A Rose as Black as your Heart

(32) Jason

Chapter 32

Travis had forgotten to be mad at me on Tuesday, as he usually forgot stuff like that. He stayed in a good mood, which I was relieved about, but if I mentioned Daniel too much, he’d start to scowl. I really needed to talk to him about that.

I never really saw much of Daniel in school, aside from the occasional glance in the corridors, but afterwards, he took me back to the abandoned parking lot, and spent another few hours attempting to teach me how to drive, without much success. As usual, it just dissolved into chatting.

On Wednesday, Travis and I headed into town after school, tagged along with Rose, his friend Luke (who Rose thought was hot) and Nancy (who had either gotten over her crush on Travis, or hadn’t liked him that much anyway).

Travis and I broke ahead of the group as we headed for Starbucks. “Trav, can I ask you something? You can’t lie.”

“Course,” he said easily.

I raised my eyebrows. It was just too tempting an opportunity to miss out on. “Does your Mom sleep naked?”

“What?” he spluttered, fixing me with a bewildered look. “Why would you-”

I cut him off with a laugh. “I’m just messing with you.” I slapped his arm playfully. “You’re way too trusting.”

He scowled at me, but I could tell he wasn’t really bothered. “D’you really want to know something, or were you just testing how trusting I was?”

“I really want to know something.”

He shrugged. “Well, then, ask away.”

“Why don’t you like Daniel?”

Travis said nothing for a moment, but his jaw tightened. “Well, he doesn’t exactly like me either, does he?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s because you made it pretty clear that you didn’t like him straight away,” I reminded him. “So, spill.”

Travis ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. “Do I have to?”

I widened my eyes innocently. “You promised...”

He sighed again. “You really wanna know?”

“Travis.”

“Alright, alright.” He blew out a breath and fixed me with a mournful smile, his blue eyes sad. “He dated the girl I liked.”

I blinked. “Really? Who was she? When was this?”

“You don’t know her,” he said vaguely. “It was about a year ago.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” I felt a rush of empathy for him, but a niggling jealousy pecked at my insides like a hungry vulture. “They’re not together now, though... right?”

Travis laughed and ruffled my hair. “You’re so blonde, Canadian. I might not like the guy, but he’d never do that to you.”

I smiled gratefully, but played it off as teasing. “Aw, shucks, ginger.”

I tentatively pressed for more details on the mysterious girlfriend, but Travis didn’t offer up anything, not that I could blame him, I guess. Even still, I wanted to know how I ranked compared to her. Knowing Daniel, she’d probably been leggy, tanned and curvy. I had to remind myself that I didn’t fit in any of those categories and he’d still gone for me.

We reached Starbucks, and the five of us queued up to get takeaway coffees. As we lined up in a disorganised gaggle, I caught a glimpse of a dark haired guy hovering outside the shop’s glass doors, watching us with black, narrowed eyes. I couldn’t control the inevitable shiver the rippled through me. Drake caught me watching him and smiled cruelly.