Coffee Shop Soundtrack

I woke up and rolled over, wrapping my arms around Makenna. I smiled to myself. The past couple of weeks had been some of the best days of my life. I was dreading leaving for tour.

A couple of minutes later I felt Makenna move underneath my arm. I loosened my grip on her on and she turned over, facing me. She squinted at me, her eyes were getting used to the morning light.

“Morning,” I said.

She smiled a little bit. “Morning,” she said back, her voice groggy.

“So, I talked to Pat yesterday,” she said, still waking up. “Before I came over. I told him about us.”

“You did?” I said, surprised. “What did he say?”

“He wasn’t very supportive,” she sighed, looking away from me. “He thinks were making a mistake.”

“Do you think this is a mistake?” I asked, seriously. It seemed like maybe she was second guessing this.

Her eyes shot back up to mine. “No,” she said. “Do you?”

I smiled and shook my head. “No.” I leaned towards her and pressed my lips against hers.

There was a knock at the door and we pulled away from each other.

“Who is that?” she asked.

I shrugged, getting out of bed. I didn’t know who it might be. My mom finally stopped coming around to check on me and none of the guys were talking to me. I pulled a shirt on over my head and went to the door in my boxers. I swung it open, revealing Garrett on the other side.

He pushed his way past me. “Ken,” he called. Pat had obviously talked to him.

Makenna withdrew from the bedroom. Her hair was still a mess from just waking up. She didn’t say anything to Garrett.

“Makenna, you need to leave,” he said.

“No she doesn’t,” I said back to him. “This isn’t your place, she can stay if she wants to.”

Garrett ignored me and looked at Makenna, waiting for her to say something.

“It’s fine,” she said, “I’ll go.”

She stepped towards me and reached up for a kiss. She flashed looked at Garrett again before she slipped on her shoes by the door. “I’ll call you later,” she said before leaving in the clothes that she slept in.

Garrett waited until he could no longer hear her footsteps down the hall before he said anything else. “What are you doing?” He asked.

I didn’t say anything. Instead, I flopped down on the couch and looked at him, annoyed.

“John, you can’t do this to her.”

“I’m not doing anything to her,” I said. “And you haven’t talked to me in weeks, don’t start acting like were friends all of a sudden.”

“Don’t you get it John? You’re not good enough for her.” Garrett said. “She deserves way better than you. She deserves someone who hasn’t already screwed her over too many times to count. Someone who doesn’t try to drink themself to death every time something doesn’t go their way. And that’s not you. That’s never going to be you."

“I didn’t ask her to do this,” I said. “She chose this herself. She is the one that wants to leave him.”

“Don’t let her,” he said. “The only reason she wants to leave Derek is because of you, and you know that.”

Garrett paused, waiting for me to say something, but I had nothing to say.

“John, if you let this happen,” he said, “You will be ruining her life.”

“How?” I asked, standing up. I felt myself getting angry. “If she’ll be happy, and I’ll be happy, how would this ruin her life?”

He shook his head. “Because in the end, you’ll just fuck her over again. And then she’ll be alone. That’s just the way things are and the way they always have been. So you need to fix this. You need to let her be happy with someone else. And you need to do it before we leave.”

Garrett left and I sat back down on the couch. Part of me knew he was right. He was always right. I was a fuck up, and that would never change. And in the end I would always end up hurting her.