Heart Vacancy

Sometimes, I really did hate the summer. Especially since we lived in Arizona. I didn’t understand how there weren’t heat strokes going on every five minutes. The heat was ridiculous. Anyways, we had just finished our last day of our senior year and I couldn’t be any happier. I walked down the familiar streets, making my way home. I picked up my long brown hair into a pony tail as I started to feel sweat dripping down my face. I wondered what was ahead of me this summer with each step. I hoped it would be one to remember.

“Really, Lo?” I heard a familiar voice say as their car caught up with me. “I was waiting for you.”

“Sorry, I didn’t want to bother.” I answered.

“I’ve been driving you to and from school since sophomore year.” He retorted.

“Exactly. I’ve been a bother for that long.” I replied.

“Just get in the car, Logan.” He sighed. I rolled my eyes and climbed into the passenger’s seat of the small yellow car without further protest.

See, Garrett Nickelsen had been my best friend since we were five. Everyone saw him as the weird geeky kid who was obsessed with zombies and comics. The kids around the neighborhood made fun of him a lot and he couldn’t manage to make friends. One day at the park, I was in the playground when I saw a group of kids push Garrett onto the sidewalk. I ran over with my bike and threw it at the bullies. They ran to their mommies crying. Garrett was also crying as blood trickled down his knee.

“Don’t cry.” I smiled, bending over next to him. “Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah. Thank you.” He stammered.

“I’m Logan, but you can call me Lo.” I said, outstretching my hand to help him up.

“I’m Garrett.” He smiled, taking my hand.

I helped him clean his knee so it wouldn’t get infected and lay a band aid on the cut. My mother insisted on carrying a first aid kit everywhere we went.

“All better.” I cheered. “Do you want to play with me?”

His smile made me smile and he eagerly accepted. Since then, we were inseparable. He had become my best friend and grew out of his shell. He was still shy and awkward, but he was more open and outgoing.

“Hello! Is anyone in there?” Garrett asked, knocking on my head as he drove. I swatted his hand away laughing. “You had that thinking face of yours. What’s on your mind?”

“I-uh…I was thinking about the day we met.” I blushed.

“I would have never thought of a bicycle as a weapon, but you proved me wrong.” He chuckled. I stuck out my tongue at him. “I still thank you for it.” He smiled, ruffling my hair.

“Where are we going?” I asked, smacking his hand away again.

“Practice.” He answered, turning into Pat’s street.

Did I forget to mention Garrett was in a band? They were called The Maine. They weren’t really known since Pat and Garrett were still stuck with school and they couldn’t really go on tour, but they were good. They had just been signed with Fearless Records a few months back and they had recorded their first EP called ‘The Way We Talk’. I was extremely proud of them. I was close with the rest of the guys, but not as close as I was to Garrett.

“Can we grab some frozen yogurt after?” I asked, turning up the air.

“And then sleepover my house for a movie marathon?” He smiled.

“How can I possibly say no to that?” I grinned. Garrett parked in front of Pat’s house and we joined the rest of the guys in the open garage.

“About time.” John said as I sighed into a beanie bag.

“Hey, blame Logan. She decided to walk and I had to find her.” Garrett defended, grabbing his bass.

“Shut up, Nickelsen.” I eyed him evilly.

“I’m guessing you had a bad last day of high school.” Jared noted.

“Ding, ding, ding! You guessed right.” I answered.

“Want to talk about it?” Kennedy asked.

“Later. You guys have to practice.” I nodded.

I watched as the guys practiced some new songs they had written. They were leaving in a week to California to record their first full length album and they were dragging me along with them after they had somehow convinced my parents. See, I always felt distant from my family. I felt like a freak and that I didn’t belong with them. If they weren’t away every other week, they were treating me like crap. I felt more at home when I was at Garrett’s with his family. The Nickelsens treated me more like their family than my actual parents ever did. My parents weren’t that bad of parents, they just cared more about their jobs than about me.

“Lo, what’s wrong?” Garrett’s voice snapped me back into reality. He was bending over in front of me, his eyes filled with worry. His thumb gently wiped a tear from my cheek. I hadn’t even realized that I was crying. I reached up and wiped away the rest of my tears.

I sniffed, “I’m fine.”

Garrett sighed, dropping the subject as I stood, but I knew he would bring it up again once we were at his house.

“Talk.” Pat stated as we now sat enjoying some frozen yogurt.

“You passed all those advanced classes of yours perfectly. Be happy.” Jared noted.

“I am happy about that.” I answered.

“Is this about Craig?” Garrett asked, rolling his eyes.

“I-I uh…” I blushed.

“You’re worrying about this boy who’s obviously an idiot for not taking his time with such an amazing girl like you.” John said, licking his spoon.

“He’s right, Lo.” Kennedy agreed. Craig was this boy who I had a complete crush on since freshmen year. We talked a few times, but that’s about it. He was way too popular and stunning to ever go for someone like me. He asked me on a date once in sophomore year, but that night after watching the guys practice, he called me to cancel. He avoided me as much as possible since then.

“And I don’t know what I’m going to do after the summer.” I whispered, laying my head on my hands.

“You got accepted to Stanford.” Jared knocked on my head. I sighed, changing the topic to John’s way too tight pants. After finishing our frozen yogurts, I hugged the guys goodbye and climbed into Garrett’s car, heading to his house. I was staying the night, and my parents had happily agreed.

“Why are you so quiet, Lo? I’m worried about you.” Garrett said as I dropped onto his bed.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I mumbled against his pillow.

“Please?” He sat next to me, bouncing his body on the mattress.

“Are you using your infamous pout?” I asked.

“Yes, so you might as well give up now and tell me what’s wrong.” He stated. I sighed, giving up and sat against the head board.

“I don’t want to leave you guys.” I admitted, looking down at the navy bed spread. He didn’t answer at first, but when he did, I wanted to shove him off the bed.

“You’re going to Stanford. You’ve always wanted this.”

“What if that’s not what I want anymore?” I yelled. He was right. Ever since I was little, my parents wanted me to make it into Stanford after high school. They made sure I did my best throughout school, and it had paid off. I had been accepted after graduating high school as top five of our class. They cried and took me out to the most expensive restaurant in town when my acceptance letter had arrived with the mail.

“Then what do you want?” He asked.

“I don’t know.” I whispered, looking down at my hands. Garrett sighed and tilted my chin up with his hand to look at him.

“How about this: when we leave to California, think on it. When we come back, you need to know what you want. Alright?” He offered the idea. I stared into his blue eyes and nodded. He smiled and kissed my forehead before he climbed out of his bed. “What movie do you want to watch?”

“Zombieland.” I answered. What can I say? Garrett and I had figured out that we had a lot in common when we first met.

“Great choice, Boss,” He chuckled, popping the movie into the DVD and climbing back into his bed with me. We cuddled under his bed sheets as the movie started. As the movie played, we fell silent, but not for long. “Why were you crying in practice today, Lo?”

“I was thinking about my parents.” I answered, not looking away from the screen. I still felt Garrett’s eyes on me. I could picture his blue eyes soften and the helplessness for not knowing what to do.

“It will all get better.” He whispered before kissing my forehead. I smiled and sunk deeper into his chest.

You may think that there’s something more between Garrett and I, but there isn’t. He’s my best friend. That’s all. We’re extremely comfortable with each other and he actually listens to me. I love the kid to death like the brother I never had. We knew everything about each other, but there’s one thing he didn’t know about me. I was madly in love with him. There’s one thing that stopped us. He didn’t feel the same way.