Two Kids, One Love

The rope ladder swung under Ashley’s moving body as she climbed her way to the top of the tree and into the house that sat on several of its strongest branches. Flipping the wooden door open and pulling herself inside, she let out a sigh of accomplishment as her stomach began to swarm with butterflies at the thought of why she was there.

Garrett had asked her to meet him here, the tree house that the two had practically grown up in when they met in early middle school. The place they both still snuck out to, where they would hide from their parents, friends, and even a couple times their lovers. They had shared their first beer with much distaste for it in their eighth grade year, both shared their first kisses even though it wasn’t with each other, where Ashley had broken her ankle falling off the rope ladder, and built all the memories that would carry with them after high school. That was what it was like to be best friends with Garrett Nicklesen and nothing more.

Making herself comfortable in one of the two beanbag chairs that sat in the tiny room, flipping on the cord of Christmas lights that illuminated all the things the two had left there. Shelves stacked with old movies, CDs, and a couple of the game cartages for the Super Nintendo they had set up in the corner of the place. Ashley’s parents had supplied an extension cable for the two so they could play when it got dark when they were kids, allowing Ashley to admire all the photos and pictures they had taped onto the walls. Of course she had added a few personal touches, with her collection of books stacked in a corner under where Garrett had engraved their initials into the wooden board with his father’s pocket knife.

Ashley bit her lip as she lightly grazed the chipped wood as the door flew open to reveal her best friend, a smile forming on her lips as she grabbed the pizza from his hands to let him climb in beside her. Garrett muttered a quick ‘hello’ while pulling his legs inside and closing the door, and grabbed a piece of the warm pizza.

“Hey, I thought Pat was coming with you.” Ashley said between a bite of the food in her hand as she leaned further into the chair.

“Well, I wanted to talk to you alone.” Garrett’s voice dripped with nerves, as Ashley found it hard to swallow the food in her mouth. Her chewing slowed as she fell under his gaze, and pushed back her fallen hair out of a nervous habit.

“I think I may be in love..” His voice was shaky as he stared at the floor boards before meeting her brown eyes, a small smile forming on his lips.

Ashley could feel herself jumping out of her skin at his words; was this actually happening? Her best friend was in love with her too? Her stomach made cartwheels as she waited for him to finish, trying to keep the smile from creeping onto her blushed face.

“You’re in love?” Ashley chocked out in joy, as Garrett took this as a good sign and smiled.

“Yeah, do you know Rebecca Wright?”

Ashley’s face fell as she sat her pizza back in the box and tucked her hands behind her ears; this couldn’t be happening. Avoiding his gaze, she tried to find something to look at to control the tears that were beginning to prick to her eyes.

“Yeah,”

“Well, I’ve been dating her for quite awhile.” Ashley’s eyes snapped back to his as she felt them narrow, he had never mentioned this. Never had he told her about having feelings for Rebecca the bitch Write, who personally would give her Hell, among most of the rest of the kids in their high school. Was Garrett completely oblivious to this?

“Gare, you’re kidding right? She’s a bitch.” The words fell from her lips before she could swallow them, and Garrett’s smile snapped into a hard line.

“You don’t know her Ashley, so you can’t judge. She’s just misunderstood.” Ashley found herself scoffing at how he was trying to protect her; this answered her question.

“We are fucking juniors, Garrett. We don’t know what love is!”

“We might be juniors, Ash, but I haven’t felt like this for anyone else before. I wish you could just accept this.” That hurt.

“So that’s why you haven’t been around during lunch, met me between classes, and skipped out on me last Friday.” She shook her head as she came to realize what was really happening, he wasn’t busy with school but busy with the school slut.

“Pretty much,” Garrett replied, allowing the silence to grow between them. It was awkward, and Ashley couldn’t take it as she stood with her back bent to cross over Garrett and down the ladder.

“Where are you going?”

“Away from here, tell my best friend to call me when he realizes what a mistake he is making.” Ashley let the words play the air as she left Garrett in her backyard, the tears finally threatening to escape as she walked into her house, leaving her best friend in the winter air.

Ashley didn’t know Garrett would take her words as seriously as he had, as she had not heard from him since the night in the tree house for over a week. She would pass him in the hallways, not one glance from him as he walked with laced hands or too busy kissing his so-called girlfriend. This whole situation sat her teeth on edge, as she found herself more distant from him then before he had told her the truth. She would find herself sitting with Kennedy, Jared, and John at lunch, Kennedy by her side in chemistry, and by herself walking the journey home she usually shared with Garrett given that they lived down the street from one another. She missed him that was a fact, and couldn’t be more than jealous at the new love he had.

“So, I was wondering if you weren’t going with anyone to the winter festival, that maybe you would come with me?”

Ashley closed her locker as she stared down the hall where Garrett was leaning over Rebecca with her back pressed against the wall. She watched their every move, her mouth a gape, as Garrett leaned down and kissed the blonde’s pouty lips. Kennedy waved a hand in front of her face as she shook her head from him breaking the stare to look up at his questioning face.

“Sorry what did you say?” She bit her lip as she looked back over to where the couple had been standing to see that they were gone.

“Do you want to go to the winter festival with me?” Kennedy said quickly as he scratched the back of his neck. Ashley stared at him a little surprised, chewing her lip as she tried to form words to say.

“Kennedy you’re like a brother to me, can we maybe go as friends?” Her eyebrows scrunched together as he let out a sigh of defeat, before smiling and nodding. It was better than not at all.

“I’d like that,” He breathed before looping their arms and pulling them to their next class.

The winter festival was a school carnival that the cheerleaders threw every year to get the “school spirit” going, but for most kids it was just the time to get drunk and ride on the free rides they had set up for them, while spending every last dime they had on horrible food and rigged games. To say the least it was fun, but that of course when Ashley was with Garrett, who insisted on critiquing the haunted house whenever he saw a zombie that wasn’t “correctly accurate.”

Despite its name, it didn’t actually feel like winter in Arizona, there was no snow and the temperature only got low enough for people to wear jackets. On some occasions it got cold enough for maybe a hat and some gloves, which was just what happened the night that Kennedy was standing at Ashley’s doorstep with his car parked in her driveway.

Ashley pulled her coat closer to her as she and Kennedy made their way through the crowded fair, the dark Arizona night was lit by the assortment of carnival lights while cheesy music filled the air. Kennedy bought them a few drinks before he took a chance at one of the game booths, where he won a small stuffed dragon of Ashley’s choice for knocking all the bottles down with a baseball. The rest of the guys from Garrett’s band eventually met up with them, along with Pat despite that he went to a different school, and they all decided to cause some mayhem on the only roller coaster set up in the school parking lot.

“Excuse me sir, but I do believe that this lap bar is too tight for my pregnant friend here.” John called over one of the carnies as he pointed at the grinning Pat who sat beside him. The man looked at the two with confused eyes, as the train began to pull forward and Pat winked at the man who shook his head as we all passed.

“You can always hold onto me if you get scared,” Kennedy laughed as we began rising into the air.

“And you can always hold onto me if you get scared.” Ashley laughed before letting out a scream along with the rest of the boys, as they plummeted to the ground.

The rest of the night continued this way as the group raced from one to ride to the next, as Ashley laughed at the cat calls and remarks that the boys were sending the carnies’ ways. By the time they had reached the last ride in the place after riding the tilt-a-whirl at least five times, they were standing in line for none other than the Tunnel of Love, where they had finally run into the blue eyed boy in line.

“Hey guys!” Garrett called as Ashley began to kick at the dirt lot, praying that he wouldn’t push through the line to get to them; which of course was what he did. The group of boys called their greetings as Ashley began to shrug into Kennedy’s side before Garrett’s eyes fell to where she stood.

“Hey Ash,” He breathed, waiting for her to respond but she never did, watching his eyes sadden he lifted his gaze to the rest of the guys. “Tunnel of Love, huh?”

“Well, you know, I’ve just been dying to get John on one of these.” Jared winked, making Ashley laugh with the rest of them, while John just rolled his eyes. Raising his hand to indicated three people with his fingers, the worker escorted Jared, John, and Pat to the upcoming boat.

“How many?” The girl asked Kennedy, batting her eyes, as she looked over Garrett and Ashley.

Ashley wished he wouldn’t say three; she didn’t want to get stuck on a ride with Garrett after how long he had been ignoring her. Sure it wasn’t that long, but the fact that he had been deliberately ignoring her pissed her off. But of course, she found herself walking with her arm linked in Kennedy’s as Garrett followed behind. With her plush dragon sitting on her lap, Ashley found herself uncomfortable in the silence that was between the three of them, catching Garrett’s stare every few seconds as they began to flow slowly into the house.

“So you guys on some kind of date or something?” Garrett raised his eyebrows, breaking the silence as Ashley instantly stared up at him with big eyes. Kennedy began to answer his question, but Ashley found herself answering for him.

“Does it matter?”

“Just wanted to know,”

“Funny, I would have liked to have found out something too instead of it having it hidden from me.”

“I did not hide anything from you!” Garrett cried, as Kennedy remained silent.

“Well you sure as Hell didn’t tell me.” Ashley rolled her eyes, watching as she picked at the fabric of the dragon in her hands.

“Why does it matter?”

“Because Garrett, as my best friend I thought you would have at least told me. Then maybe would it not hurt so much to see you walking around with a slut.” The words fell from her mouth as Garrett turned his attention back to the small girl.

“What do you mean it hurts?”

Ashley let out a sigh, shifting in her seat as she decided she had nothing to lose. “It hurts to be in love with your best friend, who is in love with the girl who lives to trash everyone in the school, including me. Who which, by the way, cheats on everyone she dates, if you haven’t figured that out yet.”

Garrett’s mouth was agape, as he ran his hands through his hair several times before looking back down at the blushed girl. He couldn’t get his thoughts into order as he finally heard what he was waiting for years to hear. She was in love with him; Ashley was in love with him. The thought sent chills through his body as he couldn’t help but bite back a smile. He knew what it was like to hurt like that; it had been how he felt every time Ashley had dated some guy since they hit high school. The thought of her being taken away and loved by someone else hurt, and the only reason he even dated other girls was to find someone he could convince himself to love, but it never worked and he was glad it hadn’t.

“Yeah, yeah, oh gosh Ashley loves me, what a loser. Go tell that to your girlfriend, I’m sure she’ll like to bitch to me about that.” Ashley scoffed at his face, before turning her body to face away from him and toward to awkward Kennedy.

“You love me?” Garrett stuttered through a cheeky smile, making Ashley boil at the fact he was mimicking her.

“Doesn’t matter much now, lover boy.” Ashley rolled her eyes, avoiding his gaze.

“I broke up with Rebecca,” Garrett started, making both Kennedy and Ashley turn to face him.

“You what?” The two asked in unison, as the girl tried to hide her smile.

“You were right, she cheated on me.” He answered slowly, a pang of sorrow filled his chest, but left as he turned to face his best friend.

“I’m sorry,” Ashley’s voice was weak as she hesitated to bring Garrett into a hug, but found him enveloping her into his strong arms.

“It’s okay, besides, I am in love; the real kind.” Ashley pulled back in his arms enough to look into his face that remained only a few inches away from her own, confusion crossing her face as Garrett’s eyes softened.

“With who?”

“You,” Ashley couldn’t help but bite her lips as every part of her body shivered by his words. Garrett was in love with her, and she was in love with him. Despite that the two weren’t alone, the boy found her lips in the dark as they moved together, blocking out the rest of the world.

It wasn’t till they heard the cat calls of The Maine boys did they break apart to look up into the smiling faces of their friends on the dock waiting for them, Kennedy by their side cheering as well. Their cheeks began to heat up at being caught, but kissed once more before starting to get off the ride.

“No sit!” John threw a twenty at the carnie with a wink, “We have been waiting for this too long, you guys are riding that damn ride again.”

The two laughed, thanking their friends, before lacing their hands as the cart moved back into the house. The carnie didn’t look too pleased, along with the rest of the awaiting line, but they didn’t care. They were two kids in love, nothing mattered.

“I love you, Ashley.”

“And I love you,”