Easier To Lie

"Mallory, I love--"

Mallory's dream was interrupted as a rabid object jumped onto her bed and bounced around, demanding that she woke up.

She screamed, "What the fuck?!"

"I am Ratboy, hear me roar!"

Mallory rolled out of his way and onto the floor, making sure she landed on her back, kicking and screaming. She had no idea who the person was on her bed, but he was obviously in the middle of a tantrum.

Kennedy came running into her room, wide eyed and panting. "Mallory, what's going on?! Why are you screaming?!"

Out of breath, she sat up and pointed to "Ratboy," who was still on her bed, flailing his arms every which way.

Kennedy helped her up. "Pat, I thought you killed Ratboy off!"

Pat/Ratboy finally calmed down, shrugged and replied, "I got bored."

"So you decided to scare the living crap out of me?!" Mallory was still irritated that he disturbed the dream she was having.

Pat stood and wrapped his arms around the girl while she stood still, not knowing what the hell was going on. "I'm sorry for scaring you, Mallory," he told her in one of the sweetest voices she had ever heard in her life.

She sighed and hugged back, surprising herself. It had only been the second time Mallory had hung out with the long haired drummer, but yet here she was, hugging him. But then again, she had done the same thing with Garrett, but had gone as far as to kiss him.

These boys were seriously changing her. She had yet to decide whether it was a good or bad change.

Pat skipped away, and Mallory turned to fix her bed. Kennedy cleared his throat, most likely because he wanted to discuss what had happened yesterday. They didn't have a chance to talk last night, as when Mallory walked through the door, Gabi was still over and she didn't want to disturb them. So she had let Kennedy know she was home and greeted Gabi, then trudged up the stairs to think about the date she had just been on.

"I'm sorry we didn't get the chance to talk last night, Mal."

She sent a simple smile his way, letting him know that she didn't mind and that he was forgiven.

"So how'd it go?" he asked. She could sense a tone of protectiveness in his voice. Oh, brother.

"Well, he took me on a really nice picnic at a park, it was one of the sweetest dates I'd ever been on."

He nodded, and she continued. "When we got home, he saw Gabi's car in the driveway and suggested that I probably shouldn't go in yet because I might have walked in on something I didn't exactly want to see..."

Kennedy's cheeks turned as red as strawberries, making Mallory giggle at the sight of her brother being embarrassed.

He tried to say something, but she held up her hand in order to stop him. "It's okay, big brother. No need to defend nor explain yourself. It's your house."

Kennedy let out a sigh and asked, "So what'd you do then?"

"Well, he took me to his house and we watched a movie." Mallory had decided to leave out the part about how Garrett kissed her and how she kissed back and that she had certainly wanted to go further, but they had both stopped.

Seeing as how she probably turned slightly pink just from thinking about it, Kennedy most likely sensed what else they had done at his house, and let it fly, just like she had done for him.

"Well, little sister, I'm glad you had fun. Pat's the only one here so far, but the other guys will probably be over soon. Want some breakfast?"

The hungry girl nodded and followed her older brother down the stairs and into his kitchen.



"How long could he take, he lives like five streets down!"

There were currently four impatient boys sitting on the small table in the kitchen, waiting for Garrett to arrive.

Mallory was sitting on the counter. She had devoured a bowl of Crunch Berries and was now working on a green apple, one of her favorite fruits.

She had giggled at Pat's pout. It was obvious that the boy didn't like sitting down and waiting for anything at all, and that he was eager to get up and move around.

John was the calmest of them all, and he had a small brown journal with him. He was scribbling in it with a concentrated expression. She assumed that he probably didn't want to be bothered, so she left him alone.

Jared was sitting next to Kennedy, and together they were talking about some video that Jared had found online. A video of a young kid rapping about God doing new things. And apparently, he had looked like some kid named Halvo.

Pat turned to Mallory and unexpectedly, he asked, "How'd your date go last night?"

She stopped chewing the bit of apple she had bitten off and raised her eyebrows at him. "Um, it went pretty well. I had fun."

"What'd you do?"

"We um, had a picnic, then we watched a movie."

"Which one?"

"Erm, we watched The Devil Wears Prada at his house."

John snorted and Jared and Kennedy laughed. Pat knit his eyebrows together in confusion. "Isn't that a chick flick?"

Mallory hadn't known that the other boys had been listening to their conversation and suddenly, she became a bit more self-conscious. "Um, yeah...we were gonna watch a scary movie but--"

The door opened, saving Mallory from admitting that she hated scary movies and had wimped out on watching one with Garrett.

Everyone turned towards the door, and Pat jumped up and attacked whoever came in.

"Pat, I told you that I hate kissing in public! Stop!"

The three boys laughed at the obvious bromance taking place in the doorway. Mallory's heart skipped at the sound of hearing Garrett's voice, and a smile adorned her face. When Pat finally stopped trying to kiss Garrett, they both walked into the kitchen.

"Garrett doesn't want other people to know that we love each other," Pat whispered to Mallory. She chuckled and resumed eating her apple, acting as if the boy who had just walked into the kitchen didn't make her heart race.

In reality, all she could think about were the kisses they had shared and how they had made her feel. And most importantly, how she wanted more. She fought off the thoughts swimming about in her head and tried to concentrate on what Garrett was saying.

She noticed that he was wearing a blue baseball shirt with black sleeves. The shirt had a design of the ships from Star Wars and above them, the logo from the movie The Empire Strikes Back was printed. Mallory smiled. She loved Star Wars.

"What took you so long, dude?" Jared asked.

"Well Trey needed me to help him because his girlfriend was moving and she needed help moving stuff from her old apartment to her new one."

They boys shook their heads and carried on with their conversations and such. Garrett turned to Mallory and smiled. "Hey, how are you, Mal?"

In a quiet and shy voice, Mallory told him she was doing fine. She didn't quite know how to act around him, and it was a bit odd with John, Jared, Pat, and especially Kennedy around, but she enjoyed Garrett's company very much.

"Hey guys, we gotta start practicing!" John said as if they had forgotten why they were even here in the first place.

They stood up and walked towards the basement of the house. Garret stayed behind and held out his hand. "Don't want you hurting yourself, now."

The same blush that had adorned her cheeks earlier came back as she took his hand and jumped off the counter. The counter wasn't that high off the ground, she could jump off of it just fine without risk of injury. But they both knew that Garrett had offered his hand as an excuse to hold hers, and she had taken his for the same reason. Once she was down, she expected him to let go, but he didn't, and she was completely fine with that.

He walked her down to the basement and she saw that there were various amps and instruments set up. Pat was sitting down behind a drum kit. The head had a logo of an M with a circle around it. She had seen this logo a lot, and she guessed that the band used it quite a bit.

Kennedy and Jared had both strapped on guitars and were tuning them. John stood behind a mic stand and was adjusting it to the preferred height. Garrett let go of her hand and picked up a bass that had previously been resting on a stand.

Mallory sat down on a beaten, old brown couch. The middle was caving in and there was stuffing coming out of random spots of the couch. It was obvious that the boys had used this couch for a long time and had refused to get a new one.

"Which song should we play first?" John asked.

The boys were silent (for once), and thought for a little bit.

"I, um, I really like Untangle Me," Mallory squeaked. She had been secretly buying all of the band's stuff on iTunes over the years, and even had some of the bootlegs.

"I didn't know you listened to us," John said, surprised.

"I've been listening to you guys ever since The Way We Talk came out. How could I not support my older brother?"

They all nodded in approval.

"Untangle Me it is, then!"



The boys had went through their typical setlist and set down their instruments, sitting down in various recliners and chairs.

Garrett chose to sit next to Mallory on the couch, shocking them both. Usually, Garrett wouldn't make such a bold decision but something about Mallory had prompted him to do so. Something about her lost eyes and her faint smile. The same something that had caused him to kiss her.

Kennedy eyed them from his recliner across across the room, making sure Garrett didn't do anything that he didn't like. But of course, Mallory was a big girl now. She could do as she pleased.

"What are we gonna do tomorrow, guys?" Jared spoke up.

"I think Moose is having a party tomorrow, we should go," John suggested.

Pat started to jump up and down in his seat. "We should! I haven't been to a party since like last week."

Kennedy chuckled. "Sweet. Mallory, do you want to come with us?"

Everyone turned to Mallory, who had been fidgeting with her t-shirt. She started to panic. A party? The last time she had been to a party...it hadn't been a good experience at all.

"Um, well, I kind of, um..."

Kennedy figured it would be because she wouldn't know anyone. So he told her, "We'll all be there. And so will Stephen and John, do you remember them?"

Of course Mallory remembered them. She had even had a teeny weeny crush on John Gomez when she was younger.

"Um, I'll think about it...but it sounds like fun."

The others carried on conversation, but Garrett leaned over and whispered, "How come you don't wanna go?"

She turned to him with wide eyes. "I n-never said I wanted to go...it's just that I'm not very good at the party thing."

He smiled. Mallory's heart fluttered once more. She was starting to get annoyed with herself. This boy could honestly make her do anything with a simple smirk or just by looking at her. She knew right away that she would never be able to resist those blue eyes. It would be impossible. Only one boy had been able to do that before, and she didn't like it one bit.

"That's okay, I'm not either. And I'm not just saying that. I'm really bad at going to parties. I mean, I don't really drink, I'm horrible at making conversation with people, and I suck at beer pong."

She knew that she really wasn't horrible at parties. She used to be great at them. "I can't drink either, so we're on that boat together." That was completely true. "People make me nervous." Well, now they did. "I have really bad aim, so no one ever picks me for their beer pong team," she finished with a slight pout.

Garrett chuckled and replied, "Well then, would you like to be my date?"

Mallory's eyes widened once more. "Like, to the party? You want to bring me to the party?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, then. Definitely."

His smile became even wider. He was glad that she couldn't see through it and notice that in reality, he was shaking with nervousness. He didn't expect her to say yes at all. He expected her to turn him down.

The moment was ruined as his phone buzzed, and buzzed again. Then it started to play the chorus of Answering Bell by Ryan Adams. He pulled it out of his front pocket and opened it, answering, "Hi, mom..."

All the boys in the room laughed. How embarrassing, to have your mom call you while you were with a girl. Even more so after he had just asked her out on a date, no less.

"Yeah, I'll be right there...no, we had band practice...I didn't forget. I promise...okay, bye."

After hanging up, he explained, "Guys, I have to go help my mom with something. I guess someone's coming over today, I don't know. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."

Mallory was sad to see him go. "I'll walk you to the door," she offered, surprising herself.

John, being the immature asshole he was, teased them. "Ooh, Mallory and Garrett, sitting in a tree, H-U-M-P-I--"

He stopped when Kennedy punched him (not so lightly) in the arm.

"Who has sex in a tree?" Jared asked, laughing at John.

"I love you, Garrett! Never forget me!" Pat screeched.

Garrett cleared his throat and started to walk up the stairs, Mallory in tow.

Once they were out of earshot, he turned to her. "I'm sorry John's such a dick."

She giggled. "It was pretty funny though, you have to admit."

She walked him to the door, where he engulfed her in a long hug and whispered in her ear, "I'll see you tomorrow, then, Mal."

She nodded. "I'm excited to have someone to stay sober with."

And she was. She was relieved that she had someone who would understand and who wouldn't question her when she didn't drink.

When he leaned back, about to release her, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. They had a kiss much like their previous one, full of wanting and passion. Before it could go too far, though, they both untangled themselves from each other.

"See you tomorrow," Garrett told her, with one last, light kiss.

He waved and walked out the door, towards his yellow car in the driveway.