All Again For You

"So, what happened? Something with Charlotte?" She asked. I shook my head as if to say 'no,' as I chewed on my pasta. "Something with John? Garrett? Jared?"

I cut her off there. More like slammed my fork down a little too hard into my plate, rather. "It's kind of got to do with both of them. Garrett and John, I mean." She kept quiet and let me explain the situation; before she could give her honest opinion on what I should do, which would be to talk to Garrett and John, I stood up and put my plate in the sink. I headed up to my room, and collapsed onto my bed, still clothed, and closed my eyes. Sometime later I turned to my stereo and picked out a mix CD of songs to keep myself busy. I glanced at the clock, 11:47PM was what it read.

"I can't go to sleep now," I muttered. I had trouble going to sleep at early hours, especially times when I was stressed out. My phone vibrated on the table beside my bed, playing "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind. It was a text message from none other than Garrett.

Are you still up? It read.

"Aren't I always up at this hour?" I replied.

Good, cause I'm outside. My skin must have turned a few shades paler than it already was while reading that. I told him to climb up the tree on the right side of the house if he was in the front. Within a few minutes, a faint tapping was heard at my window. I lifted up the glass frame as quietly as I could and let him in.

"Do you care if I step on your bed?" He asked quietly. I shook my head and he stayed perched on the windowsill, maneuvering a way to take off his shoes. I must have looked like I was baffled, since he laughed and said, "My mom always said to take off my shoes if I was going into someone's room, especially a girl's."

"Well, I shouldn't be any exception. You can leave them on if you want to," I laughed, scooting back on my bed to let him sit. There were a few moments of silence before I spoke again. "So, Gar. Why are you here?"

"More problems, I guess." He ran his fingers through his already-messy hair, making it stick up on end. He didn't object when I reached over and fixed it to make it look better. "She keeps calling me and telling me she's sorry. I don't want to take her back, cause I know she'll just keep using me like she did." He whispered. I could barely see his face from the shadow that fell across it. "I don't know what to do, Savannah."

"Do what you think is right. If you want to take her back, take her back. If you don't, and think she'll be the cheat you know she is, then that's fine too." I said, hoping it made sense. "Just don't feel pressured into doing anything you don't want to."

"Jeez, you sound like my mom and Trey, Sav. Are you feeling okay?" He pressed a hand lightly to my forehead, pretending to check my temperature. My face flushed without warning, and I silently thanked God we were in the dark.

"Savannah? Are you still awake?" I could hear my mom from the hallway. My eyes grew wide as I looked from Garrett to the door.

"Oh shit," I muttered. Garrett was well on his way to hiding in my closet as I pretended to be asleep. I heard my mom's footsteps stop at my door as she knocked.

"Savannah?" She called, her voice low. "Honey?" I rolled over slowly, rubbing my eyes as if she had woken me up. "Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"Yeah, why? What happened?" I asked, trying to make my voice sound hoarse and groggy like it usually did in the morning.

"Oh, I thought I heard someone up here. I guess it was just me, then. I'll talk to you in the morning, now. Good night." She kissed my forehead and shut the door behind her, heading back down to her room on the first floor. I waited for a few moments before getting up and fetching Garrett from the closet.

"Aw, she kissed your forehead!" He squealed, making over-exaggerated kissing faces.

"Shut up, Garrett Daniel Nickelsen," I slapped his arm lightly. "At least she didn't find you. If she did, oh my God, I would have been dead by now."

"But your mother loves me. So I don't think she would have, cause I would have stopped her." A grin spread across his face as he lay back on my bed, putting his arms behind his head. I sat down, crossing and uncrossing my legs as I sat across from him.

"You're nervous." He stated. "Why?" He propped himself up on his elbows and looked at me dead on. Truthfully, I didn't know why I was myself, so I came up with the best excuse I could.

"My mom is downstairs, and she could come up at any given time and find you here." I was lying through my teeth, and he knew it.

"Bullshit." He said, lying back down. He didn't prod any further, and I was glad. I hated lying to Garrett, or really just lying to anyone in general.

Before I could say something about him getting home, he whispered that he would go home before my mom woke up to go to work in the morning. I shut my eyelids, not wanting to go to sleep, yet not wanting to stay awake. The latter got the best of me in the end, as always.

&&

I opened my eyes to something next to me shifting around my bed. Still half asleep, I tried to turn, but couldn't. Garrett's arm was tucked around my middle, holding me close to him. I heard a knock from down stairs and instantly sprang up, loosening Garrett's hold on me.

"Garrett, Garrett wake up," I said in a hushed tone. My mom usually came up to say goodbye before she left, and if she found Garrett here, she would have known that he stayed.

"Wh-what?" He asked groggily, searching for me from where I once lay next to him.

"My mom is up. You said last night that you'd be out of the house before she got up, remember?" I whispered frantically. I silently prayed that she wouldn't stay and ask me to help out with her at the shop for the day. Usually she would always know I was up to something and ask me, and I couldn't refuse.

"Sh-" He got cut off by the knocking of my mom at my door. I motioned for him to hide somewhere, though the only place he could fit was inside my closet. I closed the door, and went to my dresser, pretending to look through a drawer for something to wear.

"Can I come in, Sav?" She asked, poking her head through the doorway.

"Yeah, it's fine." I called over my shoulder, opening up the bottom drawer and pulling out a pair of leggings.

"Are you doing anything today? Alex called in sick today and can't work." She asked, sitting down on the edge of my bed.

"Not that I'm aware of, no." I sighed. "Fine, I'll work today." My mom clapped in excitement. "I'll drive over once I get ready, yeah?"

My mom agreed and left my room, leaving me to get dressed. I waited for her car to pull out of the drive way, watching as discreetly as I could before telling Garrett he could come out of his hiding spot.

"Jeez, you have a lot of clothes." He laughed.

"Most of it's stuff my dad sends me to try to get me to win his approval." I shrugged my shoulders as Garrett picked up his shoes off the floor and put them on.

"Oh," He said quietly. After a few moments he spoke again. "What exactly... happened to your dad? I know your mom told my mom, but she's always told me that you'd tell me." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "All I know is that he stopped being around when we were eight, and you missed school for an entire week, and my mom would bring you guys dinner and all that."

"He basically just upped and left. He was an alcoholic, and he cheated on my mom. That's who he ran off with. I know that he lives in Chicago now, and he wants me to visit him. But he knows that I don't want to, and that I'm still pretty upset with him, so he sends me all these unnecessary things to try and gain my trust back."

"I'm sorry," He said after a few minutes of silence between us.

"Don't be, Gar." I smiled at him. "It's his loss, anyway."

Garrett waited until after I got dressed to walk me out to my car, he hugged me goodbye and said he would see me later. I started up my engine and backed up out of the drive way, heading towards my mom's shop.

The aroma of frosting and other baked goods filled my nose as I stepped inside. She smiled at a customer that was on their way out the door, and let me take over the counter as she went to the back. I started to space out, letting my thoughts consume me until I was interrupted by the chiming of the bell from the door.

"Savannah!"