I Hate To Say This But I'm Stuck On Loving You, John O'Callaghan
INTRO
It's finally the end of high school. It is June and Caitlin Monaco, Pat Kirch, and Garrett Nickelsen will be graduating in two weeks. Any senior would be excited about graduating high school, but not Caitlin. She didn't want it to end. Yes, she was excited to be done with all of the people, work, and waking up early. She just didn't want it to end for one particular reason. Pat and Garrett have been Caitlin's best friends since 6th grade and the day after graduation Garrett and Pat were off on a 3 month long tour for the entire Summer with their band. They were in a band called The Maine that consisted of them, John O'Callaghan, Kennedy Brock, and Caitlin's brother, Jared. She was really happy that their dreams were finally coming true, but she hated the fact that they were gone all Summer and she probably wouldn't get to see any of them until around Thanksgiving. Why Thanksgiving? Well, Caitlin had recently gotten accepted into ASU so she could do what she had always wanted to do with her life; be a sports trainer. Originally, Caitlin had her heart set on going to college on a field hockey scholarship, but all of those plans were gone when she tore her ACL at the beginning of junior year and the doctor told her that she would never be able to play sports again. So while all of the boys in The Maine were off living their dream, touring all Summer, Caitlin had to sit home alone getting ready for college in the fall never getting the chance to even attempt to achieve her dreams. Lucky her.
It was Wednesday, June 1st. It was a little less than two weeks away from graduation and I woke up unexpectedly to the sound of my phone singing “Kids In Love” by Mayday Parade softly. I squinted my eyes and tried to read the message on my phone without blinding myself
Garrett: ...r u coming?
Shit. I looked at the time and noticed it was 7 am. School started in 30 minutes. I hobbled quickly over to my window so I wouldn't hurt my knee to see Garrett's car sitting in my driveway with Pat in the passenger seat. I signaled them that I would need a few more minutes and should be down soon. I quickly slipped on a pair of denim shorts, with a black v neck and vans. Before walking out of the door I grabbed an apple, a hair tie, and my backpack. I looked frazzled and well frankly, like shit as I walked out of the door as I held my apple in my mouth, with one of my backpack straps on my shoulder as I attempted to put my un-brushed hair into a pony tail. I got into the car to see both Garrett and Pat smiling. They were obviously making fun of me previously, but I didn't really care. I looked at the clock at the front of the car to see it was only 7:07. Pat looked back and said “Wow. It only took you 7 minutes this morning Cait. I think that's a new record.” I over slept a lot. This was a routine thing for us at this point. It was nothing new. I just smiled and shook my head. Garrett pulled out of my driveway and we started going to school.
We sat in the car for a few minutes with just the sound of Third Eye Blind playing softly in the background. Garrett broke the silence with “So...Caitlin. On the way to your house, Pat was telling me about how Tim is throwing a party this Friday night. Do you want to go?”
Tim was Pat's brother and was now The Maine's official tour manager. We were friends, but I wasn't nearly as close with him as I was with Pat or Garrett. The fact that we weren't very close wasn't why I didn't want to go though. I just wasn't a party person. I was socially awkward and I wasn't really much of a drinker.
“Garrett, you know how I feel about parties. Why would you even bother asking?” I said as I took a bite out of my apple.
“Well...” Garrett paused and eventually Pat jumped in and finished for him. “John is going to be there.”
I sighed and gave them one of those 'are you fucking kidding me?' looks. I don't know why, but ever since Sophomore year everyone in their band except for John had been convinced that John and I would make a great couple and have been trying to set us up ever since then. You would think I would be used to it by now, but it just makes me really uncomfortable. At first I was so strongly against it, but once it started to get burned into my skull more and I actually started considering it, I had started developing feelings for John. Nobody knew, not even Pat or Garrett. Even though they were my best friends, I couldn't tell them for a few reasons. First, John was also really good friends with them. After all, they were in a band together. Second, I hadn't really known John before they started getting these ideas we were perfect for each other, so John and I have never really been friends. In fact, we are actually enemies in a way. It's kind of hard to admit that you've had strong feelings for someone for the past two years while you've been pretending to hate them all of that time. Third, there was no way in HELL that John felt the same way as me. That was the only upside to me seeing all of the boys less. Maybe if I was away from them for so long, I would hopefully get over John, right?
It was Wednesday, June 1st. It was a little less than two weeks away from graduation and I woke up unexpectedly to the sound of my phone singing “Kids In Love” by Mayday Parade softly. I squinted my eyes and tried to read the message on my phone without blinding myself
Garrett: ...r u coming?
Shit. I looked at the time and noticed it was 7 am. School started in 30 minutes. I hobbled quickly over to my window so I wouldn't hurt my knee to see Garrett's car sitting in my driveway with Pat in the passenger seat. I signaled them that I would need a few more minutes and should be down soon. I quickly slipped on a pair of denim shorts, with a black v neck and vans. Before walking out of the door I grabbed an apple, a hair tie, and my backpack. I looked frazzled and well frankly, like shit as I walked out of the door as I held my apple in my mouth, with one of my backpack straps on my shoulder as I attempted to put my un-brushed hair into a pony tail. I got into the car to see both Garrett and Pat smiling. They were obviously making fun of me previously, but I didn't really care. I looked at the clock at the front of the car to see it was only 7:07. Pat looked back and said “Wow. It only took you 7 minutes this morning Cait. I think that's a new record.” I over slept a lot. This was a routine thing for us at this point. It was nothing new. I just smiled and shook my head. Garrett pulled out of my driveway and we started going to school.
We sat in the car for a few minutes with just the sound of Third Eye Blind playing softly in the background. Garrett broke the silence with “So...Caitlin. On the way to your house, Pat was telling me about how Tim is throwing a party this Friday night. Do you want to go?”
Tim was Pat's brother and was now The Maine's official tour manager. We were friends, but I wasn't nearly as close with him as I was with Pat or Garrett. The fact that we weren't very close wasn't why I didn't want to go though. I just wasn't a party person. I was socially awkward and I wasn't really much of a drinker.
“Garrett, you know how I feel about parties. Why would you even bother asking?” I said as I took a bite out of my apple.
“Well...” Garrett paused and eventually Pat jumped in and finished for him. “John is going to be there.”
I sighed and gave them one of those 'are you fucking kidding me?' looks. I don't know why, but ever since Sophomore year everyone in their band except for John had been convinced that John and I would make a great couple and have been trying to set us up ever since then. You would think I would be used to it by now, but it just makes me really uncomfortable. At first I was so strongly against it, but once it started to get burned into my skull more and I actually started considering it, I had started developing feelings for John. Nobody knew, not even Pat or Garrett. Even though they were my best friends, I couldn't tell them for a few reasons. First, John was also really good friends with them. After all, they were in a band together. Second, I hadn't really known John before they started getting these ideas we were perfect for each other, so John and I have never really been friends. In fact, we are actually enemies in a way. It's kind of hard to admit that you've had strong feelings for someone for the past two years while you've been pretending to hate them all of that time. Third, there was no way in HELL that John felt the same way as me. That was the only upside to me seeing all of the boys less. Maybe if I was away from them for so long, I would hopefully get over John, right?