Carry Us Away

Gabrielle:

I woke up the next day with a slight headache, but nothing too bad. I walked lazily into my bathroom and popped an aspirin dry swallowing it before having to take a sip of water to get rid of the lump in my throat. My reflection stared at me from the mirror.

Last night was fun, but it could have been better if Garrett had the guts to do anything after we had left the party. But no, Garrett wasn’t that type of guy. I had yet to understand if I liked him. It was just weird; I had never dated a guy like him before. Why was I even thinking about dating him right now? We didn’t even really know that much about each other, but like I said: last night had been fun. I liked to have fun. I had fun with Garrett so therefore I liked Garrett. It was basic deductive reasoning.

I could feel his attraction to me and that was what I relished the most about being around him. So why couldn’t he have been like any normal guy and just… it didn’t matter anyways. Who knew if I was going to see him again? That was all up to him.

Walking back to my bedroom, I glanced at the clock. I had only an hour before I had to work my shift at the photography studio. With a sigh, I started to get ready. I was only nineteen going on twenty. Didn’t I have my entire life to work?

“So…”

I turned around nearly having a heart attack at my roommate Jessica standing in my doorway. “Fuck, do not sneak up on me like that!”

She let out a tired, lazy laugh. “I feel like you’ve only been here to sleep. We need to hang out soon.”

It was true. I hadn’t really had time to have just a girl’s night and it was something I desperately needed. Jessica didn’t even know I had broken up with Brandon yet and she definitely didn’t know about Garrett.

“I agree.” I told her honestly. “Maybe tonight? I only have two afternoon classes today.”

She nodded with a smile. “Sounds good. Should I invite Shelby?”

I shrugged, “Might as well. After all, she is our roommate.”

“I’ll let her know.”

I didn’t answer instead I focused on getting clothes ready for today. The truth was I wasn’t quite fond of Shelby. She had a way of getting under my skin, but not in the addicting way Garrett did. The things she said sometimes just— let’s just say she made my skin crawl. I knew she had her eyes on Brandon from the start and now a part of me didn’t want to tell either one of my roommates that we had broken up.

Today was going to be a better day. I only had a three hour shift at Scrapbook Photos, the photography studio, and then two classes. By five o’clock tonight, I could catch up on some much needed sleep and then hang with my girls.

I entered the studio to find the manager, Harley, behind her desk going through all her scheduled appointments. She looked up at me with relief. “Good, you’re here. Trina must have messed up the other day and scheduled two photo shoots at the same time and you know with our low budget and lack of extra equipment, there is absolutely no way we could pull it off. I need you to call both parties and see if either one can reschedule, kay?”

I nodded before slipping my bag off and putting it in the back room.

I went to Harley’s computer and squinted at the screen in front of me. I saw this weekend that we had a pre-wedding photo shoot and a band photo shoot on the same day only an hour apart. I swear Trina could be such an idiot. She was a God damn spaz and I loved her, but she definitely lacked some critical brain cells. My eyes focused on the band name: The Maine. That had to be Garrett’s band didn’t it? They had been in here only yesterday and the next band we had scheduled wasn’t until next month and I highly doubted that Silky Enticement was the name of it.

I decided to call the wedding first, knowing that the chances of the bride changing the date was slim. That way when the refused to, I could explain to the boys of The Maine that they needed to reschedule.

An exasperated sigh left my lips after talking to bridezilla. I had merely suggested rescheduling and she a flipped a bitch. It was too early and I didn’t need to be yelled at. I wiped my tired eyes before dialing the number left by The Maine. It rang three times before a kind voice answered. I was already relieved. Hopefully, this phone call would be better.

“Hello, Tim Kirch speaking.”

“Hello, this is Gabrielle Stephenson from Scrapbook Photos. Unfortunately, there has been a mix up and your photo shot was scheduled the same day as a photo shoot for wedding announcements.”

He let out a laugh at the aggravation in my voice. “Let me guess, the bride gave you hard time?”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Exactly. So, do you think you’d be able to reschedule?”

“Um, I’d have to go over it with the guys of course.” He began. “Should we come in again to reschedule then?”

“Of course.” I said with a smile. “When would you like to come?”

“As soon as possible to be honest.”

“You can come in today?” I suggested. “Or—”

“No, today will be fine.” He answered. “We’ll see you in about an hour?”

“Alright, just one second.” I quickly scanned what appointments we had planned today. Only one studio photo shoot in an hour and a half. That was plenty of time to schedule an appointment. “Today at twelve would be fine.” I told him.

“Great! The boys and I will see you then.”



Garrett:

I let out a groan. “I need my fucking beauty sleep.” I mumbled angrily.

“I think you’ll need to sleep for a couple of centuries to achieve something even close to beauty.”

I rolled over to see John standing above me. “Not funny.” I told him seriously.

John let out a laugh, “Dude, just get the fuck up. We don’t have time for your laziness. Tim said we need to go back to that photo place to reschedule. We leave in fifteen minutes.”

My tiredness faded away at the thought of the place where Gabrielle worked. I sat up quickly and scrambled around the room for something to wear. I liked to call my sense of fashion the whatever-is-on-my-floor-that-smells-decent style.

It wasn’t long before we were pulling up to the small local studio. My eyes landed on Gabrielle’s car in the same spot it had been two days ago. I could help but smile. That meant she was still here. We walked in and my eyes immediately searched for her, but she was nowhere in sight, instead a middle aged woman who dressed about two decades younger than she should be told us to make ourselves comfortable. Just like last time Kennedy, Pat and I had to lean against the wall, because the small studio only held five seats and the other two were preoccupied by a mother and small child.

“Okay, you can come back now.”

My head lifted instantly at the sound of her voice. She was smiling down at the little girl. She looked like a completely different person, not like the crazy girl I had met before. Gabrielle crouched down to look at the little girl. “You look very beautiful, Melanie.” She told the little red-haired girl softly. “Are you ready to take some pictures?”

The little girl turned away and buried herself in her mother’s leg out of shyness. Gabrielle got up to speak to her mom, but my eyes were glued to her long tan legs. Her eyes shifted to where I was standing and she looked back in surprise. She seemed to just now realize that I was standing there. Her eyes went pass me as she looked at everyone else then back to me. Then, she offered a small smile before offering her pointer finger to the little girl. After the little girl clasped her tiny fingers around hers, Gabrielle led her and her mother to the studio.

I tried to return to the conversation the rest of the band was having, offering agreements to unknown decisions. Kennedy nudged my shoulder and I turned my blank stare over to him.

“Was that the girl that has had you acting so strange?”

I blinked slowly, letting my vision come back into focus, “I’m always strange, but yeah, that was her.”

“She’s a babe,” he whispered back. “You should definitely go for her.”

I ran a hand through my hair and furrowed my eyebrows. “I’m trying, well kind of. It’s just hard for me to see anything serious with her, because she likes to play games.”

“Well, if this is a so called game, then you should definitely go for it, because quite frankly what have you got to lose?”

I didn’t know. There were many things. Pride? Self-esteem? Things I didn’t even have much of to begin with. I shook my head at Kennedy’s words.

“Just ask her out.” Kennedy suggested.

So after the meeting I waited in the lobby for Gabrielle while the guys went across the street for something from Starbucks. Luckily, I wasn’t even ten minutes before she came out to me.

“You’re still here?” She asked curiously.

I wanted to shuffle my feet and look down, but I forced my self to stand up straight and look her in the eyes. I felt a slight shake in my right knee but I ignored it. “About that… actually, I um, I wanted to see if you’d go out with me?”

“When?” I couldn’t read her expression, but I tried to not let that bother me. I knew she was good at masking her feelings.

“Uh, I don’t know… whenever you’re free, I guess.” Anytime doesn’t matter. I just want to see you again.

A smile spread across her face. “Well, I have a couple classes in an hour, but after that I’m free.” She paused and her eyes opened wide, “Oh, wait never mind, I forgot I made plans already.”

I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.

“But,” She said suddenly, immediately regaining my attention. “You should come. I’d love, I mean I want you to meet my friends. You can bring the band too so I can formally meet them.”

“Really?” My voice raising an octave. I cleared my throat. “Yeah, that’d be great. I’ll text you later then?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I really should be getting back to work, but I’ll see you tonight.”