Page 17 of I Think We’re Alone Now

Travis

In the backof my mind I’d always pictured giving my notice at Pine Grove Galleria to be a happy moment. I’d thought that I’d feel a sense of pride for a job well done, as well as some sort of excitement over finally having a direction. Yet, as I walked out of the mall from dropping off all my gear, a cloud still hung over me.

Elle.

I’d left her place yesterday shortly after our conversation, after it was clear that she wasn’t going to come back downstairs after her brush-off goodbye. It had taken a good bit of self-control not to run up those stairs after her. Not that I had any idea what I would have said when I’d gotten up there. I couldn’t force her to talk to me, nor did I have any idea what to say to help make things better. And as much as I wanted to just hold her in my arms and kiss her until all the hurt went away, I wasn’t stupid enough to think that was the answer either.

I needed to talk with her. I needed to try and figure out what I had said that was so wrong that she’d frozen me out like that. And I needed to do it now, despite the fact that it meant getting into Shreveport much later than I wanted to tonight to start at the academy first thing in the morning. But I couldn’t leave without getting us back on the same page.

Knocking on Elle’s front door, my stomach lurched. What if she didn’t want to see me? The gnawing feeling in my stomach grew as I waited for someone to answer the door, knocking a second time just in case no one had heard the first round. Finally, I heard footsteps approach, and the large black door swung open.

“Hey man, shouldn’t you be on your way to Shreveport by now?” Bryan asked, stepping back and welcoming me in.

“Yeah, I’m headed that way. Just need to talk to Elle first.”

“She’s not here. You just missed her.” He closed the door behind me, turning to the left to walk into the rec room.

“When will she be back?”

“No clue. She’s on her way back to LA. Mom and Dad are dropping her off at the airport.”

“What? I thought she didn’t have to be back until later this week?”

“I dunno, something about some meeting that came up, or interviews or something?” he said with a shrug, depositing himself on the couch. “I told Mom I'd stay for dinner, so I might still be here when she calls to let the ‘rents know that she landed in LA. I can tell her to call you. Will you have access to a phone up there?”

“I think so. I don’t know the number yet though.” I crashed down onto the couch next to him, running my hands across my face. I needed to talk to her. But I had no idea what my schedule was going to be like once I was in training. Her schedule was probably going to be just as insane now that she would be back in LA, gearing up for the next leg of her tour. “Shit.”

“Dude, what’s going on?”

I sat up and leaned forward, resting my arms on my knees. I really didn’t want to tell Bryan about Elle and me. The idea of admitting to my best friend that there was something between me and his little sister made me want to hurl. I could already feel the sting of his fist making contact with my face when I tell him what’s been going on between us these last couple of weeks. Just what I needed before the start of training.

“You know that I’ve been acting as her bodyguard while she’s been home,” I started. I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye, so I took a deep breath and continued. “Well, we became…close, these last couple of weeks.”

“You two have always been close. You’re like another older brother to her. I know you haven’t seen each other since you left for the army, but it would make sense that you two would pick up where you left off.”

“That’s not what I mean by close,” I said, trying to figure out if he was being purposefully obtuse. Or maybe it was me. Bryan and I had never had an issue talking about the girls we’d hooked up with before. Then again, none of those girls had been his sister. “I’ve been…uh…guarding her body…”

I looked over at him, eyebrows raised in a plea to not make me say the actual words. He narrowed his gaze at me, like he was finally starting to put two and two together, but said nothing. Shit, he was going to make me say it.

“I slept with her.”

“You slept with Elle?” he barked out, a laugh immediately following his words. Well, that wasn’t what I expected.

“Why is that funny?”

“Dude, she’s had a thing for you for forever. Did you really not know?”

“No,” I answered, running back through my head all the years we’d been friends by way of Bryan. Had she really liked me? She was always around, but I just thought that’s what little sisters did—they tried to tag along.

“I had no idea you liked her back.”

“I didn’t, I mean…not until recently. She was your kid sister. Then the whole Glitter thing happened, and I realized it was her and that she was hot—”

“Dude, still the sister.”

“Sorry, but she is. She’s also fun and smart. Hanging out with her this week wasn’t exactly hard.”

“That’s another word we’re not gonna use when talking about my sister.”

A laugh erupted from my gut at Bryan’s demand. He was taking this so much better than I had thought he would. The idea that there could be something between Elle and me didn’t seem to bother him at all. Except, there wasn’t going to be anything between us, because I had shut her down. Her words rush back to me—“I want you.” She wasn't talking about being her security guy. Or well, not just her security guy, was she? She meant she wanted me—all of me—in any way she could get me. And I told her that she didn’t need to worry about some cop back in her hometown.

“So you’d really be okay with Elle and me?”

“I mean, it’s weird, but at the same time, I know you’re gonna treat her right. So if you really care about her, then go for it. Just know that if you hurt her, I’ll have to kick the shit out of you.”

“If I hurt her, I’ll kick the shit out of myself, promise,” I told him. “But, I need to see if she’ll still have me first. I might have been a bit of a dumbass and fucked it all up.”

“Then let’s unfuck it up.”