You Drain The Life From Me.

"Hey! Where's Garrett?"

All the boys were in the basement. Well, all the boys except one. I cringed as I heard his name.

"He's with Rachael Roberts," I practically growled.

Someone wolf whistled. I looked up and it was Jared. My eyes took on a deadly expression as I sighed. John bit his lip, "Uh, well we can't have practice without Garrett."

"I'll do his part," I mumbled softly.

"What songs do you know?" asked Kennedy.

"All of them. Fag..I mean Garrett taught them to me."

The room grew silent as I picked up the bass, clearly depressed.

We started off on Count 'Em, which I grew annoyed with because, when we finished, Pat repeated a fact I already knew, but didn't want to hear.

"I think Garrett wrote this song for you, Leigh."

I coughed. "Uhm. Yeah. He told me. Could we just not talk about him right now? Or could we not mention him ever again?"

This was painful.

I couldn't handle this.

They were probably together right now.

He was most likely not even thinking about me.

But why would he?

I don't matter to him.

Suddenly, the door flew open and Garrett ran in. He seemed winded.

"Sorry I'm late guys! I had something to do."

I rolled my eyes and set the bass down on the stand.

"Bye, guys," I murmured.

"Bye Leigh," Garrett said with a hopeful smile.

"Asshole," I replied, walking up the stairs to the main part of the house. Before the door shut behind me, I heard, "Dammit Garrett, she's been like this all day. What did you do?"

He didn't know. Of course he didn't know. He didn't know he had me wrapped around his finger.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

My phone buzzed and I slid it open, receiving a call from Lauren.

"Leigh? Pat told me something was wrong. I'm coming over. And I'm bringing Otter Pops."

"Lauren, you don't have to--"

"Yes I do. Shut your yap and turn on The Social Network. We're getting our Jewnicorn on."

I laughed and did as told. She was over in a matter of ten minutes and as promised, she brought Otter Pops.

"Awww, look at little Wardo! Jesus, just propose to the guy already!" Lauren yelled at the screen.

"Here it comes!"

Oh God, this was our favorite part.

"I'm sorry! My Prada's at the cleaners, along with my hoodie and my fuck you flip-flops, you pretentious douchebag!"

"You did it, I knew you did it! You planted the story about the chicken!"

"And I bet what you hated the most was that they identified me as the cofounder of Facebook, which I am--"

Before we could finish the glorious Eduardo Rage, Lauren paused the movie and Garrett was standing in front of the television.

"I'm sorry I was just sent out to get um, food so uh, yeah. Hi Lauren."

"Garrett."

He nodded at me, knowing I wouldn't respond, and went on his way. We didn't play the movie. We just waited for him to leave.

I kept my eyes on Andrew Garfield's angry face while Garrett rummaged around in the kitchen.

"Um, Leigh, where are your pretzels?"

I sighed and got up to help him.

"They're right here. Need anything else?"

"No...thanks. Um. Can we talk?"

"What is there to say?"

"I don't know, Leigh. What is going on?"

"Why can't you figure it out Garrett? It's been happening for a while now. For a damn long while, in fact. You tell me things you don't mean, you do things no guy friend has ever done, and you joke around about...you know, never mind. You should get back to your band practice."

I turned to walk away, but he dropped the bag of pretzels and grabbed my arm, pulling me back in.

"You look so cute when you get that mad."

"Don't even fucking try that with me."

"Try what, Leigh?"

"God, you are such a flirt. I'm done with you, Garrett. You always come back to me, don't you? I'm done with all your shit, got it?"

"Leigh, don't go. Please just..."

"Just what?"

"Come here, please."

"Garrett, I told you, I'm--"

"You're done, I know. But..."

One. Silence filled the room and his eyes were the only thing I couldn't look at.

Two. My breathing seemed to stop and all I could hear was my heartbeat, my heart itself seeming to be on the verge of bursting out of my chest.

Three seconds. His lips were on mine.

My lips didn't move at all. I couldn't. I didn't. But I did.

I kissed him back. It was Garrett for God's sake!

But I pulled away because it didn't fucking matter what we were doing because he was with Rachael. Rachael was prettier, girlier, nicer, funnier, more confident.

I was Leigh O'Callaghan, Garrett's best friend, and nothing more. That's all I was going to be.

"This shouldn't happen. It never will. Stay away from me."

I sat back down in the living room while fighting more tears and pressed play on the DVD player.

That last line of Eduardo's rage finally rang out.

"You better lawyer up, asshole, cause I'm not coming back for thirty percent, I'm coming back for everything."

As Garrett walked through the room and back into the basement, the last line of my rage played through my head.

"You better toughen up, asshole. Cause I'm not coming back for my heart. I'm coming back for everything."

God, that was cheesy.