"Hey!" Finn called as soon as we entered the house.
I followed the sound of his voice to the kitchen where he was on the tile floor, cross-legged, and writing on the giant whiteboard.
"You survived the jail, wouldya look at that!" he exclaimed, looking at me.
Hushed voices were coming from the living room and I looked over to see Cameron sitting in one of chairs. Annabeth was on the ground, sorting through a handful of papers that were spread out in front of her. Ben and Travis went straight over to the two and started relaying everything I had told them in the car.
"How was it?" Finn asked, like he was asking me how my first day of school was.
I rolled my eyes, a smile playing at my lips as I sat down next to him on the cold tile.
"Was Scully his usual, personable self?" Finn added as he made a list of names I didn't know on a part of the board.
"I feel like I need to shower to wash off talking to him," I said quietly, not wanting Annabeth to hear because I didn't know if she'd get offended or not.
Finn snorted.
"He mentioned your name and didn't profess his undying love for it this time," I said, remembering how much Scully idolized Finn's name the first time I went to talk to him.
Finn shook his head. "I swear he wanted to give me his blessing to marry Annabeth as soon as he learned my name."
I laughed, "Really?"
"Yeah," Finn nodded, making a new list on the whiteboard, "But right before that, I tried to burn him with a hot metal rod so he didn't say the words because he was pissed but I could tell. It was in his eyes," Finn said, looking at me for a moment to point at his own eyes.
He seemed to skim right over the violent part of that sentence, like it wasn't a big deal and I figured to him, it probably wasn't but I'd never heard about this and Scully definitely left it out of his descriptions of Finn.
"You what?" I asked, when Finn carried on like nothing happened.
"I sensed it, the blessing."
I shook my head because we were talking about two different things. "You tried to burn him?"
"Mhm," he said casually.
I shouldn't have been surprised. Finn liked burning everything it seemed, but I hadn't expected a first meeting with a parents to go like that. But then it was a first meeting with Scully - the version of Scully before he was imprisoned and locked away and I wondered what he did to cause such a reaction from Finn, who was usually smiling even during destruction. He had greeted Josh nicely when they first met and Finn knew Josh was a cop trying to arrest him. It wasn't until Josh had hit on Annabeth that Finn showed any dislike. That dislike causing two guys to have to drag him away from Josh.
I looked behind me towards the living room but the couch was blocking my view of the people on the floor. All I could see was the top of Cameron's head.
"Because of something with Annabeth?" I asked, looking back at Finn.
"Mhmmm," he said, sticking his tongue out and tilting his head to the side as he tried to focus on writing in a straight line.
"Didn't you...How did you..." I scrambled over my words as I tried to figure out what I was trying to ask. "Weren't you scared?" I decided to go with in the end.
Finn shrugged, "I didn't know anything about the gang so I didn't know who he was, really." He leaned closer to me, letting his voice drop in volume, "But I barely went anywhere without Annabeth for a week after that. Snuck into the Casey house every night to sleep and basically wore her around like a bulletproof vest."
"You snuck into the Casey house?" I asked, remembering the giant gates the house has, or had. I wasn't sure how much of it was left.
Finn looked at me like I was crazy, "I wasn't about to sleep on my own and get shanked."
Again, it was like we were on two different pages and he was failing to pick up on the part I was actually asking about.
"No, I mean, you snuck into the Casey house? Aren't there things and people to prevent that?" I explained.
"You have little faith in me, little one," Finn grinned before wiggling his eyebrows a few times.
I tried to picture a teenage Finn sneaking into the Casey house but it was difficult because much like Travis, he wasn't exactly known for being quiet. I wondered if security around the house was higher or lower back then compared to now. I didn't know anything about Cameron's dad but judging by how Scully made me feel every time I spoke to him, I assumed it was higher. I peeked at Finn for a second before looking back at the board and wondered if he met Callum Casey, Cameron's dad. I wondered if they had any conversations or if he knew why Cameron refused to stay in the Casey house. But Cameron was just in the next room and I didn't want to ask Finn anything that might bring up ill feelings.
"How old are you?" I asked.
"I'm too awesome for an age," he answered almost automatically.
I sighed and he laughed, drawing is name on the board in block letters.
"Twenty-four," Finn said.
"How old were you when you met Annabeth?" I asked.
"Fourteen or fifteen."
"Lace," Travis called, coming over to us, "You want to go?"
I had forgotten for a moment that he wanted to go on a date and to be honest, I was surprised he even remembered. I figured the gang stuff would take priority.
"Right now?" I asked.
Travis nodded, "Whenever you're ready."
"Oh," I paused. "Can I shower first? Scully left me feeling gross."
Finn laughed and Travis nodded.
"Just bring your work phone when you're done. Ben wants it," Travis said as I pushed myself up from the ground.
I tried to walk as casually as I could to my room to get clothes before heading to the shower. I didn't want to seem too excited by the prospect of going on a date, I figured Travis would just mock me for it.
In the shower, I couldn't help but think about this being probably the first actual date we'd gone on and we met years ago. Granted, we didn't have contact with each other for three of the years but still. It wasn't like he wasn't on my mind every single one of those days.
And Finn and Annabeth had been dating for just about ten years and as far as I knew, they were with each other during those years. Hannah had said she had no intention of planning an actual wedding anytime soon. She was just engaged indefinitely right now. Though, I still had to ask Cameron about it.
I wondered if it was going to be ten years until Travis and I went on a second date. Or ten years until Hannah even considered planning a wedding. I didn't want to wait that long. So the idea of the gang escaping the Dacostas, the cops, the suppliers, anyone else following their moves, had me hopeful. Maybe I'd only have to wait a year for a second date.
After the shower, I got dressed and glanced at my outfit in the mirror. It wasn't anything too special. A plain pink t-shirt that was long on me and black pants. I tied my hair back in a bun, trying to change it up a little bit. I didn't exactly have dress clothes and I didn't know where we were going. Even if I had known, there was no guarantee Travis wouldn't attract attention anywhere we went and I didn't want to have to run in a dress.
I pursed my lips to the side. This was going to have to be good enough. Travis saw me every day and I wasn't all glammed up anyway.
When I went back to the bedroom, there was a bunch of makeup scattered over the bed. It looked like Annabeth's and she was nowhere to be found but I was thankful all the same. I knew how to put makeup on myself, I didn't need her hovering over me to tell me I was doing it wrong. Or worse, trying to talk to me about the upcoming date. Just thinking about having girl talk with her had my insides swirling with nerves.
I put on some eye shadow, mascara, and a light pink lipstick before grabbing my coat and old phone and exiting the room.
Finn was no longer in the kitchen, but instead Cameron, Ben, and Travis were. Cameron was sitting down at the table, looking over more paperwork and Ben and Travis were both sitting on stools by the counter.
As I walked up to them, Ben flicked the lighter he was holding on and held his arm out to Travis. Travis, like the genius he was, looked at it for a second before putting his fingers down toward the flame.
"Are you stupid?" I asked.
Travis didn't answer, but held his hand to the flame.
"Do you really need an answer to that?" Cameron asked, sounding tired still.
After a few seconds, Travis withdrew his hand, shaking it out and Ben moved his thumb, the flame extinguishing. The actions were similar to what I'd seen them doing when Carlos, Josh and I returned the to the car after the jail.
Ben turned the lighter on again and Travis repeated his actions. It didn't last long before he was shaking his hand again and the lighter was off.
"Fuck me," Travis muttered, flexing his hand.
Ben laughed, placing the lighter down on the counter and spinning it.
I put the phone he wanted down on the counter.
"What are you even doing?" I asked Travis.
"Finn keeps telling me I can't touch the flame for as long as he can," Travis explained like it was an honest concern of his.
"Because you can't," Cameron reminded. "And you should stop trying."
"It's only because I'm pretty sure that motherfucker already lost all feeling in his fingers," Travis said as he stood up from the stool.
"So based off that, what part of trying sounds like a good idea?" I asked, shaking my head.
Travis didn't answer me and I figured he'd keep trying no matter what I said anyway. Instead, he grabbed my hand in his and pulled me out of the house. We went to the black SUV as he spun the keys around on his finger.
He held my hand all the way to the passenger side door and opened it for me, not saying anything but offering a small smile. As I got in and he walked around to the other side to get in, my eyes stayed glued to him. I could feel my nerves start to freak out.
Was I supposed to act differently on the first date or did it even matter now? We'd had sex, he'd practically on a death hunt of revenge for me, I lied to the government at a chance to see him again, and I told him I loved him.
He got in with a massive smile plastered on his face before he started the car and we drove off. All the while, he was tapping out a steady rhythm on the steering wheel.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"I got a tip on where some of the Dacostas were going to be and I figured we could go say hi," he said casually and I could feel the car speed up as he pressed his foot harder on the accelerator.
"That's not funny," I said as seriously as I could because I still had concerns over if he knew that wasn't date material.
Travis laughed and slowly, I started to relax.
He nodded, "Unless you want to just pull over here in the field and make use of the backseat."
I looked at the empty fields that seemed to overtake this town, whatever it was called, before looking at Travis. He looked expectantly at me, like he was actually serious which I shouldn't have been surprised about. And for a moment, I considered saying yes as my mind went back to the night we'd slept together.
"I've watched you guys bleeding all over the back seat of the car too many times. I'm pretty sure I almost bled out last time I was in the back seat," I stated.
He nodded, looking more than amused. "Fair enough."
"Where are we headed?" I asked.
"Lake Grove."
"Hmm," I mused as I looked out the window. "What city are we in right now?" I added because I'd never bothered to find out what city the safe house was in and it wasn't like I was able to pull up my GPS the first few times I got here.
"Kerrington."
"What are we going to do in Lake Grove?"
Travis made an "I don't know" sound. "Look for gang members?"
"Travis!"
"Lacey!" he mocked his voice rising slightly to try to imitate mine and I could hear the sound of the engine revving as he sped up.
Things blurred by us as we went down the open road, similar to how they did when we were on his bike. The only difference was on his bike, he could swerve in and out a lot smoother than he'd be able to in a large SUV.
"I really can't tell if you're joking or not now," I said, gripping the middle console and edging closer the top half of my body closer to him.
He smiled and thankfully kept his eyes on the road. However, he reached his hand over and placed it over one of my own and opened his mouth to say something but I pulled away and cut him off.
"Both hands on the wheel," I said, sitting properly in my seat so that in case we crashed, at least I'd have the help of the airbag. "Please."
Travis sighed and put his hand back on the wheel, adjusting the two of them so they were at ten and two o'clock. He straightened up in his seat, not slouching in the slightest and had his eyes glued to the road.
"Thank y-" I began.
"No talking," he interrupted. "I'm focusing."
I deflated in my seat with a groan at his antics. "You're impossible."
"Lacey Carson," he said slowly, like he was thinking about each syllable before he let it roll off his tongue and I wanted him to say my name again and again at that moment. "For the love of god, do not distract the driver."
I sank even lower in my seat and looked out the window, deciding to wait him out. Between the two of us, I figured he'd have to talk or say something obnoxious before I did so I could play that game if that's what he wanted to do.
I watched the clock on the dashboard count the minutes away as we drove through Kerrington. It was field after field. Occasionally, there would be a farmhouse. Cows. Horses. Crops. And then more fields of nothing but overgrown grass. It repeated like this for awhile and if I didn't know Travis better, I could've thought he was taking me out here to kill me. It would've been an opportune spot with nothing and nobody for miles.
After some time, the abandoned road turned into multiple lanes and Travis slowed down considerably on the gas, which I was thankful for. Partially because I knew we had less chances of dying if we went the speed limit and also because I didn't need him getting pulled over. If anyone tried to run his name to give him a traffic ticket, there was a possibility they'd see the warrant out for his arrest.
The fields were replaced with buildings. The dark black of the night disappeared with street lights. Illuminated signs popped up overhead as the hotels, fast food, and other businesses advertised themselves.
"Woah," I whispered as I looked at the stark difference between this down and Melkin. This looked more like where my apartment was, back when I was training for the special ops. People were walking along the sidewalks with no care in the world, arms links with their loved ones. A group of girls ambled out of a bar as we drove passed, the group huddling together as they laughed at something.
"Why don't the Caseys move here?" I asked before I realized what I was asking.
"Some of our money comes from here. Mostly from drugs."
"This is so much prettier than Melkin," I said. "Why not move here?"
Travis shook his head as he turned down a few roads, seemingly knowing where he was going. "We distribute stuff here and a few other cities but try to stay out of them to keep things cleaner and the cops away."
"Then why don't we just move here, period? No gangs. You guys want out anyway."
Again, he shook his head no and he glanced out the window at a line of people standing outside of a bar with music pumping out of it. He scrunched his nose up in distaste. "There's Dacostas and the suppliers that will come looking for us if we don't break things off. And even when we do, this is a little too close for comfort."
We continued to drive and I kept marveling at the buildings that soared upwards to the sky. We seemed to drive out of the bar scene and were now in the business area of the city if the height of the buildings were any clue.
"Do you come here ever?" I asked, noticing the ease at which he took some turns and the debate he seemed to have at others.
Any time I went out with the group, they were always going straight from the safe house to Melkin. There was no mention of this place, ever.
"No, we have people that handle things here. Guys looking to make a quick buck, people to go in and distribute in clubs, we stay out."
Silence enveloped over us.
"Where are we going?" I asked again.
Travis shrugged. "I don't really know. We can see a movie if you want. There's a few less flashy things a bit up in the older parts of the town."
I wondered if he was so used to Melkin's gray, he didn't like the flash and glam of the night life but I kept that question to myself.
"This is where a lot of the people went when Melkin started falling apart," Travis admitted.
"Did Melkin used to look like this?"
He lobbed his head back and forth a few times like he was thinking. "Not back there," he pointed behind us to where the neon signs flashed behind us. "More this area and downtown where we're headed."
We stopped at a traffic light and I looked up at the skyscraper next to us. Melkin had plenty of tall buildings like this. But there, the windows were cracked, there was rust, dirt, and graffiti overtaking the walls, and bullet holes in some of the brick. This building looked so pristine, so clean on the outside I could see a perfect reflection of the car in the multiple windows.
"Woah," I repeated, trying to picture Melkin before it fell apart as Travis started driving again.
"Ben's parents used to bring us up here to do stuff."
"I bet that was fun," I said, feeling like I wanted to jump around the SUV at the small opening up he was doing without me asking him about it.
He nodded and we seemed to drive through the business area and we were getting closer to the downtown area. The buildings were getting older but not in a deteriorating way. No, just the style seemed much more old fashioned, like this part of town was here decades before anything else was built.
"Sometimes it would be for a night out to eat or to see a movie. There's a spot on the edge of the city with a lake," he started.
"The lake of Lake Grove?" I joked.
Travis laughed, "I believe it's that very one," he looked at me with enthusiasm before continuing, "But one of Ben's dad's friends from work had a boat and we would come up here for the weekend during the summer and go tubing and stuff. One time Ben was tubing and hit a wave so hard he fell off and belly flopped into the lake. Had a red mark on his stomach the rest of the day," Travis said.
I scrunched up my face, figuring it must have hurt. There wasn't much I knew about Travis before the gang - his life, what he was like, what he did for fun. Most of what I knew about Travis was gang related or whether or not he'd shoot someone based on what they said.
"Do you miss them?" I asked.
"Yes."
They seemed more like parents to him than his own dad and I doubted Travis wanted to go live with his mom again. That was too far away from the others for him.
"Is the lake far?"
"Not really. We'd make it in twenty minutes," he said and there was an unspoken ending to his words. They'd make it there in twenty minutes with him driving. A normal person going the speed limit like a well-behaved citizen would probably take thirty to forty minutes.
"Maybe we can, oh," I exclaimed, cutting my sentence short as I peered out the window. "Look at that!"
"Huh?"
We'd already passed it, even with the relatively slow speed we were going and the sudden traffic we hit. It was a street off the main road we were on with tents set up and crafts on display. Twinkle lights hung from street lamp to street lamp.
"It looked like an art fair," I said, craning my neck to try to look down the street behind us.
"You want to go?" he asked.
"It's okay," I said because an art fair didn't seem like it was high on Travis' places to have fun. I didn't want to drag him along while he was bored out of his mind.
But then the car pulled over and we parked in one of the spots on the side of the road.
"Let's go," Travis said with a small smile as he turned the car off.
"Seriously?" I asked hesitantly. "We can do something fun."
"I didn't have anywhere in mind and this is fun so move your ass out of the car." He used his hands to shoo me out as he waited for traffic to die down so he could get out without getting hit. Which I appreciated and half expected him to just wildly open his door without looking, if I was honest.
I walked towards the back of the car where he met up with me and held his hands out, fingers splayed apart.
"Are you sure? We can go do something else, I don't mind," I said, taking his hand in mine as we started walking.
He gave me a shut up and drop it look so instead of saying anything, I quickened my pace and pulled him to the street decorated with twinkling lights. The entire street was blocked off from cars and lined with tents and as we weaved in and out of people at the entrance, I glanced at some of the tents in the distance. It was full of arts or crafts made by the people running the booths. Some lanterns were spread out on tables, depending on if the person wanted more light at their booth. Some people wandered around with cotton candy and I saw someone with a hot dog. Except for the actual street, any open space along the sides of it was taken up by a booth for as far as I could see.
I pulled Travis around people, keeping a tight hold on his hand so I wouldn't lose him. I still wasn't sure he'd enjoy this and didn't want him to get bored and leave for awhile if we did separate.
As soon as we got through the first pack of people gathered at the entrance, space freed up and we weren't having to weave anymore. I smiled up at Travis but saw his head turn as he watched someone walk by with cotton candy. I made a mental note to look keep an eye out for wherever that was being sold.
"This is amazing," I gushed as we walked over to where some of the booths were.
I felt Travis squeeze my hand a bit tighter as a response as he followed behind me, glancing at the items on the table as if he were actually interested. It was jewelry. A bunch of tiny beads strung together to make thick bracelets with small patterns on them. They were pretty but I highly doubted Travis had any actual interest in them.
The next few booths that we stopped at were artists displaying paintings, drawings, or comics for sale. At some point while I was looking at one of the booths, Travis' hand had left mine and instead it rested securely on my waist.
"Have you been to all of these places?" I asked a younger woman as I looked over all of her paintings of different cities and countries. There were so many and my eyes were trying to drink in all of the beautiful locations.
"Yes, I try to travel to a new place each time I have enough money to go so I can paint something new," she gushed.
I was head over heels jealous as I picked up a painting to look closer at the detail she put into it. All the while, Travis' hand was still on my waist, under my jacket. I could feel him running his thumb against my shirt. He was making it hard to pay attention.
After awhile, I couldn't take anymore and we moved away from the tables, further into the street. I turned so that I was facing him and wrapped my arms around his neck. Before he had time to make a perverted joke or say something stupid, I stood up on my toes and pressed my lips to his. He pulled me closing, kissing me back for a few brief seconds. I pulled away, still on my toes and saw a hint of a smile on his lips as he looked down at me.
"Who knew art got you going?" he whispered against my lips.
I rolled my eyes and sunk back down to my normal height. Travis just laughed.
"Oh shit," he said and my body froze as he looked over my head at something. But the tone of voice he used wasn't panicked or angry. "Stay in this area. I'll be right back."
"You promise?" I asked, eyeing him cautiously, not seeing what he was focusing on.
He placed a quick kiss on the top of my head and nodded before jogging off. I sighed, not sure if I was going to see him again.
Not wanting to venture far, I returned back to the booth with the travel paintings, glancing around a few times just to make sure nothing seemed out of the ordinary and there wasn't going to be a surprise visit from Scully. Or Dylan. Or the Dacostas angry we were getting involved with Elle.
But I didn't see anything so I smiled at the woman again and started talking to her about her travels. She said she wanted to see as many places as she could before she got too old and used her earnings from her paintings to help fund it. I asked her where her favorite places were and why, and was right about to ask her where the one destination she wanted to go to most and hadn't been able to yet when I saw something in the corner of my eye.
"One second," I said, excusing me from the booth so the woman wouldn't think I was rude when I left mid conversation.
Sure enough, Travis was jogging back towards me as carefully as he could. Only he had a funnel cake in his hand, two water bottles sandwiched between his other arm and his body, a bag of blue cotton candy in the same hand that was supporting the water bottles, and a bag of pink cotton candy with the top half of the bag shoved into his pocket, looking like it was about to break loose at any moment.
I ran over to him and as if he'd felt it all along, he turned his side to me so that I could grab the pink cotton candy before the bag fell to the ground. I grabbed the other cotton candy bag, clasping the two bags in my hand and took a water bottle from him so he could relax for a moment.
"You found food," I laughed, looking at the haul.
"Hell yeah, gorgeous."
"We could've found a real place to eat," I stated as he dug into the funnel cake.
"No way, this food is the best," he said, holding out his hand in case I wanted some but my hands were full. "Let's go sit somewhere."
I followed him as he navigated between people and protected his funnel cake like it was a baby. I really didn't think he needed that much sugar, he seemed to run on nearly endless energy as it was. Even when he looked dead tired, he was still bouncing around.
He found a bench and sat down on it, placing the water on the bench and digging more into the funnel cake. I sat down the water and blue cotton candy before opening the pink and taking a few pieces off of it.
"Do you like this?" he asked, gesturing with one of his powdered-sugar covered hands to the art festival.
I nodded, feeling my heart swell at the guy in front of me.
"You want to go to the lake after this?" he suggested.
"Are we allowed?" I asked, wondering how fancy the lake was or if it was made of docks that closed at certain times.
Travis looked at me like I was dumb and in that moment, I felt it when I realized what I'd asked. "You're asking me if we're allowed to do something?"
"I know, I know," I said before he had time to make fun of me further for asking a criminal that.
"We can do anything you wanna do," he said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. I took another bite of cotton candy to distract myself so I wouldn't blush.
"We can go now if you'd like?" I suggested in case he was bored.
Travis shook his head, mouth full. He pointed down at the funnel cake as he swallowed, "I gotta finish this, can't bring it in the car."
I rolled my eyes. "You're not allowed to bring it in the car?"
Travis narrowed his eyes and as he grabbed another piece of the cake, he made sure to use every finger but his middle one, sticking that one up in the air. It didn't go unnoticed and I bent over laughing.
When he finally did finish, he spent at least a minute trying to brush the powdered sugar off his black pants.
After, he stood up and nodded his head in the direction of the rest of the art festival. He had his water and unopened cotton candy in his hands.
"Come on. Let's see what else there is here before we go to the lake and skinny dip."
"We didn't say we were skinny dipping," I corrected, grabbing my water and cotton candy.
"But we didn't say we wouldn't," he argued with a wink.
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I hope you liked it and have a great day and Happy Valentine's Day! The next chapter should be out hopefully (fingers crossed) Friday-ish if life doesn't get in the way <33