She's Got You High.

I didn't think the Black Rose could've been any more empty then it was that night. All in all, only about 6 or 7 people came through the doors, and only 2 of them actually bought anything. I wanted to shoot myself from boredom, and just when I was beginning to lose all hope in ever making it out of there alive, a familiar brown haired, blue eyed boy came through the door, smiling at me. My own personal knight in shining armor.

Garrett Nickelsen and I had been best friends since we were in diapers. We were born on the same day, in the same hospital, our moms in the same room after delivery. They kept in touch over the years, and when we were finally old enough to realize there were other people out there in the big ol' world besides Mom and Dad, our parents set us up on our first playdate. It was friendship ever since, and we had gone through everything together - the first day of school, first crushes, soccer games, Homecoming - you name it, we had experienced it. I could safely say that without him, I would not be graduating from High School. He knew me better then anyone else - that I liked Pepsi better then Coke, unless it between the Cherry flavors, in which Coke won out. He put up with repeating viewings of Newsies, no matter how many times I had forced him to watch it. In-N-Out was what we believed heaven to look like. And while he was there for me, I was equally there for him - He played bass in a band called The Maine, and I was there for every show, watching him do the one thing he loved. And Although we were almost like twins, we sure didn't look alike: He had semi-long light brown hair, with slightly side swept bangs, and bright blue eyes that lit up the world. He was tall, always towering over my 5'5" self. In comparison, I had light ginger hair, and dark green eyes that I hated with a passion. I was skinny, as was Garrett, even though we ate like pigs. You would think the constant intake of fast food would've made us morbidly obese by this point, but apparently not.

All in all, he was the world to me. He strolled up to the counter, shifting his eyes left and right, before he spoke.

"Yes ma'am, I was looking for one of those...what do ya call 'em, those Royal Doulton Zunday Zmocks Vases! You haven't seen one of them in this dismal thing you call a shop, have you?" He was leaning over slightly, imitating one of my favorite senior customers, Carl. I laughed, but gave him a glare that could almost guarantee he was going to get his ass kicked later. He smiled, before shaking his head "In all seriousness, you ready to get out of here? You got everything you need?" I nodded, taking off my prided dark-green vest, and leaving it in my employee cubby. This would be the last time I was behind the counter for the next 2 months. And as much as I hated it, I knew I was going to miss it in a few days. I walked out, joining Garrett at his side, and we strolled out into the parking lot. I didn't even realize the sun had set, and it was dark. A slight breeze ran through the wind, and it felt nice out for once. I opened the door to Garrett's car, the smell of the Pina Colada air freshener I had placed in there hitting me as soon as I was situated. The car started up a minute later, and we were pulling out of the parking lot. Once we got on the main road, Garrett looked over at me.

"So, on a scale from sitting in Chemistry to a Zombie Outbreak actually happening, how stoked are you for the two months?" He asked it so nonchalantly, like dropping everything at the chance to go around the country with your friends was a normal thing. Remember earlier when I said that I wouldn't be graduating High School if it weren't for Garrett? I wasn't kidding. There's this pesky thing called a graduation project, that the state of Arizona requires, where you have to research what you want to do when you leave High School, and can either shadow, or come up with your own project. Thankfully, I would be shadowing Pat Kirch's older brother Tim, as he was the tour manager for The Maine. It was pretty much a way for me to get out of town for a while with my best friends, all the while seeing the entire United States.

"Zombie Outbreak would be an understatement, Garrett." I said, a small grin bursting out onto my face. I couldn't help it - this was going to be the greatest experience of my life. "Hey, actually, do you mind stopping by my house? I really need to change before we get back to your place." Garrett's parents were conveniently "out of town" for the weekend, so Trey, Garrett's older brother, was holding a going away party of sorts. I wasn't really looking all that forward to it, seeing as I didn't drink, but I figured that I had to show up. After all, I was part of the group that was leaving tomorrow.

"Yeah, it's fine." he finally answered, turning into the road that housed my development. Garrett and I only lived 2 minutes from each other if you drove, and 15 minutes if you walked. It was the most convenient thing ever. He pulled into my driveway, and I ran inside, promising him it would only take two minutes. I quickly changed into a white top, shorts, and gold oxfords, ran over my makeup, and tried to make my hair look somewhat presentable, but failed miserably. I took one last look at my room, with all of my bags packed accordingly. My room seemed so bare without the usual excess of clothes, papers, and trash strewn all over the floor. One thing caught my eyes specifically - the framed picture of Garrett and myself that sat on my nightstand.

We couldn't have have been more then 12 or 13 in it - Our only awkward stage in our friendship. Garrett had finally discovered that girls didn't have cooties, and were actually human beings. He had just started to date this girl, Rachel, and I wasn't too thrilled about sharing my best friend with someone. It was our birthday, and he was smiling cheesily at the camera, while I was pecking his cheek. I'm pretty sure I had only done it to piss Rachel off, and I laugh looking back at it. I realized that I had been wasting a bit too much time in my room, so I shut the light off, and ran back downstairs, locking the front door behind me. Garrett looked impatient in his car, blaring the familiar sound of Ryan Adams through the speakers.

"Took you long enough..." he murmured, as I attached my seat belt to it's holder, and he pulled out of my driveway. I hit his shoulder playfully, using a few expletives along the way, while we drove the short distance to his house, singing along to "Love is Hell" as loud as our lungs would let us.

-----

I could hear the bass dully pounding as we pulled into Garrett's driveway. I was hoping there wouldn't be too many people there, and that nobody was currently making out in Garrett's room. I wasn't in the mood to party, and I just wanted to crash. But something inside of me told me to be social instead, so I stood sheepishly at Garrett's side, as he made his way to say hello to his bandmates, his brother, and a few other people. We finally made our way into the kitchen, and instead of pouring himself anything from the assortment of liquor that littered the counter, he pulled out a bottle of Cherry Coke from the fridge. He knew me too well.

"...So, I really, really don't feel like being here. You?" I asked, as he nodded, taking a sip of the soda's he had poured for us.

"Wanna go upstairs? We could watch a movie or somet-" I was already headed towards the stairs, 2 Liter of Cherry Coke in hand. I was never a party person, I probably never would be. It didn't help I would be cramped in a van with all of these people starting tomorrow, and really didn't want to get to know them at the moment. I reached Garrett's room, and threw my bag down in the corner. I went over to his DVD collection, looking them over, before picking out the first Lord of The Rings. I was in the mood to sleep, and those movies put me to sleep like no other. Garrett was up a minute later, and I rummaged through his closet, finally finding a shirt and pair of shorts I could wear to sleep.

I went in his bathroom and changed quickly, and then came back to find Gandalf and Frodo on the TV Screen, and an open spot in Garrett's bed for myself. He was smiling over at me, patting the spot where he wanted me to be. I obliged and lay down, and Garrett pulled myself closer to him. I could feel his breath on my shoulder, and his heart, steadily pounding in time. I shut my eyes - I was so tired. The last thing I remembered was him planting a kiss to my cheek, and the words "Goodnight, Junebug..." being whispered in my ear. Sleep came so easily.