Put Your Heart Where Your Mouth Is

"Home sweet home." Kennedy said, tossing his bag in the back of the van. "Go on in, and make yourself, uh...well, as comfortable as you can." He smiled slightly, and offered an awkward hug.

I pat his shoulder, unsure of what to say, and then ducked into the seat closest to the back. A boy with light brown hair, and a friendly smile glanced up at me from the top of a pair of black Ray Bans. "You the littlest Brock, then?"

"Ah, yes. That would be me." I said, holding my hand out to him. "I'm Andy."

"Garrett." He shook my hand, and then went back to fiddling with a hideously broken iPod Touch. The screen was cracked in every direction, and there was a loud beeping noise coming from the headphone jack. He caught me staring at it, and laughed. "We ran it over yesterday in Pat's driveway. It was pretty awesome actually, but seeing Kirch all hopped up on Red Bull was a little frightening, I have to admit."

"Is he the one who never stops texting?" I asked. I had no idea who any of my brother's band mates were. They were at my house constantly, but I never really bothered learing any of their names, or faces.

"That's John. Pat's the girly looking kid with chicken legs, and a camera in his hands at all the wrong times." Garrett explained, as if his friend's behavior was nothing out of the ordinary. "Jared's the fire crotch, and I'm the drop-dead sexy bass player."

I laughed, "Well, kid, you've got spunk."

"Thanks." He grinned, and glanced down at the band name on my t-shirt. "So, you're into All Time Low?"

"Uh, yeah. They're kind of my favorite band..." I shrugged.

"Well, that's good, because you're probably going to be meeting them by the end of the day." He gave me another smile, and I carried on to introduce myself to the rest of Kennedy's bizarre friends.

John was just like I remembered: his phone never left his hands, even when you were trying to talk to him. I may be old fashioned, but I couldn't help wanting to yell at his parents for raising such disrespectful spawn.

Jared was relatively shy, but he shook my hand, and looked me in the eye when I talked to him. He said I was shorter than the last time I saw him. I told him it was from all the alcohol I consumed on an hoursly basis. Kennedy had to warn him about my 'interesting sense of humor'. He still seemed slightly afraid of me, but he'd get over it.

Pat was, in one word, fascinating. He hugged me when I introduced myself, despite the fact that he barely knew me, and decided that learning every aspect of my life was about to become his summer project.

Kennedy had been dating Wren Clark for years, since they were thirteen, so seeing her again made me smile...sincerely. We'd been best friends since we were tiny, but she eventually moved in with her dad after her mom died, so we saw less and less of each other. She went to the highschool on the other side of town, but we always called eachother to talk about how horribly mistreated we were by the teachers. Looking back now, we weren't exactly overreacting, but at least I didn't go through it alone.

"Andy!" She shrieked. Before I had a chance to duck and cover, she tackled me to the pavement, and was hugging the guts out of me. I was honestly worried that one of my kidneys might pop. "I missed you!"

"I talked to you this morning." I breathed, hugging her back.

"It's not the same thing! Oh my God! You got your hair cut! The last time I saw you, it was, like, I don't even know! Oh my God!" When she was done freaking out over 'how much I've changed', she pulled me into the van, and demanded I tell her everything that had happened to me since I saw her last.

"Um," I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, "Well, you see, I spent a little time in jail after ripping off that liquor store on South Street--"

"You robbed a--"

"Are you serious, Wren?" I snorted, "Wow. Okay, lay off the Ritalin. Ben and I broke up, my parents think I'm a burden on society, so they sent me out here with my brother so I could learn to be a little less intolerable. That's it."

"That's it?" She said, looking a little disappointed.

I sighed. "That's it."