Life Isn't All That Bad

We’d been wondering around the mall for about an hour before the guys decided they were hungry. Liz had left to go deal with her friend’s girl problems. I almost felt guilty about what happened, but then I remember what had happened in that hallway and pushed my guilt away. Garrett and I had drifted to the back of the group as we headed towards the food court.

He gave me a gentle nudge. “Come on, there’s a store I want to show you!” He said quietly, so the others wouldn’t hear.

“Wait, shouldn’t I tell Danny…” I trailed off. Danny was deep in conversation with Halvo, who seemed to be his new best friend. “Never mind, let’s go.”

I followed after Garrett, heading in the opposite direction we’d been going. It was only once we had left the group that I realized- I was alone with Garrett. If I wasn’t nervous enough as it was, I couldn’t get my mind off what Danny had said last night. No way could he like me. It just wasn’t possible.

A hand wrapped around my own, giving it a gentle squeeze. “You okay?” he asked, looking at me with those beautiful crystal blue eyes.

“J-just uh, spaced out a bit, that’s a-all,” I stuttered out, feeling my palms start to sweat a bit.

“Well, come on!” with that, he yanked me into a store.

I looked around, instantly falling in love with the place. It was a record store- an actual record store. I was awestruck.

Garrett grinned at me. “I hoped you’d like it.”

I didn’t just like it. “Garrett, I love it. I’ve been trying to find somewhere to buy records, but I hadn’t found any yet!”

He smiled. “Well, aren’t you gonna look around?”

Next thing I knew, Garrett and I were digging through bins and bins of vinyl, comparing our music tastes and record collections. I was determined to leave this store with some Ryan Adams record. But after digging through bins and bins, and finding nothing, I was ready to give up.

“Hey Beau?” Garrett called. I looked over at him, discovering he was holding a record in his hand. I instantly recognized the cover and I knew I had to have it. Especially for the low price of $30.

Ryan Adams’ Gold on vinyl. I couldn’t contain my inner fan girl. I ran over to him, throwing my arms around him. He blushed, handing me the record. “Garrett, I can’t believe you found this. Like, am I really holding this? Pinch me, I must be dreaming!” I exclaimed, jumping up and down.

“I’m guessing you don’t have that in your collection,” he remarked with a small smirk.

I couldn’t contain myself. I threw my arms around him again, hugging him tightly. He seemed a bit surprised that I was being so touchy, but quickly hugged back. “Gary, thank you so, so, so much for finding this for me!” I squealed, planting a big kiss on his cheek. He tensed, his face turning bright red, and I soon felt my cheeks growing hot as well. I stumbled away from him awkwardly, clutching the record as if my life depended on it. “I’ll just um, I should go, uh, buy this, I guess…”

I silently cursed myself as I walked over to the register. Why would I go and do something as stupid as kissing Garrett? I glanced over at him, seeing that his face was still bright red.

The lady behind the register, who’s nametag read ‘Meredith’, had to be in her mid-forties, and had an impressive amount of ink. “You two make such a cute couple,” she remarked with a smile as she scanned the album.

“Oh... Oh no, we’re not… We aren’t dating,” my words stumbled out awkwardly. My shaky hands pulled out my wallet to pay.

She seemed surprised and slightly embarrassed. “Oh, I’m so sorry! But the way you two were acting, and just… The way he looks at you, like you’re the most amazing thing he’s ever seen. It reminds me of my husband and me when we were teenagers. Young love never dies,” she told me while I paid.

I felt myself blushing. Did Garrett really look at me like that? Did we really seem like ‘young love’? “I do like him,” why one earth was I telling this to some woman I had just met? “But I don’t think things will work out between us. Just friends, you know?”

Meredith sighed and shook her head. “Well, if things do work out, y’all better come back and let me know. So I can say ‘I told you so’,” she said with a grin.

“O-okay…. Thanks a lot!” I grabbed my bag, heading back over to Garrett.

“Ready to go?” he asked, still seeming nervous.

“The guys must be wondering where we’ve disappeared to,” I remarked, grabbing his hand and twining our fingers together. I offered one last smile to Meredith before we headed out of the store. “Danny is gonna give me quite the earful for running off with you.”

“Why? Is he gonna think we snuck off to an empty supply closet to hook up or something?” Garrett asked jokingly.

“Probably. He likes to think that I’m some big, slut-faced whore, even though he knows the farthest I’ve ever gone was kissing John.”

…Well shit, that wasn’t meant to come out. The awkward tension between us multiplied.

Garrett shifted back and forth uncomfortably. “Oh. So you and John kissed,” it wasn’t really a question, he was just repeating the facts as if that would make them more believable. “On the first date?”

I don’t think he intended for it to sound mean, but his words stung. I hung my head shamefully. “Uh, no… We kissed at that stupid party… That kid earlier, he um, he practically attacked me, and John came along to save me. So he said I was his girlfriend, but that asshole wouldn’t believe him, so John kissed me to prove it. The kiss was really meaningless and I wish it never happened but I can’t change the past so…” I trailed off. Damn those nerve-induced rambles.

We’d finally reached the food court, finding the table our friends were at. I scurried over and took the seat next to Danny before Garrett could say anything about me and John. Sitting next to Danny, unfortunately, also put me next to John, but at least I was away from Garrett. He sat down across from me, and from the corner of my eye I could see him staring at me with curiosity.

“So, you two go hook up in a supply closet?” Danny asked, shoving French fries into his mouth.

Garrett and I briefly made eye-contact before my cheeks began to burn, and I quickly hid my face in my arms.

“Yep, they definitely hooked up.”