Sooner or Later

A couple of hours later Kenzie had fallen asleep on the couch, her feet resting in Garrett’s lap. She flinched but didn’t awake as Garrett ran a finger up the bottom of her foot.

“Kenzie, wake up,” he shook her legs and she stirred again.

“No,” she groaned. “You guys got me drunk last night; I’m hung over and exhausted from my day of work. Just let me sleep.”

“Your phone keeps ringing Kenz. John keeps trying to call you.”

“Then turn it off Gary, deal with it, I don’t care, just let me sleep,” she groaned. She rolled over on the couch and fell back asleep, leaving Garrett to deal with her overbearing best friend.

She yawned loudly the next morning as she woke up. After blinking a couple of times, she looked around the room, taking in her surroundings. It took a minute, but she finally recognized Garrett’s room. She was also suddenly aware of an arm lightly draped across her waist. Cuddling with Garrett was definitely different than cuddling with John. John was a lot taller than Garrett and a lot bonier as well. At times it could make things a little uncomfortable, but she adored the way John would hold her tightly to his chest. She felt safe and warm in his lanky arms. She wiggled around a little, stretching. Garrett rustled around as well, tightening his arm and pulling the girl into his chest. Kenzie smiled, that was better.

“Are you awake Kenz?” the boy muttered, burying in face between her shoulder blades.

“You could say that,” she yawned again. “Still tired. Did you take care of John last night?” she asked.

“I guess. I texted him, but then he threatened to come here. The only thing that stopped him was Shannon. I had called him and I heard her in the background. Once she figured out that you were at my place she talked him out of coming over.” Kenzie sighed John was relentless.

Garrett rolled over her, hovering over her body as he reached towards his glasses on his bedside table next to his bed.

“Garrett,” Kenzie muttered, staring up at him. He slipped his glasses onto his face and grinned down at her, not moving from his position.

“Yeah?”

“Promise me something. If we’re going to do this whole, fake relationship thing, promise me that we won’t fall for each other.”

“I promise Kenzie.” He lowered himself and pressed a kiss to her forehead. He rolled off of her and lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. “I’m hungry.”

“Well, boyfriend, seeing as this is your house, maybe you should be making breakfast for us.” He turned his head and stared at the girl lying next to him.

“Fine, but our next sleep over is going to be at your house and you’re going to be making me breakfast.” He rolled off the bed, grabbing himself a pair of sweatpants, before heading towards the door.

“Hey Gary,” she called, sitting up. He spun around to look at her. “Where are my overalls?” His cheeks turned crissum as he smiled at her sheepishly.

“I, um” he coughed and avoided eye contact. “They’re on floor; I thought you’d be more comfortable that way…” There was a moment of silence before Garrett spun on his heels and hightailed it out of his room. Kenzie laughed, rolling her eyes at the boy. She threw the covers off of her legs and pulled down her t-shirt to cover her underwear as she grabbed her overalls from the ground a stole a shirt from Garrett’s dresser. She got dressed in the bathroom before heading towards the kitchen. She made a pit stop in the living room, however, to grab her phone first.

She pulled up John and Garrett’s conversation from the night before.

Hey John, it’s Garrett. Kenzie is dead to the world; she’s staying at my place tonight. She’ll call you back tomorrow.

To which John replied;

She’s at your place? I’ll come and get her, bring her home so that she can sleep in her own bed.

They proceeded to fight for the next couple of texts about where Kenzie would be most comfortable. They stopped abruptly; Kenzie assumed that it’s when Garrett called John to tell him to back off. With a sigh she headed into the kitchen and sat at the table, pouting.

“Morning Kenzie.” Her head shot up to see Pat sitting at the other end of the table reading the paper. “D-Did you stay the night?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you alright Kenz?” Garrett asked from by the stove.

“No I’m not alright!” she exclaimed, making both boys jump. “I’m so fucking sick and tired of John trying to control my every move! I am a grown woman; I don’t need him watching me like a hawk! I have a father already; I don’t need a second one.”

“Do you want me to talk to him Kenzie?” Garrett asked, bringing over three plates of eggs and sitting down at the table.

“No! I’m sick of everyone trying to take care of me! I can take care of myself!”

The boys stayed quiet, glancing at each other, not quite sure what to say.

“Sorry,” the girl muttered, digging into her breakfast. “I’m going through a lot right now.”

She certainly was and needed some time to think it all over. She ignored what she’d told Garrett the night before and didn’t contact Shannon to set up a girl day; she needed time on her own. After breakfast Garrett drove her to the studio so she could get her car and then she went back to her apartment and spent the next few days hiding out, thinking about everything. Really, she was mostly avoiding John seeing as she was still incredibly pissed at him. He had said that he would stop this, yet he persists on babying her all the time. It was like having an overbearing shadow. She appreciated his concern, but she also needed her space.
She thought about this whole fake relationship, making sure it really was what she wanted to do. Garrett had promised that they wouldn’t fall for each other, so no one would get hurt by it. And it would help make John happy, that is if he could ever stop being so over protective of her.
She also pondered Garrett’s question. Did she like John? No, of course she didn’t. This was John. They were way too close to ever be able to date. In other circumstances, maybe; she couldn’t deny that John was an attractive guy and incredibly sweet, but, if they were to date, or to fall for each other for that matter, they would be jeopardizing a lifelong friendship as well as the whole dynamic of they’re group. What if they broke up? It would ruin everything. None of that matter though, she didn’t like John that way. The only emotion she felt for him right now was annoyance.

After hiding in her apartment for a weekend, she finally had to head back to work on Monday morning. As she was getting ready, she paused in front of her closet. She groaned internally as she found herself caving. She had to admit that she was curious too; what it would be like if she did dress in a more girly fashion. She was still pondering this as she pulled into the coffee shop before the shift, so that kind of made the decision for her. She went inside and her eyes scanned the room for Shannon. She walked up to the counter and smiled at the blonde.

“Kenzie! Hi!” she was greeted.

“Hey Shannon… I um, I was wondering if you could do me a favor…” Kenzie replied, hesitantly. “I, um, kind of want to do something for Garrett…” The grin on the other girl’s face resembled the one of the Cheshire cat.

“Oh course! What do you need?”

“Well, I um, kind of wanted to surprise him. Um, well, I’m sure you’ve noticed how I dress,” she stuttered, trying to find a way to put this into words. “And well I kind of want to dress a little more…girly?” It came out sounding more like a question. “So, I was wondering if maybe you’d want to come shopping with me and help me out. You’re kind of the only girl friend I have.” Shannon grinned even more as the word ‘friend’ was mentioned.

“Yeah! Of course I’ll go with you! It’d be my pleasure. How about tonight? I’ll meet you at the mall, say, five thirty?” Oh, Kenzie was regretting this already.

*

“What about this?” Kenzie asked, pulling another dress from the rack.

“Kenzie, the whole point of this would be so you’d look more girly,” she said taking the dress that was essentially an oversized plaid shirt and placed it back on the rack.

“It’s still a dress…it’s a step up,” the shorter girl defended herself.

“No, this is a dress.” Shannon was holding up a red number with a plunging neckline and cut outs at the waist. It had long sleeves and would probably end well above mid-thigh level. This was probably the type of thing that she was looking for, but far from what she was comfortable with wearing.

“No,” Kenzie replied, shaking her head before she started going through some more racks.

“Kenz, believe me. If Garrett sees you in this dress he will have a heart attack. That’s the sort of things we’re going for here, right? Trust me Kenzie!” They’d been at it for almost an hour now. They’d already been to two clothing stores and a makeup store. With a sigh, Kenzie agreed to at least try it on. She let her pick out another dress, some skirts and tops for her to try on before they headed to the changing room. The girl staring back at her in the mirror scared her, a lot. She didn’t look like herself, not one bit, but she kind of liked it. She wasn’t really comfortable in the clothes, but she couldn’t deny that she did look kind of good in them. She wondered what the others would think.

“I just need to go to one more store,” Shannon said once they’d finally left the last one. Kenzie was exhausted and really just wanted to go home and collapse on her bed. But Shannon wouldn’t have it. She grabbed her new friend’s hand and pulled her towards the closest lingerie store.

“You know, what I’m good, really,” Kenzie said, trying to pull her hand back but the other girl was holding onto her with an iron grip. She paused however to look at her.

“How far have you and Garrett gone?” she asked, peering at the girl quizzically. She blushed, gulping before answering, stuttering slightly;

“Oh…Um, not, we, uh, we haven’t gone… we’re not, it’s not….We’re not there yet. It’s still a pretty new relationship.”

“Perfect, well let’s get him another surprise, shall we?” Shannon suggested.

“Oh, I don’t think that’s really necessary,” the brunette replied.

“Come on Kenz, when Garrett sees you in these new clothes, the only thing he’s going to want to do is tear them off your body. Then, he’ll be graced with another wonderful surprise. Besides, you’re John’s best friend and I need some advice now.” Kenzie supressed a groan and she was pulled into the store.

Unfortunately for her, when they walked back out, the torture wasn’t over. Shannon had invited herself back to her apartment so that she could help Kenzie ‘learn’ how to use her new wardrobe.

“You don’t really need to change much for your still. The whole ‘edgy’ and ‘skater’ thing is really in right now, so say you want to wear a band shirt, pair it with a skirt instead of jeans or curl your hair, accessorise, you know?” Kenzie nodded, not really paying that much attention to her, answering her ringing phone instead.

“Hey Bean how’s it going?” Eric replied from the other end of the line. “The guys and I are going out to dinner tonight. John says you’re with Shannon so bring her along and come meet up with us.” The girl groaned, she still wasn’t in the mood to talk to John, she was still mad at him.

“I don’t know Halvo, we’ve had a long day and I have to work tomorrow…”

“Fine, don’t come drinking, but come for dinner. For me? I’ve missed my best friend." She pursed her lips and sighed, she had missed the lanky boy as well.

“Fine, we’ll see you there.” She hung up the phone and surveyed the outfit that Shannon was putting together; a floral skater skirt and a teeny black crop top. Definitely out of her comfort zone.

“The guys have invited us out to dinner,” she announced, making the other girl grin.

“Perfect! It’ll give you a chance to show off your new clothes!” After a lot of restrain, Shannon had convinced her to wear the skirt combo, with the compromise that she could wear a denim cut off vest and a beanie with it. Baby steps right?

Once she’d finished applying a little bit of makeup she turned to Shannon who was grinning from ear to ear.

“Kenzie you look amazing! Garrett is going to be so surprised!” She had to admit that she kind of liked the final product too. And she was definitely curious about how the guys would react.

The two girls carpooled to the pub where they were going to have dinner. They were about to walk in when Shannon stopped Kenzie.

“Kenz, I just wanted to say thank you for today. I know John means a lot to you and it means a lot to me that you’re trying to be friends with me too.” Kenzie smiled, she was glad that she had done this for John. Maybe Shannon wasn’t so bad after all.

“Well, thank you, too. You know, for all of this,” the other girl replied, gesturing to her clothes.

“Oh, that was no problem at all. It’s all you. Now come on, let’s go show you off.” She grabbed the smaller girl’s hand and dragged her into the restaurant to meet the guys.