A Wonderful Surprise

Garrett took a deep breath and exhaled before knocking on her front door. He then leaned on the wall, waiting for Mary to open the door. The Nickelsen boy took a look at a big plastic bag he brought with him—it was fulfilled by candies and ice creams, he always bought Mary sweets to make her felt better when she was down.

After waiting for several minutes, Garrett finally saw the door opened. Mary appeared with her pajama, rubbing her eyes as she said a short-simple ‘hi’ to Garrett. It seemed like she just woke up and was annoyed to be awaken by a doorbell.

`Sorry if I destroyed your sleep. Can I come in?` Garrett asked slowly. He showed the plastic bag he brought with a big grin which made Mary widened her eyes as she’s guessing what stuffs were Garrett brought with him.

`Sure,` Mary answered shortly as she let Garrett in and made her way to the living room. `I thought you keep a spare key of my house’s door,` she stated. Mary sounded a little bit annoyed because Garrett had awakened her.

`I do, but I didn’t want to be a creep today,` Garrett placed his bag on the coffee table and followed his best friend to sit on the couch. `Sorry,` said him guilty.

`No, it’s okay,` said Mary as she rubbed her forehead and glanced at the clock. `It’s 11.30 already, anyway. I should have had my breakfast now.`

`Want me to make you something?` Garrett offered.

`Nah, thank you. Oh, what do you bring inside that plastic bag?` Mary took a look to Garrett’s plastic bag and found some snacks and candies inside it.

`Snickers, Dairy Queen’s, and some other sweets for you and packs of Sour Patch for me. I guessed they’d make you feel better.`

`Why thank you,` Mary took a bar of chocolate candy and opened the wrap. `But well, I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me.`

`Are you sure?` Garrett asked and answered by Mary’s nod. `So why you avoided us—I mean, why did you want to be alone lately?` Garrett quickly corrected his words. He really didn’t want to be another bother for Mary.

`I just need a little time,` she answered slowly. `I’m gonna make some coffee.` Said her as she went away to the kitchen.

Garrett himself chose to bring his candies to Mary’s backyard and eat them all there. He started to unpack the candies as he looked around—Mary’s backyard was always chilly, it’s the best place to hang either alone or with their other friends.

`Oh, there you are,` Mary suddenly appeared, holding a mug of coffee. `If you want, you know where to get it.` She said gesturing her coffee mug to Garrett.

`Nah, thanks, I have this,` Garrett chuckled as he showed his pack of Sour Patch. `Come sit here with me. We haven’t hang here again since long time ago.`

Mary sat beside Garrett, placing her mug on her lap as she stared, `so, what’s up?`

`Nothing much,` Garrett answered. `You? How are you again?`

`Told ya, I’m fine. Well, not so fine but not that bad too.` She answered before took a sip of her coffee. `Are you here to ask me about things and stuffs?`

`Not really. I just wanna check you,` Garrett answered.

`I’m fine, Gare. I just need some times to be alone, to figure some things out.` Mary sighed. She tilted her head, thinking. She might just need to share to someone she trusted, so then she started to spill out everything to her best friend.

`I was so bummed when I overheard Nick and Rachael’s conversation. I don’t care if he loves me so much or what, but the fact that he still has a girlfriend in his hometown made me feel like being cheated. I was just starting to love him but then I found out he was lying to me,` Mary sipped her coffee again to control her emotion. She turned to see Garrett’s surprised expression.

`You love him?` He asked to make sure.

`I did. I guess it’s not anymore.` Mary answered and it made Garrett relax. He then told Mary to continue her story as he opened his second pack of Sour Patch.

`I couldn’t sleep that night, thinking too much about Nick; would he talk about it to me or not. But in some ways, I was glad I haven’t agreed to be his girlfriend.` Mary started her story again. `Nick called for many times but I never picked it up. I never replied his messages because I didn’t think I’m ready for a talk. I didn’t want to meet him because I knew that I’d just throw hatred to him if we met up. So because I was tired of my phone ringing all the time, I turned it off for days and went anywhere without bringing my phone.

`I guess I’m the one who doesn’t want to talk about that.` Mary finished her story as she heard Garrett moved quickly and exclaimed to her.

`You did?! That’s rarely happened! You never went anywhere without your phone!` He shouted as he almost made his Sour Patch pack fall from his lap.

`I know. I found it funny, though,` Mary let out a chuckle. `It’s funny how a bad person could change you into someone you never know, right?`

`Yea. But I never like it if the changes are bad. Like—uh, like this. You changed into someone I didn’t know before, Mary.` Garrett looked at Mary’s eyes deeply. She somehow could find some sadness in his eyes. She couldn’t help but smiling to her best friend, realizing how caring he was to her. Garrett then returned her smile as he asked, `so, have you turned your phone on yet?`

`Yes, but I still don’t answer his calls. I found some missed call from him last night. I just don’t know whether I have really talk to him or not.`

Garrett huffed loudly. He watched Mary took the last sip of her coffee and stood up, making her way to the kitchen.

`Nick wants to talk to you.` He informed right before Mary walked inside. The girl turned to look at Garrett with a plain face before walking to the kitchen. The Nickelsen boy stayed on his seat—he patiently waited for Mary, wondering if she’d come back and talk about it.

`Are you here just to tell me about that?` Mary finally came with two cartons of orange juice. She gave one carton to Garrett as she sat back on her seat.

`No—that’s not the main reason. I told you I wanna check you.`

`Oh,` Mary simply said. `Do you think-` she started again, `do you think I should talk to him?`

Garrett looked at Mary in concern. Deep in his heart, he didn’t want Mary to talk or even meet Nick Santino again. He didn’t want to feel more jealousy, and the much more important thing was, he didn’t want Mary to be hurt again by Nick. But in the other hand, Garrett also thought that Mary and Nick should really talk and find a way out of their problem. Nick would leave soon, that meant they also should’ve solved their problem before Nick gone. He knew he wouldn’t stand of more ‘lonely Mary’—if she would feel like she needed to get away and figure some things out again.

`It’s up to you.` Garrett said after thinking for a while. `But I personally think you should solve your problem as soon as possible. He’ll be leaving soon, Mary. And I guess everyone wants him to leave with a good feeling, not with a problem being left here in our place.`

`Okay.` Mary nodded.

`Go take a shower. You stink.` Garrett suddenly said out of nowhere as he showed his tongue playfully. He laughed lightly as Mary just rolled her eyes and said, `if you want a company to meet Nick, I can do it for you. I promise I won’t do or say anything bad to him.`

`You do?` Mary asked again as Garrett nodded his head and smirk.

`But you gotta take a shower first.` Said Garrett casually which made him got a light punch on his shoulder, but he just laughed at Mary lightly.

`I’m not going to meet him today,` Mary stated making Garrett frowned. `But uh, yeah, I really need to take a shower now. I’ll be back, okay?`

Garrett’s eyes followed Mary’s moves as he quickly took his phone out from his pocket, making a call to someone he used to ‘hate’.

`Your only chance to talk to her is today. Come to her house now and solve your fucking problem, Nick,` said him quickly before ending the call and going back to eat his candies, waiting for a kind of drama he sure he’d watch later.