Lost and Found

The party was a go. There was no stopping Kennedy once he had the idea in his head. Nicola had little say in whether she wanted it or not. He handled the invites, food and most importantly, the alcohol. Now, the night of the party, Nicola’s stomach was a mess. She had no idea how any of her friends would react to her being back home, let alone if they would even show up. Above anything she was scared to see Garrett again. Nicola wasn’t sure whether him being there, or him refusing to attend would be worse. Kennedy hadn’t said much to her about Garrett or if he would be coming tonight and this made her even more nervous.

After giving herself one last check over, touching up her makeup and throwing on her jacket, Nicola headed down stairs to see who had arrived. From the kitchen she could see a few people had showed up already. She spotted Kennedy talking to John and Pat, beers in hand. The appeared to be in a good mood so, swallowing her nerves, she headed out to join them.

“Look who finally decided to join us!” Kennedy exclaimed as Nicola reached the three boys. “Took you long enough.”

“It takes time to look this good, Ken.” Nicola joked, shakily. She could feel and hear the nerves in her voice as she spoke and hope to God that no one else could.

“Your sense of humour hasn’t changed in two years.” John grinned.

“Neither has your obsession with denim.” Nicola retorted. John pulled the girl into a hug, causing Nicola to relax a little as she gripped at John.

“Finally decide that you missed us too much?” Pat smiled, also pulling her into a hug in a similar fashion to what John had just done. After a while, Nicola began to warm up and feel a lot more comfortable hanging with the boys. It was almost like she hadn’t left. Nicola had almost forgotten about anything to do with Garrett, but there was still that uneasy feeling nagging at her.

“I’m going to head inside and get another drink.” Nicola smiled. “Anyone else want one?”
The boys all motioned to their full bottles in hand and shook their heads. “Okay, I’ll be back.”

Nicola made her way through the mass of bodies in Kennedy’s backyard. There was a lot more people there now than there had been when she had walked out. Half the people she didn’t even recognise, but right now she didn’t care. Things were okay between her and her friends and she was finally starting to feel at home in Tempe again. But her good mood was changed when she was snapped back into reality in a matter of seconds when she walked back inside. Because there, right in front of her was the one person that could bring that all down. “Garrett?”

“Uh, hi Nic.” Out of all her friends, Garrett had changed the most in the past two years. His baby face was now covered in a small layer of facial hair, his hair had grown to almost shoulder length and a pair of glasses sat on his nose. The pair stood in silence, neither sure of what to say.

“Do uh,” Nicola started, awkwardly. “Do you want a beer?”

“Yeah, that would be good.” He said. Garrett followed her to the fridge and Nicola passed him a beer, also grabbing herself one. The pair couldn’t even look at each other, they just stood there downing their beers as quick as possible.

“I’m going to go see they guys.” Garrett stated. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Nicola mentally slapped herself as Garrett walked off. She watched they boy join Jared and Kennedy in the back yard.

The night went on, Garrett and Nicola both stayed clear of each other only sneaking the occasional glance at each other. The pair had both kept the alcohol coming, each hoping that it might give them the liquid courage to actually talk to each other. Both for different reason.

Around two am the party started to die off. Leaving only the boys, Nicola and a few other to carry on. Nicola was standing, catching up with Jared, John and Kennedy when Garrett approached the group.

“How long you staying this time, Nicola?” Jared asked, feeling the tension between Garrett and Nicola and hoping to break it.’

“For good this time.” Nicola answered, avoiding looking at Garrett. “I love you guys too much to leave again.”

This remark caused Garrett to scoff. “Oh yeah, because that stopped you last time.”

“Garrett.” Kennedy warned.

“No, don’t fucking Garrett me.” The boy snarled. “You guys all are standing here acting as if she never left and like everything is all fine when it’s not!”

“You’ve had too much to drink and now is not the time.” Jared chimed in. “Maybe we should get you home.”

“Just leave it, Jared.” Nicola sighed. “It’s nothing I haven’t thought already.”

“There you go with the self fucking pity again, Nicola.” Garrett groaned. “You get to sit there and lay victim when you got to go off and travel the world when you left all of us behind. When you left me behind.”

Nicola turned to Pat, Jared and Kennedy. “Do you mind giving us a minute, guys?”

All three of them looked hesitant, but nodded. Nicola turned her attention back to Garrett and sighed, knowing that this wasn’t going to be good. “You honestly think this was easy for me, don’t you?” She scoffed.

“Because it was the worst thing in the world for you, wasn’t it?” Sarcasm was dripping from his voice as he spat his reply at her.

“I loved you so much, Garrett but there was nothing left for me in Tempe.” Nicola reasoned, trying to keep calm. “I couldn’t be stuck here with a dead end job while you were out touring the world and leaving me alone half the year!”

“You had nothing in Tempe, hey?” Garrett scoffed again. “What about me? Did I mean that little to you that you could just drop it and piss off half way around the world?”

“Of course not!” Nicola yelled, feeling her temper rising. “Don’t you dare question how much you meant to me, Garrett.”

“This is going fucking nowhere.” Garrett threw his hands up in defeat. “Why did you even come back?”

“I missed home.” She answered. “I missed everyone and I was alone in England. It was amazing for a while, but none of it meant anything if I had no one to share it with.”

“So you come back and ruin everything for me?”

“My god, Garrett!” Nicola exclaimed. “Why is it so bad that I am back here?! Do you hate me that much?”

“You wouldn’t fucking understand.” He growled.

“Try me!”

“What don’t you get, Nicola?” Garrett’s voice cracked. “I never wanted to see you again. I was finally beginning to get somewhere without you. I was finally moving on. Then you show up here and I’m right back at square one.”

Garrett’s words stung her and he knew it. Nicola stayed silent, not sure how to react or what to say.

“Do you not get how fucking hard it is for me?” Garrett continued. “When the girl I loved walks out on me, then shows up two years later and acts like nothing’s happened? It kills me every day. The girl I love is standing all of two feet away from me and I can’t fucking have her.”

“Garrett, I. . .” Nicola started, shock evident in her words as she spoke.

“No, you know what?” Garrett sighed, finally calming down. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It matters to me.” Nicola started. “I’m still head over heels in love with you, Garrett. It kills me that I hurt you and there hasn’t been a single day that I haven’t hated myself for it. It kills me to know you hate me so much for what happened and I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”

“I don’t hate you.” He sighed, looking up at her. “It just hurt and I was angry for so long but I can’t keep doing this, Nic. To either of us. I love you so much even after everything.”

“Even after everything?” She asked, quietly.

“Even after everything.” He repeated. “Can we try this again? I know it’s a lot to work on but I can’t do this without you.”

Nicola couldn’t contain the smile on her face as Garrett spoke those words and by the looks of the mirrored grin on Garrett’s face, neither could he. With that, Nicola practically flung herself at
Garrett, the couple’s lips connecting for the first time in two years. The kiss was desperate, needy and perfect. Finally pulling away with the same grins on their faces, the pair laughed.

“Promise not to run off again?” Garrett almost pleaded with the girl in his arms. Nicola simply smiled
up at him.

“I’m yours as long as you want me.”