Only In It For A Minute

Before I knew it, it was time to go back to the airport and get on a flight to LA. This was the first time I’d ever flown on my own and was making an 11 hour flight to LA and then had a changeover there to take me to Phoenix where I’d arranged for Garrett to come pick me up.

I entertained myself for the 11 hours by watching the in flight films, listening to my iPod and reading the book I’d brought along. I also looked around the plane at everyone around me. Last time I got this flight, I was excited for the next month or so with my best friends. This time, I was chasing the guy I wanted. I made my quick changeover in LA onto the next plane and that was when the excitement hit me. I was back on the West Coast of America and nearly back in the arms of the person I wanted to be with.

As soon as the plane landed in Phoenix and we were told we could get off, I grabbed my hand luggage bag and rushed off the plane. I made my way through the security and to baggage claim before running out of the terminal. I immediately saw his shaggy brown hair, checked shirt and ripped skinny jeans and sunglasses covering his eyes. I knew he spotted me at the same time as a grin spread across his face. I sped up my pace and as we got close, I let go of my bag and wrapped my arms around him. We didn’t even speak for a couple of minutes, just hugged.

“Oh Garrett, I’ve missed you!” I told him as we broke apart.

“If you’re like this with me, how are you going to be when you see John?” he joked. “It’s so good to see you, Tash.”

He took my suitcase and we walked out to where the car. Getting close I could see someone in the drivers seat and realised it was Jared smiling and waving back at me. Garrett put my suitcase in the back and got in, signaling for me to get in the front.

“Jared! So good to see you!” I said, getting and leaning over to hug him.

He began driving down a few roads, all of which were unfamiliar to me, and they asked me questions about what I’d been up to the past 3 weeks. Even though I spoke to John everyday, keeping in contact with the rest of the guys wasn’t as easy.

“So, what did you tell John about today?” I asked them both.

“We told him to meet us at the practice studio. Kennedy and Pat are in on the whole thing, they played along and agreed that we needed a practice today,” Jared explained.

“Yeah and John was like ‘guys we don’t fucking need to practice, we haven’t got a show in weeks’ but we told him if he wasn’t there then we’d kick him out the band,” Garrett continued. “Totally joking of course!”

“You guys are good!” I laughed.

We pulled up outside a smallish building and the three of us got out of the car. I followed them inside and we went into a room where there was a drum kit set up and a few amps dotted about. About 5 minutes after we arrived, we hear a car pull up outside and I braced myself for John to walk in, when instead walked in Kennedy and Pat.

“TASH!” Kennedy ran straight over to me when he saw me and gave me a massive hug. “So good to see you again!”

“And you!” I squealed back and let go to grab Pat. “Pat! I missed you all so much!”

We had a quick catch up and heard another car pull up outside.

“Right, sounds like you’re on, Tash,” Jared said. “We’re gonna go nextdoor and give you two a couple of minutes together first.”

I composed myself as they all walked into the room next to the one we were in. As soon as John stepped in the door, I felt my heart skip a beat.

“OK whatever you guys are playing at, can we get it over with as quick as possible please? This is one of our first days off at home in so long, I can’t believe you want to fucking practice,” he said, without even looking around the room. He had just walked in and began rustling papers on the table near the entrance. He hadn’t even seen me, but that was about to change.

“John,” I said, causing him to finally look in my direction.

“Tash? Oh my god, what are you doing here? How did you get here?” John asked, rushing over to me and throwing his arms around me tight. We stood there for a couple of minutes just hugging. It felt amazing to have him back in my arms rather than just being able to hear his voice. Once we let go, he looked me all over. “Seriously, what are you doing here?”

“I missed you! Garrett actually helped me plan this whole thing about a week and a half ago,” I smiled.

“It’s so good to see you,” he said, wrapping his arms around me again. “I wish you could have been there for the last few Warped dates.”

“Me too, sounds like you’ve had fun,” I told him. I heard the door from the room next door open and the four guys walked in.

“I can’t believe you kept this a secret, Garrett!” John said as he saw them, letting go of me but keeping one arm around my shoulders.

“Actually, we were all in on it,” Kennedy laughed.

“You all fucking knew?” John asked.

“I think we all know this would never have happened had it been left to just me,” Garrett told us. “Anyway, we’re gonna go so you two can catch up, we’ll see you later or something.”

The four guys all said goodbye and said to call them later to hangout and left me and John alone.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” he said, hugging me again and picking me up. I wrapped my arms and legs around him and bent my head down to kiss him. My hair fell around our faces as our lips met with force. I’d missed his lips, his touch, his smell. He let me go and I stood back on the floor, never parting from his lips. He backed us up against the wall and deepened the kiss as I ran my hands down his back.

“You have no idea how much I’ve missed you these past three weeks,” he groaned, finally parting our lips.

“Oh, I think I’ve got some idea,” I smiled.

“So, now you’re here, what do you want to do?” he asked, playing with my hair.

“I didn’t come here to ‘do’ things, I came here to see and spend time with you.”

“OK, so wanna head back to mine? It’s better than this place!” he laughed. I agreed and we walked out to his car and he drove back. During the journey, he kept looking at me and smiling, I knew coming out here was worth it just to see that smile.

It didn’t take long to get to his house and once he pulled up on the drive, we got out and he took my hand as we walked into his house.

“No one’s home at the moment, so we’ve got the place to ourselves,” he smiled, leading me through his house, still holding my hand. “Come on.”

“JOHN! I just got here!”

“I didn’t mean that,” he said, as he led me to his room. We went in and he walked us over to his bed. “Just lay with me for a while.”

We both laid down on his bed and he wrapped his arms around me tightly as I cuddled into his body.

“I like it here,” I told him.

“Arizona? Yeah it’s nice here, I love coming home to this,” John said.

“I meant being here like this with you,” I explained. “But yeah Arizona’s alright from what I’ve seen of it. It’s got some pretty good looking guys too.”

We decided to get up and go for a walk around since it was so nice outside. We walked hand in hand just talking about anything and everything. John filled me in on the last days of Warped Tour that he hadn’t already told me about. We finally decided to get some food so we walked back to his house and he drove to a restaurant not too far away.

“I’m starving, airplane food sucks!” I laughed as I looked over the menu. I looked up to see John staring back at me and smiling. “What?”

“I just...I can’t believe you’re here!” he said. “You’re even prettier than I remembered.”

“Oh stop,” I giggled, bringing the menu up to my face to hide my blushing.

“I mean it,” he said, pulling it back down again. “I’m lucky to have you in my life.”

We ordered food and continued talking as we ate. In ways it was as if we’d never been apart but in others it was as if we hadn’t seen each other in forever. We were just finishing up as John’s phone rang.

“Hey man...yeah we just ate...alright that sounds good, usual spot?...OK, 9 sounds great! See you there,” he said before hanging up and putting his phone back in his pocket. “That was Kennedy, they’re all hanging out tonight, is that alright?”

“Of course, as long as I’m with you I don’t care what we do,” I smiled. “So what are we doing?”

“That’s a surprise, but hopefully I’ll get to show you off to some of my friends!” he laughed. I laughed too with a shake of my head. So this was John at home, I thought.

A couple of hours and a change of clothes later, we were back in John’s car and driving the roads of Phoenix. After a while, we ended up driving through the desert until I saw a few cars parked to one side and John pulled up beside them.

“Where are we?” I asked, confused as we got out.

“This is where I spend a lot of nights while I’m home from tour,” he told me, grabbing my hand in his. “It’s been where me and my friends hang out since high school. It’s probably kind of lame.”

“Not at all, me and my friends have got a similar kind of thing at home, except ours is at next to a river. But this is amazing, John, we could literally be anywhere here, I love it,” I said, looking around. “I can see why you come here.”

“Come on, I’ve seen some people for you to meet and some I’m sure will love to see you again.”

We walked over to the group of people and John started saying hello to them all. It was nice seeing him in his hometown and around people who had obviously known him before the band.

“Tash, you remember Halvo and Justin, right?” he said and I nodded whilst smiling at them both.

“Tash! What are you doing here?” Halvo asked, pulling me in for a hug.

“I decided to surprise John,” I told them. This was then followed by more questions from the two of them such as how long I was here for, what I’d been up to at home, were my friends here with me or was I alone. I stood and chatted with them for a bit before John interrupted.

“Alright, stop talking to these two, time for me to have you to myself,” he said, pulling me off in the direction where there were less people.

As the night wore on, I was becoming exhausted which was also making me cold.

“Do you want to go? You’ve had a long day,” John asked me as we sat by the fire with Jared and his girlfriend, Halvo, Kennedy and Tim along with some of the people I’d been introduced to tonight. John was sat on the ground and I was curled up with my head on his legs. I looked up to him and nodded. “Alright, let’s get going,” he said, standing up and reaching an arm out to me.

The drive back to his house seemed much shorter than the drive out and soon we were in his room. I pulled some pyjamas from my suitcase and changed as John stripped down to his boxers. He pulled his bed sheets back and waited for me to climb in before getting in himself and wrapping his arms around me.

“I’m so happy you’re here,” he smiled down at me. I curled into his chest and held onto him tightly.

“I’m happy I’m here too,” I breathed.