Walking Disaster

blood on her palm. “Call me when you grow up.”
    I leaned against the door with my hip. “You can’t leave.”
    Abby raised an eyebrow, and Shepley jogged around the car beside us. “Travis, you’re drunk. You’re about to make a huge mistake. Just let her go home, cool off . . . you can
both talk tomorrow when you’re sober.”
    “She can’t leave,” I said, desperately staring into Abby’s eyes.
    “It’s not going to work, Travis,” she said, tugging on the door. “Move!”
    “What do you mean it’s not gonna work?” I asked, grabbing her arm. The fear of Abby saying the words, ending it right there made me react without thinking.
    “I mean the sad face. I’m not falling for it,” she said, pulling away.
    A short-lived relief came over me. She wasn’t going to end it. At least, not yet.
    “Abby,” Shepley said. “This is the moment I was talking about. Maybe you should—”
    “Stay out of it, Shep,” America snapped, starting the car.
    “I’m gonna fuck up. I’m gonna fuck up a lot, Pidge, but you have to forgive me.”
    “I’m going to have a huge bruise on my ass in the morning! You hit that guy because you were pissed at
me
! What should that tell me? Because red flags are going up
all
over the place right now!”
    “I’ve never hit a girl in my life,” I said, surprised she would ever think I could ever lay a hand on her—or any other woman for that matter.
    “And I’m not about to be the first one!” she said, tugging on the door. “Move, damn it!”
    I nodded, taking a step back. The last thing I wanted was for her to leave, but it was better than her getting so pissed off that she ended up telling me to fuck off.
    America put the car in reverse, and I watched Abby through the window.
    “You’re going to call me tomorrow, right?” I asked, touching the windshield.
    “Just go, Mare,” she said, looking straight ahead.
    When the brake lights were no longer visible, I retreated into the apartment.
    “Travis,” Shepley warned. “No messes, bro. I mean it.”
    I nodded, trudging to my room in defeat. It seemed that just when I was getting a handle on things, my fucking temper would rear its ugly head. I had to get it under control, or I was going to
lose the best thing that ever happened to me.
    To pass the time, I cooked some pork chops and mashed potatoes, but just rolled it all around on my plate, unable to eat. Laundry helped to knock out an hour, and then I decided to give Toto a
bath. We played for a while, but then even he gave up and curled up on the bed. Staring at the ceiling, obsessing about how stupid I’d been, wasn’t appealing, so I decided to pull all
the dishes out of the cabinet and wash them by hand.
    Longest night of my life.
    The clouds began to turn colors, signaling the sun. I grabbed the bike keys and went for a drive, ending up in front of Morgan Hall.
    Harmony Handler was just leaving for a jog. She watched me for a moment, keeping her hand on the door.
    “Hey, Travis,” she said with her typical small smile. It quickly faded. “Wow. Are you sick or something? Do you need me to take you somewhere?” I must have looked like
hell. Harmony had always been a sweetheart. Her brother was a Sig Tau, so I didn’t know her all that well. Little sisters were off-limits.
    “Hey, Harmony,” I said, trying a smile. “I wanted to surprise Abby with breakfast. Think you could let me in?”
    “Uh,” she trailed off, looking back through the glass door. “Nancy might freak. Are you sure you’re okay?”
    Nancy was Morgan Hall’s dorm mom. I’d heard of her, but never seen her, and doubted she would even notice. The word around campus was that she drank more than the residents and was
seldom seen outside of her room.
    “Just a long night. C’mon.” I smiled. “You know she won’t care.”
    “Okay, but it wasn’t me.”
    I held my hand to my heart. “I promise.”
    I made my way upstairs, knocking softly on Abby’s door.
    The knob turned quickly, but the door opened slowly, gradually revealing Abby and America across the room. Kara’s hand slipped from the doorknob back under the covers of her bed.
    “Can I come in?”
    Abby sat up quickly. “Are you okay?”
    I walked in and fell to my knees before her. “I’m so sorry, Abby. I’m sorry,” I said, wrapping my arms around her middle and burying my head in her lap.
    Abby cradled my head in her arms.
    “I’m uh . . . ,” America stuttered, “I’m gonna