Walking Disaster

darted to me. “Parker came by?”
    I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. “I was gonna tell you.”
    “
When
?” she snapped.
    America leaned into her ear, probably explaining what everyone else but Abby knew.
    Abby put her elbows on the table, covering her face with her hands. “This just keeps getting better.”
    “So you guys really didn’t do the deed?” Chris asked. “Damn, that sucks. Here I thought Abby was right for you after all, Trav.”
    “You better stop now, Chris,” Shepley warned.
    “If you didn’t sleep with her, mind if I take a shot?” Chris said, chuckling to his teammates.
    Without thinking, I jumped from my seat, and climbed over the table at Chris. His face metamorphosed in slow motion from smiling to wide eyes and an open mouth. I grabbed Chris by the throat
with one hand, and a fistful of his T-shirt in the other. My knuckles barely felt the connection with his face. My rage was full blown and I was just short of letting everything fly. Chris covered
his face, but I kept whaling on him.
    “Travis!” Abby screamed, running around the table.
    My fist froze midflight, and then I released Chris’s shirt, letting him crumble into a ball on the floor. Abby’s expression made me falter; she was afraid of what she’d just
seen. She swallowed, and took a step back. Her fear only made me more angry, not at her, but because I was ashamed of myself.
    I shouldered past her and shoved through everyone else in my way. Two for two. First, I’d managed to help start a rumor about the girl I was in love with, and then scared her half to
death.
    The solitude of my bedroom seemed like the only place fit for me. I was too ashamed to even seek the advice of my father. Shepley caught up with me. Without a word, he got into the Charger next
to me and started the engine.
    We didn’t speak as Shepley drove to the apartment. The scene that would inevitably go down when Abby decided to come home was something my mind didn’t want to process.
    Shepley brought his car to a stop in its usual parking spot, and I got out, walking up the stairs like a zombie. There was no possible good ending. Either Abby was going to leave because she was
afraid of what she saw, or even worse—I had to release her from the bet so she could leave, even if she didn’t want to.
    My heart had been back and forth between leaving Abby alone and deciding it was okay to pursue her more times than a freshly single sorority girl on the second floor of a frat house. Once
inside, I threw my backpack against the wall, and made sure to slam the bedroom door behind me. It didn’t make me feel better, in fact, stomping around like a toddler reminded me just how
much of Abby’s time I was wasting by pursuing her—if it could be called that.
    The high-pitched hum of America’s Honda idled briefly before she cut the engine. Abby would be with her. She would either come in screaming, or the complete opposite. I wasn’t sure
which would make me feel worse.
    “Travis?” Shepley said, opening the door.
    I shook my head, and then sat on the edge of the bed. It sank under my weight.
    “You don’t even know what she’s going to say. She could just be checking on you.”
    “I said no.”
    Shepley closed the door. The trees outside were brown and beginning to shed what color remained. Soon they would be leafless. By the time the last leaves fell, Abby would be gone. Damn, I felt
depressed.
    A few minutes later, another knock on the door. “Travis? It’s me. Open up.”
    I sighed. “Walk away, Pidge.”
    The door creaked when she cracked it open. I didn’t turn around. I didn’t have to. Toto was behind me, and his small tail was beating my back at the sight of her.
    “What is going on with you, Trav?” she asked.
    I didn’t know how to tell her the truth, and part of me knew she wouldn’t hear me, anyway, so I just stared out the window, counting the falling leaves. With each one that detached
and floated to the ground, we were one more closer to Abby disappearing from my life. My own natural hourglass.
    Abby stood beside me, crossing her arms. I waited for her to yell, or chastise me somehow for the meltdown in the cafeteria.
    “You’re not going to talk to me about this?”
    She began to turn for the door, and I sighed. “You know the other day when Brazil mouthed off to me and you rushed to my defense? Well . . . that’s what happened. I just got a little
carried away.”
    “You were angry before Chris said