Sand in Your Shoes

A day after John’s puking incident, Kennedy felt the need to start creating excuses for his river nights out. He’d never realized what fuss he could bring about with just leaving late at night until then, based on what happened with Ronnie.

He knew from experience how paranoid his bandmates were. He didn’t like the thought of them losing their minds at how he got ‘kidnapped.’

Someone knocked on the door of the guestroom he was currently staying in, and almost immediately, he set his Gibson on his lap, flipping his notebook open to the chords him, Jared and John were working on.

He strummed his guitar repeatedly on the G and C chords, pretending that he didn’t hear the previous knock. “Come in,” he called as soon as the person knocked once more.

Pat, The Maine’s drummer, popped his head out from behind the door and smiled at him. “We’re goin- going to P-p-pizza Hut or-or Burger King and then bowling. You- you coming with?”

Kennedy shook his head, reminding Pat about his previous plans to visit his grandparents in Tucson. His bandmates were both paranoid and forgetful. “I’m leaving in a while, anyway,” he said as he nodded to his bags on the floor.

With that, Pat made him swear to call once he arrived in Tucson, and left to join the rest of the guys in the van.

Kennedy didn’t want to miss The Friday Maine Night, but he promised his grandparents he’d be there for the weekend. Surprising them was one of his favorite things ever.

He trudged his way down the stairs, all the bags he brought with him from his family home in Scottsdale in his arms, his trusty guitar hanging from his back. He didn’t bring much, and he didn’t exactly trust his friends to not rummage through his things. Especially Jared. Jared loved his guitar too much.

“You're not going to your grandparents', are you?” a voice suddenly asked from behind him as he shut the front door. He jumped up, having no idea that she was still around. He almost heaved a sigh of relief as he realized he hadn’t locked the house yet.

“What are you still doing here?” he hissed. “Char, Holly and the guys left minutes ago.”

She was lying down on the grass, on top of a mat with sunglasses perched on the bridge of her nose. She smiled at him. “Um, I’m pretty sure that I asked you first, mister. You need to answer me before I answer you.”

Kennedy turned away, unlocking the backseat of his pickup truck to throw his stuff in. He usually secured his guitar in the shotgun seat, but he didn’t exactly want Ronnie to see him do so. Instead, he secured her in the vacant backseat, wiping his brow as he sat down on the footplate. “I really am gonna visit them, don’t worry.”

“Who said I was worrying?” she asked as she flipped over, resting her head on her palms as she set her elbows down.

He grumbled in reply, reaching for the sunglasses in his car. He didn’t like how she was becoming as sassy as Garrett was; he almost forgot how related they were for a moment.

“Anyway,” she continued, finally sitting up to talk to him properly, “I told them that I'd rather stay here with the company of the beautiful sun, my Florida friend.” She looked up, adding a, “I’m from there, in case you forgot.”

Kennedy raised a brow. He wasn’t buying her story. “My friends usually don’t let me get out of hanging with them that easily.”

Ronnie laughed. “I had them imagine the possibilities of what it’s like to have me around them with a bowling ball. Garrett’s had one dropped on his foot already by yours truly, and he doesn’t want a repeat of that. Ever.”

Kennedy couldn’t help it; he laughed with her. “But the shoes are supposed to help protect your toes.”

She shrugged, a grin forming on her lips. “It still shocks you straight to the bone, he said.” She looked down at her hands. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh. It’s refreshing to finally hear it.”

He looked down at his own hands as well. He never showed how much he hated life, but he never showed how much he loved it as well. “I guess I’m not that type.”

After a short while, Ronnie stood up to punch him on the arm playfully. “Hey, stop looking so miserable. Do you want to get away for a while? ‘Cause I know a place and…”

That statement led to her sitting in the shotgun seat of Kennedy's truck. He decided to call off the surprise for his grandparents. As soon as Ronnie asked him if they could visit that special place of hers, he locked the house's front door and drove away. It was the least he could do for her after she covered up for him.

The windows were down, and the two had their sunglasses on. Kennedy was trying to double-task, driving while struggling to find a good enough radio station to listen to. “Where is this place?” he asked as they stopped at an intersection.

“Oh my God, stop!” she exclaimed as the radio blasted No Expectations by The Rolling Stones. It was starting to annoy Kennedy how alike she was with Garrett - he loved The Stones as much as she did. “Anyway, it's in Sedona. A couple of hours from here. There's a fork in the main road leading off to the Colorado River. I'll tell you when.”

Holy shit.

Kennedy bit his tongue, trying to keep his cool as Ronnie gave him more directions on how to get there. He wanted to tell her that he'd been there before, but he didn't want to at the same time.

It felt weird hearing someone talk about his and Lola's place as if it were theirs.

It almost felt... peaceful.

“I'm sorry for like, you know, bugging you to bring me there. It's a huge waste of gas; I'll pay you when we get back,” she said, leaning her arm on the open window. Her hair was flying in the wind, becoming a beautiful nest atop her head as she sang along to Tumbling Dice. The station was playing The Stones on loop; neither of them was complaining.

About eighty minutes into the drive, the fork in the road appeared, and Kennedy made sure to drive in only when Ronnie told him to, as if he didn't notice it at first glance. “I never would've been able to notice that,” he muttered, smiling at her slightly.

Ronnie laughed. “When my... When my Pops first told me that there was a secret passageway, we literally passed by it a few times because he forgot.”

Kennedy chuckled as well, remembering but not mentioning how different his experience in finding Sedona was. Unlike Ronnie's dad, he wasn't looking for it with Lola. They were going someplace else when he accidentally messed up his directions, ending up there instead. They ended up ditching the barbeque, spending time together under the stars to celebrate.

It hurt him too much. He wanted to tell Ronnie everything, but he couldn't bring himself to do so as she looked at him. “Your laugh is seriously adorable. You should let people hear it more often.”

He flushed, shaking his head. He concluded that he wasn't telling Ronnie about Lola, and that he wasn't laughing as well. “So uh, tell me about yourself,” he suggested, wanting to get away from the topic quickly.

“It's beautiful.” Ronnie smiled at Kennedy, like she hadn't heard his question at all. “The sunset,” she explained, gesturing towards the purple haze before her, “it looks like we're chasing it down. I've never seen it like this before.” She sighed. “Isn't it beautiful, Kenny?”

Kennedy tore his eyes from her, looking directly into the sun at the brink of the horizon, its orange glow giving off a purple glow as it set and left the sky for darkness. “It is,” he concluded, his eyes easily finding their way back to Ronnie, who was still gawking at the scene of the sunset.

She was starting to amaze him in many ways: from her positive attitude, to the way she knew how to put herself in another's shoes. He finally admit to himself that he noticed how much her face glowed naturally, how she never wore makeup and went natural ever since the first day they met each other.

His heart started to hammer at his thoughts, the strange feeling in his gut returning. It was what he felt when John flirted with Ronnie the day before during breakfast, and only then did he realize;

He liked Ronnie.