Ten Things I Hate

The unmistakable sound of laughter came from the basement as I opened the door to desecend the stairs. And the unmistakable sound of a snort, no doubt from Pat Kirch. He'd been doing it since I'd met him, last year in our shared Studies of Society class. We'd both had no friends in that class, and it had taken a few lessons for us to actually talk to each other, but when we did, we became sort of friends. I knew him already through Garrett Nickelsen, a guy I'd known since kindergarten and was quite good friends with. Pat had asked me if I was "Sophia that was Garrett's friend", and I'd said yes. Conversation had flowed from then on.

Eventually later on in the year, Pat had joined Garrett's band and he began to hang out with us. I wasn't pleased, but I wasn't indifferent to him being around a lot either. Truth was, I had liked the group the way it was, and Pat was just another addition (like the others over the years) that I was convinced would more than likely fall back into another niche of friends because he couldn't handle the closeness of the rest of the group. But he didn't and it had been nine months since he'd initially been welcomed and I still was neither pleased nor indifferent. Pat was... well, he was Pat. He could be painfully shy, but then painfully loud on your eardrums at other times. Whilst everyone else had grown accustom to him being around, I however had not. While our "strictly classroom" relationship had opened doors for Pat to become close to the rest of my friends, I often frowned upon the sight of him with them. It wasn't Pat that I hated on the whole, it was just little things he did. And the way he snorted when he laughed was just the first on my list of exactly that.

"Hey, Soph!" Garrett cried as I got to the bottom of the stairs. Kennedy Brock, a guitarist that had been added at the end of last year, enveloped me into a bone crushing hug. I gasped, almost unable to breathe.
"Sophia! I haven't seen you in forever, babe!" Kennedy smiled brightly at me and I felt myself blushing. I didn't know Kennedy that well, and I wasn't sure if the word "babe" was an everyday endearment that he used on everyone, or if it was a had a special meaning applying specifically to me.

I smiled back, almost stuttering as I spoke. "Ye-yeah, hey? How have you been, Kennedy?" He nodded, that bright smile still stretched on his lips.
"Good, really good. Where have you been? Rachel said that you were with your Dad in Phoenix?"

Rachel, Garrett's girlfriend who wasn't present in the room, was my best friend. She'd began dating Garrett in ninth grade, and to my surprise it had lasted four years until senior year, and then close to another year on top of that. They were cute, she had to be the only person that Garrett could never find a flaw in. He was completely smitten with her and had been when I met her in the first week of high school and introduced them. "Yeah, he wanted to 'try living with him' for two weeks, just to see if I could stay with him instead of living at college so it was closer tha-" I was unaware of the conversation that was happening behind us, between Pat, Jared and John until Pat again laughed and snorted, causing Garrett to burst into laughter as well. Kennedy joined in with them, and out conversation ended then and there. I was slightly disappointed, I barely knew Kennedy and I was quite interested in getting to know him better. He was cute and for some unknown reason, was extremely happy to see me everytime I was with the rest of the group.

I glared at Pat, who was now snorting everytime he took a breath, causing everyone else to laugh harder. I frowned, leaving the CDs Garrett had asked me to bring around for him so that the band could discuss musical influences. There was an assortment of Blink 182, Ivory and the homemade mix that Garrett was always trying to steal from my car. "Garrett," I partially yelled so I could get his attention. He looked up at me, his eyes wide.
"Yeah, Soph?"
"I've left the CDs you wanted on the table there, I gotta go cause Mom's been telling me to unpack since I got home from Dad's this morning," I lied. I hadn't seen my mom since I got home this morning, she was working that her flower shop and I had already unpacked. Garrett nodded, and guided me up the stairs. After he shut the door to the basement, he turned to me.
"So why have you really gotta go? Is it cause Pat's here?"

I scoffed, not wanting to let Garrett know that may or may not have been the reason I wanted to go. That and, I was frustrated that his stupid pig snorting had interrupted my (however small it may have been) conversation with Kennedy. "Don't lie to me, Sophia," Garrett said, almost sternly. "You know, he thinks you hate him."
"Well, I don't hate him. I just...I dunno about him, Garrett. I don't wanna get too close to him and then have him leave because he can't deal with how close everyone else is. It happened with Cass," I was a little shocked. I didn't think my slight distaste was so obvious, especially to Pat. Garrett rolled his eyes at me.
"Cass was John's girlfriend, Soph. They broke up, and she obviously wasn't going to keep hanging around..."

However right Garrett may have been, I still didn't know the real reason as to why Pat being around left a sour taste in my mouth. "Well, whatever. Garrett, I really gotta go. Mom's already angry that I left to bring you those disks. Sorry, I might be able to catch up with you last this week? Movies and the like?" He nodded and hugged me.
"Sure, text me later. I'll make sure everyone is in. And that includes Pat, okay Soph?" Nodding, I stepped out of his embrace and walked myself to the door. "Oh and Sophia?" I turned around to see Garrett smiling at me, "You remember when I used to talk to Rachel when she didn't know I liked her and I used to blush a bright red colour? Well, you do that with Kennedy. You don't like him, do you?"

I let out a soft laughed and continued walking backwards down the hallway. "Time will tell, Gar."
"Is that a yes?" Garrett yelled after me, his voice desperate for answers. If I had known, I would have told him myself, but I smiled coyly and exited the Nickelsen premises. The short walk to my car was warmish, not surprising for an Arizona winter. Tempe was further south than Phoenix, and therefore slightly hotter. As I drove home, all I could think about was how stupid Pat was, with his ridiculous snort that followed every strained breath as he laughed. It was beyond a joke, but it was somehow funny to everyone else. Garrett's question still played upon my mind. I didn't know if I liked Kennedy, and therefore couldn't answer. I was interested, but I wasn't sure if there were feelings there. And I was almost certain that I wouldn't get to know Kennedy enough to figure out my feelings whilst Pat was an almost constant interruption to all of our conversations.