“The Bare Facts” excerpt

Travis Langkow smiled as he placed the framed picture of his new girlfriend on his work desk, finally filling in a space that had remained vacant for far too long. He hadn’t seriously dated anyone in quite some time due to a self-imposed exile from the social scene. He’d spent most of his twenties dating various women and thinking that a few of them had real potential for a long-term relationship. However, he’d eventually catch them cheating on him (one girl had as many as five extra lovers) or lying about themselves (like the woman who said she won grant money from a veteran’s group for graduate school when, in all truth, she paid for it with her earnings as a call girl). It got to the point where he felt like he couldn’t trust any of the women that he met, since he’d spend all of his time just waiting for them to go behind his back or get caught in some outrageous lie. Right around his thirtieth birthday, he decided to make his social life less of a priority and focus more on his work.
       Travis served as lead architect for a local building design firm, and one of his big projects involved planning a structure that would use all-green technology. He worked long hours over many months, overseeing the project from its first rough schematics to the grand opening of the new facility, which utilized solar panels, wind turbines, and filtrated rain water, among other things, to minimize its carbon footprint. He won acclaim from those in his company and in his industry, and found himself being offered a slew of new projects as well as an executive title in his company.
       He basked in this success, eating up all the accolades that came his way. However, he knew he would’ve enjoyed it more if he had someone with whom he could share all this good fortune. He’d thrown himself so intensely into his work that he hadn’t realized that five years had passed. While he lived and breathed his work, the majority of his friends had gotten married and started families. Travis always thought he’d have more time for that, but after turning thirty-five, he began to feel time slipping away at an accelerated rate.
       He started venturing out to a number of area hot spots with his few remaining single friends. Catching the attention of the ladies wasn’t a problem for him, since he was tall and well-built with a full head of brown hair and a flawless face. He also wore stylish clothes that never failed to impress the female eye. However, he didn’t want to settle for just anyone, and none of the women he met had that spark he was looking for. He wanted a woman he could connect with and trust right away.
       Then, one day, his friend and coworker Kenny Garfield invited him to a happy hour gathering after work. Travis hadn’t been to one in a while, mainly due to his work load, so he decided to accept the invitation. Kenny greeted him at the door of the trendy modern bar that he’d picked for the occasion. He had messy dark hair with a matching beard and wore clothes that had seen better days. However, he was a nice guy with a gregarious personality, so everyone gravitated toward him. Kenny escorted Travis into the bar where many of their coworkers sat around several pushed-together tables.
       The gathering went late into the night, with many drinks imbibed and countless laughs shared. Travis had forgotten how much fun the get-togethers could be and was glad that he’d gone. At one point, after using the men’s room, he stopped at the bar for another drink before going back to the table. This pit stop proved fortuitous as he got his first glimpse of Sophie Leneghan: early thirties, an inch or two shorter than him, a fit body, long dark hair, light tan complexion, and brown eyes. She wore a white shirt, dark jeans, and boots. She noticed Travis checking her out and gave him a smile. Travis read this as an invitation and he moved next to her.
       They spent over an hour at the bar getting to know each other. Sophie revealed that she originally hailed from South Carolina, but moved to Philly when she was twelve after her father’s job transferred him up north. She still carried hints of a southern accent in her voice, and a few times during their conversation, she even exaggerated it for comic effect. And, just to get it out of the way, she pointed out the small but noticeable scar on her chin, a lasting reminder of a field hockey mishap in high school. In college, she was a liberal arts major with concentrations on acting and photography. After graduation, work in those fields was hard to come by. Her acting career amounted to a bit part in a never-released low-budget horror film and a few stints in plays for independent theater companies. While she failed to have much success as a thespian, her work as a freelance photographer gained her a place in the local arts community but still wasn’t enough to pay the bills so she worked a number of odd jobs before landing an assistant curator position at a small art gallery, a job which she still held and loved.
       As Travis told her about his job as an architect and some of the projects he’d worked on, she gazed at him attentively, never once showing any hints of boredom. Sometimes, when talking about his work, he could tell most women wanted to bolt rather than listen to boring architectural talk. However, Sophie showed genuine interest and didn’t rush him or sulk through any of his anecdotes. The two also talked about their personal lives, both revealing that work had taken up most of their time recently but they hoped to get back out into the social scene very soon.
       Before leaving, they exchanged numbers and agreed to see each other again in the near future.
       Several dates followed, during which Travis and Sophie became closely acquainted. On their first date, while dining at a bistro in the city, Sophie suggested taking things slowly and not rushing their new relationship, and Travis agreed. After dinner, they took a walk on the waterfront and talked until the sun came up. They went to various shows and exhibitions and greatly enjoyed each other’s company. On later dates, Travis gave Sophie a tour of some of the buildings that he had designed, while she gave him a tour of the gallery where she worked along with showing him her portfolio.
       One night, after leaving a show and hailing a taxi to take them to dinner, Travis and Sophie finally shared their first kiss. Following that, they ditched dinner, went back to Sophie’s spacious modern loft, and made love all night, an experience which exceeded both of their expectations. Lying on her bed wrapped in each other’s arms, both realized that they had something special and finally decided to become a couple.
       A few weeks later, after another night-long love-making session, Travis decided to liven things up by asking her: “How about, right now, we reveal three things about ourselves that we normally wouldn’t tell anyone?” She gave him a quizzical stare, so he added, “I don’t mean anything dark or serious, just funny stuff that, despite its humor, we’re not rushing to reveal to people. This could be a way to show that we trust one another. I’ll go first: I once wore a dress in public for a week.”
       Sophie burst out laughing at this. “Shut up! You did not!”
       “I’m dead serious,” he said. “It was part of a pledge to get into a fraternity in college.”
       “And did you get in?”
       “Yes, that is, after a few more bits of pledge process humiliation.”
       Then Travis moved on to his other two reveals.
       During his early days at his company, Travis didn’t make much money, so he needed side jobs to pay his bills. One of those jobs involved taste testing food, which wasn’t all that bad until they started bringing out dog and cat food. If he hadn’t really needed the money, he’d have quit, but he sucked it up and ate the food. “Surprisingly,” he added, “some of it was actually better than most people food.”
       For his final reveal, he admitted that he never quite outgrew juice boxes for kids. His refrigerator was stocked with little Hi-C and Juicy Juice boxes, with Capri Sun pouches thrown in for good measure. If guests ever asked him about them, he’d say that he used them for mixing drinks.
       “Good cover,” Sophie said.
       “Thanks. Now it’s your turn.”