The nicest thing I can say about this chapter is that it’s really short, which is a gift from the merciful heavens after just travelling back from America to the UK. United Airlines didn’t even have the nerve to give us good entertainment options unless you paid hundreds of dollars more. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic even give the commoners travelling in economy awesome options.
But, book. Right. Travis went to Cami’s awful family dinner last week, which as ridiculous and cringe-worthy as we all expected it to be.
Chapter 9
The reason the nicest thing I can say about this chapter is about its length is because its sole purpose is to appeal to the real people that exist in this world who missed Trabby and Shamerica. I can’t even write that without being immediately filled with doubt and skepticism.
For those of you who were with us when we covered Beautiful/Walking Disaster, this is still is not the scene where Travis had a heart-to-heart with Cami, but it is the time where Abby meets Ethan who turns out to be a Generic Sexual Predator. And when Travis sexy dances with Megan. Trying to figure out where this fit into the timeline of those books and dig up those posts took like 20 minutes, so I hope you appreciate my effort. I just couldn’t figure out the answer to the timeless question, which came first the threesome or the heart-to-heart with a random bartender?
So the really important thing to get from that, is that in those books, Cami never even makes an appearance or gets a mention from what I can tell by reading over those posts. [Matthew says: Cami has one heart-to-heart with scene with Travis in the second half of Walking Disaster, and then is mentioned in a brief, 100-word scene where Travis and Trenton complain. These are the cross-references that the Beautiful world-building comes from. It’s like Discworld, but for idiots.] So all Cami has to do in the chapter of her own fucking book is to watch a scene we’ve already read from two different perspectives play out. Would this maybe be interesting if we learned something new? Sure, if it was a more interesting series, but since these are the Disaster books we’re talking about, we learn nothing new at all. [Matthew says: It must be nice to have a fanservice bar so low you can just say “Look, it’s Abby”.]
But hey, maybe you’re really interested to know what Cami thinks of Abby without really interacting with her at all, because how fascinating is that?
America and her friend returned, smiling and sweaty. The Freshman was a knockout, I’d give Travis that. She had that something special that one might expect from the girl who finally caught Travis Maddox’s attention, but I couldn’t pinpoint it. There was a certain confidence in her eyes. She knew something that no one else knew.
Seriously, nobody can even bother to share a line of dialogue with Cami. In her own book!
Travis looked over his shoulder to see who America was talking about, and then turned back, chugging his beer. He lit a cigarette and puffed out a cloud of smoke. He looked at me and held up two fingers. […]
By the time Marty had finished his shot, Travis had already pissed her off, and she was storming away from him, toward the bar.
She offered me a half smile, and held up one finger. I pulled her a beer, popped the cap, and set it in front of her.
It sure does change everything I thought I knew about this pivotal scene knowing Cami was there all along. I simply must go re-read those books in order to really take advantage of this new, rich layer of understanding.
Megan, Travis’s tried-and-true Plan B, appeared next to him. “Well, if it isn’t Travis Maddox.”
Megan didn’t cause a lot of drama, but she wasn’t my favorite. In addition to Travis, she had a few other guys that she liked to chase around. But never when they wanted her, and never when they were single. She liked the challenge of taking a man away from his girlfriend…
She doesn’t cause drama…but she only pursues men who have girlfriends? That’s like saying someone doesn’t eat unhealthy food but they almost exclusively eat at Chicken Joes. [Matthew says: That’s like saying someone isn’t an asshole, but they are a sexist. Which actually happened in this book.]
While Travis is dancing with Megan, Ethan of course swoops in to hit on Abby. Raegan and Cami worry about the situation and are about to step in and change the course of Beautiful/Walking Disaster history, but Travis shows up to fulfill his destiny as Abby’s protector. [Matthew says: Thus ensuring the character who got their own spin-off book continues to not be in the original story.]
I’m not going to bother summarising the rest of a scene that you’ve already fucking read twice. I’ll skip ahead a little to where Trenton shows up to remind us that this isn’t actually the Trabby show all over again. Just kidding! They’re just going to discuss Trabby.
“Trenton took a sip, and then sat the glass down, looking around. “I saw Travis yelling at some chick in the parking lot.”
“Oh? How did that turn out?”
“She yelled back. I don’t know who she is, but I kind of like her.”
“Me, too.”
Ohh I get it, if you just talk back to a Maddox brother, that’s all it takes to prove they’re the right gal to tame that wild man. It also is the basis to like someone you’ve never even spoken to and have only seen get angry at someone you know. [Matthew says: Continuing the novel’s proud tradition of people liking each other for no clear reason.]
Trenton ends the conversation pretty quickly, and goes to flirt with other people. Cami feels weird inside, but…but she couldn’t possibly have feelings for the person she obviously has feelings for!
“What’s up with you? You had a look on your face when he walked away. Did he say something?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“I’m your best friend. I probably already know.”
“It’s hard to explain . . . I . . . just got this bizarre, sad feeling. Like Trent and I aren’t friends anymore.”
“Maybe it’s because you know that he finally believes you’re just friends.”
They can’t possibly believe this, right? Cami even mentions right before this that just a few weeks ago, Trenton only came to have drinks with his brothers or find someone to take home. It’s really hard to feel sad for a friendship or blossoming romance that may be falling apart when the people in question have hung out like three times.
The one thing that is kind of odd, though, is that Cami let Trent see her crazy family and they seemed to genuinely connect over it after, so I find it odd that she doesn’t even mention that happened. If she had been like, “But we went to Chicken Joes together!” I would have been like, “Meh.” But the family thing seems important enough to mention here.
Trent leaves with someone, and Cami feels sad. Because friendship, of course.
What scene from Walking/Beautiful Disaster would you guys want to see from Cami’s perspective? Or what scene do you desperately hope we don’t see?
Tagged: Abby Abernanthy, beautiful oblivion, books, cami camlin, Excerpts, Humor, romance, Travis Maddox, trenton maddox
