Chapter 12
TRAVIS
“I think you guys should get outside today. The weather is beautiful and there’s a lot to see here,” Ellie suggests as she sits crossed-legged on the floor of the bus.
We just made it to Washington DC late last night, and we’re here for a whole thirty-four hours before we up and leave again.
So far, we’ve successfully stayed on the bus and done zero touristy things.
We’re either too tired or not in one place long enough to do anything worth losing sleep over.
When we have time to kill, we’re too zapped to decide what we should do, so we end up doing nothing.
Plus, more people are starting to recognize us.
We’re not Guns N' Roses or anything, but there are a few fans who have their eyes peeled when they know we’re coming to town.
It doesn’t bother me as much, but Penn and Tanner would rather claw their eyeballs out than be social.
As the lead singer, I’m the most sought-after.
I’m not being arrogant, that’s just facts.
However, there are a select few who seek out the two unavailable members of Loose Threads.
They get shut down like a flash of lightning.
“I don’t know.” Liam yawns.
“There’s restaurants, a lake, shops. So many options.”
Penn lets out a disgruntled sound, making his lack of enthusiasm known.
Ellie isn’t deterred. She continues to scroll on her phone. “Oh! Look, there’s a zoo five minutes away, with free admission!” She gasps excitedly. My interest piques, and I sit up straighter. Her eyes flick right to me, a little grin splitting her lips. “Smithsonian’s National Zoo!”
Penn—my best buddy—sighs heavily, knowing this is something I’d want to do. “Fine.”
“I’ll book our passes right now,” she says.
I’m internally squealing like a kid on Christmas, but I keep my face impassive. A zoo? Sign me up. If I hadn’t fallen in love with music and realized my voice was as sweet as an angel’s, I probably would’ve ended up working with the big cats or something.
Ellie watches me carefully, eyes narrowing in suspicion, waiting for my reaction. My lip twitches; I’m fighting it. She rolls her eyes, laughing, knowing me a little more than I’d like.
It takes us less than ten minutes to get ready. The only thing we did was grab sunglasses and hats, trying to be as incognito as possible, per Tanner’s nagging.
“What should we see first? Let’s make a plan,” Ellie says, as we walk through the parking lot to the gate.
“I’m going straight for the reptiles. They have an alligator snapping turtle I’m dying to see.” I can no longer contain my excitement, so I’m not even gonna try. I wasn’t fooling anyone anyway.
Ellie pulls out her phone. “Let me get a picture of you guys in front of the sign before we go in. This will be good content.”
We all groan, shuffling together to pose for her photo.
“Perfect. Let’s go.” She struts ahead, leaving us no choice but to follow.
We’d be lost if Ellie weren’t with us on this tour.
Calvin does a lot, but Ellie has her hand in so many different jars.
She’s like the mother hen, keeping us in line without being overbearing.
She’s stern and has just the right amount of spunk to deal with us.
We like her, but we’re also a little afraid of her.
We hit up the Reptile Center so I can see the snapping turtle—who was just as badass as I thought—then make our way around the zoo.
I’m soaking up every animal as Ellie trails along taking pictures of us.
I’m not sure she’s even seeing the beauty around her.
She’s been so focused on getting good shots for social media.
A beautiful peacock just strutted past her, and she didn’t even flinch. Too busy staring at our dumb asses.
“Stop that,” I say when she lifts her phone again.
“What?”
“Put that away and enjoy the moment.” I place my hand on her phone, gently pushing it down until she relents and tucks it in her purse.
“Look around.” Her eyes slowly pan around, lighting up when they land on the birds behind us.
The peacock fans his tail, and she gasps at the stunning display of color. “It’s train-rattling,” I tell her.
Her brows furrow as she watches the animal shake its tail rapidly, the iridescent ocelli becoming more mesmerizing, matching the vibrating sounds it’s making. Soothing, almost like playing a string on my guitar.
“Stunning,” she says in awe.
I lean over her, resting my chin on her shoulder, whispering in her ear, “He wants to fuck.” She side-eyes me and I chuckle. “I’m serious. He’s trying to attract a mate.”
She stares ahead as a few peahens start to take notice of the male. “Well, it seems he has his pick now.”
“Nah. He’ll probably have them all eventually. They’re polygamous.”
“Of course,” she scoffs, an unusual sour hint in her tone. I step back and she turns to face me, forcing a smile. “Why choose, right?”
My mouth pops open to say something, though I’m not sure what, but she just laughs and struts away, leaving me no choice but to follow.
We make our way through the zoo, and when we get hungry, we slip into the Mane Grill.
I sniff the air, absorbing the aroma of grilled burgers and hot dogs.
Smells delicious. Better than the smell of animal feces outside, but I’m not hungry.
I’m going to force myself to eat, though.
I don’t want to miss out. Not to mention everyone will look at me funny if I don’t.
“There’s so many choices,” Ellie muses, reading the menu. “Oh, I think I’ll have a grilled chicken sandwich, no, hot dogs, no—”
“Have it all, May,” I coaxed.
“What are you getting? Maybe I’ll sample yours and you can sample mine?”
“Just tell me what you want me to order. You know I’m not picky.”
One of Ellie’s favorite things to do when we used to hang out was try new food places—because she’s awful at cooking—and force me to order things she secretly wanted to try but didn’t want to order herself in case she didn’t like it. It only took two outings for me to catch on to her sneakiness.
“I feel like you want a burger, and I want hot dogs, fries, and a strawberry milkshake. You don’t want any mustard on your burger, though, right? And you want the hand-made ice cream sundae.”
“That’s exactly what I was craving. How did you know?” I deadpan.
I can eat anything. Normally, I wolf it down so fast, I barely taste it anyhow. But I do love mustard. Something I practically gave up when I was fooling around with her because I knew how much she hated it. It’s not a big deal. I’d choose making out with her over a condiment any day.
I’m fascinated watching Ellie pack away two chili dogs, half my burger, and a basket of fries before slurping down her milkshake.
“What?” she asks through a mouthful of my sundae, chocolate syrup dripping down her chin.
My eyes track it as she uses her thumb to wipe it away.
I consider sucking her finger into my mouth to clean it, but then she does it herself.
I swallow a groan, remembering how her tongue felt swirling around my cock.
The way she’d flick each one of my barbells before taking me to the back of her throat eagerly.
The way her eyes would never stray from mine, all glassy and dark with desire.
She fucking loves to give head and who was I to deny her what she desperately wanted?
I couldn’t because I, too, loved to give her pleasure. However she wanted it.
My dick jerks against my zipper and my balls ache for release they haven’t gotten in too long.
“Nothing.” I pick at the fries, wishing I had an appetite. One side effect of Adderall that I could do without.
“I’m sorry, did you want this?” She pushes the bowl of ice cream toward me.
I slide it back to her. “No, May. Have at it.”
“I’m hitting the gift shop, does anyone want to join?” Tanner stands and Penn follows suit.
“The gift shop?” I scoff. “What are you, twelve?”
Neither of them cracks a smile.
“I’m getting Olivia something.” Penn shrugs.
“How sweet. Hey, maybe see if you can pick up another set of balls while you’re there. Ya know, until you get yours back from Liv.”
He smacks the back of my head. “One of these days, fucker.”
“Not likely,” I mutter.
“I’ll come too,” Liam says, shoving his chair back.
“What the hell? I want to see the cats!”
“See them after,” Liam says, like it’s so obvious.
“Uh, no thanks.” Who do I have to buy a gift for? My parents couldn’t care less that I’m touring America right now. They don’t want a souvenir from me.
“Then go. We’ll meet up with you after.” Tanner heads for the exit without waiting for my response.
I look at Penn, who blinks at me. “Come with us. You might find something you like.”
“Not likely. Me and Ellie will go see the cats.”
“Oh, uh, yeah. Sure,” she says, failing to hide the disappointment in her tone. Fuck, she wants to go to the damn gift shop, too.
“Fine, let’s go.” I grab my trash, which isn’t much thanks to Ellie, and follow them out.
The gift shop isn’t as bad as I imagined. In fact, it has some cute-as-shit knickknacks. I’m still browsing when I glance up and see Ellie staring at the rack of keychains. Basic ones with the most basic names.
She spins the shelf round and round, her frown deepening the longer she searches.
“No luck?” I step behind her.
Her shoulders slump. “No. They never have my name on these things.”
I snatch one off the rack before she turns it again.
“But they always have mine.” I hold up the colorful chain with animals and my name printed in black letters.
“Ya know why? Because I’m a basic bitch.
You’re special and unique. There’s not many Ellie Mays in the world and there’s none at all like you. ”
Her head slowly turns around, and she scans my face.
I hold her gaze and watch a flicker of something pass over her expression, but then she snatches the keychain dangling from my finger before I can make out what it is.
“I’m buying this for you. When you get your car running again, you’ll have something to put your keys on. ”
“Oh, May, why do you think I’m busting my ass making magic on this tour? That’s the first thing I’m doing when I cash my checks.” I give her a sly grin, and she rolls her pretty green eyes and struts toward the register.
My dad left me his 1969 Chevy Chevelle when they took off.
She’s red with a double pinstripe down the hood.
She’s a beaut, and he probably loved it more than he did me.
But he was too old to keep messing with it.
I never wanted to help, opting to play music with Penn.
He never asked for my help anyway. It has sat in Penn’s uncle’s garage, waiting for me to give it the attention it deserves, and Penn and Ray have both offered to help me fix it.
I’ve never been in a rush, not to mention I haven’t had the extra money.
Penn’s always been my personal chauffeur, even after he moved out.
But he has Olivia now, so I need my own set of wheels.
I grab a blank keychain, add it to the pile in my hands, and head to the checkout.