Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard

“Where did she go?” John asked Garrett as soon as he returned upstairs.

“She went home,” Garrett answered dully, his head hung low. He knew he shouldn’t have said those things to her, that he was pushing too far, but something inside of him had snapped and he hadn’t been able to control anything coming from his mouth. There had been a major disconnect between his mind and his mouth.

“She just went home,” Jared said flatly, obviously not believing it. “What did you do to her?”

Garrett grimaced. His friends had pretty much left the subject of Charlotte and him alone but now that he had run her out of the apartment, Garrett knew that he wasn’t going to be left alone anymore. He was going to have to tell them the truth.

“I called her a whore,” Garrett grumbled under his breath, his eyes trained on the carpet.

Everyone exchanged quick glances and quizzical expressions. “You realize she’s only slept with one guy?” Kennedy offered.

“And only once,” Pat continued. “She regretted it immediately, too.”

“But no, you wouldn’t know that,” Jared snapped, pulling on his jacket. He grabbed the car keys to the van and shook his head. “You wrote her off like she was the worst thing to ever happen to you. Well, congratulations, Garrett. I don’t think you ever have a second chance with her now.”

The others followed Jared’s actions, each pulling on a jacket before they filed out of the apartment and down to the van. Garrett groaned, knowing they were right. He had royally screwed up with Charlotte and he would be lucky if she ever spoke to him again. He had been hurt when he heard about Wyatt kissing her and he fell apart the night he found out she slept with him, but he had never stopped to think about how devastated she must have been to hear that he had fallen back into the arms of his ex-girlfriend.

Garrett grabbed his car keys and headed downstairs to his car. He drove straight to Charlotte’s house to apologize and grovel and beg for forgiveness. He wasn’t surprised when he found the van parked in her driveway. He parked by the curb, slowly making his way up to the house. He could hear the guys explaining everything to Bobbie and he definitely didn’t like what he was about to walk into.

“You stupid fucker,” Bobbie cursed as she yanked open the front door. Garrett was still quite a few paces away from the door but, again, he wasn’t surprised.

“Bobbie, I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

He stood in front of Bobbie and felt so much smaller than her; she had puffed up with anger and hatred, a fire burning bright in her eyes. “Hurt her?” she dared, her voice harsh and cold. “You fucking scared her off. She’s not here.”

Garrett’s heart stopped. He had been sure she would be here by now. He had stood outside in the wake of her headlights for a good ten minutes, soaking everything in, completely numb by what he had said and done.

“She should be here by now,” Garrett stammered. “Are you sure you didn’t miss her come in?”

“Do you see her car anywhere outside?” Bobbie snarled and finally faded back into the house.

Garrett’s feet were stuck, his heart was pounding against his ribcage and he wasn’t receiving enough oxygen to properly function. He stood in the open doorway for a few minutes, his eyes glassed over, until Pat gently wrapped an arm around him and eased him inside.

“She’s not answering,” Jared said, removing his phone from his ear. He ended the call and looked around the group for any sort of help.

“I’ll try,” John offered as he dialed her number.

Garrett stood to the side. He couldn’t think straight, all of his thoughts a jumbled mess. He couldn’t hear much of what was being said, either, except for a few simple words here and there. He had caused this. He made her go missing. He had been so mean, so heartless, that he completely ruined her.

This wasn’t him. He was a loving, caring person. He loved Charlotte with all of his heart, no matter how upset or disappointed he had been with her; he didn’t want her to run away. He didn’t want her to cry, or feel alone, and he wished he could embrace her, tell her that he was sorry for everything and he would do anything to make this all go away. All he wanted was to go back to the days when they were in love and nothing else mattered. He just wanted to start over.

He thought back to the day at the record store. The way they took their time walking back, the little kiss he randomly stole when she wasn’t paying attention. He missed the way he had to convince her that they would be okay, no matter if she went to California or not. He wasn’t sure of it then, and it was biting him now, but he sold it to her.

He remembered when he fixed the bow in her hair and found the nose piercing, consequently blowing up at her for it. He hadn’t felt that worried about her until just then, an overpowering feeling of guilt and the urge to protect her swarming his every thought. And the day at the beach, when he had to beg her to talk to him and then he dragged her out to dinner even though she clearly wasn’t ready to talk to him again. But she did, because the love she felt for him was too strong for any petty argument to weaken.

He mostly missed the way things were so good, he didn’t have to work at anything or think about what to do next to keep her happy. She loved just being near him, and he loved being near her. The littlest things made them happy and that’s all that really mattered to them. They didn’t need bells and whistles; all they needed was each other.

He somehow ended up sitting on the couch with Pat at his side. Bobbie paced the room, her hands nervously running through her hair. He wasn’t sure how much time had gone by but he was fully aware of the situation now. Everyone was talking softly, a worry in their voice.

“Has anyone talked to her?” Garrett asked.

“Oh, so now you zone back in?” Bobbie said sarcastically.

“No,” Jared told Garrett. “We’re about to call her Dad. He’s working out of town again but we think-”

“Let me try calling her first,” Garrett mumbled, fumbling with his phone. He paused before pressing the call button, memories and emotions flooding back in another wave of regret. He shook his head to himself, pressed call and lifted the phone to his ear. It rang three times and suddenly stopped. He didn’t think he had been cut off or sent to voicemail, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak. He moved the phone away from him and put it on speaker.

“Char?” he squeaked.

Everyone stopped talking to pay attention. “What?” Charlotte whispered.

Garrett looked up to gage the reactions of everyone in the room. “Where are you?” he asked.

Charlotte sighed. “I’m at home.”

“Char, we’re sitting in your house-”

“I’m in Arizona, Garrett,” she breathed, annoyance evident in her tone.

There was a loud whack. Garrett didn’t know what hit him until he felt his left cheek start to tingle and go numb. The air became thick, awkward even, and Garrett stared up at Bobbie. He knew he deserved it.

“Thanks, B,” Charlotte whispered and the line cut out.

“You made her so mad she drove all the way to Arizona,” Kennedy said, recapping the conversation.

Garrett’s head fell into his hands. He couldn’t begin to explain how terrible he felt, and the comments everyone was making only made him feel like absolute scum. He listened to their criticisms for a while, fully believing every sneer and snide comment they made, until he finally had enough. He headed for the door, his car keys in hand.

“You can’t just leave, Garrett,” John called out to him. “We have to be at the studio in the morning.”

Garrett hung his head, his hand lingering on the doorknob. He didn’t care about the record at this point in time, and he didn’t think he’d be able to care about it again until he had Charlotte at his side. “I can’t sit around and go on with my life like nothing happened tonight. I have to fix this now. I can make it by sunrise and if it all goes right, I’ll be back within a day.”

“You’re not going alone,” Jared said sternly.

“Well, whoever is coming better hurry up because I’m leaving,” Garrett said over his shoulder as he pulled the door open and stepped outside. He heard the rushed conversation inside, John and Jared telling Kennedy and Pat to stay with Bobbie in case her Dad came home early.

John pushed the front seat up so Jared could get into the back, and once Garrett heard the door slam shut, he put the car in drive and sped toward the highway.

Garrett couldn’t help but regret everything he’s done in the past month. He blamed it all on Charlotte, somehow thinking it would be easier to forego admitting any fault. He missed her being around to listen to him, as a best friend and as a girlfriend; he missed her scent, the way she looked at him, the way she rested her head on his shoulder when she was bored. He missed her hesitance and her caution, the way she ultimately over thought every single situation.

“Gar,” John said easily, “Maybe I should drive for a while.”

Garrett glanced at the clock. It had already been three hours? How had that happened? He suddenly felt the time catch up to him, his eyes growing heavier with each second that passed, and he obliged, slowing down to pull over to the side of the road. As they switched sides and Garrett settled into the passenger seat, he realized Jared was sound asleep in the back.

John adjusted the seat, messed with the radio dials, opened and closed the air vents. Garrett normally would have been worried, overwhelmed with grief as John drove with one hand and no eyes on the road, but sleep overcame him and his eyes drifted shut. Three more hours until he could rip his heart out, hand it to Charlotte, and hope she wouldn’t stomp on it.