Come Back To Me

When I finished with my shower, I dried off and looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes had the 'I just woke up with my best friend' look, one that I never thought that I would bear. My hair was a wet, tangled mess, so I brushed it out and then scrunched it a bit so that my curls wouldn't be a disaster later on. The purple tank top I had on, along with the black short-shorts, would keep me from overheating in the Arizona weather and I was glad that I had enough warm weather clothes to last me about a week. That would give me time to go buy some more, and hopefully, give me time to go find a job.

The smell of pancakes wafted up the stairs and hit me when I opened the bathroom door. God, pancakes smelled good, especially first thing in the morning. I shuffled through the hallway, stopping to peer into the guest room. Just as I had assumed, Pat was sprawled on the bed asleep, although there was a girl lying next to him. I hadn't expected it to be Alexia, but it was. After weighing the pros and cons in my mind, I jumped onto the bed and began bouncing it in an attempt to wake them up. Alexia awoke first, her hand darting out to grab my ankle. It hurt a bit, her grip tighter than she probably intended it to be. "Get up you two! Garrett is making hangover pancakes for everyone. Be downstairs in ten minutes. Or else," I said before yanking my foot free and bouncing from the room.

Most everyone else was sprawled out on the couches or floor of my living room, dead as doornails. I went around and woke them up enough to let them know food was being made before venturing into the kitchen. The rest of the house had been nice and clean, despite everyone's drinking last night. Well, everyone but me. My kitchen, however, was a completely different story. It was a wreck. There was powder everywhere, utensils were spread all over the counter and I could see eggshells piled up in the sink. A brand new house and Garrett was already making a mess of it.

"Jeez oh peets, Gare. What have you done to my kitchen? It looks like a flour bomb went off in here."

"I said I was making breakfast, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but you didn't say you were declaring my new kitchen a disaster zone!"

"Don't worry, I'll clean it all up when I'm done. I swear."

"You better, Nickelsen. Or else."

"You've said that twice already, and the day has just started," Alexia mumbled as she shuffled into the kitchen. Pat trailed behind her, his long hair in tangles around his shoulders and face. It looked like the two of them had just finished having crazy sex, which was possible. I doubted that Alexia would do something like that with a guy she just met, but then again, she had been intoxicated. Everybody did things they wouldn't normally do when they were intoxicated.

"Merry? Earth to Merry."

"What? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"Clearly. Go get the others up and in here, before Pat eats all of the food," Garrett said. With a grin, I headed into the living room and roused the others, sheparding them into the kitchen where they all slumped into chairs and dug into the plates that Garrett sat in front of them. Shuffling towards Garrett, I wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek.

It was all a bit surreal. I moved away after senior year and five years later, here I was in Arizona again. Surrounded by all these people, most of whom I called friends, I felt like I truly belonged. It was a feeling I hadn't known in Chicago, where most of the people were too busy trying to get to wherever the hell they were going to stop and just talk to another human being. But I was back and it was as if I never left. Garrett had always made breakfast after drinking parties. He was a surprisingly good cook for someone who lived off of fast food and restaurants because he lived a touring lifestyle.

With a kiss to my temple, Garrett stepped away and began cleaning up my kitchen. I watched quietly for a few before grabbing one of the two plates left over and slowly ate it, watching everyone else in my kitchen. They were all beginning to wake up, which meant it was gonna be loud in here soon. I smiled and helped Garrett clean up as soon as my plate was clear.

"You need to eat. I'll finish cleaning up, alright Gare?"

He paused long enough to look at me, then nodded. He knew by the serious look on my face that there was no arguing this point. Garrett hopped up onto my counter and sat there swinging his feet as he ate, a gesture that I found absolutely adorable. Even after five years he had a way about him that made me smile, no matter how I felt or what was going on around me. He looked up, his gaze locking onto mine as I continued to load dishes into the dishwasher. The sparkle in his blue eyes made my heart skip a beat and I turned away.

Focus, Merry. Focus on the dishes, not on the totally adorable boy sitting on your kitchen counter. You have a room full of people, so you don't want to make a fool of yourself.

With a loud bang, the door to the dishwasher slammed shut and I turned to look at everyone else. They were all leaning back in their chairs, staring at me with vacant expressions. It was obvious that they had all eaten a bit more than they should have and that they were gonna be out of it for about another hour.

"Alright. So, how's about you all clean up, put your dishes in the dishwasher and then head home to get cleaned up. I wanna go out and have fun today," I declared, eyeing each one of them seperately.

John cleared his throat and stood up, his plate in hand. "Well, that sounds like a fine plan to me, but you forgot something. We all have plans this evening, as in, a concert to play?"

"I've been told nothing about a concert," I said with a quick glance at Garrett, who just shrugged, "But that's fine by me. That doesn't mean we can't go do something else until you guys have to be there for soundcheck."

Everyone else nodded in agreement and they filed towards my dishwasher one by one. I slipped out of the kitchen and collapsed onto one of my new couches, enjoying the sinking feeling. I was a bit tired from yesterday, what with the excitement of moving back into the Tempe area, to finding a home on my first day here, to spending time with some of my favorite people. The couch sank beside me and I opened my eyes to see Garrett.

"You ready for a day out in this heat?"

"Yeah. I've been waiting for this weather for a long time."

"Have you now?"

"Yessir. I missed Arizona, a lot actually."

"Just Arizona?"

"Well, Arizona and a certain blue eyed bassist whose had my heart for about seven years now."

"I'm glad to hear it," he said with a grin.