The Night You Took Away a Little More Than Just My Breath

"John?" I felt a nudge on my shoulder. "John, wake up." They said, nudging me some more. "I can't find Kennedy."

I opened my eyes to see Garrett hovering over Taylor and I with messed up hair and alcohol stained breath. "Huh?" I said, still half asleep and forgetting what he had said.

"Kennedy." He said. "Where's Kennedy?"

"Oh." I said, rubbing my eye with my right hand. "He- he went home." I groaned, still waking up.

"Oh, alright." Garrett said, letting the smell of alcohol meet my nose once more. "I'm going home now then. See you later."

"Uh huh." I said, and instantly fell right back asleep when I put my head down.

An hour passed and I woke up with my skinny arms wrapped around nothing but the pillow. No one was laying next to me to keep me warm so I sat up and looked around my trashed living room. Taylor was standing in the kitchen, putting stuff into a blender. "It's good you woke up before I started this up." She laughed.

I smiled and got up off the warm couch to go walk over to her. "What are you making?"

"Hangover remedy!" She sang.

"Great." I groaned. "Those things are usually gross."

"Nuh uh." Taylor said. "This one is just like a fruit smoothie, hence the fruit." Taylor pointed at the strawberries and bananas laying around on the counter.

"Oh." I said. "You make the best alcoholic drinks, and the best fruit-hangover remedy-smoothies."

Taylor laughed and started the blender. The loud noise coming from the small little machine pierced my eardrums, which caused me to wince in pain. "Awh." Taylor laughed, noticing the pain she was causing me.

"You should have warned me!" I joked as I went to go get two glasses.

"Yeah yeah." She said, taking the cups from me. "This feels like work, standing behind the counter and all, making milkshakes and smoothies."

"Don't talk about work." I said. "I don't like talking about work unless I'm at work."

"Okay, Mr. grump." Taylor smiled as she poured our smoothies into cups. She handed me the first cup she poured and I sat at the bar, looking at the time.

"It's already twelve?" I exclaimed.

"Yeah." Taylor sighed. "I have to get going soon. I have to make up some test at two."

"Then that was a great idea to shit faced last night."

"Shut up, I didn't want to miss a high school kids party." She winked.

"Haha, I bet." I said in a sarcastic tone. "You just came for me, didn't you?"

"Well," She said, sitting next to me with her smoothie. "We all know college parties are better than high school play dates, so yes."

"I find that offensive." I said. "You had fun, right?!"

"Yeah, I did." She sighed.

"Then it wasn't a high school 'play date.'"

"I was kidding." Taylor laughed.

I took my first sip of the smoothie and it was better than the ones they sell in the middle of the mall. And the ones they sell at the mall are amazing. Within two minutes my cup was empty and I was reaching for more. "That's how you were last night, always reaching for more." Taylor said.

My heart dropped at the thought of the night before. Not even thinking about it until Taylor had mentioned it, I felt a huge sense a sadness hit me. "Yeah." I said quietly.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Taylor frowned at me.

"No, no." I said. "It's fine, it happened and I have to deal with it now."

"Yeah," Taylor said. "You're right. But don't let it ruin your life." I shrugged and just sat there, not knowing what to say. "You have a great life, you know." Taylor continued.

"Yeah, but it all got fucked up last night." I said, getting up to put my cup in the sink.

"You'll get through all of this, trust me." She said.

"I trust you, more than you think I do." I told her.

"Yeah, you probably do." She laughed as she looked at the time. "Well, I think I should get going now. Will you be fine without me?"

"I guess." I said, walking back over to the bar.

"Take a nice, long shower and a nap or something. I might stop by later if you'd like."

"I would love it if you came back." I smiled at her as she stood up.

"I'll try." She smiled as she began walking toward the door.

I followed as she walked over beer cans and random clothing. She opened my front door and began to walk out of the house. "Taylor," I said, stopping her in her tracks. She turned to face me and I pulled her into a warm, tight hug. "I love you." I said.

She looked up and smiled at me as she said, "I love you too."

"And you should give me that smoothie recipe next time we see each other, that was amazing."

"I'll be sure to," Taylor laughed.

"Okay." I whispered and kissed her forehead. "I'll see you."

"Mhmm." Taylor gave a cute smile and I let her go from my grip so she wouldn't be late to her appointment.

I stood in my doorway and watched her walk to her car. I watched her pull out of my driveway and leave me to lay around in my big, empty house all alone. Once I walked back inside, I tripped over the trash that gathered around on the floor. Not feeling like cleaning the house up, I sat on the couch instead and turned on the t.v.

With my phone placed on my stomach as I laid there covered with a blanket that still held Taylors scent, I waited for Jamie to call. Not paying attention to the sitcom that played on the t.v, I waited for Jamie to call. Wrapped up in all the thoughts of Jamie storming out on me and not calling until next week, I still waited for Jamie to call. I wasn't going to call her though. I wanted to make her feel like I didn't care, and make her feel like a bitch for flipping out on me like that for no reason, even though I do care more than ever, and I understood why she flipped out on me.

I began looking through my phone out of boredom when my phone started to vibrate in my hands. Before the caller I.D even showed up on the screen, I closed my eyes as my heart dropped and hoped for it to be Jamie. I opened one eye slightly and peaked at the caller I.D.

I sighed as I flipped open my phone to answer it. "Hello?" I said.

"Dude, this record label is interested in us! They want us to play a few more shows soon so they can see us live! One of my friends told them abou-"

"Whoa, slow down Garrett." I said. "Why wasn't I informed about this first?"

"I just checked the bands myspace and they messaged us! We have to practice and book shows soon. When do you want to practice?" Garrett said without taking breaths in between his words. "The sooner the better." He said.

"Tomorrow then, I guess." I sighed.

"Great!" He exclaimed. "I'll call all the guys and book shows!"

After Garrett hung up on me, I put my phone back on my chest and turned to watch t.v. I wasn't that excited about the whole situation because it has happened to us before, and we were let down. The guys wanted to change some of the music but I told them I wasn't going to change the music I love just to get signed.

A few minutes later I was still laying on the couch, craving another smoothie. My phone vibrated and my heart sunk, hoping it would be Jamie this time. I picked it up and read that I had received a text message. I quickly opened it up but was suddenly let down by Garrett once more.

'How is Thursday night?' The text message read.

'Sure.' I replied, closing my phone again and placing it back on my chest. I began to stare at the ceiling out of boredom as the T.V played in the back round. Almost falling asleep for the third time, I finally got up off the couch and got a glass of water.

I sat at the bar listening to the quiet house and drinking my glass as I sighed. Unable to bare the loneliness any longer, I grabbed my car keys, an acoustic guitar and ran out the door. Making sure my phone was in hand, I hopped in the front seat of my car.

The car was started quickly as I backed out of the driveway and drove down the street. Neighbors were sitting on the steps, enjoying the beautiful morning as I sped past them down the street. I had no idea where I was going, I was just driving.

After an hour of driving out of town, I ended up at a deserted beach. I had no idea where I was, but the area looked safe and no one was around. I parked my car in the small makeshift parking lot and got out with my guitar. I sat in the warm sand as I stared out into the water and strummed a tune.

I began singing Undressing The Words as I thought about how ironic the song had become just over night. I had originally wrote the song about this girl Garrett and I were fighting over a little over a year ago. She had more interest in Garrett, and I had written the song when my lonely heart was full of lust. "It isn't real if it's just one night." I sang. "I'm trying real hard, oh just be real with me." I sang as I connected the lyrics to my current life.

I got bored with the song and began to strum the first few cords of Daisy. I began to sing the song that I had written about Jordan. I wrote the song when she was beginning to change, and whenever she heard it not once did she even pay attention to the lyrics.

As I finished the song I saw someone walking up to me out of the corner of my eye. I kept looking down, not wanting to be bothered and played my guitar a little louder. I played a little louder only if they had tried to say something so that I wouldn't be able to hear.

But with my luck, the person sat down next to me. I forced myself to look up and it was an older man, probably in his 50s just taking a walk down the beach. "What brings a young boy like you down here?"

"Rough morning." I tried to say as little as I could about my predicament.

"So, you run away from everything?" He asked. "You know, when I was a kid I used to be just like you. I had my own acoustic guitar, had a good voice and ran away from all of my problems. But you know what happened when those problems came back?" He asked.

"What?" I asked, looking him in the eyes.

"They just got ten times worse." He said. "And I mean it, I'm not trying to scare you."

"Yeah, but I wasn't the one to run away from the problem first." I said.

"What, girl troubles?" The man laughed.

"You could say that." I said, running my fingers through the sand.

"What did she do?" He asked.

"Well I tried to talk, but she ran off. I haven't talked to her since seven thirty." I said. "I don't know where she is, either. And I can't stand my empty house. So I hopped in my car, and ended up here."

"Oh, well you should try to talk to her. She'll feel less a lot after you make the decision to speak first." He said like he knew all about my whole situation.

"You know what, I will." I said as I got up with my guitar. The man got up as well and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Fix and face your problems before they get worse." He said. "Always remember that, because I had to learn the hard way."

"Thanks." I said.

"No problem," He responded.

Taking the strangers advice, I got in my car to drive back home. I didn't know where I was, so I stopped in the nearest gas station to get directions like a tourist. I opened the front door as the bell rang and I stuffed my keys into my pocket.

I walked past a few aisles, watching my feet with each step I took as I heard two girls whispering back and forth with each other. I walked to the back of the store to get a drink and began to walk back towards the counter when I spotted some familiar faces.

Every little word of advice that man told me escaped my mind and heart when my eyes fell upon Alexis and Jamie looking at pregnancy tests. My mood completely turned from content, to aggravated and annoyed. Jamie looked up at me as I stood at the end of the aisle watching them. Her eyes got wide and she tried to hide the pregnancy test but I still knew what she was doing. "Johno!" Jamie gasped.

I didn't say anything to her. Instead, I remembered the last two words she had said to me. The last two words that caused my fragile unexperienced heart to hurt like hell. I walked past them in another aisle and made my way to the counter.

Jamie ran after me, repeating my name but I still ignored her. I put my drink on the counter as the cashier rang it up. "Johno, will you please just listen to me for a second." She said.

"You wouldn't listen to me when I had things to say now did you?" I shot back as the cashier gave me back my change.

"Yeah, but-"

"No, you know what?" I said, mocking her. "I'm done with all this shit. If you're pregnant, call me. Until then, fuck you." I said, storming out of the gas station in an unexpected rage and leaving Jamie to stand there with tears forming in her eyes. Hey, what can I say? She deserved to feel the pain she had cause me earlier.