Everyone Pretends They're Happy

When I woke up the next morning I had a slight panic attack. I didn’t notice my surroundings, so naturally I thought I’d been kidnapped. I calmed down after a few minutes and got out of bed, gathering some clothes and a towel. I made my way to the door and headed over to the bathroom, noticing Garrett was doing the same thing.
‘‘Go ahead, I can wait.’’ He offered.
I stopped closer to my bedroom door. ‘‘No, you let me go first yesterday, I’ll wait this time.’’ I went back into my room and decided to tidy up a little more. Putting things in their places and making room for my laptop on my desk that I hadn’t yet set up. I was hoping Harriet wasn’t too hung over so she could take me into the town and buy some supplies for college.
Half an hour later someone knocked on my bedroom door. ‘‘Evie…can I come in?’’ Garrett asked me.
‘‘Yeah, sure.’’ I replied. He opened my door and stood there in a pair of dark green shorts, a towel over his shoulders and dishevelled hair. Not a fibre of my being could say he didn’t look good, but I had to control myself from grinning at him and stop my heartbeat racing.
‘‘I’m done…obviously.’’ He said, drying off his hair.
I gulped and nodded, not trusting my voice box enough to talk. Garrett was the first boy since my ex that I’d wanted to dive onto for some reason. But even though that was a fact, I didn’t want to trust anyone with my everything like I had done.
***
‘‘Is Harriet up?’’ I asked John as I entered the kitchen. He was currently making what smelt like coffee. Jared and Kennedy were sat around the table on the high stools laughing at what I’d asked.
‘‘You wont see Harriet until about six o’clock tonight.’’ He answered, turning to face me. ‘‘I had to carry her home last night, I’m surprised you didn’t hear the fuss she made when she came in.’’ He finished then turned to pour three cups of coffee. ‘‘Did you need to see her for some reason?’’ He asked me, giving Jared then Kennedy their cups.
‘‘No, well, yeah. I wanted to go into town, get some supplies for college. I guess it can wait.’’ I turned to leave the kitchen. It was one thing I wasn’t going to enjoy about being in a new place. I liked knowing how to get to places. Even though I had my car, I didn’t want to go the opposite way and get myself totally lost. As I entered the spare room that was next to the stairs Garrett came crashing into me.
‘‘Oh, sorry, Evie.’’ He said holding me up right so I didn’t topple over.
‘‘Its fine.’’ I mumbled edging around him.
‘‘You ok?’’ He asked, not moving his hand from my arm.
‘‘Yeah, I just wanted Harriet to take me into town to get some college supplies. That’s not gonna happen according to John.’’ I was quite upset about that fact. I didn’t want to spend everyday all day in the house.
‘‘Well I’m actually headed there, I need some new bass strings, you can come with me?’’ Garrett offered.
I immediately perked up. ‘‘Really?’’ I asked probably too excited.
Garrett laughed slightly. ‘‘Of course. Always nice to have some company.’’ I smiled and ran up to get my bag and purse.
I met Garrett at the front door and we left. He said it wasn’t far to walk so I didn’t need to drive us. Plus, the weather was too nice to be stuck in a car.
‘‘So…you play bass?’’ I asked, knowing straight away it was a stupid questions…why else would he want bass strings.
‘‘Yeah. I snapped one last night. I didn’t wake you did I?’’ Garrett asked quickly.
‘‘Nope, I must have been out of it because I didn’t even hear the fuss Harriet made when she came in.’’ I replied. Garrett’s mouth dropped open a little. ‘‘Was it that bad of a fuss?’’ I asked curiously.
‘‘Well, she stormed up to my room and had a huge go at me for leaving early. Then she demand you swap rooms with her.’’ Garrett explained. I made an O shape with my mouth, shocked that such a nice girl when sober could turn so angry after a drink. ‘‘I wouldn’t worry about it. She likes the first floor. She tried being on the third but complained about the stairs. Drink turns her crazy.’’ I wasn’t sure I’d be able to cope with a friend like that.
‘‘Are you in a band?’’ I asked, wanting to go back to what we were talking about.
‘‘You mean-’’ he cut himself off, ‘‘yeah, I am.’’ He smiled proudly.
‘‘That’s awesome. Are you lot serious…or just starting out?’’ He looked a little surprised, but happy when I asked him.
‘‘We’re pretty serious. John’s working on some new lyrics and we’re gonna pick up practice again when you and Harriet go to college.’’ I didn’t know if I was about to jump to conclusions but I asked anyway.
‘‘Let me guess, the guys we live with are in the band too?’’ I was hoping I was right, I didn’t want to sound like a fool.
‘‘And you guessed right.’’ Garrett smiled. ‘‘John sings, Pat’s on drums, Kennedy’s on guitar and vocal and Jared plays guitar too.’’ I nodded trying to take it all in and remember.
‘‘What’s the band called?’’ In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting anything serious, they didn’t really look like a serious bunch.
‘‘The Maine.’’ I didn’t quite understand it, and I didn’t ask because I would probably never understand.
‘‘I’d really love to hear some stuff sometime. Give you my opinion.’’ I nudged Garrett’s arm and he smiled a little.