Easier To Lie

“Kennedy, how does this one look?” Mallory asked her brother who had already seen her in about five other outfits for this party.

“About as great as the other four, Mallory.” Kennedy chuckled at his sister who was getting ready for her ‘date’ with Garrett.

“Do you think Garrett will like it though?” She turned red at the sound of his name.

“Yes Mal, he's not that complex of a guy.” He told her and she just rolled her eyes at him.

“I need some girl-friends to discuss this with.” She muttered and put finishing touches on her outfit.

“Well maybe tonight you can meet some people,” Kennedy joked around with her and she nudged him with her elbow.

Not even five minutes after she was finished getting dressed, there was a knock at the door and she ran to answer it. There stood Garrett wearing black skinny jeans and a grey button down shirt with a smile on his face.

“Hey, are you ready?” Garrett asked Mallory.

“Yeah!” They jumped into his car and were off. When the two pulled up to Max’s house, Mallory saw all the cars and got extremely nervous. “There are a lot of people here, Garrett.” Mallory gulped.

“It’s okay, it actually is better inside.” Garrett told her while grabbing her hand.

“Really?” Mallory looked at him and smiled.

“No,” Garrett laughed and Mallory tried to smile at his joke but her nerves got the best of her. Garrett took note of this and felt sort of bad for teasing her. “Hey, it’ll be alright. Everyone is really nice.” He gave a sweet smile and bent down to kiss her lips lightly.

Mallory’s heart skipped a beat feeling those lips on hers again. She wanted to keep him there longer, but she knew that her brother would probably be pulling up soon and he wasn’t ready to see that just yet.

They walked into the house and people were everywhere. Mallory’s hand tightened around Garrett’s and he just kissed her cheek in reassurance. After meeting a countless number of people, Mallory needed a drink.

“I’ll get you something; do you want a beer or whatever?” Garrett asked her and she quickly shook her head no.

“No, um, I’ll just have water.” She said hurriedly.

“Oh, you're dead set on not drinking, aren’t you?” Garrett smiled.

“Yeah, I’m not a fan.” She slightly chuckled.

“Will it bother you if I have a beer?” He asked her.

“No, I guess if anything I’ll drive you home.” Mallory trusted that Garrett wouldn’t get completely shitfaced.

Garrett laughed and grabbed her hand, leading her through the house to the front porch where there weren’t any people. He sat down on the rocking swing there and patted for Mal to do the same. She sat close next to him and Garrett put an arm around her while she leaned her head into him. For a few moments they just sat there and rocked in silence.
Mallory closed her eyes and Garrett noticed this. “Are you tired?”

“No, just enjoying the moment.” She smiled. Garrett smiled at her too and bent in to peck her lips. Mallory left hers lingering on Garrett’s for just a moment too long, because the next thing she knew, her legs were wrapped around his waist, the sound of a glass beer bottle was crashing on the cement, and her lips were playing and biting along with Garrett’s.

Her back was pressed up against some hard surface, and she could finally put her feet on the ground. The kissing continued and Garrett knew he shouldn’t be this aggressive towards her, but she wasn’t denying any of the attention that he was giving her. He placed his hands on her hips beneath t her shirt and his lips were moving between her lips and neck. Garrett also loved the fact that Mallory let out a slight whimper between the skin touching and lip biting.

He decided to press his luck once more. He rested his forehead against Mallory’s and stared into her eyes as she looked back at him. They were both out of breath and hot. Garrett pressed his lips to hers, and he started to raise a hand up her stomach. He was shocked to feel a belly ring there, and then the hardness of an underwire, but that’s all he felt before Mallory snaked her way out of his touch.

She was running. Mallory was running away from the house –and Garrett- with no destination. About half a block away, she looked back and Garrett was no longer on the porch, but running after her.

“Mallory! Come back here!” He shouted, probably waking up some neighbors. When she turned to look back at him, she tripped and fell onto someone’s lawn, except now that she was in Arizona, grass was pretty rare, so sand, dirt and rock now inhabited in some awkward parts of her. “Mal, what's wrong?” Garrett asked her in a rush while trying to help her up.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to run from you like that, I just didn’t know what to do and I’m not good with handling those situations Garrett!” She rambled on as tears streamed down her cheeks.

“It’s okay, I’m sorry I took it too far,” He apologized.

“Garrett, you can't make me feel like that, you can't put me in those situations so suddenly,” She just kept crying and crying and she didn’t know why. Gare took her into his arms and just held her.

“I won’t Mallory, I won’t. Shh, it’s okay.” He repeated over and over again until she finally calmed down. “Why don’t we go back to my house and get you cleaned up and we can just relax?”

Mallory agreed, since she knew she was scraped up in a few places. Garrett gave her a piggy-back ride back to his car, and he retrieved a towel out of the backseat so that no blood would get on his seats.

“I’m sorry you had to see that weird outburst, Garrett.” Mallory said quietly while never breaking her gaze from the window.

“Don’t worry about that Mallory, I normally don’t take things quickly like that with any girl, and I’m happy you at least did something to stop it before we regretted it.” He rubbed my arm soothingly and I looked over and smiled.

“You’re different, Garrett. You’re… Old.” Mallory struggled for the right word, and the one she chose confused the hell out of Garrett.

“People normally tell me I’m immature, so thank you.” He brightened up at the assumed compliment.

“No, I mean old fashioned, chivalrous, I guess.” Mallory clarified. “And you’re not immature, simply youthful.”

Garrett just shook his head and looked forward at the road. Before long, they were at Garrett’s house. He directed Mallory straight to the bathroom to inspect her wounds. They weren’t too bad, scrapes on her knees and a small gash on her shin.

“Gare, um, this is weird, but I have dirt all up in places where-” Mallory started nervously.

“Mal, yes you can shower, that’s a given. I’ll be in my room waiting for you, okay?” He kissed her forehead and was on his way.

Mallory turned around and started the water before getting undressed and getting in. For a moment or two, the warm water burnt her scrapes, but it was nothing intolerable. She looked at all the different shampoo and body washes there were. There was only one man’s wash in there, so she figured the others were for his mom or something. She ended up using the fruity shampoo and conditioner on her long brown hair. When it came time to decide on what wash to use, she held up two in her hands: Raspberry Sorbet, or Glacier Freeze. Both smelled great, of course, gender was the only problem. She didn’t necessarily want to smell like his mom, that’s sort of a turn off. But smelling like a man?

Finally, she settled on the Glacier Freeze since she used a fruity shampoo. She instantly was happy with her decision when she was lathering it on herself. After she was done doing that, she stood under the hot water for a few moments, but soon decided she didn’t want to keep Garrett waiting. She pulled back the curtain and wrapped a towel around herself. Then she realized her problem: no clothes. She didn’t want to yell to Garrett because she was just way too shy, so she crept down the hall in just her towel.

She opened Garrett’s door and he turned to look at her. His eyes popped, and for a split second, he thought she was going to give him what he had only thought of since the first kiss.

“I don’t have any clothes,” Mallory whispered and then Gare turned bright pink while stumbling to get some. He handed her a pair of his boxers and a t-shirt.

“I’ll just um,” He headed towards the door to give her privacy. As he waited in the hall he paced back and forth. He needed to calm down, he should have known that Mallory wouldn’t have sex with him that easily, and he shouldn’t want her to. Normally, Garrett was great with self-control, but Mallory did things to him that made him go crazy within himself. Just soon enough, Mallory opened up the door to invite Garrett back in.

He smiled walking past her, and he went to draw his sheets back from his bed. Mallory was confused when he stepped away instead of getting in.

“Where are you going?” She asked him.

“Couch,” He replied simply with a shrug. Mallory nodded and laid down under his sheets. They shared a simple goodnight kiss before Garrett went to turn off the light. Just before his door was completely shut, Mallory stopped him.

“Garrett wait,”

“What’s wrong?” He asked her.

Mal bit her lip and searched for the right words again. “Will you, uh… Stay with me tonight?”

Garrett seemed surprised at her words, but jumped at the opportunity nonetheless. “Okay,” He smiled and crawled in next to her. “Sleep well Mallory,”

She answered him by scooting closer into his chest and a kiss on the lips.