Turning to Travis, Ian asks, “Seriously, who’s this girl?”

“Ah. It’s really not a big deal. We met back in September and got along really well. We’d hang out and flirt and make-out and whatever. After a couple of weeks she told me that she was dating this guy, and that’s why she hadn’t done anything serious with me.”

“So?”

“Well, after she told me she had a boyfriend, we started doin’ stuff.”

Ian laughs. “You’re a bastard.”

“It isn’t all my fault. We just got really drunk one night… I mean, that’s no excuse…”

“So then what?”

“We did that for a couple of weeks, and it was fun. I kinda’ liked it that way—sneakin’ around. But she ended up tellin’ her boyfriend the whole thing.”

“Did he come after you?”

“Yeah. Actually, he did. I remember he was real pissed off when he found me at The Manhattan. I think I told him somethin’ like, ‘You can hit me, but it won’t do you any good. I’ll probably just fall over.’ He sorta’ lightened up and we had a drink and talked for a while.”

Kristin giggled. “You’re so weird—talking to the guy whose girlfriend you cheated with. You probably bought him a drink.”

“I did.” Travis smiles. “Well, look, he and I both knew that it was really Sandy who had put us in this position. Neither of us could tell her that we wanted her to stop seeing both of us—he didn’t even know. I mean, the way I saw it, and I told him, is that it was up to her to do anything about it. We could fight all we wanted. It wasn’t going to do any good. And the funny thing is, after I told him that, he came to the conclusion that that’s exactly what Sandy had wanted. She wanted us to duke it out and she’d take the winner.”

“You think?” Ian asks.

“Yeah.” Travis thinks about it for a minute and sips his beer. “Yeah, I do. I mean, she told him where I was, when I would be there, and what I looked like. That’s definitely what she was up to. And it makes sense. The whole reason she started screwin’ around with me is because he wasn’t giving her enough attention. She wanted the guy that would give her all the attention she wanted—whoever would fight for her at that point.”

Laughing, Ian asks, “But you guys wouldn’t do it?”

“Nope. Jason did end up sort of fighting for her—told me that he wanted her. He’d put too much time into the relationship to just give up. I think he even thought it was his fault that she cheated on him—said something about being an absentee boyfriend. But, in the end he told me, ‘Just walk away.'”

“And now, she’s after you.”

“Yup. Think about it, wouldn’t you want to know why someone didn’t fight for you? Wouldn’t it bother you a little bit?”

“No.”

“Okay, smart-ass—do me a favor and imagine you’re a somewhat insecure twenty-year-old woman and answer the question. You’d wanna’ know what was up. In fact, you might even go to certain lengths to prove you were good enough.”

“Maybe she just likes you, stupid,” Kristin says.

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