I Can Rescue You

Every summer, almost every night, we found time to gather around my fire pit in my backyard. John, Jared and Kennedy would bring the guitars, Pat would bring the food and drinks, and Garrett - well - Garrett wouldn't bring anything. He was too lazy and poor to do anything. The only thing he did bring was his sister, Cori. She was one of my best friends.

On those nights, we sat around the fire pit and sang songs and ate. Occasionally we would make S'mores, but usually Pat forgot to bring everything to make them. And when my parents weren't home for the night, which was often, Kennedy's brother, Byron, would buy us beer. I wouldn't drink much, but I would have one or two.

These were my favorite nights. They were all my best friends, minus Garrett. It wasn't like we were enemies, no. We just didn't talk to each other. I guess both of us had never really given it a thought. He was very interesting, though, and extremely funny. He never failed to make us all laugh until we peed our pants. Cori was the complete opposite, though. I hung out with her almost every day, and she was very timid, unless she was around me. Mainly all she would do was gush about how much she liked Kennedy. I knew it was going to happen one day.

"Novalie," My head snapped up and I looked over at John. His eyebrows were furrowed together and everyone else was staring at me, too. "So?"

"What?" I gave him a confused look. "Did I miss something?" John chuckled and everyone else followed.

"How far have you been with a guy?" I started blushing and glared at him.

"Why?"

"Just answer it. You don't have to give details or anything."

It was so typical of John to ask me that kind of question. I sighed and stared as everyone waited for an answer. There was no getting out of this. I opened my mouth and took in a deep breath, getting them all extremely excited. "I went to California with my dad once, but that's as far as I've ever gone." I smirked, everyone laughed, and John just sighed and shook his head. "What? I answered the question."

"Whatever. Garrett - your turn." Garrett sighed and looked at me, biting his lip.

He was hesitating to ask me a question. We locked eyes for a few seconds and then he took a deep breath. "Who's your best friend?" At that moment, I realized that Garrett was even a more interesting person than I thought.

I smiled, "My daddy."