Five in the Morning

It's amazing how things can change in a blink of an eye. One day you are living your life normally, and the next your entire world is turned upside down. I think that's what makes life interesting, you never know when something brilliant is about to happen.

I stared up at my off-white colored ceiling and brought the covers up to my chin. It had only been a few days since I had seen Travis with Lindsey, but it felt like I was still in that moment every time I closed my eyes. I glanced at the clock and sighed when I realized I had slept through half the day.

“You finally awake?” Michaela muttered from her side of the room.

I sat up in my bed and rubbed my eyes with the back of my hands. “If I say no does that mean I can just stay in bed all day?”

She chuckled and closed her laptop. “No, because I have been waiting for you to wake up so we could go get lunch.”

“Lunch? What...why didn't you just go without me?”

She hopped off of her bed and slipped on her tennis shoes. “We are roommates, we do things together.”

I swung my legs over the side of my bed and my feet hit the soft carpeted floor with a thump. “I really wouldn't have minded.”

“Get dressed.” She clapped her hands enthusiastically and made her way into the bathroom.

I slipped on the pair of jeans I had worn yesterday and the navy blue tennis hoodie that was laying on my floor. I stepped in front of my mirror and frowned at my reflection. My long, dark hair was falling out of the pony tail I had put it in before bed last night and judging from the dark circles under my eyes, I had forgotten to take off my eyeliner. I wiped the black smudges away with my finger and splashed my face with cold water from the sink.

Michaela emerged from the bathroom with a large smile on her face but once she saw my appearance, her smile quickly faded into a grimace. “Please tell me you are going to do something with your hair.”

I squinted my eyes at her and took the elastic out of my hair. My hair fell down over my shoulders and I flipped my head over so I could redo my pony tail. “We usually go get food like this all the time, what makes this time any different?”

I could hear her smirk and I secured my hair tightly in the elastic. “Just get your shoes on, we're already late.”

Not wanting to argue, I slipped on my dark brown cowboy boots and grabbed my keys off of my bed post.

“Happy?” I asked sarcastically as we ran down the stairs and into our dorm lobby.

Michaela rolled her eyes and a small smile played on her lips. “You will be.”

I pushed open the double glass doors leading outside and a rush of cold wind hit me like a ton of bricks. A shiver ran up and down my spine and I wrapped my arms tightly around my middle. The walk over to the student center was short, and on days like this we were thankful for that.

As we entered the student center, I was instantly hit with the savory aroma of the Mexican food that awaited me. As we rounded the corner, a familiar stature caught my eye. He was facing the opposite direction from me but I knew exactly who it was by the short, dark blonde hair and old cross country hoodie.

I glanced over at Michaela who smiled and winked at me before disappearing into the crowed food court.

“Travis?” My voice came out barely audible but I knew he had heard me because once his name came out of my mouth, he turned to me and smiled.

I could feel my heart start to quicken as he started walking towards me. “Hey, pretty girl.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked as he enveloped me in his arms. I took in his familiar scent and I could feel him tighten his grip around me.

“I was in the neighborhood.”

“Travis, it's an hour and a half drive.”

He grabbed a hold of my shoulders and held me out at arms length. “I asked Michaela to help me get you here so we could talk. I need to explain to you what you saw the other day.”

I sighed and shrugged his hands off of my shoulders. “Look, I understand why you would take her back...you guys were together for three years.”

Travis squinted his eyes at me and shook his head. “Take her back? No, Brittany, you've got it all wrong.”

He grabbed my hand and moved me over to an empty booth. He sat down across from me and sighed heavily into his hands. “Lindsey was over that day to pick up the stuff she had left at my house. She was just about to leave when you showed up.”

I studied his face and he gave me a small smile. “So you guys aren't back together?”

He laughed and shook his head. “No, we aren't together.”

“What about everything that you said to me the night I came to see you? All that stuff about you still having feelings for her?”

Travis took my hands in his and he brought them up to his lips. He kissed my fingers and his deep, blue eyes bore into mine. “When I woke up that morning and realized that you had left, it killed me. I acted like an idiot and I knew that I had let an amazing girl go. So, I called Lindsey and we talked for a good hour and a half. It didn't take long for me to realize that she wasn't the girl that I wanted...you were.”

I could feel a lump forming in my throat and I averted my eyes from his. I felt him tug at my hands and I glanced up at his gorgeous face. “Brittany, I mean it. You are everything that I have been searching for and I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner.”

I stood up from my spot at the booth and pulled him up with me. “You promise?”

A smile broke out onto his face and he wrapped his arms around my waist. “I pinky promise.”

“So, does that mean you are going to kiss me now?” I asked while raising up on my tip toes so that our faces were level.

Travis nodded his head slowly and grabbed hold of my neck. He pressed his lips on my forehead and kissed his way down to my cheek. My stomach lurched as he made his way down to my neck and then back up to look into my eyes. “You should be kissed everyday, and I'm going to make sure of that.”

With that he closed the space between us and his lips crashed against mine. As our lips moved in sync, I wrapped my arms around his neck and he lifted me off of the ground.

It was in that moment that my mind went to the warm, summer day we were speeding down the road in his truck.

“You gotta stop looking at me like that cause if you don't, I may fall in love.”

As Travis set me back down on the ground, I pulled away from our kiss and looked into his eyes the way I did two years ago. “What are you feeling right now?”

Travis smiled at me and let out a small laugh. “I'm feeling like if you keep looking at me like that, I may fall even more in love with you than I already am!”

I stepped away from him and crossed my arms over my chest. “Did you just say you loved me?”

Travis mocked my stance and squinted his eyes at me playfully. “And what if I did?”

He stepped closer to me and cupped my chin with his hand. “What if I do?”

I smiled, shook my head, and looked up into his eyes. “Well I'd say it's about time.”