Par for the Course

[Travis]

Slow mornings are a gift that most people take for granted. Everything is so fast paced, and decisions are being put in front of you the moment you wake up. Do you check your phone and answer all of the texts or phone calls? Check the news? Wait, you need to check your social media notifications. Immediately bombarded. It’s why when Travis got to have slow mornings, he fully embraced them. He stretched his arms out, sore from the day before, hoping that he would be able to relax his muscles a bit today. He was meeting Logan at the golf club with Ryan, Shane and some guy named Riley that he hadn’t actually had the chance to meet yet. When he rolled on his side he felt the cold emptiness, where there should absolutely be a leggy blonde. Okay. So not everyone believed in slow mornings. With a sigh he got out of bed, grabbing a hoodie off of the floor as he made his way to the kitchen, pulling it on over his head quickly in an attempt to wake himself up a bit more. “Morning babe,” she said to him, placing a blended green smoothie in front of him. He scrunched his nose at the sight of it, but leaned down to give her a kiss. “It’s full of all sorts of nutrients… it’ll make you feel better. I swear by it. “ she had already started defending herself against his visual objections to the green slime. “You also said that kombucha was a good idea,” he said, lifting his eyebrow at her before opening the fridge to grab some fruit. . “You will never guess the dream I had,” she said with a laugh in her throat, causing him to turn to her. “I am guessing it isn’t as good as the morning I had planned,” he said, kissing the side of her neck before picking up his coffee. “I had sex with Logan Renner.” Blake said, stealing one of the raspberries from his bowl. The hot coffee stuck in his throat as he coughed. “My Logan?” he said, narrowing his eyebrows in confusion. Her eyes rolled in response to his eyebrows. “Technically he was my Logan first, but whatever. Yeah. I slept with the boss.” she laughed again to herself. Travis shook his head, finally distracted enough by the conversation to pick up the green goo without realizing it and taking a drink. The moment it hit his tongue he was aware of two things. 1. Drinking this was a mistake. 2. There was a set of blue eyes looking up at him, eager that he would like it. “Holy shit,” he said, setting the glass down. “Best damn smoothie I’ve ever had.” he said quietly, kissing the tip of her nose before backing away. “Before you distract me too much.. I am going to go shower. I am going to go meet up with the star of your dreams at the golf club in about an hour,” he said, backing out of the kitchen. “Oooh. Let me know if he gets sweaty,” she mocked back to him as he fled back up the stairs to the bathroom.

A little over an hour later, Travis was handing his keys off to the valet, and he could already hear Shane talking another valets ear off. He had to be the nicest guy in the world. Blake didn’t have sex dreams about him.. probably. But then he looked at Ryan, maybe that guy. If Blake was into the tall lanky sick victorian thing? He had an odd charisma. No, they weren’t threats. What was he even doing? Why was he worried? Then there it was. Travis liked to call it the Elvis effect. He knew Logan was in a room before he knew Logan was iN the room simply because the women changed. Hell, so did some men. They lit up like a Christmas tree plugged in at the highest voltage just hoping to be seen by him. This time, there was someone on a phone standing next to him, yelling pretty angrily. Dude looked like he could kill someone. “What’s good, man?” he said as he got closer to Logan. The guy did have it all, except he didn’t have the garbage green smoothie this morning.

[Lucille Grace Astor]

Lucy gripped anything available, smiling ear to ear as Belle very poorly drove the golf cart across the course, laughing manically.  "Belle, my ball is OVER THERE!" Lucy screamed, and Belle took a sharp turn in the other direction, "Yes mam!"  Lucy didn't know why they even bothered trying to golf, other than the fact they were both members at the club and both admittedly like pretending they were living out some romantic Jordan Baker fantasy.  They'd take way too long golfing the front 9, get bored, and probably enjoy a sit in the sauna before indulging in a very nice lunch prepared by the chef at the clubhouse.  But not before enjoying a little traipse around the course.  "Hold on, spider monkey," Belle said in mock seriousness, and Lucy snorted at the ridiculous teen reference, "Jump it, jump it," she encouraged before they were both asses off the seat, zooming over a small hill, giggling like mad women.  Lucy let out a sigh as they rolled to a slow and Belle slammed on the breaks unceremoniously, "We're gonna get kicked off the course."  Belle stretched her legs, grabbing the bottle of wine they were very classily sharing, "Please, please invite me to Friday night dinner with Grandmother so I can see the look on her face as you try to explain that."  "I'll tell her I'm being negatively influenced by my peers."  "And you wouldn't be wrong."  They both laughed as Lucy dragged her pitching wedge over to her ball, taking a smooth shot and landing on the green where the ball rolled delicately to a stop a few yards from the pin.  She smiled to herself, "Well, you know, I'm just built like an athlete," she teased, striding back to the cart and taking the wine bottle from Belle.  Lucy was actually very good at golf, and most things that required coordination; she just preferred endeavors of the mind most days.  She tipped the bottle back and stopped mid-sip, noticing a group of men at the tee box, probably waiting for the ladies to finish there shenanigans so they could continue their real game.

Lucy lowered the bottle, grimacing, "Oh shit, those guys are probably cursing having a tee time right after us.  We should let them play through at the next hole."  It was the polite thing to do.  Lucy and Belle would only probably play a couple more holes anyways before heading back to the club to gossip with the old ladies and flaunt their long, toned legs in front of all they old ladies husbands.  She and Belle quickly finished the hole they were playing, sinking an 11 foot putt and giving a little jump of excitement, before driving up to the next tee to wait.  Lucy and Belle chatted and drank their wine before Belle glanced over, murmuring, "Oh shit, that's Logan Renner."  Lucy spun around to look before glancing away quickly so she didn't look like a crazed fan, "Oh my gosh, and that NFL player, the one dating Blake Parker?"  Both girls exchanged glances before smirking.  "Oooh famous people," Lucy laughed, earning an eyeroll from Belle, "Bitch, you're famous."  "Not like that," Lucy scoffed.  Belle tossed her hair over her shoulder, saying with a smug look on her face, "Bet they've all seen your Calvin Klein ads."  "Shut up."  The men approached on their carts, and Lucy waved casually, "Sorry, we're just playing a casual game, you guys can go ahead of us," she added, gesturing to the tee and indicating she and Belle would wait and let them go first.

[Travis]

Travis sat in the cart with one foot on the ground with his other knee resting up against the steering wheel. A cold beer can was starting to drip in his hand, but he shook it off, listening to Riley mutter under his breath. Logan was out of the cart, telling some entertaining story to Ryan and Shane. At least, it appeared to be entertaining, because they were laughing their heads off. Or maybe they were just high. But no, Travis was stuck on the golf cart with Riley because he wanted to get to know the grumpy ass grandpa who was bitching about the cart ahead of them. "People pay for this you know...." Riley had thrown out with the shake of his head. " So did they..." Travis tried to add in an upbeat tone. He leaned his upper body out of the cart, hearing some sort of exchange. Yeah. Ryan was high. "Do you see fucking strobe lights?! Riley had shouted out. "Alright now, easy Tiger Woods." Travis said quietly as he placed his hand on top of the cart and pulled himself off of his seat. He leaned backward slightly, popping his joints from being stiff with sitting in the smaller cart before making his way over to the small group. "Oh shit, hey," he muttered, seeing the girls and offering them a slight wave. "You guys realize you have pissed off THE soon to be most famous surgeon in all of New York, right? If you look closely enough... the steam out of his ears MIGHT just thaw out any surrounding icebergs within a million mile radius," he said, giving a serious nod.

Playing through didn't seem like a bad idea at all. He knew who Lucille was. You couldn't really live in New York without seeing billboards. Even if you took that away and considered the house he had back in the midwest, she was bound to show up on your TikTok feed from people either trying to look like her or copy her street style. Which means, when he looked over at Logan, he knew that it didn't even need to be addressed. No, Shane. Playing with them was not a good idea. Why oh why..did that friendly little garage music gremlin need to become friends with every person he met. Maybe he and Claire were swingers.....huh.. Travis shook the thought from his head, clearing his throat. "Sorry ladies playing together might not be the best.....optics..." he said, going a slight face at his own use of the word, but not able to think of one that felt more accurate. "Thanks for letting us play through, though. Have a good rest of your day." he said, giving them a quick nod before taking a deep breath, giving a tiny shake of his head to Logan.

[Lucille Grace Astor]

Lucy smiled politely, smoothing her skirt without thinking, making sure she was at least covered every where it mattered.  She and Belle may have been acting a little silly and carefree, but her WASPy upbringing was still a force to be reckoned with.  She nodded at the man Travis, the football player, gestured to, recognizing him as someone else who had graced the society pages like herself.  "Apologies, Dr. Collins," she smirked, "We don't want to cause a global crisis."  Lucy knew who he was.  Her Grandmother was very generous to the hospital he was at; the Astor's had an atrium named for them.  She glanced sideways at Belle, who was looking anywhere but Dr. Collins, and Lucy wasn't sure she even wanted to know.  One of the guys, she thought he was a musician, one of those Taboo people, had suggested they join their game and golf together.  He seemed like the jolly type.  Lucy hesitated, seeing Logan and Travis exchange a look, and she knew the answer was no.  That was okay.  Lucy shook her head, meeting Belle's eyes in silent agreement, "No, gosh, that's nice of you, but you guys go on ahead."

She nodded in understanding as Travis politely retracted musician guy's offer, "Really, it's fine.  No worries.  Belle and I weren't planning on playing much longer anyways.  Thanks though."  He wasn't wrong, for appearances sake they really would be better off not being caught by paps playing a casual round of golf with a New York socialite and an international model.  It was just bad PR.  The tabloids would undoubtedly make up some headline about at least one of them being involved with Lucy, or Belle, or both, and it would be a media shit storm to be even connected to Blake Parker with that sort of inclination.  Lucy may have been the friendly type, but she wasn't naive and neither was Belle.  And being seen with her and Belle was not in these men's best interest.  Obvious though it was that the guys probably felt a bit like asses about it, Lucy smiled trying to be reassuring, "You guys too, enjoy your round." She added playfully, "Please, don't wait on our accounts, go ahead.  Let's see those golf swings, gentlemen."  As the guys started to tee up and get back to their game, Belle leaned over, whispering, "I've definitely slept with the grumpy doctor there.  Let's just say the grumpiness translates well in the bedroom."  Both women laughed silently, holding in a fit of giggles, not daring to look each other in the eye.  She handed the wine back over to Belle, thoughtful.  The football player was tall in person.  It was no wonder Blake Parker had laid claim on him, Lucy could see the appeal.  Tall, handsome, manly.  Polite as well.  Had a good golf swing.  Nice back muscles, pleasant to watch.  If he turned around right now he'd catch her staring, probably.

[Travis]

Travis shoulders dropped a few inches in relief when the guys didn't put up a fight to him revoking their invitation to play golf. It wasn't in his nature to want to be rude, but this just wasn't the time or the place. For golf, sure yeah. "Fuckin hell, man," Travis laughed at Logan as they walked back to their cart. "Are we playing through?" Riley sat up asking. "Don't worry your highness, you don't even have to get out of the cart," he said, patting Riley on the back before he hit the gas. As he passed their cart, he lift his beer can to Lucille, giving her a small nod. She seemed cool, or at least that she understood the whole nuance instead of doing the familiarized pout girls will do when they think they are being playful and cute. She actually seemed pretty chill and understanding, a rarity from what he had known in meeting models. "Wait a minute, I've been in that blonde," Riley said, sitting up, causing Travis to cough on his beer. "2024, bud. Can't say that," he said, steering toward the next tee. "So I'm just supposed to lie?" Riley questioned like it was the most idiotic thing in the world.

A couple hours later, Travis was being led to their table. He was laser focused on finally being able to eat, wondering how uncultured it would be considered to ask for a hamburger when Shane's voice pierced past his ear. "LADIES! Twice in one day... Join us for lunch? No paparazzi here." Shane said, turning to an older man. "Unless this guy is.. Are you paparazzi? Where is your camera?" he asked, lifting the toupee. "Shane!" Riley scolded after him, apologizing to the older gentleman while he pulled Shane away. Travis looked at Logan, taking in a deep breath before he turned his attention to Lucille and Belle, smiling. "Like burgers?" he asked, pulling out a pair of chairs.