Seventeen and Invincible

“Come on,” he hissed at me early on Monday morning. I was currently seated in the passenger seat of his car, refusing to move myself out of the car and into the building.

“No,” I replied quickly and flatly.

“Come on, you have to.”

“No.”

“Get out of the car.” He had been standing, half bending over, holding open the passenger side door and looking into the car. Now, however, he had moved himself away to lean against the side of the obnoxiously yellow vehicle that he’d grown to love and consider a car; I considered it some kind of alien or radioactive waste.

“No!” I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

“Fine,” he sighed loudly.

“Really?” I asked excitedly. I saw him nod and turn back to face me.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Just when I thought I had won, I had to wipe my triumphant grin off of my smug little face. He had reached into the car and lifted me out, standing me on the already burning pavement. “You don’t have to get out of the car; I took you out of it,” he said, his voice dripping and gooey with sarcasm.

“Arschloch!” I yelled. I was about to climb back into the car, only to realize he’d already shut the door, and therefore locked it.

“You can’t just go home,” he said sadly. “You have to at least give today a shot.” I nodded slowly and accepted as he extended his hand to me. We walked into the building hand in hand in a way that only best friends can manage. In a way that gives comfort and reassurance without the hassle of anything other than platonic concern for one another. It was something that, with us, we thought everyone could see as just that—and most people did.

“They all know,” I hissed. He turned to look at me with a perplexed expression. “They all know that I was home ‘sick’ for a week because he broke up with me for her,” I seethed.

“Why do you care that they know? Soon enough they’ll see that she’s knocked up and then they’ll all realize he was cheating.” I sighed as he pulled open the door to the building. The dim light from the hallway was a signal for each of us to reach up with our free hand and lift our sunglasses off of our faces and onto the tops of our heads.

“I don’t want to be here,” I mumbled quietly, feeling the tears start to form in the corners of my eyes. I quickly blinked them away and took to staring at the ground.

He slowed down so he was walking by my side and not in front of me, as he had been. "No one's judging you Ani. You'll be fine," he whispered into my ear. He was my best friend, but his hot breath on my ear was driving me nuts. It was almost like he was trying to play mind-games with me. But he was Garrett and I knew he'd never do that to me. I sighed meekly and inwardly. "I promise. I won't let anyone do or say anything." And it was only in that moment that I felt everything that Evan had always thought I felt about Garrett; what he was always jealous of. I always told him he was stupid and I didn't feel anything other than friendship for Gar, but in that split second I felt it all.

“Okay,” I sighed quietly. At the same time, I wanted to move closer to his side and rest my head on his shoulder, and I wanted to pull my hand away from him and forget everything I had felt in that one split second. I didn’t want to feel what I felt as his hot breath danced across my cheek, ear lobe, and deep into my ear drum, finally settling in my brain. He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and I tensed up a little. He took it as his cue to give another reassuring squeeze, which made me force myself to relax.

“You’re fine. Today will be fine, okay?” I nodded quickly and tried to ignore the twenty different things my heart and head were battling over.

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“I want to go home,” I said softly, so quietly it was almost inaudible. “Garrett, I want to go home.” It was lunch time and I was on the verge of tears. “Please, take me home.” He pulled me into a tight hug as Evan and Ariel walked past hand in hand. He glared at Evan—if looks could kill, Evan would surely have been dead—and he smirked in reply and Ariel kissed him sweetly on the cheek.

“Just ignore them. There are two classes left.” I shook my head ‘no,’ and he held me tighter then released me.

“I want to go home.” He rubbed my back and kissed the top of my head. “Please, just bring me home,” I choked.

“You can’t make it through two more classes, Ani?” I shook my head felt him sigh. “What about choir? You love choir.” I shook my head.

“You think I can sing after being hysterical? I’m not some superstar—I don’t just bounce back so easily.” I took a shaky breath as he took a step backward to retrieve his keys from his pocket.

“Alright, let’s go, I’ll get you away from here.” I stepped back and he draped his arm over my shoulders pulling me to his side.

“Gar?” I asked as he pushed open the door below the bright red ‘Exit’ sign.

“Mhm?” he acknowledged.

“Thank you,” I whispered softly. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” He sighed and we approached the yellow atrocity that served as our method of transportation, not that I would ever tell him that the color gave me a migraine the size of Russia.

“You don’t have to thank me, y’know.”

“And you don’t have to be there for me, but you are.” He looked at me sadly over the top of his car.

“And if I wasn’t, then who would be? I’m your best friend. You need me, and I’ll be there when you need me because I’m your friend.” I smiled weakly and slid into the passenger seat.

“Thanks.” He nodded and started the car, pulling quickly out of the school lot helping me leave some of my misery behind.