Seventeen and Invincible

“So where are we going?” he asked heading back toward town. I sighed and shrugged.

“I don’t know Garrett. Where do you want to go?” He shrugged and continued to stare straight ahead at the road. “Well, what are we supposed to do then?” I huffed.

“I don’t know. Today is for you. You get to decide.” I sighed and rested my head in my hand against the window.

“There really isn’t anything I wanna do. I didn’t even want to get out of bed this morning. You’re lucky you got me out of bed and eating.” He sighed and turned into a Starbucks parking lot.

“Before you ask,” he sighed. “Go, come on, let’s fuel your caffeine addiction.” I smiled and climbed out of the car. “And besides, it gives us time to figure out where we’re going.”

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“So,” I mused sitting in his car twenty minutes later, still in the Starbucks parking lot, “is this your brilliant plan for the rest of the day. We get to chill in your ridiculously ostentatious car?” He rolled his eyes and sighed loudly.

“Well where do you want to go?” I shrugged and took a sip of my iced coffee, biting the straw as I did so. “Pain in the ass,” he muttered with a small laugh. I took my sandal off and threw it at his head with a laugh. “Okay,” he sighed, “this is getting ridiculous. Either we decide where we’re going, or we’re going back to one of our houses.” I rolled my eyes and took my shoe out of his hand. I was surprised that he caught it.

“Fine. Mi Casa it is.” He rolled his eyes and put on his seatbelt and turned the car on.

“It took you an hour to decide you wanted to go to your house?”

“Well, I don’t particularly want to go to my house, but what else are we going to do?”

“We’ll go to my house. Your mom is going to be a pain if we go back, right?” I nodded.

“Molly is always a pain in the ass. I can’t stand her. She’s going to drive me crazy.”

“Oh,” he laughed, “just like you’re going to drive me nuts.” I smacked him playfully and smiled. “Is that a real smile I see finally?” he laughed grinning widely. His smile always just made me want to smile even more.

“Shut up Nickelsen. Just shut up and drive.”

“For that, I have nothing to say to you.” I laughed and turned the radio up. “And why do you think you get to control the radio?” I shrugged my shoulders and looked out the window.

“Because I have boobs.” He rolled his eyes and pulled into his driveway.

“I can’t believe you really just said that.” I shrugged and opened the car door, walking up and opening the door to his house.

“Really?” I smiled, “because I can, and I did.” I crossed the threshold of his house and poked my head into the living room where his mom was folding laundry. “Hey Ma,” I called to her as I walked up the stairs to Garrett’s room, knowing he would probably get yelled at for skipping school.

“Hello Anika,” she smiled. “Nu-uh, not so fast Garrett Daniel Nickelsen,” she called as he started to climb the stairs behind me.

“Oh,” I whispered, “she went full name on you. Nice knowing ya,” I laughed walking down the hallway.

“Where have you been?” she asked him, coming to the bottom of the staircase. “Why weren’t you in school today?”

“I-I-I didn’t want to go?” he responded as more of a question.

“God, Garrett,” I mumbled, “you suck at being a teenager.” I sighed and walked back over to the top of the stairs. “Yeah, sorry,” I said to his mother, “it’s my fault, kind of, actually.” She tilted her head to the side waiting for an explanation. “Yeah, uhm, Evan and I broke up, and I was upset and I haven’t left my room since Sunday, and Garrett finally decided that I was leaving my house no matter what. So, refusing to go to school, we went out for breakfast and to the beach.”

“Does your mother know where you are?” she asked me quickly.

“Molly knows I’m not in school and she knows I’m with Garrett. So, yes?” She sighed in defeat and walked back to the couch to continue folding.

“Movie?” he asked as I sat down on his bed. I shrugged and kicked my shoes off so that I could curl up on his bed and take a nap. “Fight Club?” I shrugged again as he put the DVD in the DVD player. “Are you okay?” he asked as I curled up and closed my eyes. I nodded and buried my head in his pillow.

“Just tired,” I sighed. He lowered the volume on the TV and covered me with a blanket.

“You’re full of shit,” he sighed. “I know you better than that. I’ll let you sleep for now, but eventually you’re going to have to talk about it. If you don’t, you’ll never get over it.” I sighed and held the blanket close to my body.

“I just-I just thought he cared. He always made it seem like he did. When he told me he loved me, I believed him. I shouldn’t have, but I did.” Garrett started rubbing my back, because I was hiccupping, trying to keep the tears in. “I just feel so stupid for not knowing.”

“You aren’t stupid, and you shouldn’t feel stupid. He’s the one who’s stupid.” I nodded and pulled the blanket closer. “So, calm down and take your nap. You probably haven’t slept much all week.” He stood to walk over to his desk but I pulled him back, grabbing his wrist tightly. “What?” he asked softly.

“Don’t leave.” He sighed and nodded curling up next to me. “Hold me,” I whispered as he wrapped his arms around me.

“You can count on me, Ani. I’m not going anywhere.” I rolled over to face him and started crying on his shoulder. “It’ll get better.” I shook my head ‘no’ and he started smoothing my hair and shushing me. “Eventually, you’ll forget.”