Taylor x Travis: In Every Life

and they were roommates

Travis' POV

"Boo!"

"Fuck!" I jumped, glancing up as Taylor dissolved into giggles, taking her hands off my shoulders and coming around to flop in the chair across from me. "That's real mature Tay." I sighed at her as she dumped her bag on the table. "How was class?"

"Good." She yawned. "Well, boring obviously. But good. How's the assignment going?" She nodded at my computer and I shrugged. "Ouch, that bad?"

"I'm getting there."

"You'll be fine, it's not like it's worth a huge part of your grade."

I nodded. Easy for her to say. Taylor had breezed her way through the first two and a half years of her degree with an A, while I had fought hard to keep my B average. She was just naturally good at college, which was actually a little beneficial because she would proofread all of my assignments for me. Taylor would insist she was just checking for spelling, but she'd end up giving me suggestions that bumped me up to a better grade. Honesty, I didn't know how I'd survive without her. 

"Oh, did you hear from Kayla?" Taylor asked after a moment. 

"Yeah." I sighed, pushing down the lid of my computer. "She...uh...broke up with me."

"What?" Taylor sat up straighter. "I thought you guys got past that rough patch."

"I thought so too, apparently she'd gotten past it by sleeping with that guy she studies with and told me not to worry about it."

Kayla and I had been on and off for just over a year, but it was truly off for good this time. Her and I had our problems, but we'd always fixed them, until I'd gone to try to make things right with her today and walked in to find her fucking that guy on her couch. Honestly, I was mostly relieved. I felt freer without her. I think I'd been falling out of love with her for a while.

"Aw, I'm sorry Travis." Taylor reached over and placed her hand on my arm. "I'm really sorry. I know you loved her."

"Yeah, well." I shrugged. "I'm kind of glad it's over." Taylor nodded sympathetically. "I'm good. I don't feel like talking about it."

"Okay." Taylor nodded, taking her hand off my arm to check the time on her phone. "Well, I can't hang around anyway. I've got a date."

"Who?" I asked curiously. Taylor hadn't been on a date throughout her entire college life, not one. She'd only ever had one boyfriend, and she'd dated him for a few months during our last year of high school before she dumped him after he pestered her too much about sex. Since then, she'd insisted she was too focused on studying to get a boyfriend, and had rejected every advance anyone had ever made on her.

People always assumed Taylor and I were dating since we lived together. But in all honesty, it was just convenient. We'd known each other since we were born, grown up together, gone through every year of school and life together. Ended up at the same college, so it just made sense. We'd started renting a little apartment just off campus together at the start of our second year and had been here ever since. 

"This guy in my literature class. Joe." Taylor told me as she got up. "We've been talking - just in class - for the last couple weeks and he asked me if I wanted to go for drinks tonight. I haven't really been out with anyone, like, ever." She shrugged. "So I figured why not. Gotta get out there sometime right?"

"Tay it's four-thirty."

"Yeah?"

"What time are you going out?"

"Seven."

"So why are you getting ready so early?" I never understood she felt the need to take so long just to prep herself to go out. Even when she was just going out with friends, Taylor would spend hours in the bathroom.