Back to the Start

"Gary.", I say, tugging on his hand. "Can we go somewhere?"

"Whatever you want.", he says sweetly, placing a soft kiss on my head. 

He'd been like this for the past few hours. I don't deserve this, but I need him. Earlier though, it didn't feel like him almost. The Garrett I knew was shy, not one with the confident glint I had seen earlier. 

*Flashback*

"C'mon Gary! We don't need to go to class. It's beautiful out and my parents aren't going to be home until later!", I giggle at him. "Don't you want to give me an awesome sixteenth birthday present? And two year-versary gift?"

He lets me pull him back towards my house. Instead of going through the front door, we decided to climb the tree and go through the window. Because we're young and dumb. And because we can. 

Pulling him towards my bed, I ask shyly, "Give me the best double gift ever? Us together forever?"

"Are you sure Rachael? You don't need to. Neither of us...have, errr, experience...", he trails off unsurely. 

"That's the point Gary. You're my one and only forever. And...I want it to be you.", I say, my face now bright red. 

He pulls me down onto the bed on top of him, and trails gentle kisses down my face. "Are you sure you definitely want this?", he whispers. 

Shivering, I whisper back, "Yes."

*End Flashback*

"Rach? Hello? Are you ok?", asks Garrett concernedly. 

"What? Yeah. I was just thinking. Remembering really."

"Oh? What of?", sending me a lopsided smile. 

"My sixteenth birthday."

He knew what I referred to immediately, and gave me a sly smile. "Want to relive it?"

I lean further into him and smile. "I've just missed you. Can we...just be together?"

"I thought you wanted to go somewhere.", he reminds me. 

"Oh. Yeah. I did. But I changed my mind. I don't think I want to share you yet." I can't share him right now. It's been too long. And my phone is still shut off and in my car. I hope they're not mad. But they've been waiting for a while, so they can wait a little longer. I look up into his smiling, intense blue-green eyes. I could get Alzheimer's one day, but I don't think I could ever forget or not recognize those eyes. They followed me when we were together, and haunted me when we weren't. Looking down again, I run my fingers up and down his arms and trace the lines on his palms. These arms held me and protected me once, and plans on continuing to do that. His hands, calloused from playing the bass, in mine made the world feel like a better place, even if nothing changed. During my inner musings, he didn't say anything to me. He always had the uncanny knack of figuring out what I need and don't need, as well as what kind of mood I'm in. In many ways, he knew me better than I knew myself. It still seems unbelievable that so many years later, we're still here, even if we had lost our way in between. I guess Jimmy had always been right.