Seventeen and Invincible

“Get up,” Garrett nudged me. I sighed and groaned groggily. “Come on,” he laughed, “you’re drooling on me.” I smiled a little as I finally came to and felt the early morning sunlight on my cheek. The sun hadn’t fully risen yet, so it wasn’t too hot out yet. “Get up,” he laughed. I rolled away from him, out of the embrace of the arm tucked gently around my waist, and onto my back.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, sitting up and stretching. I laughed seeing the wet spot on his shirt where I had drooled. I stood up and shielded my eyes looking into the sun—I had forgotten my sunglasses in the car. “What time is it?” I yawned. I needed coffee.

“Five thirty,” he responded quickly. “You should have enough time if you want to go home and shower before school.” I rolled my eyes and put my hand on my hip. “Or not?” he laughed.

“I’m not going home to shower. I don’t want to see Molly because we’ll just fight, so I’m showering at your house.” Molly would freak because I never called last night. She knew who I was with—at least I’m pretty certain she did--, she’d just be mad that I never took the time to call her. I straightened out my t-shirt and shorts and threw my greasy auburn hair up into a messy bun.

“Then when and where am I supposed to shower?” he whined. I rolled my eyes and we began picking up the stuff we’d left out last night—anything unbreakable would just get wrapped up in the blanket until we were awake enough to do something with it.

“I’ll make it quick,” I smirked, “or, you know, there’s always the option of joining me.” He laughed and smirked back at me.

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A half hour later we were back at his house and we were both in the shower—we were both wearing bathing suits of course. “No, stop,” I laughed as he stepped away from the running water and turned it on cold. “Garrett!”

“Come on, it isn’t bad. It’s Arizona, you can deal with the cold for a few minutes. If it was noon you’d be dying for this cold water,” he laughed. I dragged him back under the water. “Okay, fuck. That is cold.” He quickly added warm water.

“Can you pass me the shampoo?” He lifted the bottle off of the windowsill and dropped it before it reached my hand. “You’re going to wake up your parents!” I laughed while bending down to pick up the bottle. The water was dripping in my face and going up my nose making me sneeze.

“No one is going to wake up, and so what if they do?” I gave him a questioning look as someone knocked on the bathroom door. I rolled my eyes and became just a little bit frightened. I mean chances were that it was only Trey.

“Told you,” I hissed. “Do you realize how ridiculous this is?” He laughed and ignored the knocking on the door. I gestured to myself, then him, our lack of attire, the running water of the shower and quickly acknowledged the fact that the bottle falling had been loud.

“I’m sure it’s only Trey. His room is right next door and he’s a light sleeper.” I shrugged and went back to washing my hair. “Not that anyone here would be concerned or fazed by this.”

“Whatever you say…” I rinsed the shampoo and conditioner out of my hair as the knocking started again. “Gar?” I asked with a warning tone. He sighed, looked at me and when I nodded that I was done, turned off the water. I reached out of the shower for a towel so that I could squeeze some of the water out of my hair and wipe the dripping water from my body. Garrett did the same then climbed out and walked to the door.

“What the fuck are you doing in here? What’s with all the noise, and when the fuck did you get home?” Garrett gave him a look that I interpreted as being like ‘seriously?’ and shrugged. “I’m not stupid, I know Anika is here.” I stepped onto the bathroom floor avoiding the puddles he’d left and leaned over to wave ‘hello’ to trey.

“We were showering for school, and we got here around six.”

“Together?” he asked suspiciously. Garrett nodded.

“Yeah, sure. It’s not the first time and it’s not like we’re totally naked.”
“Where were you all night?”

“The Lake.” I opened the medicine cabinet to retrieve my toothbrush and I handed Garrett his at the same time. He mumbled a ‘thanks’ and I nodded in reply since my mouth was full of foamy toothpaste.

“It’s almost like she lives here,” Trey mused sarcastically, turning to walk away. “It’s impossible that he hasn’t gotten in her pants yet,” I heard him mumble as he walked down the hallway. I laughed, spit out the toothpaste and rinsed my mouth out before speaking.

“So Trey thinks were hooking up?” I laughed leaning against the marble top of the counter.

“I heard,” he laughed. “Where on earth do people get these ideas?” I smiled weakly and turned to go toward his room to get my clothes and change. “First the waitress and now Trey,” he laughed again shaking his head. “Us? An item. Now isn’t that absurd.” His voice was light and unwavering. I forced a small laugh, rolled my eyes and continued down the hallway toward the messy bedroom that I had spent a decent portion of my life hanging out in.

“Yeah,” I thought to myself, “absolutely ridiculous.” I let a soft, sad chuckle escape my lips as I lifted a neatly folded pair of jeans, t-shirt, bra, and pair of underwear out of the drawer that had been reserved for me. “Absolutely ridiculous,” I sighed. And then there was that breaking feeling that I couldn’t quite place. That feeling that made the corners of my eyes wet and the back of my throat dry. I was slowly coming to terms with what this feeling could be. I was also slowly acknowledging the fact that I wasn’t so much mad at Evan for hurting me, because you can’t be hurt by someone you don’t really love, and I guess I didn’t really love him. I was mad because no one saw it coming. I was mad because I wouldn’t always have my knight in shining armor around. “Ridiculous,” I sighed loudly, “absolutely insane.”