I'm All Yours Somehow

When sat down on the sofa in my room, wine glass in hand, I instantly relaxed. I grabbed the bottle of wine from the end table and refilled my glass before pulling my laptop into my lap, propping my feet up on the coffee table. I opened Skype and smiled when I saw that Garrett was already online. I was online for less than a few seconds when his chat window popped up. I enabled my webcam and his face lit up when he saw me.

Garrett had been gone for three weeks already and he was a sight for sore eyes.

"Hey," he said, laughing awkwardly. From the looks of it, he was in his bunk, laying down. He was shirtless, taunting me.

"Look at us, we're being a modern couple," I joked, taking a sip of wine.

"If you say so." He smiled widely and I felt a pang in my stomach. "I'm glad you dressed up for me."

I laughed, looking down at myself. I was wearing one of his old shirts, black with a huge hole in the collar. I was also wearing running shorts, which I regretted when I caught a draft and shivered. "I try, babe," I told him with a wink. "How's tour so far?"

"Can't really complain," he said with a nonchalant shrug. "Ken's always busy texting Em, John seems to be really missing Mila and the baby. Everybody's just kind of tired and down. Except for Pat. How's home?"

I made a face. "Did I tell you what Dree and Mila are making me do tomorrow?" I asked, taking a sip of wine after I spoke.

"No, tell," he said, smiling.

"They're dragging me to a bridal shop. They're basically forcing me to try on dresses!" He only laughed. "Gare, it's not funny!" I pouted.

"It is."

"I keep telling them that we agreed to wait a while until we set a date and actually started planning things out," I said with a sigh, taking another drink.

Garrett smirked, catching the hint of my annoyance. He opened his mouth to say something when his eyes looked away from the camera.

"Are you talking to Lu?!" Pat asked from somewhere off camera.

"Yup," Garrett told him shortly, his eyes flickering back to the screen.

"Are you naked?" Pat asked him in as best of a whisper as he could manage.

"No, Pat, I'm not naked." I couldn't help but giggle, pressing a hand against my mouth.

"Okay, well, tell Lulu that I love her," Pat said, still off camera. Garrett rolled his eyes.

"She can hear you Pat," Garrett told him shortly.

"Hi, Pat!" I said loudly and Garrett gave me a pouty look for speaking up.

"Hey, Lulu! I miss you!"

"Okay, you talked to her, now go away," Garrett told him, making a shooing motion with his hand.

"You're so mean to him," I told him, pressing my lips together.

"He was hogging my time with my fiancée," he said with a frown, running a hand through his hair. I caught a glimpse of his tattoos and I sighed, remembering the countless times I'd ran my finger tip over the black lines across his skin. "What were we even talking about?"

"The wedding."

"Oh, right. Well, why do we have to wait so long?"

"Because we know then that you'll have a break from touring, and we can custom order the dress, and blah blah blah. This is all what Mila came up with, and I really don't even care," I said, rolling my eyes. "At this point, I just want to go down to city hall and have the mayor marry us."

"That's not happening. I am going to see you in a big, white dress walking down the aisle if it's the last thing I do," he proclaimed, grinning.

I smiled sheepishly, my cheeks flushing pink. "Did you look into the times that you could come home next month?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, I did actually. I booked a flight a few days ago to come home next week," he answered, nodding.

"Thanks for telling me, babe," I teased with a smile.

"I was going to keep it a bit of a surprise," he told me with a shrug, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh." I laughed, taking a drink of my wine.

We talked for another half an hour, until it got to the point that I was a bit tipsy and I couldn't stop yawning.

"Tallulah, just go to bed, sweetie," he said softly when I argued that I wasn't tired.

"I don't want to, not without you," I told him, my eyes drooping closed. In my relaxed state, I nearly forgot that he was miles and miles away. He gave me a sad smile.

"I love you," he said with a sad smile, noticing the look of hurt in my eyes. "I'll be home for three days next week and one of those days will consist of us, our bed, and minimal clothes, all day."

"Sounds good to me, Gare," I said, smiling widely. Absentmindedly, I toyed with the collar or my shirt and yawned again.

"Go to bed, baby," Garrett told me, laughing quietly.

"I'm working on it, Gare," I said, nodding as I rubbed my eyes.

"Call me tomorrow after your dress appointment thing," he said, sounding a bit confused as he spoke.

I laughed, downing the last of my wine. "Will do. I love you, G."

"I love you too, Tallulah. I'll send you my flight info tomorrow. Sleep tight, babe," he said before logging off quickly.

"Night," I said to the blank window, letting out a sigh. I closed my laptop and set it on the coffee table before standing up and walking to my bed, dragging my feet.

I collapsed on Garrett's side of the bed, pressing my face into his pillow. I put my phone on the end table and pulled the sheets over me, getting comfortable. I flipped off the lamp and sighed again, closing my eyes.

Ten minutes later, half asleep, I rolled onto my side and jolted awake when my phone started to ring. I groaned, reaching for it blindly. I stared at the Caller ID and cursed.

"What the fuck do you want Jobe?" I asked, my head half under the pillow.

"Did I wake you up?" he questioned on the other end of the line, sounding shocked.

"Not entirely. Just answer my question," I said, getting snappy with him.

"We're going out," he said simply.

"Fuck no, we're not! I have a dress appointment tomorrow, and I'm already in bed."

"Well, get out of bed. You owe me, Lu, and come on, my treat," he said, trying to persuade me. His offer was highly tempting.

I though about it for a moment, then sighed. "I am driving, because I know you're going to get plastered and I'll have to drive you home anyway," I told him sternly, throwing the sheets back as I rolled over and sat up.

"You have a good point. So I'll see you in twenty?"

"Maybe half an hour; I need to look at least slightly presentable," I said, docking the phone between my shoulder and my ear.

He laughed, agreeing before he hung up. I tossed my phone onto my bed, yawning. I couldn't believe I was doing this. I kicked off my running shorts and pulled on a pair of my good jeans. I debated on wearing the shirt I currently had on, but pulled it off, exchanging it for a simple pocket v-neck. I pulled my hair out of the collar and glanced at the clock. It was barely 10:30 and I could hardly think of anything besides my bed.

My hair was a bit matted, so I tied it in a bun and applied a bit of eye liner and some Carmex before grabbing my phone, tying up my Chucks, and heading to the kitchen.

Em was in the kitchen, putting a bagel in the toaster.

"Where are you going?" she asked with a slight frown, looking at the clock on the wall.

"Josh just called and we're going out for drinks." She only nodded. "Can you do me a favor and not tell Kennedy or John or any of the guys about this? Garrett doesn't like that I'm friends with Jobe."

She nodded again, looking a bit skeptical. "Yeah, your secret's safe with me."

Twenty minutes later, I was parking outside of a local bar that Josh had told me to drive too. We walked in and were instantly hit by a cloud of smoke. We found seats at the bar and I ordered an apple martini and Josh ordered us a round of shots.

"I still don't know why I agreed to come out with you tonight," I told him, tapping my fingers on the bar. I looked over at him with a smile.

"I'm just an awesome person; I can make people do anything," he said confidently, giving me a cocky grin.

"I was going to guess that it was because I felt bad for you, but we can go with that," I joked as the bartender slid my martini to me.

"That was a low blow, Lu. I thought better of you than that," he said, shaking his head as if he was disappointed. I only laughed, taking a drink as Josh slid a shot glass my way.

"I hate shots," I told him with a groan, eyeing the glass.

"I know." He winked, raising the shot glass. "To your engagement," he toasted.

I sighed loudly, raising the glass to clink it with his before kicking it back. "I hate shots," I repeated, grimacing as the liquid burned it's way down my esophagus.

He only laughed, ordering another round. This time, he toasted to Garrett being on tour, so we had the time to get together. After that, he ordered a beer and we started talking.

"Am I even going to get an invitation to your big, fancy wedding?" he asked, halfway through our discussion of my upcoming nuptials.

"I will make sure you get one, even if I have to sneak you in under my dress," I joked, a bit tipsy. He laughed and I couldn't help but smile.

"Y'know," he started with a sigh, "I really miss you, Lu."

I smiled, putting my hand on top of his. "I miss you too, Jobe, but there's not a lot of options. And it's not just that Garrett doesn't like us being friends, it's that when he's home, I'm always so much busier, and I don't even know why."

He only nodded.

We stayed at the bar a little longer. Josh drank more than I did, because I knew I'd be driving, but I was still a bit tipsy. I dropped him off at his apartment before returning home.

I changed back into my pajamas and put my phone on the charger before collapsing on Garrett's side of the bed. I groaned, pressing my palms to my temples as my head started to spin. I set my alarm for the next morning as best as I could.

I pressed my face into Garrett's pillow, imagining that I could smell his cologne, even though I had changed the pillow case the day he left. My heart ached and I rolled onto my side, forcing my eyes shut.

Twelve hours later, I was in a short silk robe, examining a selection of dresses. The consultant, Ella was watching me carefully. To my surprise, the appointment was going very well. Seeing myself in a wedding gown was mind blowing. After spending two hours trying on dress after dress and having Mila and Dree criticize each and every detail, I had it narrowed down to two dresses.

"Can we try the Pnina again?" I asked, taking a deep breath as I continued to admire the dress in front of me. Ella nodded and helped me into the dress.

I stared at myself in the mirror, loving it. I had tried on multiple dresses, yet this one had been my favorite. We walked through the salon toward Mila and Dree. Mila had Abigail leaning against her chest, asleep. I stepped onto the platform and sighed.

"I think this is it," I told them, looking back at them through the mirror. Dree beamed, nodding.

"It's completely perfect," Mila agreed.

After they took measurements and I changed back into my street clothes, we headed across the street to a pizza shoppe for lunch. We got a table and ordered drinks and I pulled out my phone, texting Garrett to tell him that I'd gotten a dress.

"Mila, can I ask you a kind of personal question?" Dree asked, sipping her Diet Coke. Mila looked up from handing Abigail Cheerios and raised an eyebrow.

"Personal how?"

"Did you and John...were you guys...did you guys have sex when you were pregnant with Abigail?" she managed to spit out, a rush of color flooding her face. I laughed once, putting a hand over my mouth.

Mila's cheeks flushed a bit. "Why?"

"Because Stephen won't even go to third base with me because he's worried about the baby," she grumbled, frowning. "It's very frustrating. The fucking pregnancy makes my libido shoot through the roof and as soon as I get my bra off, Stephen checks out."

I couldn't help but crack up. "I'm sorry," I told her, still laughing. "This is just too funny."

"Hush, you'll be next," Dree said, scowling at me.

Mila rolled her eyes. "Dree, trust me, soon, it'll be hard for him to resist. John was kind of, I don't know, cautious at first, but give him a few more weeks. Better yet, give him some booze and it'll slip right out."

Dree and I both laughed at this, as our waiter brought out our pizza.

"So, me and Em have been looking at our schedules and talking to Kennedy and John and we think that in two weeks, we're going to spend a week on tour with the guys," Mila announced, pulling Abigail into her lap as she began to fuss.

"Lucky," I told her with a sigh. "I haven't been out on the road with them in so long."

"I haven't since before Abigail was born," Mila said with a smile. "Lu, I know it's for a long time, but would you mind keeping her while I'm gone? Don't feel obligated; if you can't, John's parents can take her, I just thought you might want her."

I raised my eyebrows, a bit surprised. "Yeah, I can keep her," I said, nodding as I took a bite of pizza. "I'll have to take her to John's parent's when I work, since Em won't be there to keep her, but I'll manage."

"Okay, great."