August 15th, 2023
I was on FaceTime with Travis, when we got on the topic.
"Hey, when are you free? Maybe this weekend, I could fly out again and see you? After the game?" He sounded so excited about that.
His smile wore down a little when he saw I wasn't smiling too. "I am sorry, Trav. I really wanted to take Ellie to Rhode Island before flying out to Mexico and the whole Eras Tour Movie promo and stuff. I mean, I guess I could postpone it, I guess," ...but it wouldn't be that warm and we wouldn't probably be able to get into the ocean.
"No, don't. You were excited about this, don't worry. We can meet up some other time." He looked down, messing with the hem of his t-shirt.
"Unless you wanna come with us...?" It came out of my mind before I even thought about it but I wasn't really mad about that either.
He immediately started shaking his head. "No, it's supposed to be your time together, I won't interfere."
"Travis, I wouldn't offer it if I didn't mean it."
August 20th, 2023
Since the minute I woke up, I've been on my legs, packing, preparing breakfast for Ellie and I and then packing some more.
It was about 11am when me and Ellie were patiently waiting by the car in the garages for one of my security guards coming with Travis from the airport. We could've flown but I decided that taking a little road trip wouldn't hurt and would be fun.
The car is all loaded up, the cats included, they are riding with my security unfortunately, they didn't fit in my car with Ellie's car seat and everything. I also decided that I wanted to drive, so the security car will follow behind us. I am getting tired of being driven everywhere. I love driving, it calms me down just driving in a car, listening to some good music.
I am just wiping off Ellie's mouth from the raspberries she had been snacking on when I hear a 'hello' behind me. I get up, turning around and I see Travis with one black gym bag in his hand with a grin on his face.
"Hey, good to see you." I greet him as he envelops me in one of his hugs, me wrapping my arms around his neck, burying my face in his shoulder. In a few seconds, I feel Ellie trying to get between us, pushing us away from each other.
Travis scoops her up quickly, making her squeal. "Hello to you too, princess. You feeling better?" She nods. She did have a fever for another day after Travis left but now, she's her old happy, cheery self again.
"You ready to go?" I say as I finish putting Ellie in her carseat.
"Yeah, but I'm not letting you drive."
That takes me off guard a little. "Why?"
"First, I am a gentleman and you should be the passenger princess. And second, I've seen some of your interviews and I don't want to be murdered by your driving skills."
I giggle before reaching out my arm with the keys on it. "I am gonna try and not take that personally." I knit my brows together.
He takes the keys from my hand and before I can get it back to its place, he takes it, pulling me into him. One of his palms lands on my hip, the other one on my cheek.
"Not here, Trav. The guys are watching." My eyes quickly flash to my security guards, already sitting in a car, just waiting for us to go.
"I think they can handle it." After that, he dips his head even lower, kissing me sweetly before pulling away and going to open the passenger car door for me, leaving me stunned.
I get in, he does after me too and we finally set off.
We are almost half way through when we stop for lunch at a McDonald's by the highway.
The ride is great, we're listening to music, talking about everything that comes to our minds, just like always, with Ellie babbling something from the back seat.
It's still so surprising to me how well we clicked right away. I've known this man for about three weeks but it feels like forever. We understand each other, we are on the same page in so many things.
I ask my security guys to go order and when they come with the food later, we settle in a hidden parking spot a few miles away.
I take Ellie out of her carseat to let her stretch her legs, run around while me and Travis eat. I almost never buy her fast food, trying to cook as much of her food as I can, and when I do not, I try for it to be high quality. I bought her some chicken nuggets but she has not been interested in them at all, munching on her sandwich and veggies I prepared for her.
Once she finishes, she's just running around the parking lot.
"Mamamamama" She babbles as she runs into my legs, giggling. I quickly take her into my arms, showering her face with kisses, making her laugh.
"Are you my happy girl?" I kiss her cheek one last time before nuzzling my nose there.
Travis is watching all of this from beside me, eating his food, smile on his face. When Ellie is settled back on the ground, he wraps his arms around my waist from behind, kissing my neck gently. "You're a really good mom, you know that?" He whispers into my ear, making me shiver despite today's hot weather. My eyes are still on my daughter, making sure she doesn't run too far from us, but I can feel Travis' breath on the back of my neck, teasing me.
"Are we ready to get on the road?" I ask him, wiggling out of his embrace.
"Yeah, I think so. You just gotta catch Ellie first." He grins, seeing her run around.
"Oh no, mister. You started chasing her and got her this hyperactive. I clean up the mess, you catch her." I smirk, taking the trash and going to the nearest garbage can, still keeping my eye on them.
I see Travis run behind her, scooping her into his arms and then making silly faces at her as he fastens her in her car seat. When I get back, I check that she's fastened well and my and Travis' fingers intertwine for a few seconds, I just stare into those gorgeous green eyes, his staring into mine. We quickly snap back, I blush, my favorite activity when Trav's around it seems, and we both get back into the car.
We are about an hour away from the house when I finally convince Travis to switch places with me. He's been driving for 3 hours already, the least I can do is to drive for the last one.
But not even 10 minutes later after we stop to switch and stretch our legs a bit, Ellie starts fussing from the back seat. I try to reach her, unsuccessfully, and grunt.
"Ughh, I just switched with you so you could rest." I look at him apologetically as I pull over, the security guys pulling right behind us.
"I could go back there, sit with her."
"You sure?" I question. I hate comparing him to my ex, but Joe would never do that. He would never even date me if I had a kid with someone else, let alone his own.
"Sure." He's already climbing out of the car, opening the back door and sitting right next to my daughter's car seat. "Hey, girlie. You feeling lonely here, huh?" He talks to her sweetly as I get back on the road.
Every few moments, I look into the rearview mirror, seeing Travis making silly faces, making Ellie laugh. Hearing my daughter's laughter is probably the best thing in the world, seeing her happy, cheery. I wish we could stay like this forever, in our own little bubble. Me, her and Travis.
"Mama, Ellie song." I hear after a few minutes from the back seat. Ellie song, as my daughter declared it, is a song called Never Grow Up, that I wrote when I was about 19 or 20, moving out of my parent's house.
I don't comment, just finding Spotify and playing it there before I hear her exclaim something else.
"Noo! Mama sing." I turn down the volume, confused because I didn't hear her.
"What?"
"I think she wants you to sing it." Travis joins the debate and I smile. I love singing to her.
"Your little hand wrapped around my finger..." I start quietly.
She must have been exhausted because after the second verse, Travis whispers from the back seat that she's out like a light.
"You want to get back here? I can stop."
"I am okay here..." I look in the rearview mirror, laughing slightly at how folded he is there. This is not one of the cars I go in when I go out publicly, to an award show or just a restaurant. No, this is one of my personal, that I drive when I just feel like driving somewhere and not like being driven. I could've taken a bigger one, I just didn't expect Travis sitting on the back seat. In the front there is a lot of space for a 6"5' football player. In the back however? Not so much.
"Yeah, sure." I chuckle as I'm pulling over at the side of the road again. He quickly goes back to the shotgun and we get back on the road.
"So... Ellie song, huh?"
"I used to sing it to her as a lullaby every night since she's been born. Still do now sometimes. It's just her song now, I guess." I giggle. "I was trying so hard not to start tearing up I sang it Night 1 in KC. You went to Night 2, right?"
"Yeah. Got you messing up the words to Last Kiss twice and dorothea."
I look at him a little surprised but with a smile on my lips. "I love that you remember that." Our eyes meet for a second before I focus my eyes back on the road. "Yeah, that was also kinda hard to perform. Couldn't escape the tears there."
My smile dies down as I remember. His open palm lands on my knee, gently squeezing it to let me know that it's okay. It's okay to be vulnerable but also that I don't have to tell him if I don't want to. I give him a grateful smile before continuing.
"I really don't want to bring my ex into this but... I wasn't in a good place when I started the tour. Me and him broke up in the spring of 2022, haven't talked to each other for like 3 months and then were just on and off until this April. I've never let him be around Ellie, there were just the two of us but he was just breaking my heart all over again." By the time I finish, there are tears slowly going down my cheeks. Remembering how I felt, how he treated me at times, that will never stop hurting. That's not how you treat your girlfriend, the mother of your child. Heck, that's not how you treat literally anybody.
His hand is on my knee the whole time, his thumb slowly caressing it, just letting me know that he was there, that he was listening.
"Let's discuss it when you don't have to focus on something else, alright? I mean, if you still want to talk about it." I just nod and feel his other thumb drying my cheeks.
We finish the drive mostly in silence, but the good, comfortable silence. When nobody needs to say anything but you still know how the other one feels. You're not forced to speak.
Ellie wakes up about 5 minutes to the destination, perfect timing. When we get to the house, Travis helps the guys with our bags while I take Ellie inside and let loose the cats, who roam around the house, immediately going to their food and water bowls that I just filled.
They bring the bags in and I show Travis his room, even though selfishly, I want him to sleep in mine. I want those big arms wrapped around me as I sleep on his chest. Last time we saw each other, in New York, I fell asleep with his arm around my shoulder and that was probably the best nap I've ever had.
I give him a quick tour of the house, just so he knows where everything is before we make our way into the kitchen. The trip was supposed to be just 4 hours but it took us about 6 because we stopped for lunch for about an hour and then to stretch our legs a couple times. It's around 5pm when we are finally settled in and it's already time to start cooking dinner.
"What do you want for dinner?" I shout a bit because I thought that Travis was in the living room but not even 3 seconds later, he wraps his arm around my shoulder, startling me. "God, I didn't hear you."
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He laughs and I join him. "I don't know. I'll eat about anything but we can order in if you don't feel like cooking."
"No, I love to cook." I roam around the kitchen, looking into different cabinets before I end up staring into the fridge again. "Is spaghetti carbonara okay?" I turn around to face him.
"Sounds great. Lemme help you though." He smiles and I do too, mumbling a quiet 'okay', internally loving that he wants to help me.
We start on the dish while Ellie brings half of the toys she owns into the kitchen to hang out with us. So we're cooking, well mostly I'm cooking, and watching Ell at the same time. I gave Travis the task to grate the cheese while I'm preparing the pasta and other stuff.
"I'm done." He brings the bowl over to me, his hand gently brushing my butt. I turn around, a little bit surprised, but don't say anything and he just gives me one of his smirks.
"You didn't have to do the whole cheese. It's just on top." I laugh and he gives me a 'You didn't tell me that' look. "It's okay, I'll make something out of it." I carry on while Travis plays with Ellie on the ground.
I call them to dinner not even 5 minutes later. I load up Ellie's plate, sitting her by the table to start eating before I get back to the kitchen to put food on our plates as well.
Travis comes behind me again, now I know about him though, and hugs me from behind, locking his hands in front of my stomach.
"What are you doing?" I chuckle as I load up his plate.
"Thank you for cooking." He nuzzles his nose into the crook of my neck before kissing me there. I throw my head back, into his chest, and moan very quietly. The sexual tension has definitely been here all day, now it's getting into the point where I don't know for how long I'll be able to handle it anymore.
A/N: i've been struggling with this chapter for over a week for some reason. sorry for the delay but hopefully, i made it up by the chaper being over 2,500 words
special thanks goes to alaemazzouji she knows😏❤️ ly
like always, i'm grateful for every vote, comment or idea on what to put in the story
love you, ell🤍