I is for I Love You
Travis's jaw dropped as he stepped out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind him gently so as not to wake up Katie. Right before his eyes was the most horrible sight he'd ever seen. Now, Travis has seen some horrible stuff in his life - Kronos, dead people, his grandma in her underwear - but this, oh this had to be the most worst thing he'd ever seen. There, standing in his kitchen was Timmy.
Timmy?
Yes, Timmy. Eggs, toast crumbs, and pieces of bacon were strewn about his face. Luckily, he had the courtesy to wipe his mouth, but what he was using to do so made Travis want to punch the poor boy in the throat.
In the last month, Chiron had decided that some of the campers were lonely and needed a good influence, so he started that whole 'Big Brothers, Big Sisters' program at camp. Conner, being fired from his last job and being such a 'good influence' (Travis laughed hysterically at this), had decided to sign up. Timmy was now his full responsibility for the next eight weeks. The previous night, Conner had decided to let him sleep over, telling him that if he heard moaning and thumping coming from Travis's and Katie's room to just ignore it cuz they were just wrestling. Yes, he indeed got smacked.
But seeing Timmy messy was not what made Travis gape at him that morning of his and Katie's very first anniversary. What made him gape was the fact that he had eaten Katie's breakfast. Travis had spent who knows how long making that breakfast last night after Katie had gone to bed, making sure to spell out those three special words he had been dying to tell her since they first started going out, with pieces of bacon, toast, and scrambled eggs. To top it all off, he had even written her a sappy, crappy poem and placed it neatly next to the plate, planning to have the whole thing waiting for her when she woke up.
But now it was ruined.
And Timmy was at fault.
"No," Travis muttered under his breath, pacing over to the kitchen and grabbing the poem out of Timmy's dirty hands. He opened it up quickly, ripping the corner slightly. That rip didn't matter much compared to the smeared eggs and little boy spit that blurred all the words, making them unreadable. "No, no, no," he moaned.
"What happened?" Timmy asked curiously.
Travis glared down at him furiously. "What happened? What happened? You happened, little boy!" he shouted. "Did this look like it was for you? Did it? Did it say 'For Timmy' anywhere on this breakfast?"
His eyes had become wide and watery. His bottom lip began to quiver. "N-No."
"Then why would you even think about eating it!"
"C-C-Conner said I could eat a-anything out here."
Travis let out a frustrated yell. "Of course he did, cuz Conner's an ass who doesn't use his fu-"
"Travis," Katie warned from the doorway of their bedroom. "Chill."
"But . . . but . . ." he stammered.
"Come on, Timmy. You can come and watch TV in our room," Katie told the boy, wiping his tears and pushing him into the bedroom, shutting the door after him. She turned around and stared at her boyfriend with raised eyebrows.
"I don't like him," he said simply. Katie couldn't help but smile. Only Travis would have a grudge with a nine year old boy.
"And why not?" she asked, stepping across the room so she was right in front of him. She put her arms around his neck and brought him down to kiss her.
Wrapping his arms around her waist, he said, "He's a stupid little bastard and he deserves to rot in the Fields of Punishment."
"Someone has anger issues." She laughed as he glared at her. "Seriously, what did he do?"
"He ate your breakfast," Travis mumbled. She looked around him at the mess on the table.
"You made me breakfast?" she questioned with a smile. "I didn't know you knew how to make anything other than cereal."
"Well I can, and it was delicious." He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I made you a poem, too."
The humor disappeared from Katie's eyes. "You seriously wrote me a poem?"
He nodded his head sadly, "Yeah. But then the devil had to go and use it as a napkin." She couldn't help but laugh slightly at that. "It's not funny."
"It kind of is." She nodded. "It doesn't matter anyways. We both promised not to go crazy on gifts or nothing."
"Writing you a poem and making you breakfast isn't going crazy."
"For you it is. You gave me a glue stick for my sixteenth birthday."
"But this is different," he whined. "We weren't going out back then and you hated my guts. Giving you a glue stick was just part of my evil genius plan to get you to like me."
"How?" she asked.
"It's complicated." He sighed and watched as her fingers fixed his tie. "I'm really sorry."
"It's no problem. I can make myself breakfast and clean up this mess. You just have to hurry to get to work. Denise will kill you if you're late again." It was true. Just last week Travis had run into a dracaena on his way to work, making him half an hour late and not properly dressed seeing as his entire right sleeve had been cut off. His boss was not very happy, but what was Travis supposed to say? 'Yeah, I was just attacked by some mythical creature with snakes as its legs.'
He sighed. "Fine." After grabbing his briefcase, wallet, and jacket, he gave her a quick kiss. "Happy anniversary," he mumbled against her lips.
She smiled and kissed him back. "Happy anniversary." Travis walked towards the door and was just about to walk out when he decided he had to tell her sometime.
"Hey, Katie," he said without turning around.
"Hmm?"
"I just wanted you to know that I lo-"
"Katie!" came a high-pitched voice from the bedroom. Did Timmy have to ruin everything?
"I better go see what he needs." Travis nodded. "I'll see you later, okay?" He nodded once more.
"Yeah, see ya," he muttered while walking out of the door.
----------
"Vigalo's Flowers. We are flowers."
"You are flowers?"
"Look, we have to say it, 'kay? Just, what do you want?"
"I need a dozen amaryllises sent to-"
"Wouldn't it be amaryllisi?"
"Excuse me?"
"Wouldn't the plural be amaryllisi instead of amaryllises? You know, like octopus goes to octopi? Oh, or maybe it goes to amarylliseese, like goose goes to geese."
"You know what I've always wondered? I know goose goes to geese, then why doesn't moose go to meese?"
"I've wondered that too!"
"It just doesn't make any sense."
"I know."
"So, can I get those amaryllises or amaryllisi or amarylliseese or whatever?"
"Oh. Oh no."
"What?"
"We only have roses."
"But on your website it says 'Flowers of all kind are available 24/7!' "
"Yeah."
"So . . . "
"We have red roses, white roses, yellow roses, and pink roses."
"That's it?"
"Mmhm."
"But I need amaryllises! Katie hates roses."
"What chick hates roses?"
"My chick! I need amaryllisi."
"Well we don't have any."
"Your motto is 'Roses, and vases, and more! Oh my!' What the hell does 'more' mean?"
"More roses?"
"Ugh!"
----------
Travis smiled as he saw the caller ID on his cell phone. "Sup, beautiful," he answered.
"Oh my gods! I love you too!" shouted a voice over the speaker that was obviously not Katie.
His smile turned into an angry frown. "What the hell do you want, Conner?"
"It's just, sniffle, me and Timmy were just sitting here, watching the game, waiting for the Pizza Hut guy, when the doorbell rings. We open it up, and do we see a pizza man? No! We see a giant flower singing about how much you love us." He erupted into a fit of laughter. "Too classic, man."
"That was for Katie!" he said as loud as he dared. Denise was still in her office, groaning and moaning with the door closed, but she's been known to have the ears of a hawk, the nose of a dog, and the sight of a bat. Ooooh. Chills. "Where is she?"
"Oh, she went out a while ago to the mall with Melani." Travis groaned. "How much did you pay that guy anyway? Hopefully not much. He was a terrible singer."
"Goodbye, Conner."
"Oh! And on your way home, can you get some more Cheez-itz or something. Timmy and I had a Cheez-itz fight earlier and now they're all gone."
"Sure, whatever."
"Thanks."
"Such a good influence," Travis mumbled under his breath after hanging up.
----------
Travis was so glad when he finally got to Joe's Pizza and he saw Katie's smiling face. Joe's had been their favorite restaurant ever since they started dating. They had their first date, first fight, and first make-out session all at Joe's (and all in one night, too).
"Hey, you," she said as she walked up to him and gave him a small peck on the lips. "How was work?"
"You don't even wanna know," he muttered while they followed the host to their usual table.
"What'd Denise make you do this time? Make sock puppets? Do the Macarena in a gorilla suit?" Katie asked, looking over her menu.
"It wasn't just her. Just the entire day was . . . suckish."
"I'm sorry." She apologetically rubbed his arm.
After ordering their drinks, Travis asked, "What about your day?"
"Oh, Melani and I went to the mall."
"I heard."
"Really?"
"Conner."
"Of course. We went and saw that new Clash of the Titans movie, too."
"Was it any good?"
"It was pretty good. I didn't really pay attention much, though."
"What was your favorite part?"
"Oh." She blushed. "Well, have you ever seen the real Perseus?"
"Yeah. On Bring-Your-Kid-To-Work Day, Dad brought me down to the Underworld to give Hades some mail and what not. I saw him when we were down there."
"The Perseus in the movie was so-o-o much hotter, I swear. I just liked staring at his abs the entire time."
"Was the Andromeda from the movie as sexy as the real one?"
"You're just trying to make me jealous!"
"Yeah, a little bit."
"Well it's not gonna work."
"Well fine then. I won't tell you that the real one isn't even all that hot. Plus, I've seen the previews. The one in the movie isn't either."
"You don't think so?"
"Naw. And even if I did, I don't really like the whole princess kind. I usually like the cute, adorable, ridiculously beautiful kind that like to plant things."
"You're just trying to make me blush."
"It's working, isn't it?"
Katie bowed her head. "Yes."
Travis laughed and set his napkin down. "I've got to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."
" 'Kay," she said, lifting her head back up. She started playing with her straw wrapper as he left the booth.
Travis stopped by the counter before heading to the bathroom. He had a clear view of the entire kitchen. He motioned over Felix, the head chef, from where he was standing.
"Hey, Travis!" he shouted, leaving the rolled up dough to say hello. "I haven't seen you in forever."
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. We've been real busy lately." He shrugged.
"We? You and Katie still together, no?"
"Yeah, we're still together. It's our anniversary, actually."
"Ooh. Anniversary. You get her something special?"
"Not really. Not yet. But I was wondering if you could do something for me."
"Me?"
"Yeah. I want to tell Katie I love her. I was thinking that maybe you could write 'I heart you' in pepperoni or something."
"I heart you?"
"Yeah, you know. I and then a little heart, and then you."
Felix smiled slowly. "I see, I see. I think I can do that."
"Thanks so much. I'll see you later, Felix."
"Wait, what table are you at?"
"The usual."
"Cool beans, buddy."
"Later." Travis walked away with a smile on his face. There was no way this was going to be messed up this time. No way.
"Ugh," Katie groaned. "Where the freak is our pizza? I'm starving!"
"Chillax," Travis said. "They're cooking as fast as they can back there."
"Whatever. I'm hungry."
"I'm sure it's coming out soon." He glanced over at the kitchen doors, waiting for a waiter to come out with the most important pizza in his life. As if by magic, a waitress came out carrying said pizza. He could see the special pepperoni placings from his seat. Travis had never seen this waitress before, though. She must've been new. His heartbeat sped up a bit as she got nearer and nearer to the table. But right before stopping at their table, she took a sharp left and dropped off the tray to a woman in a business suit. It looked as if she was dining with her boss. After reading the message, she gaped up at him before slapping him across the face and running out of the restaurant.
Travis stood up from his seat abruptly. "No!" he hollered to no one.
"Travis!" Katie shouted, glaring at him and trying to get him to sit back down. People were staring.
"No!" he yelled again, this time aimed towards the new waitress. He pointed angrily to her.
"Travis," Katie said again, quieter this time but her tone was even sharper.
"That was our pizza!"
"We can order another."
"No, Katie! No! We can't order another! Not like that!"
"Travis, what's wrong with you?" she asked loudly.
"What's wrong with me!" he screamed. "What's wrong with me! I don't know. Maybe I've just been trying to tell you I love you all freaking day long and every time I do, it somehow gets messed up!" Katie opened her mouth to say something, a slight look of shock on her face, but Travis shushed her before she could. She looked around nervously. People were starting to stare now, including the waiters who had stopped serving food to watch. The kitchen staff were even poking their heads out from behind the counter. She even saw Felix trying to get a better view from the small window in the kitchen doors.
"No!" Travis yelped. "First, Timmy ate your breakfast, and then he used the poem Melani helped me write for a napkin, and then I tried to write you an email but Denise almost caught me so I had to exit out and it didn't save, and then at lunch I wrote you a song but nobody in the office would sing it for you and I sure as hell wasn't gonna sing it, and then I tried to get you some flowers but all they had were roses and I know you hate roses, so I tried to get you some chocolates but all they had were those crappy kind with the fruit stuff inside and nobody actually likes those, and then I tried to get one of those lame telegram thingies but you were at the mall, so I tried to tell you even in a text cuz I was getting desperate but then I remembered I didn't pay the bill last week so no cell phones for us, and so just now I went and asked Felix to make you a special pizza that said 'I love you' on it and then they'd give it to you and then you'd know that I gods damn love you, Katie!"
He finished the speech out of breath. The look on his face suddenly got softer and his voice less harsh. "I love you, and . . . and I just wanted you to know."
Katie was crying with a wide smile on her face. She bit her lip before saying, "I love you, too." A chorused 'Aww!' came from the crowd watching.
Travis looked a bit better after that, a small grin on his lips. "You do?" he asked in a small voice.
Her smile grew, and she stood up to match his height. "Of course I do."
"Good, good," he mumbled, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer. "That's good."
"Well don't just stand there!" yelled an elderly man some tables away after a few seconds of the couple just holding each other and staring into their eyes. "Kiss her!"
Travis looked towards Katie with a raised eyebrow, as if asking for approval. "Do as the man says, Travis," she scolded, bringing her arms up around his neck. "Kiss me."