We Are The Tide

Waking up to the feeling of strong arms around her brought a smile to Sam’s face as she snuggled against his chest. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the Cardinology symbol tattooed across Garrett’s bicep, the sleepy sigh leaving her lips as his arms tightened around her.

“Heeeyyyyy.” Garrett’s voice was laced with sleep, the light laugh following after as he pulled his arms away, detangling himself and scooching over to the empty side of the bed.

“We need to get you a bed.” Sam laughed, running her fingers through her hair as she sat up.

“Nahhh, I don’t need a bed. There’s the couch. Or the floor. And I’m over at Mel’s more than half the time anyway.” A smile broke across his face as Sam rolled her eyes, making a face at the end of his sentence.

“It’s Saturday, and since you’re a lazy ass and don’t have a job, we’re making a trip to Ikea today to get you a bed. And maybe a car. And a shower.”

“Hey now, hey now, hey now, if I’m a lazy ass, then one thing at a time lady.” He reached over, hitting her with a pillow, sticking out his tongue to add to the immaturity.

“Okay Augustana.” Sam snickered under her breath, shoving his shoulder as she hopped out of bed. She walked over to her dresser, shuffling through the neatly folded piles of clothing to find something to wear, and a frown crossed her forehead.

“Oh shit, today’s Saturday. Gary, I can’t go with you to Ikea, at least not now, um, maybe later this afternoon? When I get back. I-I have an uh a-appointment that I can’t miss.” She looked over at the clock on her nightstand, the red letters reminding her she had to leave soon. “And if I’m going to make it to my appointment on time riding the bus, I actually have to leave in like twenty minutes. It’s across town and it’ll take me like an hour to get there. Shit.” Sam ran out of her room before Garrett could respond, the sound of running water echoing through the open doorway a moment later.

“Sami, you don’t have to ride the bus. I’ll give you a ride.” Garrett said to himself, knowing she couldn’t hear him as he climbed out of bed, shuffling toward the bathroom. He opened the door to the bathroom, poking his head in.

“Hey Sami—“

“Don’t you ever knock?” Sam’s harsh voice echoed against the tile of the shower.

“Psh, okay fine,” Garrett knocked hard three times on the open door before continuing his thought. “Hey, Sami, y’know I can drive you. You don’t have to take the bus.”

“No.”

“What kind of appointment is it?”

“That’s personal information, Garrett.”

“Sami, I’m driving you.”

“With what car? And I said NO. You don’t have to do that, really, I’ll be fine. I just have to leave right now.”

Garrett rolled his eyes, knowing she’d be stubborn and refuse his help. He stepped toward the shower, lightly punching the shower curtain and making it move.

“GARY!” Sam let out a yelp, not expecting him to still be in the bathroom.

He busted up laughing at her intense reaction, causing her to poke her head out with a glare.

“Really Sami, don’t be silly. I’ll drive you. We need a car to get to Ikea anyway, I’ll just borrow Lucy’s car or John’s truck or something. I’ll call John right now and ask. Just relax.”

Sam poked her head out from behind the curtain again, the stubbornness evident in her tone. “I said no Gary. Just drop it.”

“Ohhhkay then Sam, if that’s how you want it. Just, uh, text me when you’re on your way back or something.” Garrett shut the bathroom door behind himself, leaving her to finish her shower.



Sam made her way down the hallway, grabbing her purse from the dining room table as she was rushing out the door, running straight into John as he stepped out of the kitchen into her path. John gripped her shoulders as they collided to catch her fall, a laugh and an apology spilling from his lips as he let her go.

“Morning John, thanks for letting us borrow the truck. Gary here needs a bed, so we’re going shopping when I get back later, gotta run.” Sam’s voice was rushed as she straightened herself out, turning back toward the door, glancing at the clock on the wall.

“Yeah, no worries guys, anytime. It’s Saturday, so Lucy and I are doing yard work and cleaning the house today, which reminds me. Before you jet off, we were thinking of taking a few days this next week, tomorrow maybe if, uh, we can swing it, a-and going to the beach. Lucy mentioned her aunt has a cabin or condo or, uh, whatever it is on the beach in Seaside or something like that. She told us at the wedding we could use it anytime. You kids wanna join us?”

“Yeah man, I’m down, just uhh, let me call Mel and see if she wants to join. Sami, you coming?”

“The beach with the four of you? Ehh, no thanks.” Sam shook her head, gripping the strap of her purse against her shoulder, reaching for the front door.

“Why not? What’s wrong with the beach?” Gary asked, furrowing his brow.

“Because, Gary,” Sam said with a rushed sigh, “Being the fifth wheel has become my MO with our little group, and I’m not in the mood for it. No thanks, I’ll pass.”

“Oh c’mon, it won’t be like that. It’ll be fun. I promise. John and Lucy can’t help being disgusting and coupley, so you can ignore them, but Mel and I aren’t that bad.”

“I would argue with that, but he’s probably right.” John flashed a crooked grin and a light laugh with a shrug.

“I’ll make sure you’re not the fifth wheel. I promise.” Gary gave her a smile, punching her lightly in the shoulder as she contemplated agreeing with them. She knew there was no way out, she would have to say yes and she would have to go. Besides, she had been wanting to take a trip to the beach for months now, and now that the weather was beautiful, it was the perfect time. She couldn’t say no.

“Umm, well, I dunno, Maybe. I guess…” She let out a groan after looking at the clock, knowing she would have to run in order to catch her bus. “Sure John, whatever. That sounds like fun. Count me in. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to be late. I’ll meet up with you later Gar, say hi to Lucy for me John, bye.” She slammed the door behind her as she ran off, leaving the guys behind.



After Sam left, Garrett and John hopped in the truck, driving back to John’s house to drop him off. Lucy encouraged Garrett to stay, having made her and John breakfast with her circus waffle maker while John was gone, and insisting there was more than enough for Garrett as well. He agreed, knowing it would be a while before he would go anywhere, and spending time at the house with John and Lucy beat being bored alone in the apartment. This way he wouldn’t have to scrounge for food in his own kitchen.

Sam texted him after an hour or so, telling him to just meet her at Ikea at noon and he agreed, looking at the clock with an hour left to kill. He flipped through the channels while John and Lucy were elsewhere around the house, lounging on the couch with Casper, nothing on TV particularly capturing his attention. He’d already seen this episode of How It’s Made at least three times, and wasn’t too interested in the objects featured today. He settled for an overly predictable horror movie on a random movie channel, despite it being on his “once is enough” bad movie list, paying more attention to Casper curled up in his lap than the TV screen anyway.

His phone rang after a bit, the 503 number flashing across the screen not belonging to an assigned contact in his phone made him hesitant to answer his phone in slight confusion.



"Hello, Garrett? This is Terry, from Music Millenium."

"Oh, uhh, y-yes. Hi."

"Thanks for coming in for an interview the other day. I've looked over your application and resume again, and I'd like to offer you a position in our store if you're interested."

"Y-yes, of course, definitely, I'm interested!" Garrett stumbled over his words as he fumbled with the keys to the truck.

"Fantastic!" The voice over the phone said with a light chuckle. "When can you start?"

"Well, uh, I'm actually out of town until Tuesday, does Wednesday work for you, o-or is that too late?" He chewed on his lip, twisting the keychain of the Arizona state flag attached to John's keys around in his fingers as he waited to start the engine.

"Wednesday should be fine. We open at 10 am, so be there at 9 to fill out some paperwork and we can get you all set up and properly trained." Garrett agreed and thanked the man before hanging up the phone, letting out a happy sigh of relief as he started the engine, happy to have landed the job.

He pulled up to Ikea, quickly texting Sam, asking of her whereabouts before hopping from the truck, heading inside the big blue building. She was waiting for him just inside the door, snacking on some chips she bought from the food area. Sam stood from the table, a light smile sat across her lips as she approached him. "Ready to shop? Now that the honeymoon's over and you haven't bailed on me yet, we need furniture. Our apartment, specifically your room, is pathetically bland."

Garrett scoffed at the comment. "Maybe I'm trying that whole minimalist decor thing. You don't know."

Sam shook her head, refusing his statement.

"You don't even have a bed. That's not minimalist, that's just stupid. And c'mon, you need shelves to properly hold your beautiful vinyl collection because I refuse to let you store them in that cardboard box after you left your shelf at your parents house. Also, where are you planning on storing your Star Wars and How It's Made DVD collections?"

"Do you think I'm made of money here?"

"Do I even have to answer that?" Sam gave him a look, rolling her eyes as she took him by the arm and pulled him up the staircase towards the upper showroom. "Just come, it'll be fun."



They made their way through each section, carefully selecting the essentials and splurging on impulse communal decor as they went. Garrett could sense Sam was holding something back, wanting to ask about earlier when she had left, but he didn't bring it up, not knowing how or what to say. Walking through the final section of the show floor, Garrett paused to look over the items they ended up with.

"Hey Sami, do we really need two shower curtains? I know we couldn't decide on which one we liked better, but I don't wanna buy two if we only have one shower." He looked up and turned around when he noticed she hadn't responded, seeing her admiring the stuffed baby animals in the little kids section a few feet away. "Sami?"

"Yeah." She turned toward him, quickly returning to their cart, and selecting the curtain Garrett liked better before tossing her choice in a nearby bin. "Is that it?"

Garrett frowned as he stared at her, clearing his throat after a moment. "Yep, I think that's it. The guy said they can deliver the big stuff by the end of the day, so I guess we can check out now."

Sam nodded her head with a thin smile, leading the way toward the register.



The next stop was Mattress World. Sam suggested it as the first place that popped into her head she knew sold mattresses. After almost a half hour of laying on various mattresses in his price range, Sam complained of hunger, Garrett promising he'd treat her to lunch after this.

"How does this one feel?" Garrett patted the empty side of the mattress, Sam hopping on the bed with a sigh.

"It's great. Fabulous. Love it. Sold."

"Yeah, but is it better than that other one we just tried? I can't tell if I like it better or not."

"It's just a mattress Gary, it's fine."

"I know you're just saying that so we can leave."

"If you don't want my help, y'know you really should have just brought Mel with you. She's gonna be spending more time in this bed than I ever will."

"Mel was at work. And I think she might like this one better than the other one. It feels more like hers."

Sam made a face, sticking out her tongue. "Bleck, I coulda survived just fine without that information."

"What, it's true. But uh," He cleared his throat, staring at the ceiling with a small smile playing on his lips. "Speaking of work, um, I got the job. A-at Music Millenium."

"You did?!" She hopped up, tucking her legs under her as she turned to face him. "That's great! I'm so excited for you! Did you tell Mel?"

"Not yet, I'm going to at dinner tonight. It'll be interesting working with her. They're letting me start after our beach trip though, which is nice."

"Well that's nice. I'm sure you'll have a good time. And you're lucky you got the job, that's a place you basically have to know people in order to get hired."

"It feels good to have a job, and a pretty sweet one at that. I'm gonna get paid to hang out in a record store all day, which is one of my favorite places in the world. Not quite as cool as touring, but it's up there."

Sami smiled, happy to see him happy again. "You should get this bed Gar." Garrett rolled his eyes with a laugh, nodding his head.

"Okay, okay. Sold. I'm getting pretty hungry myself now. Let's go."



They returned home after lunch, inviting John and Lucy over to help unpack and assemble their furniture. Casper came along, getting into everything and distracting them from getting much work done for the first hour or so. One of Garrett's Rolling Stones vinyls filled the apartment with music as the men assembled the shelves to his new book case, moving boxes into Sam's room to make room for the larger furniture being delivered within the hour. Sam sat curled up with Casper on the couch while Lucy rearranged the kitchen, making room for the new items bought that day.

A knock at the door caused Casper to bark and jump off the couch, practically attacking Mel as she stepped through the door into the apartment.

"Hey Sam, hey Lucy, hi Casper." She scratched behind his ears, giving him some attention to calm him down as he jumped up on her. The guys shuffled into the living room, Garrett pulling Mel into a quick kiss hello.

"Babe, I got the job!" He smiled proudly as he pulled away, Mel pulling him into another hug.

"I know, I heard Terry talking about you while I was at work and I'm so excited!" She gave him a kiss on the cheek before returning to Casper at her feet.

"So now that we're all here, you guys gonna go to the beach with us tomorrow?" John pulled a drink from the fridge, leaning against the counter.

"Please do! My aunt is loaning us her beach house to use for the weekend. It's huge with like four bedrooms, and it's right on the beach. I used to go there on family vacations as a kid. It's perfect, and we can bring Casper. You will love it."

"Well, I can only stay until Monday morning because of work, but that's only if I could get a ride back into town." Mel turned to Garrett with a shrug.

"I can drive you back babe, don't worry about it."

"Well if Casper's going, then I guess I'm in." Sam shrugged, happy for a vacation despite her impending fifth wheel status.