Such a Typical Thing

Like white needs black, if you leave, I hope you need to come back;

Something in Garrett's eyes told me he was serious about us every time I looked at him.

He'd try to talk about the future, about our relationship after Warped, but I always changed the subject.

My hand seemed to fit in his perfectly, and his smile made me want to pin him down and do things to him that would make a nun [or Pat] cry. The way he moaned my name, the way he hugged me too him, and the way his calloused fingers traced over my skin; it was all perfect.

But at the same time, I was wanting something else.

[!]

“Matty,” I said, sliding onto the couch beside him in the front lounge.

“What do you want?” he asked with a heavy sigh.

“I need to go shopping,” I enlightened him, resting my head on his shoulder.

“For what?” He eyed me skeptically.

“Tampons,” I said honestly.

“Ick,” he said bluntly, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out several bills and handed me a twenty. “I don't want you going alone.”

“Matt, I'll be fine,” I insisted, sitting up straight and pursing my lips.

“Remy, if you're going shopping in a strange city, dressed like that, you're not going alone,” he said sternly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Just as I was about to protest further, Danny walked in, his cheeks pink from the sun.

“Danny, do you have plans for the next few hours?” Matt fired at him.

“Uhm, not that I know of?” Danny responded, seemingly confused.

“There you go, sis! Found you a shopping buddy,” my brother informed me, faking excitement. He clapped once, standing up. He walked off the bus, leaving Danny and I to stare at each other, rather dumb-founded.

Danny shrugged. “Where are we going?”

“Target and where ever else,” I said, looking down at my toes.

“Works for me. I'll be ready in ten,” he said, disappearing to his bunk.

My phone buzzed repeatedly and I answered it with a smile after looking at the Caller ID.

“Good afternoon,” I said happily. I flopped down on the sofa and stretched out.

“Hey, gorgeous,” Garrett said on the other end of the line. “Where are you?”

“On the bus. I'm heading out to go shopping in a bit.”

“Sounds like fun. Is Matt letting you go alone?”

“Nope. He roped Danny into going with me.”

“Oh, good. What are you picking up on your shopping trip?”

“Tampons,” I said with a laugh.

“Well, at least we know the condoms are working,” he joked with a laugh of his own. For some reason, I felt my cheeks flare red.

“Do you need anything while I'm out?” I asked, toying with the hem of my tank top, willing the heat in my cheeks to go down.

“Nope, I'm all good. Cuddle session tonight, maybe a movie?”

“Always,” I said, smiling to myself. My stomach fluttered a bit in anticipation. “But hey, I'm about to leave. I'll text you when I get back, alright?”

“I'll be waiting,” he said, hanging up without a goodbye, like always.

I sighed, staring blankly at the screen of my phone. I push myself into a sitting position and closed my eyes.

“Ready?” Danny asked a moment later, stepping into the front lounge. He'd changed into shorts and a black Glamour Kills tee. He slid his wallet into his back pocket and I tore my eyes away from him.

“Uhm, yeah,” I said rather awkwardly, standing up.

I took a deep breath.

I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend.

I had to repeat that in my head the entire twenty minute walk to the shopping complex, which included a Target and several smaller stores. I'd stayed two steps in front of Danny the entire way and was sighing so much I was starting to annoy myself.

“Is something wrong?” Danny asked once the store was in sight. He'd fallen into step beside me.

I glanced over at him and sighed again, shaking my head.

“Well, there's obviously something wrong. You're sighing every 90 seconds. You're walking faster than usual. You haven't said a word. I mean, usually, you don't shut up.”

I could help but smile, knowing he was right.

“It's just a bunch of stuff: Garrett, Matt, the heat,” I explained as we stepped into the air conditioned story.

“Okay, I get your problem with the heat. My guess is that Matt's still on you about your clothes. So, what's up with Garrett?” he asked as I grabbed a basket.

“Are you sure you want to hear this?” I questioned with a laugh.

“Sure,” he shrugged. “We haven't talked in a while, so lay it on me.”

“Okay, you asked for it,” I said before sighing as we made out way through the aisles. “Garrett's looking for a long term relationship. I know for a fact that we won't last past the summer. I can't deal with a long term, long distance relationship. In all honesty, I don't even want the relationship to work past the summer,” I sighed again, turning down the tampon aisle.

“Just break up with him now then,” Danny suggested, as if I hadn't thought about that before.

“Because I like him, I really do. The sex is great, he's a great person, but I don't want to love him.” I stopped walking. Danny didn't say anything, but he cringed when I had mentioned the great sex. I glanced over at him and I could tell that he was thinking about what I'd said. I sighed once again, shaking out my hair. “I need ice cream,” I said with a whimper.

Danny let out a laugh. “I think there's a Cold Stone somewhere around here. When we get out of here, I'll buy you some ice cream.”

“Really?” I asked, completely excited all of a sudden. Danny nodded and I smiled. “Cardboard of plastic?”

“Waht?”

“For the tampons. Cardboard of plastic?”

“Cardboard? I mean, plastic wouldn't absorb very much of the...yeah...?”

I laughed at his obvious confusion, and at the fact that he was blushing like mad. I grabbed a box of Tampax Pearl and headed down the aisle.

“You went for plastic? Why?” Danny asked, catching up to me.

“Plastic of cardboard was referring to the applicator,” I said, choosing to enlighten him.

“Ohh...” he said in realization. I laughed again, shaking my head.

His naivety had put me in a much better mood.

After finishing at Target and getting chocolate cake batter ice cream from Cold Stone, we found ourselves walking the sidewalk of the strip mall.

We were mostly silent, but the tension was thicker than the mid-July air.

Danny stopped at one point.

“What is it?” I asked, looking back at him.

“I need a manicure,” he said bluntly, looking at his nails.

“You can't be serious,” I said with an amused scoff. Just then I realized that we had stopped in front of a nail salon with a sign in the window stating “Walk-ins welcome!”

“Dead serious,” he said, opening the door. With a sigh, I followed him.

I was hit with a blast of cold air that reeked of nail polish and acetone.

“Hey there! What can I do for you too?” the girl behind the counter asked. She had large breasts and even bigger hair. Her fingernails were an inch long and was wearing too much eye make-up.

“Yeah, we need two manicures,” Danny said with a charming smile.

“Alrighty, I'll get you two set up right over hear,” she nodded toward the tables on the other side of the room.

“Damn girl, when we the last time you had your cuticles trimmed?!” Lindsay, the other manicurist, asked, astounded as she examined my nails. She was a tiny little thing, skinny as a twig. Her medium brown hair was glossy and perfect.

“Uhm...never?” I responded, unsure of what would happen next. She let out a chuckle and went to town with a pair of cuticle scissors.

“Isn't this the life? Danny asked with a relaxed sigh ten minutes later. The girls were massaging our hands with oil.

“Totally. I'm just waiting for the Queer Eye guys to pop out. Dammit, what are their names?”

Danny glanced over at me. “Ted, Kyan, Thom, Carson, and Jai,” he admitted with a sigh.

I looked at him blankly and blinked. “Really? Hmm. Are you sure you're straight?”

“Straight as a nail,” he said proudly.

“You know, nails can be bent.”

Lindsay and Amanda went wild laughing, glancing at each other.

Twenty minutes later as we paid, Danny made a quick trip to the bathroom.

“Tell me you two are dating,” Lindsay pleaded as I handed her my debit card.
“Can't say that we are,” I told her with a half smile.

She groaned. “He has it bad for you girl, trust me,” she assured me.

I kept repeating Lindsay's words in my head after we left the salon. Danny and I found ourselves walking along the sidewalk, once again.

I was thinking about Danny and I's encounter the day after the first Warped party, the night I'd slept with Jack. His hand on my waist had felt so natural. My mind flickered back to the plane, when he'd held my hand during take off.

"Hey, are you okay?" Danny asked at some later point.

I blinked, coming back to the present. "Yeah, I'm fine," I told him quietly, giving him a weak smile.

"You're think again," he said knowingly. To my surprise, he didn't press the matter further.

I sighed, looking at the mltiple signs of the shops ahead of us. There was a Starbucks, a hair salon, a few local shops, and a tattoo parlor, which I stopped in front of.

"I want a tattoo," I announced to myself.

"Really?" Danny asked, sounding surprised.

"Yep," I said with a nod. I opened the door, stepping into the cool air of the building.

"I never really pictured you as the tattoo kind of person," He said with a laugh, following me.

"I'm a person of endless surprises," I said rather sarcastically, tapping the service bell at the desk.

We waited in silence for a guy with two sleeves and several tattoos around his neck to come to the desk.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, looking me over.

"I need a tattoo," I told him, trying to sound firm.

"Alright, come on over here," he said ushering me over to a bench. "What did you have in mind?" he asked once I'd sat down, rather uncomfortably.

"Uhm, just four stars, starting about here, to wrap down around my navel," I explained, pointing to the spot halfway between my breasts and my navel where the stars would start.

"Easy enough. Any specific color?"

"Two of them out-lined, and the other two filled in with black."

"Sweet. So just hop up on the table and I'll be back in ten."

I nodded slowly, standing up. My knees seemed to be shaking a bit as I made my way over to the table.

"Are you okay?" Danny asked as I pulled myself up onto the table.

"Sharp as cheddar," I assured him. The fact that my voice was shaking a bit as well didn't help my case. "And what is that; the question of the day?"

He grabbed a folding chair and dragged it over to the table, sitting down beside it. "Quite possibly. Are you nervous?"

"Is it that obvious?" I joked with a nervous laugh.

"Very," he informed me with a smile.

I wasn't sure if the fluttering in my stomach was from the nerves or from his smile.

Two hours later, we were walking back to the buses.

My cheeks felt hot and were visibly red for a number of reasons. One being my ever-lasting sunburn, another being the fact that I'd had to take my tank top off at the tattoo parlor.

My tattoo had turned out great, just as I'd wanted it. Danny had held my hand the entire time and kept asking if I was okay. Every now and then, his eyes would find their way to the red lace of my bra or the skin of my stomach.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked again when we were twenty yards from the bus.

"You know how I'm going to answer this," I told him with a quiet laugh. "I'm fine, Danny."

"Think Matt's going to say anything about the tattoo?"

"He didn't find out that I'd pierced my navel until 18 months after I'd had it done, so it might take him a while to notice the tattoo." I shrugged, running my fingers through my hair. I sighed and leaned against the bus. The side of the bus felt cool against my skin and I closed my eyes peacefully.

It was seven by now and the sun was just starting to set. Danny was beside me, leaning against the bus.

I opened my eyes and glanced over at him. At the same time, he glanced over at me. I smiled, letting out a laugh. I looked away, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden.

For some reason, I felt like I was thirteen again. Butterflies were swarming in my stomach and my hands had gone clammy.

I looked over at him again and he was still watching me. He smiled and I felt my cheeks go pink. Biting my lip, I smiled back. I pushed a section of my hair out of my face and I could feel something pulling me to Danny.

We had both begun to lean in, I could feel it.

God, those butterflies would be the death of me. My skin felt like it was on fire, electric, and not from the sunburn.

My eyes were fluttering shut as we got closer and closer, his lips barely inches from mine. Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

Garrett.

He was casually strolling towards Danny and I.

I pulled away from Danny quickly, before he even knew what was happening. I put distance between Danny and I as Garrett continued to approach.

"Hey, when did you get back?" Garrett asked once he was close enough. He slid his arm around my waist and pressed his lips against mine quickly.

"I just got back ten minutes ago," I answered, looking over his shoulder at Danny. Danny looked pissed and started up the steps of the bus. "I was just about to call you," I lied with a smile.

No, I'd been about to kiss Danny.

"Movie time?" Garrett asked, lacing his fingers through mine.

"Yeah, just let me go grab something from the bus," I said with a smile.

I bounded up the stairs of the bus and tossed the Target at my duffel and grabbed my purse, shoving my phone and some other things in it.

"You're really going to go with him?" Danny asked, leaning against the wall of the bathroom, watching me.

"He's my boyfriend. Of course I am," I said, trying to ignore the pain in his voice.

"Fuck off then," he said bitterly, turning and walking to the back lounge.

I bit down on my tongue, hoping to dull the pain in my heart. I pushed my hair out of my face as my throat constricted and tears welled in my eyes. I blinked and a tear spilled out.

I walked off the bus, willing the tears to go away.

"What's wrong?" Garrett asked, very concerned as he laced his fingers through mine again.

"Yeah, just got some dust in my eye or something," I assured him with a nod and a smile.