You're my Neighbor? [Discontinued]

Chapter 3: After Party

After taking the chair inside I grabbed what was left of the brownies from the table and then walked over to Travis and Danny's house and rang the doorbell. "Come on in, Leah.” came Travis' voice through the screen door and from the living room. So I walked in and set the brownies down on a table and then walked over to the couches. Travis gave me a small wave and Taylor patted the spot next to him on the couch and I sat down. 

The three of us were sitting in a comfortable silence when Danny walked in, ending a call, and announced, "Marc still won't answer his phone." with an irritated tone. I absently picked at my fingernails while nervously biting your lip. After a minute Danny noticed the way I was acting and he said, "Hey, it's not your fault. He's probably just trying to figure out what just happened." I had been looking at the ground as he had said that, but a moment after he said that I slowly looked up and said softly, "So am I...I wish I had started running after him sooner so we could both figure it out, but I didn't, and so here we are now." The room was silent for a couple of minutes before Travis said, "Sooo...anybody want something to drink?" and everyone made their way into the kitchen. 

"Hey, what do you want?" Travis asked me after he, Danny, and Taylor had poured themselves drinks while I leaned against the counter. "Umm, probably just some coke or something...I kinda have a job interview tomorrow." I told him. "Really? Where at?" Travis asked curiously as he handed me a can of coke. "King Middle School. They have an English, History and Librarian position open, so I'm hoping to get one of those." I said, watching my fingertip slide around the rim of the can. "A teacher?" he said, questioningly. "You don't see it?" I asked. "Some," he said, "but at the same time, not really." "That's how I feel too! I'm really not sure if this is what I want to do. It's just, when I went to college they were like 'What do you want to do' and I didn't know anymore at that point, so I just went with one of my past ideas, which was teaching, but then high school had happened and I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that anymore, but then I didn't know what to do...so yeah." I explained, I’m not really sure why, but I’ve always felt like I could trust Travis with this sort of information, before I had even met him. The kitchen was silent for a minute, Danny and Taylor had gone back into the living room after they got their drinks, before I added, "I mean, I did have an idea of two things that I wanted to do, but they were both such difficult jobs to get and I didn't feel like I was good enough to do either of those two things...so I went to college and I got a teaching degree." Travis leaned back against the counter across from me and I could see him thinking about what I had just told him.

After a couple of minutes of me randomly looking around the room trying to avoid making eye contact with Travis he stepped forward and gently took my hands. His blue eyes pleaded as he asked "What were the two things that you had wanted to do, but didn't think you could?" I looked down at our intertwined fingers and whispered, "Writing and acting." Travis looked down towards the ground for a minute, appearing to be thinking. "Well, Leah, you are right, those are hard fields to get a stable job in. But I have a feeling that those are your dream, and something shot it down. I've never read anything you've written nor seen you act, but if those are your passions, you should chase them and see where it takes you." I looked up at him, a single tear rolling down my nose. "Hey, none of that." he says, smiling, as he wiped the tear off of my nose with his thumb, now holding my head in his hands, "You didn't cry when you scraped your knee earlier." "I'm not 5!!" I said, laughing. "That's what I was going for." he says, smiling. 

"Hey!!! What's taking you two so long?" Danny called from the living room. "Just a minute!" Travis calls back. Swiftly, he pulled me into a hug and leaned down to whisper in my ear, "Look, just, trust your dreams and maybe they'll take you somewhere. All you've got to do is try." I sighed and whispered into his chest, "Easy for you to say, it worked for you." "Well...yeah, that's true, but..." he says, as we pulled out of the hug, "Wait...you know?" "Yeah." I said, blushing, "and if I hadn't, I would've seen the awards you guys have hung on the wall for different records and singles would've told me something." I added, then said "This isn't awkward now...is it?" "No! Of course not!" he says. "It's not like it was me and you that kissed instead of you and Marc." My face turned a bit red and Travis noticed and quickly said, "But, umm, ahem, nevermind that now, Uh, let's go hang out with Danny and Taylor now." 

So we picked up our drinks and walked into the living room. "Really, Leah? Coke? It's the Fourth! Do you just not drink or something?" Danny asks, teasingly. "Job interview tomorrow." I replied, and letting out a nervous giggle. "The day after the fourth? They're really looking for some responsibility then I guess." Taylor says. "Well, it's a school, so probably." I said, and Taylor and Danny both formed expressions of 'That explains it.' "You doing anything else while job searching?" Danny says absently, I hadn't really mentioned much about my life now earlier. "Chili's." I told him. "I think I saw you there last week." Taylor says. "Maybe, I wait tables and show people to their tables, depending on the day." I informed them. "Well, maybe we'll just have to come by with Charles and Alli sometime soon and see you." Travis said mysteriously. "Anytime except tomorrow. I'm not working tomorrow." I said. "The job interview or are they assuming 'fresh out of college and day after the Fourth of July?" Danny jokes. "Job interview" I said, smiling.

There was a moment of silence, interrupted by a knock on the door. "I'll get it." Danny says, and walks over to the door. "Oh hey......yeah, she's here........Ok, hang on." was the conversation over by the door, the other person was speaking quietly, but I guessed who it was from Danny's reactions. "Hey, Leah, he wants to talk to you." I got up and walked over to the door and sure enough, there's Marc. "Umm...hey." he says, awkwardly. "Hey.” I said, giving him a small smile. "Can I talk to you....alone." he says softly, glancing in the general direction of the living room. So I walked out the door and walked Marc to my front yard to talk.