Good Love

Annie bounced up and down on her converse-clad heels as she waited in the airport terminal, Jared sitting a few feet away on an empty row of seats. Her best friend wasn’t answering her texts, and as a result Annie couldn’t even fathom sitting still. She’d been pacing and biting her fingernails for fifteen minutes.

Next to them, the luggage carousel was running and people were already plucking their bags and leaving. It’d been half an hour; where was Macy?

Her paranoia was shooting through the roof as her mind came up with worst-case-scenarios. What if Macy got kidnapped? What if she didn’t make it off the plane? What if she missed her connecting flight from Denver to Phoenix? What if she was being hurt at this very moment? If it happened to her, it could happen to anyone, even Macy, right?

Suddenly she felt hands going over her eyes and someone whispering “boo” in her ear. Annie jumped and spun around, smacking Macy on the arm for scaring her before engulfing her in a tight hug.

“Holy shit, don’t scare me like that! I thought you got kidnapped or something!”

Macy laughed -a laugh that Annie had grown so accustomed to hearing for seven years- and held up a Starbucks cup. “Long line.”

“You couldn’t have even answered my texts? I’ve been worried sick!” Annie retorted, and she could see the immediate guilt on her best friend’s face. They might have been separated for the past two months, but they still knew each other better than anyone else.

Though it was undeniable that their relationship had changed. Macy was the one who found Annie after the incident, after all. How could you walk around with your best friend and pretend you hadn’t seen something happen to her that horrified you every single night? How could things ever possibly be normal again?

“I’m sorry babe, my phone died,” Macy answered, giving Annie a wry smile. Everything seemed so messed up now, but Macy figured that it’d get better. It had to. “I’m so excited to be here!”

“Me too. You’re still staying with me in Jared’s apartment, right?”

Macy nodded, pushing her chocolate-colored hair away from her face. “As long as it’s okay with your bro.”

“You’re here; you’ll keep me from going crazy. I’m pretty sure he won’t care,” she said, rolling her eyes. Without saying anything, the two started walking towards the emptying luggage carousel.

Once Macy’s suitcase was pulled off the conveyor belt, they walked over to Jared to begin the ride home.

He immediately stood up and pulled the brunette into a hug. “Hey, Macy, good to see ya!”

“You too Jared,” she answered back with a smile. Annie smirked at the look on Macy’s face, knowing she hadn’t completely gotten over the crush she’d had on Jared. The last time they’d seen each other was nearly two years ago, when Jared had visited them in Chicago while they were on tour, and when Macy had seen him -she was head over heels.

As they started walking towards the parking lot, Jared pulling Macy’s suitcase like the gentleman he was, Annie snickered in her ear and whispered, “Don’t forget, my brother had a girlfriend and she’s the sweetest person you’ll ever meet. Don’t even think about fucking that up, babe.”

“Ten bucks says I’ll hate her,” Macy smirked, but Annie only rolled her eyes. There was no way anyone in their right mind could hate Tessa.

“But seriously Mace, Tessa’s a good friend of mine. I think you’ll like her.”

“Whatever, I like everyone.”

“No, you get along with everyone, while you secretly hate them in your head. You’ll like Tessa for real.”

“If you say so, Ann,” she patronized. “I’m feeling in the mood for a movie night. Or a Friends marathon. Or maybe some CSI!”

“Fine fine fine. But you have to meet my friends first,” Annie replied. “They’re probably at the apartment right now.”

“Any cute boys?” she asked suggestively, raising her eyebrows up and down. “What about that singer of Jared’s band?”

Funny, how she’d mentioned John right off the bat. Macy hadn’t actually met him before, but she’d sure seen him. Naturally, her and Macy had gone to The Maine’s shows a couple of times, and it was an understatement to say that Macy scoped out every attractive man she could find -and John happened to be high up on her list.

When she’d found John snooping through her notebook that day last week, she’d been extremely pissed off. So she avoided and ignored him for a couple of days. Eventually his constant nagging and apologizing had gotten tiring and she’d accepted his ten million apologies, no matter how much she wanted to punch him straight in the face. Annie knew she had to stay friends with him because of Jared. That apartment was her only place to go, and John was Jared’s best friend. She couldn’t escape him, and it was too hard to try. So she’d given in and they’d gone back to normal -the two of them being partners in crime, pulling pranks on their friends and messing around all day. She made damn sure he knew not to look at her stuff again, too. He’d been pretty terrified while she gave him that speech; it brought a smile to her face and arose a laugh in her throat just thinking about the scared look on his face. It was nice to have someone that made her laugh like he did, whether it was her laughing at him or with him.

“Oooh, what’s up with him?? You’re smiling!” Macy giggled as they loaded into Jared’s old car.

“Nothing’s up with John. We’re friends,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes as she looked at Macy. She could tell what her friend was thinking just by the look in her eyes; three months ago she would have jumped on any boy like him. There was no denying how cute he was or how funny he was.

But she just wasn’t interested. Annie hadn’t had a lot of boyfriends, maybe four since she’d moved to Chicago, but none of them had been serious, and all throughout high school and college and up to this point -she had no interest in a serious relationship or a relationship at all. Especially not now. And Macy knew that.

“Ugh, don’t even start with your little speech, Ann. Don’t you think it’d be nice to have a boy to fool around with? I mean, when’s the last time you had a good make-out session?”

The irony of the answer to that question was almost laughable: the last person she’d kissed had been John, when he’d half-drunkenly kissed her that night on the beach. She hadn’t told a single person about that, nor did she plan to any time soon.

“Probably my last boyfriend. I don’t even remember his name,” Annie laughed in the backseat of the car as her brother drove them home.

“Oh, I do! His name was Andrew, I think,” Jared added, grinning at them from the rearview mirror.

“Oh you’re right, it was Andrew!” Macy laughed. “That kid was a total loser, Ann. And, that was, what, two or three years ago?”

“I know, but our names sounded cute together. I mean, Andrew and Annie. How adorable is that?”

“Oh, please. You dated that punk because you were going through a rebellious stage,” Jared said, rolling his eyes in an eerily similar way to his sister. Macy wanted to laugh; there was no denying the fact that Annie and Jared were related. Everything they did screamed brother and sister.

“She still is in a rebellious stage, Jared.”

He laughed, turning into the apartment complex’s parking lot. “You’re right. I don’t think she’s ever getting out of it, either.”

“Nope,” Annie replied, hopping out of the car and landing on the cement. “I was born a badass.”

And from then on, their conversation had gone just as Annie had manipulated it to: away from the idea of her and John. She knew Macy wasn’t over it yet and would probably mention it again before the night was over, but at least she wouldn’t have to answer her shit in front of her brother.

They lugged the suitcase into the elevator, heading for the third floor as Jared mumbled about how heavy Macy’s bag was. Really, what else could he expect? Macy was a girl, and a girl at its finest. She probably had half of her closet shoved into that bag.

Finally they reached their apartment, and Annie was jerking on the lock to get it open. As she opened the door, she could hear deep voices coming from the living room, confirming what she had told Macy earlier. Majority of her friends were sprawled across the room. Pat and Garrett were laying on the floor playing xbox, John, Tim, and Austin were playing cards at the table again, and Kennedy and Tessa were in a deep conversation that involved lots of hand movements as they sat on the couch, Tessa’s dog sitting on her lap.

As soon as the three of them stepped into the room, the dog went crazy and ran to Jared, jumping on him and licking his hands. He jumped on Annie a couple of times, but he hadn’t quite warmed up to her yet. Maybe he could sense all of the fucked up things running through her head 24/7.

Everyone went quiet as the saw Macy step around Jared and into view. They’d all been warned that she was flying in today, but the boys all had shocked looks on their faces.

Luckily, Tessa was still as polite as ever, getting off the couch and introducing herself. Macy seemed to like her, just like Annie knew she would.

It seemed as though now that Tess had broken the ice, the water was just fine to swim in, and the rest of the boys made their way over to Macy to say hi. Annie slipped away, knowing Macy could handle herself just fine, and found Austin still sitting at the table.

He smirked at her and then glanced at the new girl being bombarded with questions. “So, uh, your friend-”

“Don’t even think about it, Gibbs. That’s my best friend and I’m not letting you fuck her over,” she shot, sliding down onto a chair next to him.

“Hey! Maybe I just wanted to take her on a date or something.”

“Uh huh,” she said sarcastically. “I’m sure your intentions were very, very innocent, Austin, but no. Not my best friend. Besides, she’d break your heart in a second.”

“Fine, whatever,” he mumbled, picking at a card in his hands. “So, uh, I’m guessing she knows about the incident?”

Funny, how they had started picking up on her lingo for what happened in Chicago. “Yeah. She’s the one who found me.”

He nodded. “Right, right.”

“She’ll probably try to get in your pants,” she warned jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

“Well I guess I better go introduce myself then, huh?” he smirked, grabbing his beer bottle and making his way over to Macy.

Annie sat back and watched him speak to her, smiling. He and Macy seemed to get along great. No wonder the two of them were Annie’s closest friends; they were so similar in personality. She made a mental note to keep an eye on those two for any funny business. She’d be damned if her two best friends hooked up.

“So I take it Macy knows about what happened?” Tessa asked, taking Austin’s place beside her.

“Yeah, she does. She was the one who got me to the hospital. She’s my best friend, and I basically owe everything to her,” Annie said honestly, her eyes scanning the area to make sure no one could eavesdrop on their conversation.

“Then I’m glad she’s here for you. You two are just like each other,” Tessa smiled. “Seriously, if I didn’t know any better I’d think you were sisters. You act exactly the same.”

“Well, that’s what happens when you spend all of your time together,” Annie laughed. “So be careful, I don’t want you turning into my brother.”

“Trust me, Ann, I don’t want to turn into him either,” Tessa joked, automatically moving her gaze to look at Jared. They were so in love, and it was so obvious. It made Annie want to believe in relationships.

Annie smiled and got up, knowing all Tess wanted to do was go to her boyfriend, and grabbed Macy and her suitcase. “Welcome to your temporary room!” she grinned, swinging her door open to reveal the nicely decorated room.

“Wow, it’s pretty swanky. Good job Ann,” she said impressively. “And a king size bed? Awesome, you won’t kick me in your sleep.”

“Oh shut up, I don’t do that. You can put your clothes in the closet, there’s plenty of room.”

As Macy began putting away her things in drawers and hanging them up, she talked about how great this apartment was. Annie hadn’t thought too much about it, but now that Macy brought it up, she realized how true it was. She was actually surprised that her brother could afford a place like this: three (small) bedrooms, each with walk-in closets, a great kitchen, and living room. Sure, there was only one bathroom and their washer and dryer were shoved at the end of the hallway, but it was nice. She made a promise to start helping the boys out with rent.

“So, John.”

“John what?” Annie questioned.

“He’s pretty cute,” Macy elaborated.

“And?”

“And you two would look adorable together!”

“Mace, you said it yourself earlier. Dating someone because you look cute together isn’t a good enough reason.”

“But do you like him?”

“No? Where’s all this coming from, Macy? John and I are friends. End of story. Half the time he pisses me off, anyways.”

“But that’s part of the passion, Annie!” Macy grinned, jumping onto the bed.

“Whatever, you freak. Enough of trying to hook me up, ‘kay?”

“Mmm, alright. God, it smells like smoke in here. You’ve been smoking more, haven’t you?”

“Uh, no.. of course not.”

“Liar. I thought you were gonna cut it out?”

“I’m working on it,” Annie mumbled, grabbing the remote and turning on the tv.

“And once again, you’re a liar. You’re going to die of lung cancer.”

“You’re going to die of me strangling you to death.”

“You’re impossible,” Macy laughed, pulling her best friend off the bed and dragging her back out into the living room, where everyone was gathered.

As she sat and laughed with her friends, the family she’d somehow acquired in Tempe, everything felt good. Her best friend was at her side getting along with her friends, Chicago meets Arizona. She felt like nothing could go wrong.