Closer To The Truth

As I closed the door to my room, my nerves began to come to life. I sucked in a breath of air as I turned around, seeing Garrett standing awkwardly by my bed.

“You can sit down, you know?” I laughed.

He chuckled and took a seat near the edge. “We don’t exactly have the best experiences with beds.”

I arched my brows, confused by his statement. “What do you mean?”

“The first time we met, you were on a bed and broke my nose.”

I felt my cheeks go ablaze as he reminded me of the accident. “I’m still sorry about that.”

He laughed. “It’s fine, Rox. It’s in the past now, anyway.”

I smiled and nodded my head before taking a seat beside him. “So, your band … Y’all are really good.”

A big smile decorated his face at my words. “Thank you. The band’s been my life for awhile. We’ve actually got quite a few fans here in Tempe and Phoenix now.”

“Really? Wow. That’s great, Gare.”

“Yeah, it’s nice,” he grinned.

It became quiet after that and I wasn’t exactly sure where to turn our conversation to. It was times like these when I hated being so shy and awkward; I wasn’t good at starting up conversations or keeping them going. I bit down on my bottom lip, trying to rack my brain for any ideas or topics to talk about. After a minute, I decided to ask him a question that had been burning in the back of my mind since we began talking.

“Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Uh … Yeah, I guess,” he said, looking unsure.

I licked my lips nervously and looked at him. “Why are you single? I mean … you’re good looking and sweet and in a band, nonetheless. Why don’t you have a girlfriend?”

He waited a moment before speaking. “Well … it’s kind of a long story.”

“I’ve got time to listen,” I smiled.

He chuckled and looked down to his feet. “Where do I start,” he began, sighing. “I met Emily my sophomore year of high school … we had two classes and lunch together. She - uh - she had long brown hair and big, green eyes; I thought she was beautiful. When we started talking, she played hard to get, but I knew that she liked me as much as I liked her, even if she didn’t want to admit it. Finally, after weeks of asking, I got her to go out on a date with me. When I took her home, she asked me to kiss her and I did. And from there on, we became a couple. We were sort of inseparable, I guess. We were in love, or, I mean, I thought we were.

We dated up until graduation. She had gotten accepted into USC, and because of me, she stayed here and went to ASU. I don’t really know when things began to change between us, but it just seemed like each day we were arguing more and more. And before I knew it, we were having this huge argument in the middle of a party … she had gotten really drunk and started yelling at me out of nowhere. She kept blaming me for her shitty life here and saying she could have been something better if she had gone to California. I was drunk and pissed off that she was blaming me for everything wrong in her life, and so I started yelling back. In the end, she broke up with me and said that when the end of the semester came, she was leaving to California to pursue her dreams and that she regretted every moment of being with me and that she never wanted to hear from me again. So, I – I let her go. I was hurt for awhile, you know? I mean, I had been with Emily for so long and then things just went to complete shit. So finding a girlfriend was never on my top list of things to do. Then, I met John and the guys and when we formed our band, it just took over my life. I haven’t really looked for a girlfriend since.”

I couldn’t help but to feel sorry for Garrett. I had no clue who Emily was, but I strongly disliked her for what she had done to the boy sitting beside me, because even though time had passed, the look on his face when he spoke about their relationship still showed how much she had hurt him.

“I’m really sorry, Garrett.”

He shook his head and waved his hand, putting on a smile. “It was a long time ago, there’s no need to be sorry.”

I gave a sad smile. “She still did a shitty thing by blaming you for her unhappiness. But in the end, you kind of came out on top, you know? You have a band that’s gonna blow up any day now.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. It’s her loss.”

I nodded my head. “Exactly.”

He looked at me and I couldn’t help but to gaze into his pale blue orbs; they were enchanting, those eyes. I didn’t understand, looking at Garrett, how anyone could break his heart; he seemed like the perfect guy.

“I’m not even going to ask about Craig, because I know how he can be.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Yeah … there’s really not much to say about him.”

“Well, I take that back. You were crying about him earlier … do you want to talk about what happened?” he asked, seeming genuinely concerned.

I sighed and looked down at my hands. “I’m kind of embarrassed by what he said, truthfully.”

“Don’t be embarrassed. I just told you how some girl broke my heart,” he said, nudging my shoulder.

“Well … he, uh, he asked about me and you … like, if we were together or not. When I asked him why he cared, he said he didn’t, that he just wanted to warn you of what you were getting yourself into, if you decided to date me.”

“Warn me?” he questioned, arching his brows.

I nodded my head. “He said I didn’t really have anything to offer a guy, and the one thing that I could, I won’t.”

Garrett’s face fell, and he seemed to be angered by what I had just said. “Craig’s a fucking idiot. Don’t listen to him, Roxie. Seriously, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

I looked away, feeling myself tear up for the second time today. “You barely know me, Garrett. I dated Craig for years … if he couldn’t see any good in me, I doubt you can.”

“Hey,” he said softly, grabbing my hands. “I may not have known you for as long as Craig has, but that doesn’t mean anything. You’re a great girl, Roxie. Any guy would be lucky to date you.”

I bit down on my bottom lip, my hand tingling from his touch. “Even if I don’t give it up easily?”

He chuckled a bit. “If anything, that only makes you more desirable.”

Hearing that, I couldn’t help but to smile. “Thanks, Gare.”

“No problem,” he grinned. I looked down at our hands before looking at him. As if reading my mind, his gaze fell to our hands. “Are we dating?”

“I was hoping you could answer that for me,” I said earnestly.

He laughed. “Well … we’ve gone out one date. And, I do like you.”

I felt myself blushing. “I like you, too.”

He smiled and brought his free hand to my cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind my ears. “If you’re leaving it up to me, then I say we’re dating.”

I laughed and wiped my eyes. “I’m happy with your decision.”

His eyes fell to my lips, and before I knew it, we were inching closer and closer together. I felt his warm breath hit my lips before his did, and I felt a swarm of butterflies emerge in my stomach. I could still taste the sweet flavor of ice cream on his lips, and it only encouraged me to deepen our kiss.

He fell onto his back, and I crawled on top of him, straddling his waist. His hands tangled into my hair, and I placed my hands on either side of him. His tongue traced my bottom lip and I eagerly opened my mouth, allowing our tongues to wrestle each other.

It wasn’t long before I could feel my lungs needing oxygen, and our chests rising and falling against one another’s. However, I didn’t want to pull away, and I could tell he didn’t either by the way he was kissing me.

When I was on the verge of going blue, I pulled away and nearly began gasping for air, as did Garrett. We both stared at each other as we tried to gain our breaths, and I couldn’t help but to smile.

“You’re mine?” he asked, almost in a dream-like state.

I giggled and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. “I’m yours, Gare.”

“Good,” he stated before flipping me over and continuing our kiss.

I only hoped that the smacking of our lips together wasn’t giving my sister or John the wrong idea. Alaska would never let me hear the end of it.