Into Your Arms

I sat, Indian style, facing my roommate’s dorm room window as the lambent moonlight shined through the cracks in the blinds. The events of last night played over and over in my head like a catchy pop song on repeat leaving my mind to feel overworked and predictably analytical. Turning to look over my right shoulder I saw my best friend, Ella, still asleep on her excruciatingly uncomfortable dorm room bed. As I looked at her I couldn’t help but feel a sharp pain in my chest. If Ella’s relationship with Kennedy didn’t last, how in the world could Derek and I’s? What Ella and Kennedy had was as close to perfection as a relationship could come, so how could they have ended it now?

It was as if my mind had recorded each and every detail of the previous night for me to analyze later. The four of us, Derek, Ella, Kenny, and I, had been grabbing dinner at In-N-Out when what started as a small spat between the two had escalated into a full on screaming match. The people around stared and stared without any shame as my best friend and her boyfriend turned from the perfect couple, to the perfect nightmare. Recalling the events of last night now, I still can’t say that I saw any signs of struggle between the two. As far as I knew they’d get engaged, walk down the aisle, and eventually pop a few kids out. I guess you could say that I was wrong.

As Ella stirred in her sleep I glanced over at the clock on her bedside table, it read quarter ‘til nine. Deep in thought I made my way to the bathroom that El and I shared with two other girls. After relieving my bladder I stared into the mirror, my reflection staring back at me as if it could see through my facade. I sighed as I tried to fish out the tangles of my bed-head. After giving up only seconds later I exited the bathroom seeing Ella sitting up in bed with sleep deprived eyes. As her gaze caught mine I gave a sympathetic smile.
“You don’t have to worry about me, you know?” she said catching the hint of sadness in my smile. I nodded my head as I thought through her statement. It must’ve been obvious to her that I still wasn’t so sure because she spoke again, “I’m serious Tegan, it’s not like the world ended or anything. People change, that’s just how things go.” I grimaced. Ella always looked at things through a positive light no matter what. Forget the fact that she’d had her heart ripped into a million pieces last night, she was still just fine.

“I don’t quite understand how you can be so positive, I mean look what happened last night. The guy that you dated for two years turned around and walked away, and you haven’t even cried yet. How can you not cry if you loved him so much Ella? I don’t understand. And if things didn’t work out between ‘Mr. and Mrs. Perfect Couple’ what’s going to happen to Derek and I? We happen to be the most dysfunctional couple this side of the world. I just don’t understand your optimism El.” I said letting my rant come to an end then meeting her gaze.

“Things have been kind of rocky for a while now, that’s just how relationships get sometimes Tegan” she said. It was such a simple answer, yet she seemed to really believe what she said. I didn’t understand her way of thinking at all. How could she not be a sobbing mess right now? She hadn’t even leaked a single tear, and at this rate I doubted that she would.

“I just texted Kennedy and told him that I would stop by and pick up the stuff I left at his place. Would you want to come with me? It would be a lot less awkward if I wasn’t alone.” Finally a hint of emotion or worry, I thought. I nodded my head at her and started gathering my clothes for a shower.

After the two of us got ready we started the twenty minute drive to Kennedy’s place. I was very nervous, and honestly had a few choice words I’d like to share with him, but also knew it would only make things harder on the now ex couple. A handful of sing-a-longs with our favorite mix CD later and we were headed up the stairs to Kennedy’s apartment. After knocking a few times the door swung inward and there stood a tall, lanky, dark haired guy. Ella nodded at him and said hello, while I just stared in awe. He was gorgeous. Where had he been all of my life? I tried to remind myself of the fact that I already had a boyfriend, but it was nearly impossible. Ella spoke breaking my train of thought:

“Um, is Kenny here? I need to get my stuff” she said as she looked down at her feet. Mr. Beautiful who had been staring at me for quite some time now turned to look at Ella as if he’d forgotten that there had to be a purpose for the two of us being here.
“Oh right” he mumbled covering up his confusion with a smile. “Kennedy had to run some places, he told me you were coming by.” Ella nodded her head as if she’d expected as much from her ex-boyfriend. Pushing the mystery boy aside she shrugged past him and made her way into the house, with me practically stepping on her heels from trying to avoid being kept alone with Kennedy’s gorgeous friend. The last thing I needed right now was to make a fool out of myself, I thought as we neared what I supposed was Kenny’s room. She unfolded a trash bag that she had obviously put in her purse before we left and began taking the items that were hers and stuffing them into it. As we moved onto the bathroom the mystery boy peeped his head in the door.

“If you need any help with anything just let me know El. I’d be glad to help out” he said with a smile. Ella turned to him and smiled in return.
“Thanks John, but I think we can manage” she replied. His eyes flitted to mine for a second before he backed out of the room.
“Tegan, snap out of it” Ella said while waving her hand in front of my face. Apparently I’d been really out of it because she seemed really frustrated.
“Sorry” I mumbled taking a step away from her, embarrassed.
“You think he’s cute, don’t you?” she said with a smirk. Sometimes I hated Ella; she could read my every emotion with such ease. I ignored her question and continued to help her sort through Kenny’s things. An hour later, we were finally finished with what seemed to be an impossible deed. After toting what ended up being two trash bags worth of stuff to the front door we stopped in the living room to see John sitting in the recliner watching television.

“Finally finished I see” he said with a smirk as we came into his line of vision. Ella and I both nodded our heads and made our way over to the leather couch against the wall. “So, since Ella here is rude, what’s your name?” he asked turning himself to face me. In a matter of seconds I had a faint blush creeping across my cheeks. Already embarrassed by my heated cheeks I decided I should try to refrain from making a bigger fool of myself, so after taking a deep breath I replied.

“Hey, I’m Tegan. I’m Ella’s roommate/best friend” I said with a smile. “And you are?” I continued deciding that it couldn’t hurt to sound a little confident in myself for once. As he smirked I noticed how his eyes twinkled in the light; like the cliché says, if you looked into them long enough you would melt.

“John O’Callaghan” he replied in a cocky drawl. “I’m the front man of the band that Kennedy’s in, The Maine.” I nodded my head knowing exactly what he was talking about. Ella had played their music a few times and I had to admit, I liked it a lot.
“Well I guess we’d better get going” Ella said. As stupid as it may sound, I didn’t want to leave. Boyfriend or no boyfriend, this John guy was nearly perfect. John turned to look at her and nodded his head. He arose from the faded blue recliner and walked us to the door. Just as we’d cleared the doorway, bags in hand, he called Ella’s name.
“Pat told me to let you know that he’d really like to see you soon, and that just because you and Kennedy are through doesn’t mean we don’t still want you around.” Ella nodded her head and turned to walk away, motioning for me to follow in tow. As I looked back at John he smiled.

“Bye Tegan, I can’t wait to see you again” he said with that infamous smirk, and with that he had shut the door and disappeared back into the depths of Kennedy’s apartment.
John really had me thinking, not just because of his looks, but also because of what he said to Ella about Pat. I’d met Pat a time or two and the more that I thought about it the more that I thought maybe he could get Ella to talk. Who knows, maybe I could persuade her to call him. Looking down at my phone I realized that Derek hadn’t even tried to contact me since last night. Rolling my eyes I threw the bag of Ella’s I was carrying into the trunk. Glancing at her I couldn’t help but think about the whole situation.

Just because Kennedy Brock had walked out of her life didn’t mean that someone else, maybe even Pat Kirch, couldn’t walk in and pick up the pieces, and that’s exactly what I was counting on.