's used to hearing that sarcastic annoyance oozing from his mouth, but never directed at her. He's mad. "I don't know, Travis. Everything is just complicated, and I would prefer that we weren't," she sighs. If only he hadn't kissed her she'd have one less choice to make.

"We're not complicated, Chels, we're just us. I know I fucked up, and I made shit awkward by, well, you know," he can't bring himself to speak out loud that he kissed her. "But I already told you it won't happen again so I'd appreciate if you weren't so fucking condescending and didn’t treat me like a child," his words are swimming in a pool of remorse as he says them.

Chelsea feels her heart sink when she hears him promise it won't happen again. To tell the truth: she wants it to. She wants to melt into his body like she did so many years ago. They used to be so carefree, so happy. She misses that, and she wants so badly to just spend the rest of her days in his bed. She gasps audibly when she realizes what she's thinking.

Travis raises an eyebrow at the sound, "what's wrong?" He didn’t intend for his words to hurt her, and he's ready to apologize for the 18th time in the last 24 hours if they did.

"Nothing," she shakes her head as the blood flowing to her head tints her cheeks a rouge color.

"Okay," he says not wanting to press the subject when he notices the blush crawl over her face. He stands up and grabs the pair of Nike joggers thrown over the chair in his room.

The sleeve of his shirt brushes against her arm as he walks, and she bites her lip as if anticipating that he'll turn back around and kiss her again. He doesn’t. Instead he pulls his pants on gracefully and walks out of the room without a word. She follows him into the kitchen where he puts some water to boil. She can smell the tea from the bag sitting in the mug, and it makes her sigh in relief.

The house is silent save for the whistling kettle, and Chelsea smiles to herself as she watches him pour the boiling water in her cup. The aroma of the green tea with gogi berry travels through the steam and fills the whole kitchen. Travis scoots the cup across his marble countertop toward where she sits on a bar stool, and he leans back with his arms crossed against the cabinets staring at her.

"What?" she asks him shyly as she pushes her hair back with a slightly shaky hand. She wants to thank him for making her the tea when she didn’t even ask, but even that seems too awkward for her.

Travis shakes his head. He wants to tell her she's cute when she's nervous, but he opts against it because he knows she's right - he would only complicate things further. "Do you wanna get some things off your chest? I'm assuming last night with Adam didn't go how you wanted it to?" he asks her biting his bottom lip.

"I told him I was done last night," she admits wrapping her fingers around the warm mug. She glances down at her shimmering wedding ring as she lets out a long dramatic sigh.

"Are you?" Travis asks her following her gaze down to the ten grand she's wearing on her finger. He still remembers the day Adam bought it.

"I don't know, but I kind of fucked up," she admits taking a sip as her mouth feels suddenly dry. She hopes Travis won't be mad.

"You told him what happened?" Travis asks knowingly looking up at her. When Chelsea nods regretfully, the man before her purses his lips. "It's okay. He really has a right to know, besides," he starts, "you never could live with yourself after telling a lie."

Chelsea laughs at the comment as she plays with the tea bag in her mug. It's true. She hates lying, and she's no good at it.

"So what did he say?" Travis is curious. It must have been bad for her to drive back and sleep in her car.

"He was pretty jealous," Chelsea admits refusing to make eye contact. She told him this is getting complicated.

"Jealous?" Travis lets out a chuckles. Adam's never been insecure, and he doesn't know why he's starting now.

"I can't blame him. I've think we've always been to close for his comfort," Chelsea admits bringing the cup to her lips again.

Travis nods understandingly. "So?" he asks, and she looks at him over the rim of her mug. "What are you gonna do?" He's suddenly nervous. He wants Chelsea to say something that'll make him think he has a shot, but he knows that'll never come - especially after how she reacted to that kiss.

"I really don't know. I asked him for some space, but he was all like 'space so you can fuck Travis?'" she says deepening her voice in imitation of her husband. Travis lets a smile cross his face at her impression, feeling the butterflies in his belly at the statement. "I did tell him I was done, but I don't know if I want to be really. I don't want to make another rash decision. I just wish he would give me some time to work shit out," she picks at her nails as she speaks, looking down trying to hide her traitorous eyes from him.

"I think you should just take the time you need. Give him some time to cool off too. This is all unexpected, you know. It kind of hit him out of no where too, and I'm sure he's not right in the head either right now," Travis reasons as he repositions himself before taking a step forward, leaning down, and placing his elbows on the counter. He's so close he could reach over and kiss her again, but he doesn’t.

Chelsea nods, but before she can say anything she looks over at the phone buzzing on the marble. She bites her lip at the familiar number, and Travis' gentle voice asks, "is it him? Because you don't have to pick it up."

She shakes her head, "it's Cole. I should take it. Maybe something went wrong."

Travis purses his lips, but keeps his opinion to himself. He watches as she brings the phone up to her ear and listens to her greet him with worry in her tone.

"Is something wrong?" her brows are furrowed, and Travis takes the moment to notice how she pulls on a strand of hair when she's nervous.

"Oh, okay. Well, I guess that's fine. I can meet you there in like ten minutes?" she responds, and Travis rolls his eyes trying to fight back the jealousy. He's so pathetic. If she ever leaves Adam it'll be for MGK, not him.

"You're going to see him?" he tries to sound cool about it as he fishes for details.

"Yea he wouldn't say why, just that he really needed to talk to me," Chelsea says taking the last sip of her tea before her eyes lock on to Travis' disapproving face. "Travis, come on," she sighs, "I'm just meeting him at Starbucks. It'll be fine, and if it's not you know I'm coming back here anyway."

Travis rolls his eyes without hiding it this time, and for a minute she remembers Adam telling her that he isn't Travis, and he won't pick up the pieces when Cole breaks her heart again. She feels the guilt crawl up her body and claw at her throat, and she gulps before saying again, "it'll be fine." She collects her things and leaves without another word.

Travis watches her walk away. He doesn't think about the way she struts, how her hair flows, or how her bubble butt jiggles with every step. Watching Chelsea leave has him thinking about how hates to see her go. These feelings have been buried for so long, and maybe now is a bad time for them to surface and resolve themselves into what he feels is love, but it's not like it's happening by choice. He would love for Chelsea to decide on him, but more importantly he just wants to see that beautiful genuine smile settle on her face again and stay for awhile.

When Chelsea gets to Starbucks she spots the Phantom in the parking lot and gets out of her car eagerly. Inside the mellow blues music sets the mood when she sees Cole alone at a table in the far back. She feels her stomach do a flip as her heels click toward him. She's surprised to see that there is a coffee and a muffin already waiting for her, and it brings a smile to her face.

"You didn't have to," Chelsea tells him as she makes herself comfortable. She throws her coat over the back of her chair letting her purse linger atop her lap.

"I know," Colson tells her with a smile on his face, "I wanted to." He seems relatively calm for the urgent meeting he called, but she knows he's at least slightly nervous by the way he fidgets with his cup.

"So what's going on?" she asks curiously. She's nervous about this meeting, and she doesn't want to waste time on small talk.

"Nothing. I just wanted to see you," he admits, and she nods with a chuckle allowing herself to relax a little.

"You had me worried," she sighs out as she looks away from him to unwrap her pastry.

"About?" he asks her raising a brow. He's slightly surprised that she's so invested.

"Casie," she admits before taking a bite of the blueberry muffin.

Colson nods in understanding. "She's starting chemo on Monday," the words slip out of his mouth as if he doesn't even understand them. It's like a programed robotic response, and he wishes he didn't have to keep repeating it to everyone that asked.

"She'll be okay, Cole," she tells him. Her words are meant to reassure him, but they don't. He's already heard the statistics. Chelsea reaches over to brush her hand against his own, and he lets his thumb rub over her fingers before pulling back.

He nods again. "Look, I'm really sorry that I got in the way of you and Adam. I'm sorry for flipping out on you too. I was just scared. I was being stupid. I didn't mean to cause any problems. Obviously I love you, but I didn't call you to ask you to have an affair. Truthfully, I called you for Casie. It's probably the only selfless thing I've ever asked you for, to be honest," he admits, and Chelsea is surprised by the maturity he's exuding.

"It's okay, Cole. Things happen for a reason, right?" she tries to offer him a smile, but it's weak, and he sees through it. She was always a shitty liar. He's just sorry he's hurt her so much that he can tell which smile is fake without a second glance.

"I'm surprised you even took the call, you know," he gives her a weak smile of his own. He didn't expect her to pick up, and he doesn't know what he would’ve done if she didn't.

"I know we went through a lot of shit, but I don't think I could ever ignore you," she tells him taking a sip of the black dark roast in her cup and smiling in her mind at the thought that he still remembers everything she likes.

"Really?" he asks furrowing his brows. He's surprised by her statement, but he doesn't know if it's honest. "Because I've called you before, and you definitely ignored that," he says. He's still a little hurt, but he tries to smother it as he avoids eye contact.

"What do you mean?" it's her turn to be surprised. She doesn't remember him calling, and she's sure she wouldn't forget it.

"Graduation day. I mean I showed up, how could I not? I've been there every other time, and just because we weren't together didn't mean I didn't love you anymore," he starts, and her lips part in a small inaudible gasp at his words. "Anyway, I called you that night. Left you a voicemail. Said congrats, and that I love you. I wanted to call so many more times, but I figured since you never responded to that, that I shouldn't bother," he admits. He's not lying. She can tells when he's lying, and those words are the truest he's spoken.

Chelsea is trying to stay afloat in all of the thoughts that seem to be drowning her. It's come as a shock that she had not been hallucinating when she said she saw him at her graduation. Still she doesn't remember him calling her, and she's positive that after how hung up she was on him that she would never forget a missed call from his number. Shit, she probably would've never let it go to voicemail in the first place.

A loud gasp suddenly leaves her mouth as she mubbles, "Travis." The air around her seems to be suffocating. She wants to be wrong, but she knows she's not, and it makes her want to break down into tears.

"What?" Colson is confused. That's really not the direction he wants to take this conversation.

"Nothing, I have to go," she mumbles again getting up and grabbing her bag frantically.

"Wait, I don't understand. Don’t go," he pleads with her as his hand reaches for hers but is just shy of grabbing it.

"Colson," she sighs. "I've gotta take care of something, okay?" She's super flustered. She can feel her blood boiling under her skin, and she wants to get away from Richard before she does or says anything stupid.

"Will I see you again?" he asks so desperately. He wishes he could hide it, but he knows when it comes to Chelsea that he's an open book.

She nods and only offers him a simple, "sure," before turning around and running out of the coffee shop faster than she came in. She doesn't know how she's going to handle this new problem, but Travis is gonna hear it from her. A wave of nausea passes over her as she pulls her car out of the lot and speeds down the street. The thought of Travis ever being underhanded makes her sick. He was the only man in her life that’s been there through thick and thin, the only man that's always been honest. The fact that this was premeditated makes her stomach queasy and her blood boil, and she doesn’t know how she'll forgive him for it.