Page 15 of Catch Me (Becoming Us #4)

Travis

Laughter drew my attention to the field where Roman was working with Mikey. It was good that they were getting along well. I’d been worried that he was going to be a ball of hellfire with everyone, which would’ve made this whole thing a nightmare.

It was kind of funny that I was the only one he acted pissy with. Most people found me easy to talk to and thought I had good energy.

I caught the ball Vince sent my way, then threw it back. He nodded toward Mikey and Roman.

“Where’d you find the guy?”

“He’s one of my friends’ stepbrother.”

“Pete showed me some of his work. He’s good.”

“Amazing,” I corrected. “He knows it, but he’s also humble. Sometimes.”

“Are you guys . . .”

I frowned at him. “You don’t have to ask that about every guy I know.”

“How am I supposed to get information, then?”

“Take what I give you. ”

“You never spill.”

“That’s because there’s nothing to spill,” I said with a laugh.

“Does the dating scene suck here?”

“No. At least, I don’t think so. I just don’t actively look for relationships. It’s not high on my list of important things in my life.”

“What’s number one?”

“Equality, obviously.”

He smiled. “Noble. Maybe it’d be easier to fight the fight with someone at your side.”

“It’s me and Tessa against the world.”

As if to emphasize my point, she barked from across the field. Sam was playing with her, running back and forth, then trying to fake her out. She looked crazed right now. Hopefully, she’d sleep good tonight and not wake me up at five in the morning, but I doubted that was possible.

“I saw your LIVE a couple days ago,” Vince noted.

“Did you?”

I tried not to let that worry me. We were friends, so I wasn’t concerned about him, but not everybody on the team was cool with me.

We got along as teammates. There were a couple who didn’t like the way I spoke out about things online.

If the public relations assholes didn’t see my videos, I was sure those guys would tell them everything.

There was nothing wrong with my LIVE the other day. I’d gone by the book and didn’t make any statements. It still worried me after all the things Pete said.

“Your friends are interesting,” Vince went on.

“They sure are.”

“Have you made any headway with that campaign?”

“I’m trying, but...” I looked around, then moved closer to him and dropped my voice. “They’re not letting me do much anymore.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. We’re in Georgia and they don’t want me taking political stances, as they put it. God forbid I want to save kids the traumas a lot of us went through.”

“I’m sorry, man. Hey, what if the whole team jumped on board? What are they gonna do? ”

I chuckled and shook my head. “Nah, I wouldn’t want anyone else to put themselves at risk. Besides, most of them don’t care enough to publicly speak out like that.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“We should break for lunch. I think he wants to do you after he’s finished with Mikey.”

“Yay,” he said without enthusiasm.

I jogged over to Roman and was going to touch his shoulder, but I moved into his line of sight instead. Today, his sleeves were rolled up while he worked, which showcased extensive tattoos on his forearms. I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d designed them himself.

He looked up at me, then returned his attention to his tablet.

We’d barely interacted yesterday, and when we had, he’d been dismissive or snappy. I wasn’t sure if my question the night before had upset him that much or if his briefly cordial attitude was an outlier.

“I’m heading out to grab lunch. You want anything?”

When he ignored me, I considered kicking him in the shin. Like me, hate me, I didn’t give a shit, but I was offering food. All he had to do was say yes or no.

Since he didn’t want to use words, I decided to make my way off the field. I verified with Mikey that he’d be here so I could leave Tessa, then I told him to tell everyone that I’d bring food for all of them. There weren’t many people here, but some were interested in observing the new project.

I opened the door to my Jeep and started to get in when I heard footsteps behind me. Roman jogged to catch up and went around to the passenger side. Even as I started the engine, he didn’t say anything. This guy was giving me whiplash.

We stopped at a sub shop, and I ordered a box of sandwiches, then moved outside to wait for them.

I didn’t want to sit or be crowded right now, so I paced along the side of the building, back and forth.

Roman leaned against the wall, occasionally glancing at me, but he mostly just stared at the road.

Not a word had passed between us, so when he spoke, I came to a stop. “Why has it been a shitty couple weeks?”

I started walking again. He’d already asked that question, and I told him I didn’t want to answer it .

“Travis.”

Shaking my head, I turned to walk back the other way. When I approached him, he stepped into my path. His palm flattened against my chest to keep me from going around him. I looked down at it, telling myself it wasn’t productive to use his own hand to backhand him.

“Why are you asking?”

“Because I want to know.”

Taking his wrist gently, I moved his hand away, then started pacing again. I saw my number flash on the screen inside, so I went to grab the food. After setting it in the backseat, I pulled onto the street.

Roman tapped his fingers on his thighs while he stared out the side window. That question was literally the first thing he’d said to me today. Maybe it was the only thing he could think of to make conversation.

“It’s been a shitty couple of weeks because bigots exist,” I explained.

“And kids are being hurt in the same way that me and Sen were.” I ground my teeth together when my eyes began to sting.

“I couldn’t save him, and now I’m being told that I can’t save them.

That’s why things suck for me right now, Roman. ”

I didn’t expect him to respond, and he didn’t. Once we got back to the field, I opened the back door, but he moved in to grab the food before I could. I wanted to make a joke about how chivalrous it was, but I didn’t think it would be taken well.

The last few hours passed slowly. I played with Tessa and talked to some of the guys, but I was drained. By the time we left, I couldn’t stop yawning. Before I could get in the Jeep, Roman moved in front of me and put a hand on my chest.

“Let me drive,” he said.

“I’m good, don’t worry.”

He didn’t budge, so I huffed and passed him the keys. I’d never ridden in the passenger seat of my car, and it felt weird—not in a good way. When he pulled off the freeway, I realized that he’d only been on this route once.

“You remember how to get there?” I asked, looking around to make sure he’d taken the correct turn.

“Yup.”

“That’s creepy. ”

He laughed and glanced over at me. “I have an eidetic memory.”

“Don’t call me dumb, but I don’t know what that means.”

“I can remember images and things really well. It’s only for a few minutes in detail, but some things stick with me better. Directions, for one. If I take a picture of something, I can look at it and better remember what it looked like in person.”

“Huh. That sounds like a super lucky thing to have as an artist.”

“Maybe.”

I looked at him and leaned my head against the back of my seat. “Why maybe?”

It seemed like he wouldn’t respond again, but after a minute, he shrugged. “I think it makes me a perfectionist. When I look at an illustration that’s based on something real, it never feels like it did when I was staring at it in real time.”

“I feel like that’s unavoidable. Art, no matter how good it is, isn’t the real thing. It doesn’t feel the same. Looking at you right now is different than if I saw a perfect representation of you, because you are alive. There’s no way art can replicate that.”

His brow furrowed as he stared ahead. With the shade that the trees offered, my eyes felt heavy. Regardless of what he said, I didn’t want to fall asleep in case he took a wrong turn.

“Art is better in some ways, though,” I said.

“How?”

“You can make things look better than they do in real life. That one you drew of me made me look a lot prettier than I actually am.”

I’d been joking, but he turned and met my eyes. “It looks exactly like you.”

Then, he looked ahead. He didn’t open his mouth again, and when we got to the house, he went directly to his room.

Had my words been an insult to his art, or did he just call me attractive in a roundabout way?

Cooking sounded like a chore, so I gave Tessa her dinner, then escaped to my room so that I could soak in my tub. If all else failed, a bath was always a good way to relax the mind.