Beautiful Disaster

“Like what?” I said, angry.

“I called her a few names I’m not proud of and then told her to leave.”

“You let her leave here drunk? Are you some kind of idiot?” I said, grabbing at my purse.

“Easy, Pidge. He feels bad enough,” Travis said.

I fished my cell phone out of my purse, dialing America’s number.

“Hello?” she answered. She sounded awful.

“I just heard,” I sighed. “Are you okay?” I walke down the hall for privacy, glancing back once to shoot a dirty look at Shepley.

“I’m fine. He’s an asshole.” Her words were abrupt, but I could hear the hurt in her voice. America had mastered the art of hiding her emotions, and she could have hidden it from anyone but me.

“I’m sorry I didn’t go with you.”

“You were out of it, Abby,” she said dismissively.

“Why don’t you come get me? We can talk about it.”

She breathed into the phone. “I don’t know. I don’t really feel like seeing him.”

“I’ll tell him to stay inside, then.”

There was a long pause, and then I heard her keys clink in the background. “All right. I’ll be there in a minute.”

I walked into the living room, pulling my purse over my shoulder. They watched me open the door to wait for America, and Shepley scooted forward on the couch.

“She’s coming here?”

“She doesn’t want to see you, Shep. I told her you’d stay inside.”

He sighed, and fell against the cushion. “She hates me.”

“I’ll talk to her. You better get one amazing apology together, though.”

Ten minutes later, a car horn beeped twice outside, and I closed the door behind me. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, Shepley rushed past me to America’s red Honda, and hunched over to see her through the window. I stopped in my tracks, watching America snub him as she looked straight ahead. She rolled down her window, and Shepley seemed to be explaining, and then they began to argue. I went inside to give them their privacy.

“Pigeon?” Travis said, trotting down the stairs.

“It doesn’t look good.”

“Let them figure it out. Come inside,” he said, intertwining his fingers in mine to lead me up the stairs.

“Was it that bad?” I asked.

He nodded. “It was pretty bad. They’re just getting out of the honeymoon stage, though. They’ll work it out.”

“For someone that’s never had a girlfriend, you seem to know about relationships.”

“I have four brothers and a lot of friends,” he said, grinning to himself.

Shepley stomped into the apartment and slammed the door behind him. “She’s fucking impossible!”

I kissed Travis on the cheek. “That’s my cue.”

“Good luck,” Travis smiled.

I slid in beside America, and she huffed. “He’s fucking impossible!”

I giggled, but she shot a glare in my direction. “Sorry,” I said, forcing my smile to fade.

We set out for a drive and America yelled, and cried, and yelled some more. At times she broke into rants that seemed to be directed at Shepley, as if he were sitting in my place. I sat quietly, letting her work it out in a way only America can.

“He called me irresponsible! Me! As if I don’t know you! As if I haven’t seen you rob your dad of hundreds of dollars drinking twice as much. He doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about! He doesn’t know what your life was like! He doesn’t know what I know, and he acts like I’m his child instead of his girlfriend!” I rested my hand on hers, but she pulled it away. “He thought you would be the reason we wouldn’t work out, and then he ended up doing the job on his own. And speaking of you, what the hell was that last night with Parker?”

The sudden change of topic took me by surprise. “What do you mean?”

“Travis threw you that party, Abby, and you go off and make out with Parker. And you wonder why everyone is talking about you!”

“Hold on a minute! I told Parker we shouldn’t be back there. What does it matter if Travis threw me that party or not? I’m not with him!”

America looked straight ahead, blowing a puff of air from her nose.

“All right, Mare. What is it? You’re mad at me, now?”

“I’m not mad at you. I just don’t associate with complete idiots.”

I shook my head, and then looked out the window before I said something I couldn’t take back.. America had always been able to make me feel like shit on command.

“Do you even see what’s going on?” she asked. “Travis quit fighting. He doesn’t go out without you. He hasn’t brought any girls home since the bimbo twins…has yet to murder Parker, and you’re worried about what people are saying. You know why that is, Abby? Because it’s the truth!”

I turned, slowly craning my neck in her direction, trying to give her the dirtiest look I knew how. “What the hell is wrong with you?

“You’re dating Parker, now, and you’re so happy,” she said in a mocking tone. “Then why aren’t you at Morgan?”

“Because I lost the bet, you know that!”

“Give me a break, Abby! You talk about how perfect Parker is, you go on these amazing dates with him, talk to him for hours on the phone, and then you lay next to Travis every night. Do you see what’s wrong with this situation? If you really liked Parker, your stuff would be at Morgan right now.”

I clenched my teeth. “You know I’ve never welched on a bet, Mare.”

“That’s what I thought,” she said, twisting her hands around the steering wheel. “Travis is what you want, and Parker is what you think you need.”

“I know it looks that way, but—,”

“It looks that way to everyone. So if you don’t like the way people are talking about you — change. It’s not Travis’ fault. He’s done a one-eighty for you. You’re reaping the rewards, and Parker’s getting the benefits.”

“A week ago you wanted to pack me up and never let Travis come near me again! Now you’re defending him?”

“Abigail! I’m not defending him, Stupid! I’m looking out for you! You’re both crazy about each other! Do something about it!”

“How could you possibly think I should be with him?” I wailed. “You are supposed to be keeping me away from people like him!”

She pressed her lips together, clearly losing her patience. “You have worked so hard to separate yourself from your father. That’s the only reason you’re even considering Parker! He’s the complete opposite of Mick, and you think Travis is going to land you right back where you were. He’s not like your dad, Abby.”

“I didn’t say he was, but it’s putting me in a prime position to follow in his footsteps.”

“Travis wouldn’t do that to you. I think you underestimate just how much you mean to him. If you’d just tell him—,”

“No. We didn’t leave everything behind to have everyone here look at me the way they did in Wichita. Let’s focus on the problem at hand. Shep is waiting for you.”

“I don’t want to talk about Shep,” she said, slowing to a stop at the light.

“He’s miserable, Mare. He loves you.”

Her eyes filled with tears and her bottom lip quivered. “I don’t care.”

“Yes you do.”

“I know,” she whimpered, leaning against my shoulder.

She cried until the light changed, and then I kissed her head. “Green light.”

She sat up, wiping her nose. “I was pretty mean to him earlier. I don’t think he’ll talk to me now.”