Public Displays of Affection (boyxboy)

Cuba - Chapter Five

                  

If Travis summarized his life there was a long line of men screwing him over. Namely his dad but then also Mr. Anderson his fifth grade teacher, because seriously, who says whales can't be Orange? There's no need to make it a big thing and call in parents about taking homework seriously. Then there was his basketball coach in middle school. The guy was an ass whole and pretty much constantly made Travis run laps. And of course there was Brandon from the football team. The jerk had no right to be such an enormous cock-block. Plus, he really wasn't good looking enough to steal all the girls.

Jared didn't really fit into the category here. It didn't make sense really, but Travis woke up cranky and sour, his stomach twisting and images of his dad and Jared and all the rest of them playing in his head. Like somehow Jared was the one who had pushed him and his mom around and put him down and then walked away like it was nothing.

Jared hadn't done that.

He had just fucked Travis—kinda—and maybe showed that he liked it too much. Put words in Travis' fucking mouth too, words that he hadn't said and he had nothing to defend himself with. Why the hell did he feel so small and pathetic and powerless over this?

Jared wasn't Brandon the football douche. He wasn't taking something away from Travis.

If the rest of the trip was awkward, Travis didn't really notice. He sat on the balcony a lot, staring out at the water. The pool bar held his attention for an entire afternoon and he passed out early on both of their last nights.

He didn't skip dinner or lunch but he was drunk through it. He remembered laughing way too hard at the little girl who tripped and spilled her plate of French Fries and then eating way too much grilled salmon and pizza. The next day he skipped lunch for the lobby bar and knew that he spent all of dinner staring at an empty plate and sipping on wine because he was slowly coming down and that was just unacceptable.

The morning of their flight home came fast and he did his best to get up fresh and early without grumbling about the epic hangover slowly sinking over him. He didn't say a word as they said their good-byes to the newlyweds. Just gave the smiling couple a hug and suddenly wondered if it was actually worth it to have that much sex that they were barely seen for the first week of their honey moon. He imagined that it would be chafing after a while and then decided that it would still be worth it.

His mom took the seat next to him for the trip back to the Airport, silently handing him a bottle of Tylenol and one of water.

He took both silently and shut the drapes against the sun before sinking into sleep.

When he woke up his hangover was in full swing and they were at the airport.

His mom nudged him and he glance at her, suppressing a groan at the concerned look in her eyes.

"Do we need to talk about anything?" she asked.

Travis blinked at her.

"What? What are you talking about?"

She sighed and stood up, grabbing her bags.

"I'll ask again when we're home then."

For two agonizing hours he stood in lines and then sat in the food court with his head on the table and then dozed uncomfortably in the chairs by the gate.

The other four were chatting amicably next to Travis and surprisingly, he found himself torn with the desire to tell them to shut the hell up and the sudden longing to join in and feel like a normal part of their lives again.

Okay, maybe chronic drinking wasn't really his thing then. Maybe he should make sure that it didn't happen again...

Travis glanced at Jared. He didn't remember looking at him once since the other night.