Ready When You Are

I bit my lip and cringed.

“Bren?” I called down the hallway as I tip toed out of our bedroom. I heard shuffling in the living room.

“Yep?” He called back.

I sighed and let it out. “I’m going out.”

Another shuffle came out, followed by silence. I pinched my leg. I prayed that Brendan didn’t need the car today for band stuff. I had been so excited about hanging out with Garrett ever since he texted me.

“Where to?” Brendan called.

“Uh,” I paused, trying to pick my words, “hang out with er, Em.”

If I said Garrett, he might throw a hissy fit or just in general be short about it. Which I was not in the mood for. All I wanted to do was be with Garrett, and play video games, and just enjoy his easy company. He was a breath of fresh air I really wanted right now.

I was left with the silence of the hallway. I decided to just go.

So I turned the handle and went.

***

When I arrived at Garrett’s house, I absorbed the tan, sandy color. It just felt warm and breezy, like a hot day on the beach. The house belonged in Arizona, it fit right in.

Before me was the decision of ringing the doorbell or knocking on the door. Now some people may have no problem with this dilemma. For me, it just felt awkward.

Slowly I brought my hand to the doorbell and pressed it. A soft ding from inside the house confirmed I had made a good decision, and I let out a sigh of relief. I shook my head softly and adjusted my white feather tee that hung loosely off my waist and my shorts.

“You must be Kenley!”

I looked up at the boy at the door. He looked a little older than Garrett and had longer hair, but besides that, they were pretty identical. I smiled awkwardly and waved.

“Yep.” I thought for a second, then said, “Are you… Trey?”

He smiled and nodded as he led me into the house. “Nice to finally meet you. Garrett has told me so much about you.”

“Likewise.” I smiled.

Trey looked at me for a second and smiled through the awkward that ensued.

“I’ll go get him.” He said, and went up a right staircase in the middle of the family room. I sat back on the back of the couch and looked around the room. The mantle was filled with pictures of Garrett and Trey. Garrett had a bowl cut when he was younger, which I found hysterical. The room was white and tan, and much like the outside of the house, was warm and homey.

“Dude,” I heard a voice from upstairs, “she’s hot. Hotter than Sara. How’d you get her?”

A sharp “shhh” was shut back and I heard some footsteps. “We’re just friends.”

It was Garrett. I let out a little giggle and brought my hand to my lips.

“So I can have her?” Trey said, making me giggle into hand even harder. You could tell they were brothers.

“Nope,” Garrett popped his lips, “plus she has a boyfriend.”

“Oof.”

I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and I composed myself, leaning against the couch. Trey smiled down at me and circled into the kitchen. Garrett was wearing a dark red t-shirt and his signature ripped jeans. I smiled and jumped off the side of the couch. He waved and pointed upstairs.

“The game awaits.” He said simply, a lightsaber flashing on and off in his left hand. I pointed to it and laughed.

“Gone to the darkside?” I motioned to the red light flashing off the lightsaber.

Garrett shrugged and pushed out his lips, walking up the stairs and motioning for me to follow. I walked up the stairs and he led me to the back of a short hallway. The room was a creamy white color and had a steel black full bed. There were several star wars and Ryan Adams posters on the walls, as well as pictures and little scraps of paper. In the corner there was a small TV and a couch. Garrett stood on the couch and grabbed a joystick for his xbox, and handed one to me.

“Have you played it yet?” I asked him.

Garrett looked at me. “Of course! Trey beat me. But in my defense, I had a heard of storm troopers around me and couldn’t see for shit.”

“Uh huh,” I snorted, “Is that what you’re gonna tell him when I beat you, too?”

Garrett looked over at me and shook his head. “Sass.”

“No, no, I’m joking. My brother beat me every time in this game too.” I confessed.

“Well,” Garrett said flicking a few buttons on his remote until we got to a “new player” set up, “we should have a younger sibling vs. older sibling duel one day. Once we become masters, of course.”

I let out a short laugh and nodded encouragingly. But inside, I knew that would never happen. Trey and Garrett’s relationship was something I had come to envy.

I looked at the screen and chose a green looking creature with tentacles and a red outfit. She looked like a badass, with a blue light saber to match. Garrett’s jedi had bright yellow hair and moustache, with a green lightsaber and red eyes.

“Nice.” Garrett said once we had finished designing our characters.

“Agreed,” I nodded, “An odd pairing, but we’ll get the job done.”

Garrett laughed and hit play. We chose to play as a team for the first game, just so both of us could enhance our skills enough to gang up on Trey in the future. The game was pretty simple. We were jedi-in-training under Luke Skywalker, and we had to stop the building of a new Death Star and the new apprentices to the dark side.

We had defeated a crowd of storm troopers, hiked through acid rain, and had demolished a pair of spider-monster-things. It was a hearty game.

Now, we were faced with the part of the game where you had a choice of whether to be on the dark side or the light side.

“So,” I turned to Garrett, a smile bursting across my lips, “Whatcha gonna do?”

Garrett cringed and bit his lip, making an “errrr” sound, before clicking the dark side. I made an “aaahhh” noise in response and brought a finger to my chin.

“Join the darkside,” Garrett said, stretching out his arms and smiling, “you know you want to.”

“I dunno,” I shrugged, “I was kicking a lot of ass with Luke Skywalker.”

Garrett shrugged sweetly. “But let’s face it Kenley, without me, you are nothing.”

I gawked at him and laughed. “I beg to differ!”

“It’s true.” Garrett shrugged.

“That’s it!” I picked up my control and was about to lock down on the republic when Garrett reached over and attempted to grab it out of my hands. I let out a little screech and pulled it to the other side.

“No, no!” I said.

Garrett reached further and got on his knees, going over my body for it. “DON’T DO IT KENLEY!”

I stood up on the couch and held the controller above my head, closing my eyes as Garrett jumped up. I jumped over the back of his couch and ran over to his bed, jumping on top of it with the controller on my head. Garrett laughed and ran over, grabbing for it.

“Give it!”

“Never!”

I tried to jump of the bed, but my foot got caught in Garrett’s and I nearly fell off the side. I cringed a little, looking over the edge as I felt Garrett grab my waist and duck under me, landing softly on his back while I landed on his chest.

I rolled over and laughed, holding the controller in my hands. I leaned over to the TV, still on the ground, and clicked “dark side”.

“You beat me.” I said, laying back down next to him, panting and laughing.

Garrett nodded, his heels still on the bed as he turned to face me and laughed as he saw my defeated expression.

“At least now we can rule the galaxy together.” He shrugged and stuck out his lip again. I loved it when he did that.

I nodded. “Not too shabby.”

“Not at all.” He turned to face me completely. I had one had under my head and one at my side.

Garrett inched over a little and smiled sweetly, biting my lip.

“I think I want to call you ‘Lee’,” Garrett said, his eyes peering up a little and then back at me, “if that’s okay.”

I nodded. “I like it. The whole Kennedy-Kenley thing was getting confusing.”

Garrett laughed and nodded. “Oh! Speaking of Kenny. He’s having a party tomorrow. Come.”

“I don’t want to intrude…” I said, assuming this was an Arizona friend thing that I was not supposed to be involved in.

“No,” Garrett shook his head, “he told me to invite you.”

“Oh,” I nodded and smiled, “yeah, I’ll go.”

Garrett smiled his adorable, contagious smile. “Good. I want you to be there.”

“Why?” I questioned softly, almost at a whisper because our faces were so close.

Garrett let out a cute little shrug. “I dunno. Because I like being you know, like this. It’s easy. It’s fun. And fun is good.”

I let out a little laugh and nodded. “Fun is always good.”

“You’re fun.” Garrett laughed.

“You are too Gare,” I sighed, “I think this is more fun than I’ve had in a really long time.”

Garrett’s eyes met mine for a split second that caused us to both inch a little closer towards each other. I could feel his breath. I could feel his hand moving towards my arm. I could feel what was about to happen.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, egging this all on. I swallowed hard and closed my eyes.

Then, I felt something vibrating in my pocket and flashed back to reality.

I flipped up off the floor and flipped my phone open.

“Oh, hey, Bren.” I said, eyeing Garrett as he gave me a sad expression that read ‘It’s okay.’

But it wasn’t. I was not okay. And maybe I should have been okay, since I was just about to cheat on my boyfriend. My boyfriend of five years, the guy I moved here with in the first place. I was just being stupid that couldn’t happen again.

The scariest part was that I hadn’t thought of Brendan this entire time. Should I have?

“Can you come home?” He said sharply.

I bit my lip. “Sure.”

I hung up the phone and looked at Garrett for a second, who was smiling sweetly and fiddling with his lightsaber. I went over to him and leaned against his bed.

“I have to go.” I said, sighing a little, feeling the pain in my own words.

Garrett’s eyes stayed on the light sabers. “I know. It’s fine.”

“Bye Gare.” I said, getting up.

I took one stride towards the door, begging for a word to come out of his mouth, begging for a breathe that told me I hadn’t just hurt him.

“Lee?” And for the first time in my entire life, I had gotten it.

“Yeah Gare?”

“Uh,” Gare rubbed his neck and walked over towards me, “See you tomorrow?”

I nodded. “Of course.”

Garrett walked over to me and smiled. Then, he leaned down a little and kissed me on the forehead. “Bye Lee.”

I nodded and wanted to badly to push myself back into his chest, to stay in his room, to do anything that involved breathing his air. But I had to go. I put my hand on the door.

I turned the handle and went.