Shared Traits

My head was spinning. It wasn't a smart idea to jump up in bed like I did. Closing my eyes, I tried really hard to calm the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'm never drinking again, I pledged to myself, knowing that the next time the situation presented itself, I would indeed indulge once again.

Somehow, I'm not quite sure how, but I managed to make it off my bed. "Fucksakes Tanner, put on some clothes!" My brother snapped. "No one wants to see that!" For a split second, I thought I stripped before I got into bed the night before.

"I'm dressed!" I told him after checking to make sure I was wearing the pj pants and t-shirt I barely recalled pulling on after talking to Sara. As I made my way towards them, Travis told me I was a dumbass.

Ignoring that comment, I told him I wanted to know what went on between Shelly and him. "Why did she leave...now?"

Travis gave me the 'death stare'. "What is that supposed to mean?" He glanced at Anna before asking me if I expected his wife to leave him.

"Are you kidding? I'm surprised she stuck around as long as she did, you're an asshole. You treated her like crap and -"

Travis got to his feet, his hands clenched in anger as he glared at me. Just when I thought he was going to punch me, he came at me, his shoulder ramming mine as he walked on by. "Thanks for nothing, Fucker."

The bathroom door slamming shut sounded like a gunshot in the silent room.

****

"Are you ready to talk now?"

A few hours had passed since Travis threw a few choice words at me through the bathroom door moments after he slammed it shut. He had stayed in there for the best part of an hour before he came storming back out into the room to grab his wallet. When I asked him where he was going, he flipped me off and walked out.

Over the rim of the newly opened beer he had purchased when he left the room, Travis shot me a dirty look and a "Fuck you."

"Quit being a bitch."

"Fuck off!"

With a shrug, I told him if this was how he acted with Shelly, she had ever right to take the boys and leave.

"Shut your fucking face!" He yelled at me. "I did everything I could for that bitch!"

I laughed. Really laughed. "Everything?"

He nodded.

"You've got to be kidding me! You ignored her. You treated her like crap. You didn't do anything she wanted to do and you always forgot her birthday and your anniversary!"

His face was starting to turn red, like it always did when he got mad. "I worshipped the fucking ground that bitch walked on! She left me! Are you forgetting that?"

From the sidelines, I heard Anna quietly say, "Being called a bitch always makes me feel all warm and tingly inside."

Travis heard her too. "Who the fuck asked you?" He demanded. "Mind your own fucking business!"

Anna stared at him, and for a second, I thought she was going to rip a strip off of him. Instead, she calmly shut her laptop and got off her bed. "No one asked me," she said tersely.

"That's right, so keep your fucking comments to yourself."

"Fine," Anna shrugged. "What the hell do I care anyway? From what I've seen, I'm glad your wife left you and took the boys with her; you're an ass. They all deserve someone who'll treat -"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Travis held up his hand. "My wife loves me - there is no one else."

"I didn't say there was," she replied as she slipped her shoes on. Turning to me, she told me she was going to visit some friends. "I'd say 'have fun' but..." She glanced at Travis. "I'll be back later Tanner."

When Anna left, Travis started ranting and raving about her suggestion that Shelly could be with someone else. "I'll fucking kill any man who so much as looks at her!"

"Calm down! Shelly isn't out with another man."

"How do you know? She could be! She did mention some bastard who was trying to hit on her a couple weeks ago. What if -?"

"Travis! Shelly isn't with another guy."

"She could be," he muttered. "She's hot enough to have someone else."

I tried to make him see that Shelly wasn't seeing someone else but he refused to believe it wasn't true. "Why else would she leave me?" He asked at one point.

I jumped all over that one. "You're an ass."

"Fuck you, I'm not!"

"Why did she leave then?"

With a shrug, he told me he didn't know. "We were watching TV and she started on about what we were going to do this summer for vacation. Next thing I know, she's screaming at me and shoving her shit into a suitcase, threatening to leave me."

"What did you do?"

"I told her if she had it so bad, then she knew where the door was."

Fuuuck! I closed my eyes and just shook my head. "You told her to leave."

He didn't say anything.

I opened my eyes. "You told her to leave!"

He started to deny it.

"Are you fucking crazy?" I grabbed his shirt and started to shake him. "You fucking asshole! You told her to leave! And then you have the nerve to come here and drink yourself stupid, acting like you don't know why she left!"

"I don't -"

Shoving him backwards, I told him he was the dumbest fucker alive. "What woman would stick around when she's been told and shown over and over again that she means nothing? It was only a matter of time before she left your sorry ass." I started to walk away from him. "Congratulations Travis, you destroyed the best thing that ever happened to you."

Later that night, as I was watching TV while Travis tried, in vain to get a hold of Shelly, I realized that I hadn't heard from Sara.

But I did hear from Scott. He had knocked on my door just before supper, looking for Anna. When I told him that Anna was out with friends, he told me that he just wanted to let us know that our original reservations were straightened out. "Come Monday morning, you two will be in two one-bed rooms, like you were supposed to be from the start."

When Scott left, Travis asked if he could change rooms with Anna when the time came. "She's hot bro, why aren't you trying to hit that?"

I didn't bother to answer that. He wouldn't believe me if I did.