Everyone Pretends They're Happy

Since Loretta had moved in with us, I never really spent much time with Garrett, to be honest, it seemed like we weren’t actually together. I had so much work to do and Garrett had band practice and meetings so it made it difficult for us to see each other.
Loretta’s parents hadn’t approved of her moving out either and were constantly calling her to make her go back home, which of course she ignored and it finally stopped.
I was currently sprawled out on my bedroom floor, books and paints and pencils surrounding me, we’d been given the project tile of emotions and I was landed with the subject of pain, something I knew too much about. Loretta had been given jealousy which she seemed overly pleased about and shut herself away in her room to get on with it so I’d done the same. I’d drawn out a few sketches in my drawing books, started half a painting and cut out images to make mood boards and the whole thing was starting to look depressing.
‘‘Evie?’’ I heard Garrett shout. I smiled and ran to my bedroom door, throwing it open. He was currently walking up the stairs, skipping a few in between so he could reach the top quicker. He grinned when he saw me and embraced me in a hug. ‘‘God, I feel like I haven’t saw you in forever.’’ He breathed into my neck.
It had only been about six hours since he’d seen me at breakfast that morning, but that’s what it had been like for about two weeks now since he always had to rush off.
‘‘How’s things coming along with your band?’’ I asked him as he let me go from the hug.
‘‘Good, really good, awesome even.’’ He grinned. I cocked my head to the side and tried to work out why he was so happy.
‘‘What’s happened?’’ I asked, curious.
‘‘I cant say yet, we need to confirm things then I can let you know.’’ He teased and took hold of my hands. He stared at me and pulled me closer to him, inching his face closer to mine. He leaned in to kiss me but I turned my head, just like every other time he’d tried. He sighed and let go of my hands and entered my room, I followed close behind.
I didn’t apologise, I didn’t say anything, he knew the same thing happened each time. I couldn’t trust him as much as I wanted and I was scared to let things go any further than just a hug and hand hold because of how hurt I’d been. Garrett tried to understand this and changed the subject each time it happened.
‘‘How’s the project coming?’’ He asked me, taking a seat on my bed and looking down at my work. I shrugged and took my position back on the floor.
‘‘Its depressing me, to be honest. I hate having to draw about pain, it sucks.’’ I huffed, scribbling on a piece of scrap paper. Garrett lay next to me on the floor and took a closer look at my drawings and my half finished painting.
He didn’t say anything, he just scrunched his face up and sighed. ‘‘How about we go out somewhere tonight? Just for some quiet time, no band, no work, just us?’’ He asked me. I smiled and nodded.
‘‘I like that plan.’’ I replied. He brushed some of my hair back and kissed the top of my head before standing up.
‘‘Be ready for about seven.’’ Was the last thing he said before leaving my room. I heard his footsteps go back downstairs and the front door open then close. I rolled onto my back and sighed not wanting to do any more work. I still had a few weeks to work on it so stopping for a night couldn’t hurt.
***
‘‘Where are we going?’’ I asked Garrett as he held his hands over my eyes and walked me carefully through trees.
‘‘You’ll see.’’ He beamed, not moving his hands. We walked a little further then stopped. ‘‘And we’re here.’’ I could hear the happiness in his tone.
‘‘Erm, Garrett, I cant see.’’ I reminded him. He chuckled to himself and moved his hands from my eyes. It was actually amazing what he had done. He had set up and picnic in the middle of what looked like a forest, he’d hung candle bags from a few branches and there was very low music coming from a portable radio.
‘‘You did all of this?’’ I asked him shocked. He nodded, a proud smile creeping onto his features. ‘‘Its beautiful.’’ I told him. He took my hand and sat me down next to him on the blanket.
‘‘I just thought we needed some place for ourselves, away from everyone, away from work and stress.’’ He shrugged, looking at me.
‘‘Well, this is definitely out of the way of everything. I couldn’t ask for anything more.’’ I smiled.
‘‘We’ve confirmed things.’’ He suddenly piped up. ‘‘It was all sorted today.’’ I clapped and got myself comfortable.
‘‘Share?’’ I asked him. The grin on his face grew.
‘‘We got signed!’’ I always thought getting signed was easy, you just take your music to a few places and then bam! You’re signed, but after Garrett explained how hard they’d tried with so many set backs, it had finally happened for them. I couldn’t have been more pleased for them, it was possibly the best news yet.