Undisclosed by Jon Mills

pressure, they had things in common and he loved hanging out with her, but over time her need to be entertained had taken its toll, especially since Will’s funeral. Come to think of it, Travis thought, it was probably before that, not that long after she had hooked up with Amber—it was like she was a different person when she was with her.
    Everything had to be exciting, new and expensive. He never really felt quite like himself when he was with her. Silence had become awkward and uncomfortable. More often than not he felt compelled to keep the conversation going and it always felt like he was walking on egg shells.
    Emily gestured to him. “Travis … can we talk?” Emily said. She moved off to one side as Travis approached. Amber followed suit.
    “Is your name Travis?” Travis spat, glaring at Amber, who was hanging like a leech to Emily’s arm.
    “Oh, let’s not beat around the bush—it’s over, she’s found someone else,” Amber shot out, giving Travis a gleeful smile, as if she couldn’t wait for Emily to dump his ass.
    Her face went scarlet red as she raised her hand to brush away her hair. “Amber,” Emily snapped.
    Ryan overheard and quickly stepped in. “Well … I guess that’s that. Let’s go, man.” He clasped hold of Travis’s arm to follow him. Travis shrugged him off.
    “No, I think I want to hear this.”
    “Oh … please.” Amber said.
    “Look, Travis—” Emily began.
    “You’re just too damn boring,” Amber spat out, cutting her off.
    Travis laughed. “Are you friggin’ kidding me?” he said. “What, so you waited until after your birthday to tell me this? And this is the best you can come up with? I’m boring? What, I’m not enough of an adrenaline junkie for you? You now have to go off and sleep with someone else behind my back?”
    “Travis, this is hard enough as it is.”
    “Oh, really,” he said, scowling. “Well, let’s make it a little harder, shall we,” he said, reaching out his hand in front of her. “The necklace, I want it.”
    “What?”
    “The necklace.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t ever recall you thanking me for it.”
    “I did.”
    “Uh … no, you just took it and didn’t say a word—so I’ll give it to someone who would actually appreciate it.”
    It was an awkward moment as she stared at him. He could see she was clearly taken aback by the comment—the look on her face was priceless—but after all he had done for her, he wasn’t going to change his mind.
    Realizing he was serious, she reached around the back of her neck, unlocked the silver chain and thrust it into his open hand.
    Travis spun on his toes and strode away. Behind him he could hear Amber consoling Emily. “What a loser. Good riddance to him.”
    “Oh, shut up, Amber,” Emily mumbled.
    Ryan caught up with him, walking swiftly beside him.
    “Nice one. You okay, man?”
    “Yeah,” Travis spouted. He wasn’t really quite sure what he expected him to say. All he knew was he didn’t want to show how he really felt. Truthfully, he felt like he’d had the wind knocked out of him and it hurt like hell.
     
     
    * * * * *
     
    That evening, before locking up the store, Travis walked around back and threw two large black bags into the large metal green Dumpster. The smell coming from it was nauseating. He let out the breath he had held in as he walked further away. As he made his way back to the front, sorting through a stack of mail that his mother still hadn’t gotten to, broken pieces of memories rushed back about how so much had changed over the past year. Most teens his age spent their evenings at the mall, studying or getting off with the opposite sex, but that wasn’t a possibility for Travis, even if he wanted to. His mother was once vibrant, someone who rarely felt down, she was the one who usually picked people up off the floor, but now she had just lost her drive to show up. Rick covered the shifts on most days and Travis did his best to get there in the