Lavender Sweater and a Volkswagen Jetta

It had been four months since we moved back in Arizona. Kylie and I moved in to our new house after three weeks of shopping new furniture, painting the rooms and the house, and placing the new plants on the front lawn and backyard. The guys and girls helped us getting the job done. During those two weeks of making the old house look new, we ended up getting paint on each other by the end of the day. It was hard getting the paint off of ourselves when we got home.

As I brushed my teeth, Kylie came rushing by the doorway, still in her robe. When I was done, I bent down to her height and said firmly, “Kylie, I thought I told you to go and get dressed? Uncle Garrett’s going to pick us up in—“ The doorbell rang and my eyes widened. “Well, about now.”

I stood up and looked at the wall clock that was in the bathroom. 1:23. I rolled my eyes and went downstairs. I opened the door and there he was. “Garrett, hey! Um, come inside.” I moved aside to let him in. He grinned and pecked me on the cheek.

Garrett took off his sunglasses and smirked at me. “You’re not going to wear that to the album releasing, aren’t you?”

I flushed. Of course I wasn’t going to wear my robe. He said he’ll be here by two o’clock. “I just got out of the bathroom, for your information. You might want to tell me why you’re here so early.”

“Well, I don’t mind waiting.” He smiled. “And no, I don’t have time to explain.”

I playfully rolled my eyes at him. “I hate you.” I pouted.

He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him and pressed his forehead over mine and whispered, “And I love you too,” and smirked at me while I flashed him a smile. His lips were inches away from mine until I heard our daughter call for me from her room. Garrett sighed and released me but held on to my hand. “Sometimes I wish I never got you pregnant,” he mumbled and I laughed.

Kylie’s mouth dropped once she saw me and Garrett together. I frowned then it hit me; Garrett was still holding my hand. She clamped her hands over her mouth and said, “Mommy! Are you and uncle Gary together?”

I glanced at Garrett who had a smirk on his face, dropped my hand, and picked up little Kylie. “Well, if you allow me to be with your mom, then yes.”

“Yes, yes, yes!” She squealed.

I chuckled. “Well, I better get dressed so we can go now.”


The after party for the band’s release of their new album Black & White was nothing I could even expect it to be. Garrett and I had to drive back to his house so that his mom could look after Kylie while we’re at the party. She actually couldn’t believe that I was back. I promised her that I would visit her soon since she wanted to catch up with me.

As I sat back on the leather seats in one booth of the venue of the after party, Brie and Jules kept me company while the boys are going around greeting the people there. My eyes scanned the room, smiling to myself but that quickly faded when I saw a tall, lanky guy talking to Kennedy in the corner.

No, it can’t be. It can’t be him. My breathing began to speed up once I saw a good look on his face. He was the one guy I didn’t want to see right now. The girls seemed to notice my horrified stare and they scooted over to my side in seconds. Jules had her hand on my shoulder. “Elle? Are you alright?”

I wasn’t sure if I shook my head no. My eyes were glued to him. Brie followed my gaze and she put her hand over her mouth once she saw who I was staring at. “Oh my god,”

Jules followed suit. “Holy shit,” she whispered.

Brie turned her attention back to me and made me turn my head to her. “Okay listen Elle, let’s just hope Joel doesn’t notice you or even knows you’re here, alright?”

It wasn’t until Joel walked over to where we are with Kennedy. I tried to take the horrified expression on my face and breathe. Jules stood up once she saw Kennedy and kissed him on the cheek. I kept my head low and sipped on my drink. I noticed Jules whisper something to Kennedy which made him nod and they took their seats.

“Well, who is this fine gentleman? Joel Kanitz, it’s been a while since I last saw you!” Brie greeted him enthusiastically.

“It’s nice to see you too, Brianna.” He laughed as he gave my best friend a hug. “And who might this pretty lady be?”

My head shot up. My eyes averted to Kennedy which made him speak up for me. “Demi Sinclair, Garrett’s girlfriend.” I gave Joel a warm smile.

“Pleasure to meet you, Demi.” He said and flashed me a smile. Out of nowhere, he frowned as he sat down next to Brie, still looking at me. “You look like someone I once knew,”

My heart started racing. Joel recognizes me, doesn’t he? Just then, he shook his head, laughing. “No, it can’t be.”

“W-who is it?” I stuttered.

“She was the girl who I used to have a huge crush on way back in high school. She never really dated any guy in our school; she played the awkward, shy, and smart-ass girl in my book. She’s the complete opposite of her brother, Jared.” Joel said. “I was about to ask her out until I heard that Garrett and her were dating and that basically ruined everything for me.” He chuckled.

I frowned as the three stayed silent. I looked down at my glass as Joel continued. “Then there was this party John held at his place and I wanted to forget about her so I had a couple of drinks that night and saw that she was alone in one corner—probably waiting for Garrett—and we started talking and… out of nowhere, I decided to screw her.”

I cringed at the memory. I’ve had a couple of drinks that night, too. Most of them were from Joel where I declined at first but he insisted.

“The next morning, I woke up to the both of them screaming at each other and I wanted to stand up for her but then Garrett… we ended up yelling at each other and beating the shit out of the other. A few months later, I found out she took off without anyone knowing apart from Garrett.” he said. “And now, I don’t know where she is and how she’s doing.”

My head was still down and I looked up, only to see that we were alone. “What’s her name?” I asked.

“Joelle Monaco, but most of the time her friends call her Elle.” he mumbled with a scowl on his face. Apparently, I left him a mark...a very bad one, to be exact. I didn’t want to question anymore so I kept silent. It felt awkward to be left alone with the guy that made me decide to leave, the one guy that was one of my reasons for leaving.

I felt an arm slip behind my waist and a kiss on my cheek. I fell back to reality to see Garrett next to me with a smile on his face, “Hey,” he greeted softly.

I smiled back and pecked him on the cheek. “Hi,”

“I see you met Joel Kanitz from This Century,” he said, trying not to make it obvious that I really know Joel. I nodded.

“I see you finally found yourself a girlfriend after she left, Garrett.” Joel said, making the two of them laugh.

“Yeah well, it’s good that Kennedy introduced me to her.”

The whole time they were talking, it looked like that nothing happened between the two of them four years ago. Every time they refer me, I could only smile or laugh. It was uncomfortable for me to be in between them casually talking and I’m there with Joel not knowing who I really was.

It all felt so ridiculous pretending to be someone else, but at the same time, it felt kind of right. Joel didn’t know who I really was, and that was a good thing. I didn’t want him to know that I’m the girl who didn’t talk to him after the incident at John’s party.

On the corner of my eye, I saw Kennedy motion me to come over to where he was. I briefly looked at the two boys that were talking and excused myself from them, giving Garrett a kiss on the cheek before I left them there.

I sat on one of the stools next to Kennedy and gave him a look. He gave me a drink before saying, “How long are you going to keep this up?”

I shrugged and sipped on the alcohol. “It feels so wrong to be pretending somebody I’m not,” I mumbled. “As long as Joel doesn’t know who I really am, I’ll keep on pretending.”

“But what if he’s figured you out? What if he suddenly realizes that you’re really the girl who left us all?”

I swished the alcohol in its glass and pursed my lips. I never really thought about that. I didn’t visualize what will happen now that we met again with Joel thinking that I’m someone else. It didn’t occur to me that the things I didn’t want to happen might come now.

I glanced at Kenny who was obviously waiting for my answer and back at the glass. “I really don’t know.”

Kenny looked back at the two before saying, “Does it get you wondering that Garrett and Joel look like they’re friends?”

I frowned. “Yeah, I was wondering about that.”

“Well you see, Garrett and Joel ran into each other one time and it was obvious that the two of them were not in their heads. They went inside a coffee shop and basically talked about anything, apart from you. But Joel had to put you up as their subject.” Kenny started.

“Really?”

He nodded. “Garrett didn’t like the idea of you being brought up, but it made him think that it was time to apologize to Joel about what happened a few years ago.”

“And what did Joel say?”

“He apologized as well and they both started talking about you. Since then, they’ve been really good friends. But now that you’re back, I’m not really sure if Garrett’s going to be comfortable with the thought of you meeting Joel again.” He chuckled.

I huffed and let my eyes fall on the two of them. “This is going to be hard,” I whispered to myself.