She Won't Kiss and Tell

Garrett

I walked down the sidewalk and crossed the street to the O’Callaghan’s resident. There were cardboard boxes and trunks scattered everywhere; on the foyer and the front yard. John was putting down a box on the steps when he saw me.

“Can you help us up, dude?”, he asked with his thumb jerked into his house.

“Yea, sure.”, I nodded and followed him into the house. The inside was messier than the outside. Opened suitcases filled the living room. “What’s going on in here?”

John sighed and we stopped in the kitchen. “Today’s the day Mandy leave for college?”

“Today?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I thought you always keep this day in your mind.”

“It’s been, what? 3 weeks since the last time I talked to her?”

“Well, I hate to break this to you, but you gotta move on.”

“How come?”

“Cause—“, before John could finish up his words, his little sister stormed into the kitchen.

“John, do you know where my books are?”, she asked as she controlled her breathing.

“In a box, somewhere outside.”, John answered simply.
Amanda nodded and when she finally saw me, her piercing green eyes widened. “Garrett? What are you doing here?”

“John asked me to help out.”

“Oh.”, she muttered before rushing outside. John gestured me to follow her with his eyes and I didn’t argue with it. I followed Amanda out and found her, digging something out from an opened box.

“Amanda.”

She looked up and her brows lifted. “Yeah?”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“What’s up?”, she stood straight and placed her hands on her hips. “Everything okay?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way.”, I scratched the back of my neck.

“What is it, Garrett?”

“Well, I wanted to know…how do you feel about me now?”

Her pink lips opened a bit, I took her off guard. Her eyes looked everywhere, besides my face. Her hands fell down from her hips to her sides. “Garrett…I don’t really know.”

“John told me you found a new guy.”

“Well, John was wrong.”

I narrowed my eyes to her. “What?”

“I did, actually. But he’s not my boyfriend. We’re just friends, but I don’t know about the future.”

“So, what now?”

She sighed and took a step forward. “Garrett, I’m really sorry. I love you, seriously. But, this whole, love triangle thing really needs to stop. I love you, but I love Kenny too. This whole thing is too complicated for me. I want to be with you, but I feel really guilty to Kennedy. The only way to stop this hell hole is, I’m going away from your lives.”

“You’re running away, Amanda, it won’t solve things permanently.”

She shook her head. “Well, for now, it would. Please Gary, I love you guys, and I don’t want this band, that all of you worked so hard for it, breaks up just because of me.”

“Mandy—“

“No, stop.”, she placed her finger on my lips. “All you have to do is forget about me, so does Kennedy. I’ll be back, but I want you guys to find a new girl. Just…move on.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Oh believe me. It’ll be easy.”, she giggled. “Lots of girls would line up to be yours.”

“But none of them would be like you.”

Amanda kept her mouth shut, but her eyes still lingered on mine. “Garrett, I’ll be here, but, as your friend. A friend you could hold on to anything.”
****************
Amanda

“I’ll miss you, Man-Ohh!”, Jared muttered as we hugged.

“I’ll miss you too, Jar-Bear! If you stop by at New York, don’t forget to call me. we could totally hang out together.”

Jared pulled away and I got hugs from the others too. Kennedy hugged me the longest and I didn’t mind. I inhaled his scent for maybe, the last time. “I’ll miss you, Kenny.”

“I’ll miss you too, Mandy. I’ll miss you so much.”

I pulled away and cupped his face in his hands. “Be strong, kay? I’ll always love you like I love the others.”

He nodded and that brought smile to my face. Before I forgot, I took off my mini vinyl record necklace and dropped it into Kennedy’s palm. “For you.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

“Thanks.”

“So you’ll remember me. You were my summer miracle.”

A smile grew on Kennedy’s lips as I said that. I quickly pulled him into a hug again before John pulled me away. “You guys are monopolizing her.”, He whined as he wrapped his arms around me.

“I didn’t forget about you, Johnny.”

“Oh yea? I think you were so comfortable with the others back there.”

“I did, but I won’t miss them for making me late night PB&J.”

John grinned and leaned down, kissing my temple. “Come on, sissy. Mom said your plane will board in an hour and a half.”

I nodded and waved to the guys. Garrett waved back slightly and I smiled back to him, muttering him ‘good luck’.

Garrett

I watched as Amanda got into John’s car. When they pulled out from the driveway and disappeared in the corner of the street, I sighed.

Her words rang in my ears. I was glad she still wanted me in her life, even though just to be a friend. I decided to go to a park near my house. It was a sunny day, a rare one when the summer was almost end.

I sat down on the bench, looking around the park. Some kids were playing cheerfully with their pets or their parents, some girls were giggling and I could feel that one of them was peeking on me.

When I stood up, suddenly, a huge dog pinned me back to the bench. “Oh my God!”, I screamed.

“Bad dog!”, a girl’s voice exclaimed as she pulled the dog’s leash back. “Get down, boy!”

The dog heard his master and jumped off of me. She glared at the dog and it whimpered. “I’m really sorry, he could get hyper sometimes.”, she apologized.

“No, it’s okay. He’s huge.”

She laughed and nodded. “Yeah. I’m really sorry. I hope he didn’t scare you too much.”

“Scare me? no, he just…surprised me.”

“Yea, yea.”, she giggled. “Anyway, I’m Angela.”

“Garrett.”