They walk for a block or so, smelling the breeze and being warm in the sun.

“What then?” Melissa asks curiously.

“What then what?”

“What are you doing at the end of the month?”

“Moving.”

“Moving!?”

“Yeah.”

“Where!?”

“‘Cross town,” Travis waves his hand in the general direction of Karen’s house.

“Oh.” Melissa breathes a sigh of relief. “I thought you meant you were moving away.” “No.” Travis says simply. After a moment of rolling the words around in his head, wondering if he should say it, he says, “Would it matter?”

Melissa stops in her tracks. She gives Travis a look that means he should know better than to have asked. She keeps walking and says, “Yes. It matters.”

They coast on small talk the rest of the way downtown, and when they get to the corner of College and Broad, Travis doesn’t know how to say goodbye, standing in front of his bike. She’s made up her mind to walk home instead, asking for a rain check on the bike ride, though. Travis jams his hands in his hip pockets and says, “There’s this party tonight…”

Melissa shakes her head lightly. Travis feels like she’s already walking down the street. “Not for a while, Travis, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I just need to get back to things, um, settle some things…”

“I guess I’ll see you around then.”

She gives in against her better judgment and steps close to him. She leans in and kisses him on the corner of his lip. After she does they look at each other. “I know where to find you. And I will” Then, she turns and walks away, leaving Travis standing next to Mary Jane with his hands still jammed in his pockets.

Read the whole thread: Carousel Cowboy

Characters and Places: feeling awkward, goodbye, Melissa Keller, moving, Travis Fleeting