Life Isn't All That Bad

Garrett was not happy that a girl his age moving in across the street. Odds are she'd be bitchy and conceited, just like almost all the other girls in Tempe. She'd only want his fame.

His mom, however, was thrilled. She was completely convinced that this family would be her new best friend, and their daughter could be best friends with Garrett.

The day finally came that they were moving in. Garrett was sitting on the kitchen counter, enjoying some sour patch kids, when his mom burst through the door.

"I just saw their car pull in!" She exclaimed. Garrett just rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm. Big fucking deal. "I should get them a gift... I should bake cookies!"

Again, he rolled his eyes. "Mom, you are ridiculous. What's so great about some new neighbors?"

His mom just shot him a look. "You're going to get your butt off my countertop, and you're going to dress in normalclothes, and I'm going to bake them cookies. Okay? Okay."

Garrett let out a sigh, hopping off the countertop. He knew not to argue. There was no way of winning an argument with her. On his way upstairs, he glanced out the window. The new girl was rolling around on the grass, her purple plaid shirt getting tangled around her. Maybe she wasn’t that bad...

But then he saw her stop rolling around and pull out her phone. Great, she was one of those girls that was practically glued to their phone. That was justwhat Garrett needed.

Despite not wanting to, he changed out of his pajamas. His shorts were replaced with ripped black jeans, and his t-shirt was replaced with a zombie t-shirt. His mom wouldn’t approve of that, but he didn’t really give a fuck. It wasn’t like he was trying to impress anyway.

Maybe his shirt would scare the new girl out of chasing after him for fame.

All too soon, he heard his mom calling up the stairs for him. "Garrett! I have to go run some errands, so can you run the cookies across the street?"

"Mom, are you serious? Why can't you do it?" he whined, but he knew it would make no difference.

"Garrett, just do it. I don't have time for this," with that, he heard the front door shut, and her car engine start. Grabbing his glasses, he headed downstairs.

Sitting on their kitchen table, neatly wrapped up in saran wrap, was a plate of cookies. Of course.

May as well get it over with,Garrett thought bitterly, grabbing the plate and heading out the front door. After crossing the street, he discovered that the front door of their house was open. Not thinking much of it, he just pushed the door open a little more, walking inside.

Cardboard boxes littered the ground, but that was expected. He heard a noise and turned to the right. On the couch sat the girl he'd seen rolling around on the grass earlier. She was cursing under her breath while playing some video game. Suddenly, she paused the game, pulling out her phone. Garrett suddenly realized what game she'd been playing. Left 4 Dead.

"No fucking way," he mumbled, not realizing he had said it out loud. The girl quickly spun around, staring at Garrett oddly with her bright green eyes. "Um, hi..."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh, what are you doing in my house?" Her voice was soft and sweet. It wasn't one of those sugarcoated, nails-on-a-blackboard voices that Garrett constantly heard.

"I, er, here," he stuttered out, offering her the plate of cookies. Well, he was definitely doing a good job of embarrassing himself. She stared at the plate skeptically. "My uh, my mom sent me here with these to um, welcome you to the neighborhood...."

".... So you let yourself into my house?" as she took the plate of cookies, Garrett studied her a bit. Glasses that looked much like his own framed her bright green eyes. Underneath the purple plaid shirt was a black shirt, but the only word he could really read was "zombie".

"Well, your front door was open..." the words stumbled out of his mouth. He stopped speaking when he realized what a stupid excuse that was. "I'm just... I'll be leaving now," Garrett said, his skin burning with embarrassment as he rushed out the door.

He'd always been awkward at meeting new people, but this was just ridiculous. He'd managed to make a total fool in front of the beautiful new girl. Beautiful. That was the only word he could really use to describe her.

And he really hoped that next time he talked to her, he wouldn't be so awkward.

Who knew the next time would be so soon?

Walking into Denny's the next morning, Garrett thought nothing of it. Kennedy had told him that Liz wanted them to meet her friend. He expected one of her typical friends- popular, bitchy, completely fake. He couldn’t understand how Kenny could stand her friends, but he guessed her friends felt the same way about him.

"Guys, I am so sorry. My mom had me cleaning the house like crazy. Apparently she wants to have the new neighbors over for dinner or something," he said quickly, wanting nothing more than to sit down and enjoy some food.

"The new neighbors with a daughter our age, right?" John said, though understanding him was a challenge with his mouth stuffed with food. The boy was a twig, but ate like a beast.

It suddenly clicked in Garrett's head. He'd never told the guys about her. "I never told you guys! I met her. She's really..." his voice trailed off as his eyes fell upon what should have been an empty seat next to Pat. Instead, a girl with dark hair and bright green eyes was in the seat, staring up at him with wide eyes. "It's you...?"

"Hi," she squeaked out, still a look of shock on her face.

Liz stared back and forth between the two of them. "You two know each other?"

Garrett nodded. "She just moved in across the street from me..." his voice was unsteady, and he couldn't believe that this was actually happening.

"Sweet!" Pat exclaimed, doing a little dance in his seat. "Now we can go straight from band practice over to our newest best friend's house!"

The girl let out a quiet giggle, giving Pat a very odd look. Garrett took a seat on the other side of Pat. "I'm Beau, by the way," she informed him, giving him a bright smile.

"I'm Garrett," he stuttered out, feeling his cheeks heat up a bit.

Soon, the surprised settled down, and the table filled with mindless chatter.

"There's a party tonight. You guys going?" John asked nonchalantly, sipping on his coffee. Although all the guys partied, parties were always John's thing.

Beau looked nervous, as all the guys instantly agreed to going. "Beau, you have to go! It'll be a great way to meet new people. Gets some friends. Please?" Liz begged, batting her eyelashes at her. All the guys looked at her, surprised. Liz never begged.

John grinned that cocky smile of his. "You really should come. I'd love to have a pretty girl like you as my date."

Garrett frowned. Great. John Cornelius "charm-the-pants-off-any-girl" O'Callaghan was going to go after Beau. Just fucking great.

She let out a snort, trying to hold back her laughter. "Thanks, but no thanks," she told John, than turned to Liz. "I guess I'll go. I'm guessing I'll be your designated driver?"

John just stared at her, his jaw hanging wide open. She rejected him. A girl finally rejected him.

Garrett stared at her in amazement. His wish was definitely coming true- this was exactly the kind of girl he needed in his life.Now he just needed to make her his.