I'm All Yours Somehow

I woke up the next morning on my own. Garrett was curled up beside me, his forehead against the hollow of my throat. I smiled, untangling myself from him, trying not to wake him. I glanced at the clock and sighed. It was already eleven o'clock and I stood up, stretching out before pulling on some clothes.

I stopped in the bathroom to pull my hair up into a bun and brushing my teeth. I kept catching glances of my ring and each time, a fair blush came to my cheeks and I smiled bashfully.

Letting Garrett sleep, I went down stairs in a pair of cut-off shorts and an old t-shirts, still barefoot. Dree was sitting downstairs in the kitchen, stirring the contents of a mug sitting in front of her.

"Good morning," I told her with a cheerful smile as I sat down across from her at the table.

"It sounded like you had a good night too," she said with a smirk, pulling the tea bag out of the mug and adding a package of Splenda to her drink.

I blushed and couldn't hold back a smile. "How could you tell?" I asked, standing up to start a pot of coffee.

"Well, Stephen and I were asleep on the couch and you guys woke us up. I never expected you to make that much noise, Lu," she teased, throwing a wink my way.

My cheeks burned pink but I shrugged. "We had reason to celebrate," I told her, holding out my hand for her to see my ring.

"Holy fuck," she said, her eyes widening severely at the size of the rock on my finger. "Congradulations. About damn time, too."

Drew and I sat at the table talking about the previous evening, because she wanted to hear everything that had happened. Stephen came in a bit later, his hair wet from a shower. He pulled up a chair as well and listened for a while.

Stephen offered to run to Chipotle for lunch, so after I wrote down mine and Garrett's orders, him and Dree headed out. By then it was almost noon and Garrett had had plenty of sleep.

I sighed, making my way up the stairs. Garrett was buried under the piles of blankets, despite the early afternoon heat settling into the room. I climbed into the bed with him and he barely stirred.

"Gare," I said softly, pushing his sleep matted hair off his forehead. As soon as I touched him, I realized that he was burning up. The ends of his hair, I discovered, were damp with sweat. "Garrett, walk up!" This time, I shook his shoulders lightly and he opened his eyes slowly.

He frowned at me grumpily for waking him up. He grumbled something before coughing up a storm.

"I'm sick," he groaned, his voice hoarse. He pushed himself into a sitting position and sighed.

I smiled softly, pushing his damp hair off of his forehead. "You definitely have a fever, Gare," I informed him, pulling my hand away from his forehead. He turned his head and sneezed loudly.

"I hate being sick," he said, his voice nasally. I couldn't help but smile further at his dismay. He scooted closer to me and rested his head on my shoulder.

"Stephen just headed to Chipotle to grab us some lunch. You should probably at least try to eat something." As I spoke, his arms folded around my waist, pulling me to him. Whenever he was sick, Garrett got extra cuddly.

"Will you stay in bed with me all day?" he asked, pressing a kiss to my neck softly.

"I can later," I promised. "But after we eat, I think I'll run to the drug store and get you some cold medicine and some Cherry 7-Up, then we can stay in bed, as long as you don't make me sick."

"I'll try not to," he agreed, pulling away and smiling.

I grinned, running my hand over the stubble that had accumulated on his cheeks. "You need to shave, Gare," I said with a bit of a laugh.

"I have more important things on my mind," he shrugged, leaning into kiss me. As soon as our lips touched, he ripped away and started coughing. "You know I love you more than air, right?"

I nodded, my cheeks flushing pink as he leaned in to kiss me again. His lips were hot against mine from his fever and he pulled away too soon. I sighed softly before wrapping my arms around his neck to pull him to me.

Stephen returned soon enough with food and we went downstairs to eat. After lunch, Dree and Stephen decided to go out for the rest of the day, leaving me and Garrett the house.

I stepped into the bathroom to get ready to run to the store and Garrett followed me. He plopped down on the closed seat of the toilet and watched as I tied my hair into a knot.

"Do you have to put that on?" he asked as I applied my foundation.

"Put what on?" I responded, looking at him in the mirror.

"That liquid stuff. You look better without it." I scoffed and shrugged before pulling out my eyeliner, which I put on as well.

"That's all I'm wearing today, happy?" I asked, zipping my make-up bag. He made a face in response and I smiled. I walked over to him and he wrapped his arms around my hips and toyed with the hem of the shirt I was wearing. "I'll be back soon."

He nodded, sighing as I leaned down to press my lips against his. He followed me out of the bathroom and as I started down the stairs, he flopped down on the bed.

An hour and a half later, I returned with cold medicine, two pints of Ben and Jerry's (Phishe Food for me, Cherry Garcia for Garrett), orange juice (lots of pulp), and a few other groceries. I stopped in the kitchen to put the orange juice in the refridgerator and to grab spoons for the ice cream before heading upstairs. Garrett was dozing and when I walked into the room, he woke up and stretched.

"What'd you bring me?" he asked as he yawned.

I tossed the bag to him and he reached for in as he pushed himself into a sitting position. As he looked through the bag, I kicked off my shorts and joined him on the bed in my t-shirt and my boyshort panties.

"That's no fair," Garrett informed me, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What's not fair?" I asked, reaching for my pint of ice cream.

"You, climbing into bed like that when I'm sick and I know if I try anything, you'd stop me because you don't want to get sick."

I laughed quietly, knowing he was right. I looked over at him as he tried to open the his pint of ice cream. He was extremely concentrated, his tongue protruding from his lips slightly. He smiled in triumph when he got the carton open. He dug into the ice cream and I grabbed the box of cold pills and opened them, tossing two of the pills to him. He dry-swallowed the pills and I cringed.

"I'm bored," he informed me, leaning over to take a bite of my ice cream once I'd opened in.

"Hey, no!" I said, wrenching it away from him. "Did I say you could have some of my ice cream?"

"You always share with me though," he said, his eyes wide.

"This is my vacation; I don't want to get sick, thank you."

He repeated my sentence in a high pitched voice that sounded nothing like me and I rolled my eyes. I offered him my ice cream, just to shut him up, helping myself to a bite of his as well.

"Have you called Mila yet?" he asked, pointing his spoon at the ring on my finger.

I sighed. "No. I've decided to wait until we get home. If I tell her now, she'll freak out and want to decide on everything right now. I just want to have us time for a little while."

"Hmm," he said, putting an arm around my shoulders. "I like that idea." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the side of head. I smiled, settling into his side.

We spent the rest of the afternoon, cuddling, dozing, and watching movies on my laptop. We hummed along to Across the Universe, both of us half asleep when my phone vibrated on the night stand beside the bed. We jolted awake and Garrett groaned as I reached for my phone.

"I thought you turned that thing off," he grumbled, stretching himself out.

"I never said that," I informed him, blinking rapidly before opening the message Dree sent me. I read the message, in which she told me that her and Stephen were going to dinner and that they might not be home until late.

I rubbed my eyes after actually turning my phone off. Garrett slid and arm around my waist, humming the words to Something under his breath as he kissed the side of my neck. I giggled, pushing a hand against his chest.

"Tallulah?" Garrett asked quietly, his lips brushing over my hair.

"What, sweetie?" I asked letting out a breath.

"When we have kids, if we have a boy, let's name him Jude."

My cheeks went hot at his words, but I smiled. "You're getting a little ahead of yourself, aren't you, G?" I teased.

He shrugged, yawning. "It was just a thought." I scoffed. "Hey, look at me."

I did as he said and he pressed his lips to mine. I smiled against his lips, which were overly warm, thanks to the return of his fever. After making out for quite a while, we decided to go down stairs in search of food. We settled for grilled cheese sandwiches.

"When are we heading home?" I asked, sliding the first of the sandwiches onto a plate and handing it too him after cutting it diagonally.

"What, dying to go home already?" he teased, taking a bite. "Fuck, that's hot!" he yelped.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course it is, dummy. It just came off the stove. And no, I'm just curious."

"Okay, well, today's what, Saturday?" he asked, taking another bite of the sandwich despite the heat.

"Try Thursday, Gare," I said with a laugh, cutting my own sandwich.

"Really? Huh. But anyway, Dree and Stephen leave Sunday, and we leave Wednesday."

I nodded before sighing. "Do you want something to drink, G?"

He shrugged, taking his plate over to the table and sitting down. I rolled my eyes and opened the refrigerator and pulled out two cans of Coke. I set one down in front of him at the table before putting my plate down as well.

As I was about to sit down, Garrett put an arm around my waist, pulling me to him. I tripped over my own feet and landed in his lap, laughing quietly.

"What are you doing?" I asked quietly, smiling as I turned my head to look at him.

He shrugged, touching his nose to mine. I giggled quietly, pressing my lips against his, softly.

The rest of our time in South Carolina went quickly. Dree and Stephen left a few days later, and having the house to ourselves, we took advantage of that. We spent a lot of time out on the beach, once Garrett was over his cold.

Going home was a bitter sweet thing. The idea of home was wonderful, just to get back into the normal swing of things, but the end of our vacation meant that I had barely a week left with Garrett before him and the guys took off on tour again.

The flight home was rough, thanks to storms and turbulence. It was impossible to sleep and I was extremely restless. Garrett was jostling his knee, which made me uneasy as well. I put my hand on his knee, stopping it's motion and he scoffed.

It was such a relief to land back in Arizona. It was nearing midnight and I couldn't wait to be home.

As we approached our house, we didn't see just our house. We saw cars. Lots of them.

"Fucking A," Garrett said, parking on the street. He put the car in park and took his seat belt off before turning off the engine and exiting the car quickly. I followed him as he walked the lawn angrily towards front door.

"Garrett, calm down," I told him, catching up and holding his arm. He brushed off my words and entered the house.

The house wasn't too trashed, compared to some of the parties the guys had thrown in the past. The furniture in our front room was still intact, which was a good sign.

Jared walked in front of us, heading to the backyard and froze when he saw us. His lips formed the first letter of a swear word when Garrett yelled, "Where is he?"

Jared pointed down the stairs to the basement and took off running out the back door before Garrett could get any closer. Garrett went down the steps to the basement, taking them two at a time and I sighed, standing in the kitchen, surrounded by several party goers. On the counter sat several cups full of an unknown liquid and I took one with a shrug. I took a drink and grimaced at the taste.

I looked down the stairs to the basement where a group had gathered around Kennedy and Garrett as Garrett yelled at his band mate. I rolled my eyes, starting down the stairs. As I approached, I could hear Garrett yelling.

"I figured you'd pull this kind of shit, but I didn't think you'd dare to do it on the night we got back!"

"I thought you guys were coming back Friday, I swear!" Kennedy said in his defense.

Garrett opened his mouth to give a response, but I stepped between the two. "Gare, cool it. Kennedy, you're a dumb ass. There, problem solved," I said, looking back and forth between them. Garrett was fuming and Kennedy looked like a deer in the headlights.

"You're just letting him off with that?" Garrett asked me in disbelief.

I laughed once. "Not at all." I looked back to Kennedy. "You're cleaning the house tomorrow, top to bottom, to my standards. You're also replacing all of the booze and cleaning the pool."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, looking down at his shoes.

"Good. Now, drink and party it up," I said to Garrett, handing him my cup.

"That's why I love you." He downed the cup with a wink before kissing me on the cheek.