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  Nicki stuck out her lip and pouted even more. “I could have gotten hurt!”

  “But you didn’t.” Travis calmly reassured her. “Look, if you don’t want to do this anymore, you can have a seat over there.” He pointed to a row of seats just behind the pit.

  “Will you sit with me?” Nicki batted her eyes at him.

  “I’ll come and visit you after the rest of the girls have had their turn here.” Travis led Nicki to the chairs, with Nicki complaining the whole way about being by herself.

  “I can’t believe her. She is just trying to suck up all of Travis’ attention. She probably did that on purpose,” Kara whispered to me.

  I stared at Kara with her short dirty blond bob and honey eyes. She was gorgeous when she smiled, but looked super bitchy when she frowned. I guess I had the wrong impression of her when I first saw her. She obviously was not a Nicki wannabe. Maybe she knew how to play this game better than I thought.

  “Well, why don’t you show her what Travis likes?” I motioned for her to jump in the pit.

  Kara smiled at me and walked to the line. Everyone watched as she took off running and made the jump.

  “Oh, that was a blast!” She scrambled out with Travis’ help. He was all smiles again.

  “I think I’m going to sit with Nicki,” Holly said softly, walking over to a scowling Nicki.

  “Riley, your turn.” Travis walked over to me. “Don’t go showing off,” he whispered in my ear. I smiled up at him and readied myself.

  I had been jumping into these foam pits for as long as I could remember. Travis first took me with him to a park when we were 13 and had me jumping, leaping and somersaulting into the pit by the end of the day. Since then Travis had built one in his backyard and we got to jump into it all summer long. Of course, he would be practicing new tricks into it, while I just attempted to advance my tricks from the edge.

  I wasn’t going to use this moment to show off in front of the girls. I had nothing to prove to Travis, and I wanted to keep the girls talking to me for as long as I could.

  Well, except Nicki. She can stop talking to me anytime now.

  I pushed off into a run and jumped into the pit, making sure to bend and separate my knees just a bit to make it the safest landing possible—another thing Travis taught me. I landed with a thump and took a moment to catch my breath.

  What a rush!

  I always forget the feeling I get when I’m suspended in air for that split second, and then the feeling of falling into small cubes of foam. It’s a crazy adrenaline rush, and I’d missed it.

  I quickly turned and started pushing my way through the blue and gray foam cubes to get to the ladder. I looked up and saw Travis grinning at me over the edge of the pit by the ladder, holding his hand out to help me.

  He pulled me into a hug, like he did with every other girl, and whispered in my ear, “I saw the dazzling smile on your face. You love being back in this element. Admit it.”

  “Of course I loved it, I always love it!” I backed out of his hug, unable to wipe the smile off my face.

  Just then Dave came out of the back room heading towards us. “If you thought that was fun, you should try jumping off the trampoline into the pit!” He walked over to the other side of the pit and slowly pulled back the covering over a built-in trampoline.

  “It’s much easier to do any kind of flip into the pit off a trampoline,” Travis said, hobbling over to Dave. I caught Travis’ grimace when he started walking. He must have hurt something when he jumped in the pit.

  Stupid boy never takes care of himself like he should.

  I quickly made my way to follow Travis, pulling up beside him when he stopped; I leaned in and quickly whispered before the other girls made their way around the pit, “Don’t even think you’re going to jump in again. I see your hobble.” I pulled away and stepped over to meet up with Taylor and Kara.

  “What was that about?” Kara questioned, looking between Travis and me. Travis wore a guilty-stunned look on his face. He glanced over at me with the look of a dare in his eyes, and I minutely shook my head.

  “I just asked Travis if I could try this first,” I said loudly enough for Travis to hear.

  He still looked like he was about to dare me to do something, which was frustrating, because he knows I will never turn a dare down. Lord knows he’s tried to get me to back down, but when you grow up with three older brothers, backing out of a dare is not built into your vocabulary.

  “Yes, Riley asked to go first. But I want to make this interesting. So, if you’re game Riley, I’d like to play a game of dare with you.” Travis brought his cocky smile back out.

  Damnit! He knew I wouldn’t back down!

  “Depends on what it is,” I said coyly. I wasn’t going to accept right off the bat—even if that’s what I was programmed to do—I had to remember the setting we were currently in.

  “I’ll keep it easy. I dare you to do a backflip into the pit.” He cocked his eyebrow and waited for my answer.

  A backflip, this was child’s play.

  “I’m not sure Travis; I wouldn’t want to hurt myself,” I said through my teeth. What was he doing? Trying to get the girls to hate me?

  “I overheard you talking to Taylor earlier. Your brothers do a little BMX and you’ve tagged along a few times.” He just grinned at me.

  DAMNIT!

  “Okay, fine. I’ll accept your stinking dare.” I seethed and walked over to the trampoline.

  Travis stood back with Taylor and Kara, who had looks of pure fear on their faces. I glanced up to see Nicki laughing with Holly and pointing at me. I’m assuming she was thrilled thinking she was about to see me fail.

  Sorry to disappoint you, Nicki.

  I started jumping in the middle of the trampoline, trying to get as much air under me as I could. After I was about five feet in the air, I started bouncing myself towards the end of the trampoline nearest the foam pit. I jumped a few more times—keeping the five feet of air under me—before taking a deep breath and launching myself into a backflip. In the few seconds I was completely airborne I fought with my body to do what my mind was telling it. Finally, I got around and made sure I went into the pit feet first.

  I landed, exhaling the breath I didn’t realize I was holding and fell back into the foam cubes. I heard a squeal, followed by clapping, and looked up to see Taylor, Kara and Travis at the edge of the pit all smiling down at me. I did a little fist pump and started moving toward the ladder. I pulled myself out, right in front of Nicki, who was snarling at me.

  “Show off,” she hissed just loud enough for Holly and me to hear.

  “At least I’m having fun with Travis, instead of pouting in the corner like a child,” I taunted back, before turning my back on her and heading over to the trio on the other side.

  “That was awesome, Riley! Can I try?” Taylor asked breathlessly. She looked over at Travis who just shrugged.

  “Have you ever done backflips before?” I asked Taylor, since Travis was still just staring at me.

  “Well, no. But it looks really easy.” She started sounding less thrilled to attempt it.

  “In that case, I would start with just jumping in off the trampoline. Work your way up. You need to land feet first, or you could get injured. Once you feel comfortable, add some twists and such,” I explained this to her as we walked over to the trampoline. Travis was being so useless. This was his stupid group date, why isn’t he telling her all this information?

  “Okay, I guess that’ll be fun too.” Taylor tried to hide her disappointment.

  “It will be fun. Promise.” I patted her shoulder as she walked onto the trampoline.

  Travis finally decided to move and came to stand next to me. “Do you have any idea how cute you looked when you were lying in the pit? All smiles and fist pumping,” he asked in a low whisper.

  I snorted, “Cute, yeah right. Did you bang your head today?”

  I could feel Travis staring at me again, so I redirec
ted his attention to Taylor—who was just getting a little air beneath her—by cheering for her. Taylor probably had two feet of air beneath her, when she jumped into the pit screaming. I rushed to the side in time to see her head pop out of the cubes, smiling.

  “That was amazing!” she squealed, climbing out of the pit excitedly.

  Kara went next, jumping on the trampoline before launching herself straight into the foam.

  “Oh man, this is so much fun!” Kara exclaimed, grabbing Travis’ hand to get out of the pit.

  We went back and forth for the rest of our date, taking turns jumping in the pit, in all sorts of different combinations. By the end of the date, both Taylor and Kara had managed to do a somersault from the trampoline into the pit. And even Holly left Nicki’s side for a few minutes to try her hand at jumping in. Nicki just sat on her chair, frowning at us the whole time. The only time she smiled was when Travis went over to talk to her for fifteen minutes. She also couldn’t keep her hands off him. And he seemed to be happily soaking it in.

  Yes, I saw it all, because I couldn’t take my damn eyes off them. I figured it was ‘research’ for my job on this show… but the more I watched them, the more I wanted to claw Nicki’s eyes out and tell her to get her hands off my guy.

  Wait a second, my guy? Where did that come from?

  I shook my head a little, mentally scolding myself for getting caught up in all this crap and went to join the other girls.

  Once again I was stuck in the back of the van, but this time I had a window seat. Which was perfect, since I didn’t really want to chat with anyone. I just wanted to stare out the window and try to figure out where that thought had come from. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen Travis with other girls before. Sure, he’d never had a steady girlfriend—but there had been a few girls. I usually ignored them. They were typically summer flings. Or maybe more accurately, city flings. And they were all clingy, prissy, annoying girls. They would get upset when Travis would only want to hang out with them in the hotel room watching movies and ordering room service. Every single one wanted to be seen out and about with Travis. They all wanted their fifteen minutes of fame.

  I don’t know what attracted Travis to those girls. Well, okay, I’m sure I have some idea what attracted him to them. The girls were stupidly gorgeous, and Travis is just a guy after all. They were also all superficial, just like Nicki. It was the exact reason why I agreed to doing the show. I didn’t want another one of those girls in Travis’ life.

  He’s making it really hard for me.

  But even though all the girls were exactly like Nicki, I never once wanted to claw their eyes out. Never once was I…jealous of them. This show was definitely getting in my head. It was only day two, and I already needed a break from this. That was the only logical answer to my craziness. Because I was not jealous of the other girls hanging out with Travis. And I did not call Travis ‘my guy’. That was just absurd.

  Sighing, I leaned my head against the window, watching the never ending line of trees pass by. Every so often I caught glimpses of Lake Michigan peeking through. All I wanted to do was get back to the mansion, grab a stiff drink and lounge about in my room for the rest of the day. Travis however, had other plans, when he turned in his seat to talk to us.

  “I’m sure you are all starving after our date today. So, we’re going to stop at this little burger place by the lake. I hope you all eat meat, because I can’t even describe to you how amazing their burgers are,” he told us excitedly, rubbing his hand on his belly.

  There was a murmur of excitement about the prospect of food, since none of us had eaten since breakfast. And we had been busy jumping around all morning.

  I knew where we were going; a 1950s burger joint called Lu-Mick’s that has amazing lake views. Nothing has changed since it opened in the 50s, except the prices, which were still reasonable. You can get their signature Mick burger for $1.35. But I wasn’t sure if the other girls would be okay with eating delicious thin grilled burger patty, on a grilled hard roll, with cheese, a pat of butter, ketchup, brown mustard and pickles. I swear everything about the burger would make girls like Nicki and Holly scream and run away. Not only do you usually get so messy, because the juices are leaking out of the bun when you take a bite, but the darn burger has a pat of butter on it!

  It’s freaking amazing.

  Oh and the malts?! Ugh, they are so amazing. Smooth, creamy, with just the right amount of malt flavor. Chocolate malts from Lu-Mick’s are by far the best malts ever!

  We pulled up to the old white building with red trim. A big flashing ‘Eat’ sign positioned on top of the building, with the vintage Lu-Mick’s sign fading just to the right of the door.

  “I’m going to order us some burgers, fries and malts. You ladies go secure those tables by the lake,” Travis said, motioning to the picnic tables which were lined up on the grassy patch of land behind the building. The picnic tables had blue plastic table cloths taped on, to keep them from blowing away with the wind gusts coming off the lake.

  We pushed two tables together to give us some space while eating and sat down, waiting on Travis and the food.

  “This place probably failed the food safety inspection,” Nicki complained. “Travis better not expect us to eat that crap.”

  “Can you imagine how many calories are in that stuff?” Holly bemused as she sat next to Nicki.

  “I know. And Travis didn’t even ask us what we wanted. He just went to get it. I would rather have a salad,” Nicki commented.

  I couldn’t help the snort that came out of me. “This place does not serve salads. It has served the same food since it opened in 1952. Burgers, fries and malts. That’s what you get. And you know, if you actually ran around and had fun at Dave’s, you wouldn’t be complaining about the calories, since you would have burned them all there!” I was frustrated with those two.

  “How do you know this?” Nicki questioned me.

  “I grew up in Wisconsin, Nicki. Lu-Mick’s is a staple for anyone who lives here. Any time my family would come to this area, we would always stop here.” This was actually the truth. Nicki just didn’t need to know Travis and his family were always with us whenever we did come.

  “I can’t believe people eat like this,” Nicki scoffed in my direction.

  No she did not.

  “Nicki, this is Wisconsin. Home of brats, beer and cheese. What the hell do you think we grew up on?” I yelled at her. “You indulge in moderation! But by no means do you have to eat a freaking salad to remain healthy!” I was standing up at this point leaning over the table getting into Nicki’s face. This girl was driving me crazy!

  Nicki scanned me up and down. “Yeah, I can see you grew up on that.” Then she turned her back on me to whisper something to Holly, who also eyed me and laughed.

  I was ready to attack the bitch. I was so close to jumping across the table and putting my fist in her fake face, when I heard a subtle cough from behind me. I regained my composure, and turned to see Travis standing there with bags of food in his hands. He walked to the table setting the food down.

  “Riley, would you help me bring the malts out?” he asked, lowering his gaze to the ground.

  I heard Nicki giggle, before I agreed and we headed back into the restaurant.

  No one was in the place, except for the two cooks, who headed to the back when we came in. Our malts were stacked nicely in cardboard holders on the counter. Travis walked up to them and took a seat on one of the bar stools by the counter. He patted the one next to him for me. I begrudgingly walked over and sat.

  I heard rustling behind us, and turned to see one of the camera crew had followed us in and positioned themselves in the corner, camera pointed on us.

  “What was that about?” Travis asked, staring intently at the malts.

  “Nicki is a bitch Travis. She is a horrible woman who has nothing nice to say about anything or anyone,” I ground it out through my teeth.

  “Do you really know her that well?”
He looked up at me this time, with questions in his eyes.

  “I don’t need to know her! I have known enough people like her to know her kind. Travis, you weren’t out there. She basically trashed our upbringing. And she made a snarky comment about my weight!” I was yelling now. I couldn’t help it, I was so irritated. Irritated that Nicki was still here, irritated that Travis clearly didn’t see her how I saw her. Irritated that I couldn't have this conversation with my best friend off camera.

  “Riles, you shouldn’t jump to conclusions. This is all new for her. You need to take it easy on all of them; after all, you’ve only known them for a day,” Travis said, staring right over my shoulder.

  “Travis!!” I screamed. He jumped back a little, but I continued with my voice raised, “You cannot be serious. You are sticking up for her? You are taking her side in this? Do you even want to know what she said to me? About me?”

  Travis just shook his head, “No, I really don’t. But the Nicki I have known has been nothing but nice and caring. She had a rough day today; she probably just wants to go back to the house and rest.”

  My jaw dropped. Was this really Travis sitting in front of me? I reached out and touched his forehead to make sure he wasn’t feverish and out of his mind.

  Damn, he felt fine.

  “Travis, please tell me you are joking right now,” I begged him.

  Again he shook his head, “Please just take it easy on her.”

  “No! No Travis, I won’t. You asked me to be here so I could help you pick. So I could see who the girls really are. I’m telling you who Nicki is, and you don’t believe me! Hell, you want me to ‘give her a chance’. You think she’s so great!” I stood up and started pacing in front of the counter. I couldn’t look at Travis anymore, I was bound to smack him if I was anywhere near him.

  “Yes, that’s why you’re here. You’re my best friend, and your opinion matters to me. And I know you are able to see who the girls are at the house. But what I’m saying is any time I’ve seen Nicki she has been nothing but nice to everyone. So, I really think maybe you are the one upsetting her and she’s just fighting back,” Travis explained, picking up a malt and taking a sip.