Girls Like Boys

Coldest Places

Despite what I'd anticipated, Travis ended up working with Ryan to haphazardly throw something together. It wasn't a gourmet meal, but it made up for that in entertainment. The rest of us tried to help the best we could, but Travis and Ryan refused to tell us what they were making. In order to deter us from guessing by ingredients, Travis pulled whatever he could out of the fridge. He claimed it was a strategic move, but I figured he was really just scrambling to come up with something to make.

We ended up with some sort of soup. Benji, having missed the making of the meal - and thus completely unaware of what Travis had thrown into it - was the first to eat it. When he didn't immediately get food poisoning and die, the rest of us dared to try it. Ultimately, we ate it, which seemed to inflate Travis's ego even more.

When I finished eating,Travis caught my eye across the table. He grinned and got up, catching the attention of the guys, and Hannah, who were in the middle of a conversation. Over dinner, I quickly realized that Hannah had hung out multiple times. She wasn't quite commonplace like the guys, but she wasn't new either.

I got up and followed Travis out of the kitchen. Hannah watched us leave one after the other, and I heard Benji nonchalantly shrug it off. "They're always like that," he said.

Travis led me upstairs without looking back once. Ryan's bedroom door was closed, but the guest bedroom, which had been Erick's for the summer, was wide open. The room was still full of stuff, so I figured that maybe Erick hadn't quite left yet. Travis's bedroom door was also open. He walked in and I followed, leaving it open behind us. He headed to a desk that I'd never seen before and sat down, motioning me further inside. I walked past him to sit on the edge of his bed.

"What have you been up to?" I asked. "It feels like we haven't talked all that much lately."

Travis frowned. "We talk everyday," he answered. He shifted in his chair so that he was facing me better. When he turned, his knees brushed against mine. He lightly tugged at the end of my jacket, looking up at me with amusement and something else.

I couldn't help but slide my fingers into the hair at the back of his neck. It was growing out to the point where I could tell that there might be curls if it wasn't so thick. Travis grinned at the and leaned forward so that his elbows rested on my knees.

"How was your last two weeks home?" he asked, raising his eyebrows slightly. "Did Ram come around?"

I shrugged and brushed my palms down over his shoulders. "We're a bit tense," I admitted, "but it's kind of hard to still be mad each other when you're stuck in a car together for eight hours straight."

Trav sighed and pulled away. He rolled the chair back to the desk and got up. "Well, I'm glad you're back, Cody. The guy-to-girl ratio around here was getting a little insane." He looked back at me and grinned at his own joke.

I shook my head lightly and crossed my legs in the middle of his bed. Trav wandered over to the door, stepped out onto the catwalk, peered below into the pit, and then came back and threw the door closed behind him. He crossed the room and climbed onto his bed, laying down on his back with his head in my lap and his knees crooked.

"l'm racing tomorrow night,” Trav said casually. "You coming?"

I shrugged, nodded. "Are the cops going to break up this race too?"

Travis's hand stilled on mine and he peered up to me. "Who told you about that?" he asked. "I told Benji to keep his mouth shut."

"First of all, it wasn't Benji," I said, "and second of all, why should they hide it from me?"

"Not hide it from you," he answered, "but there's no reason for you to worry about it If you're not even here. We just didn't think It was a big deal."

"Where were you running?" I questioned, swirling my fingers through his hair. I already knew I wouldn't hear the answer that I wanted. Highway Eleven was a rare uninhabited zone. Away from there, the chance of disturbing nearby people and local police practically doubled.

"Out before Halin bridge," Trav said. "Cam set up like four runs out in the middle of nowhere. He's been fucking paranoid since the cops came right as they were digging in for the first race. He's been keeping everything quiet lately. He's convinced someone tipped them off."

He turned and practically rolled off me so he could see my face. He seemed pleased with the circumstances of the race, despite it being more risky than their typical race location. I had no idea where Halin bridge was in the city. But it had to be closer to town than we usually went.

"Where were you when that happened?" I asked, relieved to hear that he hadn't been the one racing when the police came.

He rolled away, but I caught the sheepish look on his face before he did so. I grabbed his shirt and yanked him back to face me.

"Travis," I warned, anticipating that I was not going to like what he said.

He tucked his arms behind his head and tried to look unbothered as he replied. "It attracted a lot of drivers from outside our usual group so we ended up running a town over. They race in an industrial park in the middle of town."

I frowned, wanting to chastise him for doing something so reckless, but he already knew, and there was no point repeating it. Instead I sighed and pinned him with a deadpan look before sliding off the bed.

"We should get back to the guys," I said.

Travis pushed himself up and followed after me. "And Hannah.”

I threw the bedroom door open and stepped onto the catwalk. Benji was the only one in the pit. He peeked out from underneath the hood of his race-car and then ducked back under when he saw it was just us. He had the music back on, making it impossible to hear each other from this distance. He was focused anyway, making up for the time he'd lost at work. I shook my head, figuring that he had also jumped on the bandwagon when it came reckless racing. I glanced behind me to Travis, determined to keep my opinions to myself.

"Where'd you and her meet?" I asked, my palm skimming along the rail as I headed toward the spiral staircase.

"She was at some runs this summer." He shrugged.

I nodded, knowing Travis was watching me, and hopped down the stairs. As we curved around to the first floor, I peered into the living room where they'd congregated with Hannah. Trav brushed past me, his shoulder skimming mine. "You two would probably get along."

He said it smiling, his eyes shining like he found it amusing and didn't quite believe it himself. He sauntered into the room, which was open to the pit, and tossed himself down between Erick and Ryan. Hannah was seated in the chair I'd claimed earlier, and the others had made themselves comfortable. I forgoed the spot between Cam and Benji and squeezed between Trav and Erick. The latter grinned and wrapped his arm over my shoulders to make more space. I leaned against his side, nesting my head back against his sweater-clad shoulder.

"You still staying here?" I asked the blonde, my chin brushing against his shoulder when I turned to look up at him.

Erick shrugged and glanced to me with blue eyes. "He hasn't kicked me out yet," he said. "I think he likes trying to influence the race decisions.”

Travis smiled slightly and shook his head. For as much postering as he'd done at the end of last semester about kicking Erick out and giving me the room for winter break, Travis actually enjoyed having the guys around. He reveled in the chaos and excitement. He'd let Erick stay forever for that reason alone. The only downside was that there'd be no spare bedroom for anyone else who might want to stay over. But they could probably make it work with the ridiculous amount of couches they'd squeezed into this living room. The guys treated this place like a clubhouse. Between the four who actually lived here - Travis, Ryan, Benji, and now Erick - and the rest who didn't, this place was never empty. Somehow it'd become my place too, even when Travis wasn't here.

Despite tomorrow ushering a new semester of classes, the group ended up staying at Travis's until pretty late. Around eleven, Hannah left out, following Cam's lead. The guys were stretched out all over the living room, and Ryan had just snuck upstairs to go to bed. He had conditioning from 6:30-8:30 in the morning and class right after, so he couldn't afford late nights. I was still seated next to Erick when Trav left to walk Hannah out. The guys called sleepy goodbyes, and I smiled at the chaotic mess of them. Erick was dozing with his head on my shoulder - blonde curls matted against me, Benji and Flynn were stretched out on the floor, and Shay and Flynn occupied the last couch. I gently shook Erick awake, smiling as his blue eyes blinked open in a daze.

"Go up to bed, E," I said softly.

He lifted his head off me and glanced around. The track lights were dimmed and shadows from the t.v. jumped around the room obnoxiously.

"Come with me," Erick joked as he woke up. He grinned at me a little crookedly and pushed up from me. "Night, baby girl,” he whispered, tiredly laughing at himself.

I smiled at his antics and patted his arm as he went. "Night, babe." I laughed.

Travis glanced at me - us - funny when he walked back in. Erick just shook his head and hopped up the stairs to his bedroom. Trav met my eye and nodded the same way. Yawning, I shook my head and got up as well. I told the rest of the guys bye and walked out. Benji jumped into my spot. They called goodbye as I started across the pit with Travis on my heels.

Travis stepped ahead of me to open the door and hit the garage button. I slid past him into the chilly night air.

"You don't have to go," he said. "You know you can always sleep upstairs.''

I nodded and fished the truck keys from my pocket. "You'll pick me up before the race tomorrow night?"

He sighed and nodded, dragging the truck's driver door open when it honked and unlocked. "Text me if you're free before then. You know where I'll be."

I stepped toward him to wrap my arms around his waist. He kissed my forehead and held me to him. "Text me when you get back to the dorm. Don't speed, cops are out. "

I nodded exaggeratedly. "Yes, Trav. Of course, Trav."

He rolled his eyes and let go. "Let me know how class goes tomorrow. I've got MEE 461 for two hours, so I'll need some kind of distraction to keep me from dying of boredom."

I hopped up in the truck and looked back to him. "You better pay attention in those classes, future engineer. We can't have any bridges collapsing."

Travis deadpanned me. "It's not that kind of engineering, Code." He stepped up and pushed the truck door shut, much like he did the first night we officially met.

I started It up and backed out of his parking lot sized drive. Trav stayed still until I couldn't see him anymore. His place was twenty minutes from campus in the middle of the day when traffic was at its worst. Tonight, I was back in barely ten and texting Trav five minutes later to let him know I hadn't been taken by the police or smashed into by one of his street-racing enemies.

Despite being less than amused, he texted me back right away. He was alone in his room, but could hear Benji with Flynn and Shay downstairs. Apparently Benji had conned Shay into staying to take a final mechanic's-eye look at his Acura, and Flynn just didn't want to go home. The movie was forgotten as cars stole their attention.

"The Supra ran smooth when we took it out tonight," Trav said when I answered his call in the elevator.

I sighed obnoxiously and obviously, hearing as Travis did the same in response to me doing it. This was our typical routine when he wanted to talk cars in the middle of the night, or homework, or a movie.

"Cody, you should want to know that the car is safe for me to drive tomorrow."

I whispered as I stepped onto my floor. I could hear some girls in the common space when I got closer, but I didn't recognize them as any of mine and Ram's friends.

"When have you ever raced an unsafe car?" I asked. "You're just bringing it up to segue into something technical and boring."

Trav scoffed, pretending that hadn't been his plan all along.

"Wait," I said as I unlocked my door, "let me get my pajamas on and climb in bed. You can lull me to sleep.”

I smiled to myself as I pictured Travis agitated and rolling his eyes. Ram looked up as I came inside. She had the lights off and the t.v. on. I shifted the phone to the other ear and crossed to my side of the room. I tossed my wallet and keys onto my bed.

"Fuck you, Code," Trav said, laughing despite his words. "Go to sleep and wake up nice. I don't need any negative energy in the tub tomorrow."

I chuckled and nodded to myself. "Meet you in the tub at eight," I said succinctly.

"See you at eight, baby girl." Travis answered in the same tone, trying to disguise his laughter. The line clicked dead before I could snap at him for mocking mine and Erick’s banter.

I couldn't help but laugh as I dropped the phone onto the bed. I turned to the closet and dragged out an oversized t-shirt. Putting it on, I said a quiet goodnight to Ram and climbed under my covers.
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Comments would be great! I’m trying to get back in the swing of this story!