Something to Remember

JOHN:

The moment Sarah admitted that she still loved me, I was on my feet and chasing after Gary to borrow his keys again. As long as she still had feelings for me, there was nothing I wouldn’t do to get another chance.

Now I was ten minutes away from Ilise’s house and I was finally realizing that I had no idea what I was going to do once I got there. I had been so excited to finally have the chance to fix things that I forgot the most important part; to figure out how I was actually going to fix it. I had no plan whatsoever and the idiots in the backseat weren’t exactly helping me focus.

They had insisted on coming with but I made them all sit in the back so Sarah wouldn’t see them. Only the back windows were tinted so Pat was forced to sit on someone’s lap.

“Yo Pat, fuck dude. Get off me!” Garrett was trying to shove Pat off his lap and onto Ken’s.

“Shit, stop! Now you just elbowed me, Garrett!” Ken pouted and rubbed his forearm.

Pat peeked up through his long hair at Garrett and used his girl voice.

“Y-your lap is very comfortable.”

“Stop! I hate you, this is weird.” Garrett had stopped touching Pat and shrank down in his seat.

“Guys, shut up.” Jared leaned forward from his window seat to glare at three other guys.

“You’re not the one with Pat on your lap and squishing you, Jared.”

I could tell that the irritating quarreling wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, so I slowed down and looked back at them in the mirror.

“Seriously?! How old are you guys? 5? How about you all help me figure out what to say to Sarah instead of arguing! You were the ones who made me bring you,” I shook my head and the guys fell silent.

“This is really important to you.” Kenny looked surprised at my obvious anxiety. Pat leaned over and punched him in the arm, right where Garrett had jabbed him earlier. Ken frowned at him but didn’t do anything to start more trouble.

“I just don’t know what to say or do…” I scrubbed my forehead with my hand.

“How about you just walk in there, charm her pants off, and show her what she’s been missing.”
Garrett shrugged like it was just that easy. When I thought about what he said though, I narrowed my eyes at him in the mirror.

“Oh come on, I didn’t mean ‘charm her pants off’ literally. We should call you Merv the Perv.” He shuddered in exaggerated disgust at me. I rolled my eyes at his antics.

“I just meant you should act calm, cool, and totally dreamy, kinda like this hunk right here,” Garrett said and waggled his eyebrows at me.

We all chuckled and I felt myself calming down. A little.

************************

I parked by the sidewalk outside Ilise’s house and shot the guys one last terrified look before exiting the car. I looked up at the home and recognized all of its little quirks. This house had become familiar to me when Sarah and I were dating because she stayed here while going to college. Considering the fact that her family lived in New York, she was lucky to be such close friends with someone who lived here.

I went to ring the doorbell, but before I could push the button, Sarah had already flung open the door.

“Don’t! Don’t ring the bell, Ilise will kill me.” She looked petrified of the very idea and I couldn’t help but laugh at her face. She must have realized her own ridiculousness because she quickly relaxed and let out a few giggles.

“Sorry, I know that sounds insane, but she values her sleep very much,” Sarah said while laughing a little more. All I could think of was how I wanted to see her smile again.

“Believe me, I understand.” I said and then very clearly coughed Jared’s name.

She grinned at me and I felt a shot of pleasure. After a couple seconds though, her smirk faded.
She was gazing at me with those riveting blue eyes and her brown hair fell in messy curls down her back. “Why did you have to come here? We could have talked over the phone.”

“I could have, but I felt like this was something that needed to be done in person. Besides, you can’t see me over the phone.”

I took a step closer to her. When she didn’t back away, I took it as encouragement and reached out to wrap a strand of her hair round my finger.

“Or feel me.”

I heard her sharp intake of breath and watched as her face turned pink. I used my other hand, the one with the cast, to clumsily rub her cheek with my thumb.

“John-” I quickly shook my head and she stopped.

“I’m here. I love you and I’m here, so please just give us this moment.”

When she didn’t argue, I started to lean in. She was staring at me and I noticed her face was tilted up towards me. She wanted me to kiss her.

“I’m going to kiss you, so if you want me to stop, you better tell me now.” I watched her face from centimeters away, holding my breath as I waited for her response.

I felt her move and immediately deflated, until I realized it was to grab the collar of my jacket. She gently, but forcefully, pulled me in to confiscate the space between us. As we kissed, I wrapped my fingers around her neck and tangled them into her hairline. My thumbs were resting against the sides of her jaw and I ignored the fact that my cast was making it card to cradle her face. I was too caught up in the moment to care, I loved the way she collapsed into me. She made me feel like I was bigger than her, stronger. Like I could protect her from anything and she wanted me to.

As her hands found their way inside my jacket and she wrapped her arms around my narrow waist, I heard hoots and catcalls coming from the car. Sarah broke away from me to look over at the guys, who were all filing out onto the lawn and cheering.

She shook her head at me and smiled. Her eyes wandered to my arm and seemed to realize the new addition.

"What happened?" She looked up at me sympathetically.

"Oh, you know. I punched a brick building because I was acting like an asshole to someone I cared about," I winked at her and she touched my hair with her hand.

"Well, maybe you should work on not being an asshole so I don't have to worry about you injuring yourself anymore."

She gave me a quick peck on the lips and I beamed down at her before turning around to yell at my moron band mates. They had yet to stop shouting and tackling eachother.

Just then, my phone buzzed and Sarah ripped it out of my back pocket playfully. I noticed her face changed though when she looked at the screen and saw the text message.

“What is it?” I tried to reach for the phone but she jerked it away. She looked up at me with anger and distrust written all over her face.

“Who the hell is Anna?”