Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard

Even though Garrett knew, in his heart, that something was wrong, he couldn’t wait to get back and see Charlotte. He had a feeling she was with Wyatt, doing things Garrett didn’t even want to imagine, but he knew that the minute she saw him pull up she’d be back in his arms. He’d tell her all about his week and his conversations with Rachael. He’d apologize for the phone call she received that night, because even though he had no idea she had been dialed, he felt guilty.

The long drive seemed to go by extremely fast, faster than it had gone when he was heading back to Arizona a few days ago. But for some reason, no matter how much closer he got to his destination, the longer it felt. His thoughts were getting the best of him in his final stretch; doubt was setting in. All of his friends had warned Charlotte not to fall for someone else, and he’s afraid she had done just that. He was afraid Wyatt, of all people, had taken his place. After all, Wyatt lived a few houses over from Charlotte, as opposed to the few states separating her and Garrett. Wyatt would be able to take her to dinners and movies and parties a lot easier than Garrett could. Wyatt was there to hold her instead of Garrett staring at her through a computer screen, promising a warm embrace in a few weeks. Wyatt seemed to be the better choice for Charlotte.

Garrett’s phone rang, causing him to shake his head of these thoughts. It was John, no doubt calling to get his estimated time of arrival. “Hey,” Garrett answered, lowering the volume of his radio.

“Hey buddy,” John’s voice rang through the speakers. “Just wondering when you’ll be here.”

“Probably 20 minutes,” Garrett answered with a shrug even though he knew John couldn’t see him.

“Good, good. Alright, well. Um. I guess I’ll see you then,” John stammered.

“What’s going on?” Garrett asked, puzzled.

John sighed heavily. “It’s Charlotte.”

Garrett’s heart stopped. There was something in the tone John used in saying her name that worried him greatly. “What about her?”

John sighed again. “Look, don’t worry about it yet, okay? No one else is at the apartment besides me, so.. we’ll talk when you get here.”

Garrett mumbled a goodbye, hanging up and tossing his phone into the passenger seat. There it was, the panic settling in his chest and slowly taking over his entire being. He was glad he was in town and so close to the apartment because he wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to keep his mind from wandering into dangerous territories.

Garrett cautiously walked into the apartment, squinting against the dim lighting to find any sign on John. He walked into his bedroom and changed shirts, dropping off his duffle bag as well, and then went to the other side of the apartment toward John’s room. The door was shut but Garrett could hear a guitar playing on the other side.

“John?” Garrett asked softly, gently opening the door to peek inside.

“Hey, I didn’t hear you come in,” John said, visibly startled. He stood up and left his guitar on his bed.

“What did you need to talk to me about?” Garrett asked as he pushed the door open all the way.

John placed a hand on Garrett’s shoulder and as soon as he squeezed slightly, the front door opened again and in came Jared and Kennedy, followed by a little ball of yellow. Garrett’s heart leapt into his throat.

“Fuck,” John cursed under his breath and dragged Garrett into the bedroom, closing the door behind them. “That was such shitty timing.”

“Was that-”

“Yeah,” John sighed, running his hands nervously through his hair. “Look, I really don’t know how to tell you this.”

Garrett could feel his body shutting down – this was his worst fear coming to life. Charlotte had moved on. She didn’t love him; she didn’t need him, want him. She had no use for him anymore.

“Oh my god,” Garrett mumbled, sitting on Jared’s bed with his hands over his face. “Just say it.”

“Gar,” John said as softly as he could manage. He swallowed hard when Garrett glared at him, daring him to say it. “Look, I really am sorry. I never wanted to be the one to say this. I never wanted to hear it, or believe it, let alone have to ever say it-”

“John,” Garrett groaned. “You’re only making this worse.”

John sucked in a deep breath and held it for a couple of seconds before quickly letting it out. “She slept with him.”

Garrett didn’t say a word, the anger and adrenaline colliding. He stood and left the room, stomping down the hallway to get out to the main room, cross it and find the safety of his own room. He didn’t make it out of the hallway. The little ball of yellow stood in his way.

“You make me sick,” he growled.

“I’m so sorry, Garrett,” she whispered, her eyes glassy with fresh tears.

“Don’t speak to me,” he snapped. “Don’t you dare think you can speak to me after everything you’ve put me through.”

She nodded and continued to stand in his way. He was angry and sick and hurt so deeply. His head was spinning and his insides were crawling with disgust. He despised her, but somehow he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. He took in everything she had to offer; her drapey, slouchy yellow dress and her small waist defined by that tiny brown belt. The black necklaces he had never seen before and instantly hated. Her red lips and blue smokey eyes. She smelled like she did the day he first felt his heart falling for her. Her shoes were two-toned heel boots, a dirty crème color into an off-white; he liked them a lot, actually.

And the ring he gave her glistened against her ugly clutch bag. He wanted to snatch it off her finger and throw it out a window, praying it would be lost forever in a sea of bushes and grass.

“You’ve hurt me more than you realize, Charlotte Marie,” he started slowly, his eyes resting on hers again. The tears had fallen down her cheeks by now but she hadn’t bothered to dry them. “I was always there for you, as your best friend and as your boyfriend. I never purposely hurt you. I did everything in my power to protect you and shelter you and comfort you and just save you as best as I could. And you return the favor by moving away with the promise to always be faithful. You return the favor by lying to my face, breaking my heart with false hopes. You show me how thankful you are to have me in your life by having sex with some guy you don’t even know.”

“Garrett,” she whimpered, but he angrily cut her off.

“No, Charlotte. No. I’m done,” he argued. “I’m not going to sit around and be someone’s bitch boy. I’m not going to let you play me like this. I may be foolishly in love with you, hopelessly even, but I’m definitely not going to let you wreck my heart and my head. I don’t care how many times you say you’re sorry, it’s going to take a lot more than that to fix this shit you started. I hope you’re happy.”

Garrett took one last long look at her. She had tears streaming down her face now; her nose was pink and her cheeks were white. The emotions in her eyes reminded him of the day he had to pick her up at the spa, after the argument with her mother. She looked just as broken as she had when they were talking in his bedroom about the demise of her parents’ marriage. The same sad, empty look returned to her eyes. And he was doing all he could to refrain from being the one to fix it again.

He rudely brushed by her, knocking his shoulder into hers to get his point across, and retreated to his room. He locked the door behind him and leaned his back against it, closing his eyes as he breathed deeply to calm himself down. He felt sick to his stomach. He didn’t regret saying those things to Charlotte because she deserved to hear them. Those were his honest feelings. Maybe he came off a little too harsh, a little on the hatred side of things, but she needed the wakeup call. He wasn’t going to sit around and let her rule his life. He was a grown man and if she didn’t want him, he wasn’t going to be foolish enough to dumbly wait around for her to change her mind.