Count Me the Hours

Over the course of the next three days, I became extremely used to Garrett's presence. The sound of his laugh was a constant. I was already accustom to waking up with his arm around my waist and the warm feeling of his damp breath on the back of my neck.

The more I was with Garrett though, the harder I knew it'd be to leave Arizona and him behind after the wedding.

I had found myself looking in the mirror more often, making sure my make-up wasn't smudged or the my hair wasn't starting to frizz.

After leaving my bathroom, I found Garrett on be the phone, sitting cross-legged on my bed. He said a few things before hanging up.

"Dinner tonight?" he asked, looking over at me with a smile.

"Just us?" I questioned, sitting down beside him on the bed.

"Nope. Dree and Stephen will be there, and Kenny, Pat, and Jared too."

"No John?"

"We all but kicked him out of the band when he announced his engagement to Mila, so no."

"Works for me. When do we leave?" I asked with a smile, toying with the ends of my hair.

"Not for an hour or two," he responded, laying down, his head resting on my thigh.

"Are you comfortable?" I asked facisiously.

"Very," he said with a bright smile. I could help but laugh before letting out a sigh. "Is something wrong?"

I shook my head silently. "Just tired," I said.

"You're lying," he said, calling my bluff.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah really." He smiled, knowing he'd caught me. "What's up?"

"It's just going to be hard to leave," I admitted with another sigh.

"Then don't." Garrett had been trying to convince me to stay in Arizona since the minute I'd got there.

"Garrett, I don't really feel like getting into this," I said, running a finger over my eyebrow before pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Fine, fine," he said, sitting up with a grunt. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. "Just be happy, Tallulah."

"I try," I told him.

"That's all I ask," he said, pressing his lips against my cheek softly.

A blush quickly formed on my cheeks. No matter how many times he did that, it never failed to make my cheeks flair up, and he didn't even know it.

"You know what?" Garrett asked, his face still extremely close to mine.

"What?" I asked, turning my head to face him.

We were so close that when I turned my head, my nose brushed against his. I inhaled rather sharply, realizing how close we were. I could smell his cologne and his soap and it made a few winged insects flutter in my stomach.

"Hi," he said bluntly, a smile breaking out on his lips.

I laughed, being very careful not to lean forward, even an inch, because if I did, our lips would brush.

"Hi to you too," I said, leaning away to prevent our lips from touching. I knew that if our lips even brushed, I'd fall right into it.

"I have something to ask you," he said, leaning away, his arm remaining around my waist though.

"Shoot."

"Actually, I'm not even really asking you, I'm telling you," he said with a laugh. "The day after tomorrow, we're doing a show with Rocket and This Century. I want you there."

"Alright. I'm sure I can make it. It's not like I have anything better to do anyway," I joked.

"Yeah, true. But hey, I'm gonna run home and change and get clothes for tonight. I'll pick you up in an hour, alright?" he asked, scooting to the edge of the bed before standing up.

"Alright," I said as he leaned down and kissed my forehead before grabbing his keys and heading out the door.

Once he was gone, I found myself sitting on my bed, thinking.

Garrett and I had dated five years before, and I could hardly remember what it was like to kiss him. I did remember though that it was good.

Shaking my head clear of the memories and thoughts, I left the bed and routed through my suitcase. I grabbed a change of clothes and headed into the bathroom. I changed and altered my make up to go with my outfit. Tossing my dirty clothes into the laundry basket, I debated over wearing heels or flats.

A while later, Garrett came back, duffle on his shoulder. He dropped the bag in the arm chair and smile at me.

"You look nice," he said, joining me on the bed where I was lounging.

"Thanks," I said, feeling another blush coming on.

Garrett settled beside me, putting his arm around me. I leaned my head against his shoulder as I yawned.

"When are we leaving?"

"Soon," he said with a content sigh.

I sighed myself and swung my legs over the side of the bed, standing up.

"You're not wearing those shoes," Garrett said as I began tossing things into my purse.

"Oh, I'm not?" I clarified, raising an eyebrow at him.

"If you wear those, you'll be taller than me and I can't have that," he said, a teasing smile on his lips as he stood up and approached me.

He was right. In my heels, I was half an inch taller than him. I couldn't help be laugh. When Garrett started to pout, I stepped out of my heels and looked around for a pair of flats.

"Happy now?" I teased, sliding my feet into the flats.

"Definitly," he said, wrapping an arm around my waist, pulling me to him. I laughed as I collided with his chest. I looked up at him and he brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes.

In that moment, his arm tightly around my waist, our eyes connected, we were together. He smiled down at me and I could feel him moving in a little. We both jumped when my phone rang loudly.

I pulled away with a nervous laugh, grabbing my phone from my pillow.

"Yeah?"

"Where the fuck are you guys?" Dree asked on the other end of the line.

"We're still at home. We're just about to leave," I explained, feeling the heat in my cheeks from the earlier encounter.

"Alright, just hurry your ass up, we already put our name in for a table. And no stopping for a fuck on the way!" she barked before hanging up.

"Ready?" Garrett asked as I slid my phone into my pocket. I nodded, pressing my lips together.

Half an hour later, as we walked from the car to the restaurant, somehow, Garrett's hand found mine, our fingers lacing together. I looked away from him, smiling and blushing. He squeezed my hand and released it when he opened the door for me.

Inside the restaurant, Dree and Stephen were inside, standing with Jared, Pat, and Kennedy.

"About fucking time!" Dree shouted when we walked in.

"Hey, we came straight here," Garrett said, holding his hands up in defense.

"Whatever, Nickelsen," Dree said, audibly scoffing. I laughed as she hugged me, wrapping her arms around me tightly.

I hugged Pat, Kennedy, and Jared each and our name was called for a table.

We took out seats and ordered our drinks. As we all looked over the menu, Garrett's hand found mine under the table. I blushed and smiled over at him.

I heard Dree sigh. "You guys, please stop with the cute googly-eye shit. We all know you guys are like, falling for each other. It's kind of disgusting," she announced, loud enough for the entire table to hear.

Everybody's eyes turned to us and a heavy blush rose up my neck. I pulled my hand away from Garrett's, biting down hard on my bottom lip.

"Do you always have to be so loud?" I hissed at her. "I mean, honestly. We are all right here."

"You think that's loud?" Stephen commented. "Wait until she's had a few."

The two of us and Garrett looked over at Dree who was taking a drink of her beer, which was not surprising.

"Don't judge me!" she yelled, attracting the attention of the elderly couple at the next table. We laughed as Stephen leaned over and kissed her cheek.

After we ate, Garrett and I walked back to his car slowly, hand in hand.

"Where to now?" he asked, squeezing my hand gently.

"Doesn't matter to me," I said, stifling a yawn.

"You can't honestly be tired. It's barely eight," he teased.

"Hey, I'm almost twenty two. I'm an old lady compared to you. I'm allowed to be tired," I said with a laugh.

"If you say so." Garrett sighed, releasing my hand and putting his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. I relaxed, leaning against his body as we walked.

"Gare?"

"Hmm?"

"What's going on with us?" I asked, feeling a bit bold. It didn't help that I'd had a beer at dinner as well.

He laughed quietly. "We are very flirty, close friends."

"Well, are we going to become more?" Between the alcohol circulating my bloodstream and the warmth of his body against mine, I could feel my eyelids growing heavy.

Garrett stopped walking and looked down at me. "Do you want to be more?"

I sighed. "I don't know. I really just don't know. I'll be gone in a few weeks and halfway across the country. I have a job, you're always touring. I just don't see how it'd work. But when I'm with you, everything seems better." As I spoke, I started to sound rather frantic and tears came to my eyes.

Garrett smiled sweetly, running his thumbs over my cheeks, brushing away the tears that had spilled. Sighing quietly, he cupped my cheeks with both hands.

"Sweetie, we can be whatever you want. If I had my way, you'd never leave Tempe, unless you were touring with us. But all we can do is make do with the time we have," he told me softly.

He kissed my cheek, then my forehead. For the briefest second, he touched his lips to mine. I inhaled sharply and they were gone. He pulled away from me completely, just lacing his fingers through mine again as we continued on our way to the car.

As we walked, it two things came to my mind. One was how hard it was going to be to leave Arizona after the wedding. The second was how hard I was falling for the boy whose fingers were laced through mine.