The Good Ones Go

"Are you ready?" Travis calls into her room through the doorway. His eyes roam up and down Chelsea's back before watching her stare at herself in the mirror. He sees her smile into it and waits while she fixes her hair.

When she finally turns around she says, "yea, I'm ready. You can go start the car, I'll be down in a second."

"I'll see you downstairs then," Travis tells her before walking away.

She doesn’t move until she hears her front door open and shut. She lets out a deep sighs and walks over to her dresser. Opening the bottom drawer, she pulls the top off a shoebox and digs around before pulling out a picture. She stares at herself and the young boy next to her. In the photo, Chelsea has a wide smile on her face, and Colson has an even bigger grin. Behind the two is the entrance to Shaker Heights High and her friend, Jessica, making a heart over their heads.

She had graduated with Colson in elementary school, she'd graduated with him in high school, and he had been there in the crowd clapping the loudest for her when she had crossed that stage in college. She can’t believe that this time when she walks the stage his proud eyes won't be anywhere in the audience. She lets a few tears drop on the photo before putting it back where she found it.

She stands up and wipes her eyes knowing it's time to go. Colson is her past, and her future is waiting for her.



Within a half hour they're on campus in the parking structure, and Chelsea looks down at her lap as Travis turns the engine off. He glances over at her, she's playing with her thumbs, and he can immediately tell that something is bothering her. He decides against asking and instead gently places his hand on her leg. He hopes he's not crossing boundaries now that she's with Adam, but he can't help himself around her.

She looks up at him with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Ready to go?" Travis asks, "I'm sure Adam is looking for you."

Chelsea nods and grabs her gown. She links her arm with Travis', and the pair walk toward the auditorium. When they walk in through the oak doors Chelsea sighs because she knows Travis can't come with her any farther.

"Hey," he says raising her chin up and looking into her eyes. "This is your day Chels; you're starting a whole new chapter of your life. I'm gonna be sitting in that crowd watching you, and your boyfriend is going to be walking across the stage with you. Don't let anything bring you down, Chelsea. I'll see you in a bit," he hugs her and walks through a white doorway on his left to go find himself a seat as Chelsea gathers herself in time for the ceremony.

She turns to make her way backstage and is surprised when she looks up to see the man walking toward her, his open gown blowing all around him with each step he takes. He's looking for her just like Travis said.

Adam smiles at her as he comes near and leans down to give her a kiss before asking, "is everything okay, baby?"

Chelsea forces a smile and nods, "yea, I guess I'm just nervous."

He laughs, "come on, this is like the fifth time we're doing this; plus I'll be there with you every step of the way," he reassures her by squeezing her hand a little.

She nods and pulls him backstage where the other 50 peers wait. She puts on her black gown and cap and glances at her wristwatch: 5 minutes 'til show time. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She knows walking across that stage means letting go of Richard Baker, and she has 5 minutes to get ready for it.

"Alright, take your positions everybody! We start when you hear the music!" the dean's command breaks her out of her thoughts.

Adam plants one last kiss on her cheek before walking up and taking his spot in line. The mustard curtains began to open, and the sound of the trumpet resonates through the auditorium. Chelsea sighs and begins to move forward with the rest of her class not even thinking anymore just acting. Once they are all lined up Chelsea stares into the crowd with her eyes focusing on Travis's smiling face. As the dean begins his short speech Chelsea's eyes remain on Travis'; he's the only man that had known her long enough to let her down but didn't.

As the ceremony progresses, Chelsea zones in and out every now and then feeling as if she's going to pass out. Suddenly she realizes that the line is moving again and that the diplomas are being handed out.

D. He's on D. Descarte. That's Adam. Clap, Chelsea, clap. She's forgetting how to function. Time is going so fast. E and F come next, and in the blink of an eye he's calling Lisle. He's calling Chelsea Lisle. That's her!

Chelsea walka up to the dean with a brilliant smile on her face. She shakes his hand and looks out into the crowd as the photographer takes a picture of the two. She looks to see Travis standing on his seat and clapping, and from the corner of her eye next to an exit sign she spots Colson grinning.

Wait! Colson? By the time her head snaps back to the door he's gone, and for a minute she thinks her eyes are playing tricks on her. She looks back at the dean who yells a, "congratulations," her way. She thanks him and walks off the stage confused.

Was that her imagination? No, no it wasn’t; it couldn't be. She's not herself right now, but she wasn't hallucinating. He was there, and she saw him. Chelsea looks at the seat that she's supposed to take and hesitates. She looks up at Travis who's politely clapping for the rest of the graduates. No one will notice if she walks out - the ceremony is pretty much over anyway.

She pulls her cap off and walks to her left pushing the doors open quietly and rushing outside. She runs around the structure whispering his name - wanting to find him and hoping she wouldn’t all at the same time.

She stops in her tracks as she saw the black Rolls-Royce pull out of the garage. Her eyes follow the car as it turns on the next street. Chelsea can't bring herself to move. That's his car. He was here. He came to see her. He came to see her graduate for the last time in her life.

She isn't sure how long she stands there, but soon enough everyone begins piling out of the auditorium doors. She spots Travis and runs over to him. He looks confused and may have asked her what the heck she's doing out here, but she never gives him the chance.

"Trav, he was here. I saw him," she says frantically.

"What are you talking about?" Travis aska her placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Colson! He was here. I saw him, and I ran after him, and he drove off. It was his car. He came, Travis, he came!" she yells unsure whether to be happy, angry, or sad.

"You're seeing things, Chels; he wasn't here," Travis tries to tell her, but she won’t hear any of it.

"I know it was him, Mills," she says sternly crossing her arms. "How many people do you know that drive Phantoms?" She's angry that he won't believe her.

"Chelsea stop! It's over. He wasn't here. Who ever you thought you saw was not him. You have to let go because you're letting this consume you. He's gone, Chels, and he's not coming back. You left him, remember?" Travis tells her. He's worried about where she is emotionally. He knows his words are harsh, but she needs to come back to reality.

"Travis -"she starts.

"Chelsea, no. Listen to me. You miss him so much that you're seeing him where he just couldn’t possibly be! Don't lie to yourself, Chelsea. It's time to move on. You have someone that loves you - don't fuck that up," he warns her as he sees Adam approaching from the corner of his eye.

"Hey," Adam says furrowing his brows, "where'd you disappear to? I was worried when you didn’t come back."

She looks over at Travis and clutches Adam's arm as if he'd disappear. "I just had to go to the bathroom really badly. I didn't want to come back in and interrupt the ceremony so I just waited out here," she says smiling. She doesn't want to lie to Adam, but she knows Travis is right: how could she tell him she's seeing her ex-boyfriend because she's still in love with him?

Chelsea gasps.

"What? Are you okay?" Adam asks looking down at his girlfriend with a look of worry on his handsome face.

"Yea, I just - I saw one of my friends, and I, I really wanna congratulate her! I'll be right back," she lies again before walking away from the pair and getting lost in the crowd. Chelsea swallows hard and rewinds her thoughts. She had just admitted she's still in love with Colson. Was she really seeing things?

She looks around and watches her peers share hugs and laughs. Out of all the bodies, there's not one platinum blonde head. Jessica never passed her last semester classes, and she couldn’t graduate. Chelsea isn't happy that she didn't succeed, but she was just happy that she didn't have to watch her strut around and make out with Colson every chance she got.

Her eyes flutter to Adam and Travis laughing about whatever it is that guys laugh at. She watches Adam's eyes shut as his torso vibrates up and down. He's laughing so hard that his muscular arms clutch his stomach, and his face rouges up ever so slightly. He's so handsome, and he's such a good man...

Chelsea sighs. This is it. She's leaving this campus today for good, and with it she'd leave Colson behind. She walks over to her two favorite men and smiles.

"You two ready to go?" she asks them, and they nod in return.

"You wanna ride with me?" Adam asks, and Chelsea looks over at Travis as if awaiting his permission.

"Yea, go ahead. You guys can come pick me up later tonight," Travis says. He knows it'll be good for Chelsea to spend some time with Adam right now.

The couple nods and says goodbye before walking off to Adam's car.

"You feel good?" Adam asks her as he starts the ignition.

"Yea, I'm still mad at you though," she teases as she unzips the gown and throws it in the back. She realizes her purse is still in Travis' car, but she'll get it later.

"Why?" he asks as he turns left at the light and gets on the highway.

"Because we were the ones that were supposed to throw the rager tonight," she says crossing her arms and pouting.

"Aww, Chels, come on. There'll be other parties to throw," he tells her and places his right hand underneath her dress dangerously close to the area between her legs.

Chelsea holds her breath and bites her lip. Adam knows just the way to touch her to get her all riled up. Yea it had been only two weeks and she'd given it up, but she's the one begging for it not Adam. Adam's the sweetest, gentlest man she had ever met, and she likes him a lot.

She places her hand on top of his before asking, "oh yea, like what?"

"I don’t know, but I'll think of something just for you," he tells her, and she smirks as she guides his hand up even farther.

He glances over at her with a huge grin on his face and asked, "can you wait 'til we get home, baby?"

"Nuh uh," Chelsea whispers licking her lips seductively.

He laughs at her a little and teases her through her underwear, careful to keep his eyes on the road. He listens to her gentle moans and can't help but get hard. Pulling into his parking spot, he turns the car off and walks around to open the door for Chelsea.

He picks her up and carries her upstairs as she giggles at him. Riding the elevator up to the 20th floor, Adam takes the time to tease Chelsea by licking up and down her neck. When they finally get to the apartment, their clothes come off faster they could ever imagine. Adam picks her up and holds her against the front door. She throws her head to the side and moans as her fucks her knowing this is a night she would never forget.

When she wakes up on the bed 5 hours later, she stretches out her aching body. Her mind flashes back to the events that took place earlier, and she smiles pleased with the man lying next to her. She stands up and places the covers on him; she wants to let him sleep while she takes a shower. When she walks out partially dressed, she goes to his kitchen to get started on dinner after grabbing her house phone and calling her parents.

Adam wakes up an hour later to the smell of parmesan chicken coming from outside his bedroom. He slid his boxers on, and walks out of the bedroom to see Chelsea cooking. He smiles at the sight of her in his button down and walks over to hug her from behind.

"Hey, baby," he says burying his nose in the crook of her neck.

"Hey, sexy, how are you feeling?" she asks him turning her head to place a kiss on his cheek.

"Sore," he laughes.

"Yea," she agrees laughing along with him.

"You making dinner?" he asks. He assumed she'd want to go to the party tonight so he isn't sure why she's cooking.

Chelsea nods, "thought we could have a nice meal tonight," she tells him. She really wants to do something nice for him to thank him for begin so wonderful.

"When are we gonna leave to pick up Travis?" Adam asks before sticking a homemade fry in his mouth.

Chelsea shrugs, "I'm not even really feeling the party anymore," she admits.

"You don't wanna go?" Adam asks. He's surprised.

"I know I made a big deal about throwing a party and stuff, but I guess I'm just ready to move on from that. If you want to go I don't mind," she tells him. She doesn't want him to feel like she had the last say in anything.

He smiles before leaning in to kiss her. "We don't have to go, baby, we can just have a romantic night by ourselves," he tells her. He hugs her from behind again, and this time his boner is poking her in the back.

She smiles and wriggles out of his grasp to check on the chicken and turn off the stove. "I don't know why I showered," she tells him with a grin on her face as she reaches out to rub him through his boxers.

"Me neither," he tells her before picking her up and setting her on the island.

"Babe, dinner's ready," she tells him giggling at his horniness.

"Oh, I know it is," he agrees biting his lip and pulling her underwear off.

Chelsea closes her eyes and lies back letting out a little moan. She's ready for round two. With Adam.



"You ready to eat now?" Chelsea asks him lying on the ground trying to catch her breath.

Adam laughs at her and nods before leaning over to give her a long kiss. He gets up to set the table as Chelsea buttons up the shirt she's wearing. She watches him for a minute, and when he's done she sits down across from him and digs in.

"You should call Trav," she tells him, "I left my phone and bag in his car."

Adam nods pulling out his cell and dialing the number. He swallows the fry in his mouth and waits 'til Travis picks up.

"Hey, man! Sorry, but we're not really up to going to the party tonight. Will you be alright on your own?" Adam asks glancing over at his girlfriend.

"Yea, no problem, dude. What happened?" Travis asks worried that Chelsea may have mentioned something about Colson.

"Nothing," Adam smiles, "we just wanted to have a romantic night in."

Chelsea stops eating for a moment to admire him and smiles back. She loves that Adam doesn't mind doing this with her. He really is the perfect man.

"Oh, for sure. Alright then, I'll drop Chelsea's shit off tomorrow; you two love birds have a good night," Travis says before hanging up.

As soon as he does he hears Chelsea's phone beeping from her purse and goes to check it. She has a voicemail, and it's from Colson. He knows it's a bad idea to stick his nose into her business, but he decides to check it anyway.

"Hey, Chels," he listens to the familiar voice on the other end, "I know you're probably not takin' my calls, but I wanted to call and congratulate you. You were beautiful today."

Travis' eyes widen as he realizes that Chelsea was right when she thought she saw him at the ceremony.

"I love you, Chels. Good luck," the message ends and the start menu plays.

Travis stops to think for a moment. Chelsea is finally letting Adam in by staying home tonight and he couldn't let Colson ruin it with this stupid voicemail. Sure he'd be happier if she was with him, but that ship has sailed, and at least she's on the right path. How many chances had she given Colson? He'd fucked up every single one.

"To delete press -" Travis presses the number without further hesitation. When the machine confirms that he had the deleted the message, he presses the end button and deletes the last two calls from her log. He's just being a good friend, isn’t he?

Travis shoves the phone back in her purse and closes it. He convinces himself that he's protecting her from getting hurt again. He shakes off the guilt and gets dressed. It's time for him to leave and forget about all his problems for the night; if Chelsea could manage it, so can he.