Anywhere Is Home

Katie came home from a long exhausting day. Between locking herself out of her car twice making her late for work and school and running into the wall spilling hot spaghetti all over herself she just wanted to go to sleep so this day would be over.
She canceled all of her plans she had with her friends for the night, took a hot bubble bath and fell asleep watching whatever rom-com was playing on the movie network.


“Katie, are you awake?” John whispered lightly shaking the girl who was lying down on the tiny couch in her apartment. She opened one eye and rolled over facing the opposite way from John. “I was asleep and you woke me up.” She mumbled into the pillow groggily.

“Well, you got to stay awake come on there’s a meteor shower tonight” John exclaimed making Katie groan. “John I’m not in the mood. It’s been a long day and I just want to sleep” She snuggled deeper into her pillow bringing the blanket over her head but she could still feel John’s eyes staring at her through her tiny fortress of warmth.

“How did you even get in here? And didn’t you get my text?” she asked now fully awake. She turned back around and faced John poking her head out of the covers to where just her eyes and nose were showing. “Nope. And you gave me spear keys in case of emergencies remember?” Katie rolled her eyes mentally kicking herself for deciding to give John O’Callaghan keys to her apartment.

Most girls would kill to be her, to have John standing in their apartment in the middle of the night. But, not tonight. All Katie wanted was some peace and quiet and some serious cuddling with her dogs. “Well then what’s the emergency?” She asked sitting up. “I saw on twitter that you were having a not so great day. And as your best friend it’s my job to make you feel better” John said matter-of-factly.

Katie pulled her covers back over her head making John grunt in annoyance.
She was half way back to sleep when the sounds of a guitar and John’s raspy voice filled the room.
“There was a new girl in town, she had it all figured out. I’ll state something rash, she had the most amazing…..Ass” He sang making Katie chuckle.

“That’s not fair you can’t use my favorite song against me like that” She said sitting up so John had more room to be comfortable sitting on the couch. “Well I got you to sit up didn’t I?” he smirked strumming more cords on the guitar.

Katie tried not to smile but she couldn’t help herself. John did make her feel better. His presence had that affect on her. Even when she wanted to be mad at him she just couldn’t. John scooped her up bridal style and walking towards the kitchen. “What are you doing?” Katie asked wrapping her arms around his neck to get comfortable.

“I told you there’s a meteor shower tonight” He replied ducking out of the large window that led to the fire escape and carrying her up to the rooftop. Where he had a blanket laid out with a few pillows and a cooler that was probably filled with snacks and drinks.

She smiled looking around at the tiny set up as John sat her down on the blanket.
“I got Apple juice and a fruit tray for you, And beer and jalapeno kettle chips for me” John said sitting down next to Katie and handing her a rather large bowl filed with honeydew, grapes and other various fruits.

They sat in a comfortable silence eating and watching the meteor shower. “It’s weird to think that a year ago we we’re doing the exact same thing but we were strangers” She said looking over at John

A year ago, Katie moved from Boston to Phoenix on a summer photography internship and ended up falling in love with the city and thus deciding to stay for a little longer. The few friends that she had made in Arizona invited her to a party in the desert.

At the party, Katie felt so out of place. She wasn’t much of a partier and she regretted letting her friends talk her into going. She got bored at parties easily. She didn’t drink and that’s the only thing that happened at the bonfire parties that were thrown out in the desert. She decided she wanted to a quiet area to sit in so she went for a walk.

John was also at the party equally regretting his decision on going. Mostly he was just tired from being on tour and he wanted some much needed alone time, which he got by driving a little bit further than where all the cars were parked and laying in the bed of his truck.

One of his favorite things to do was gaze at the stars. Especially, when it was on a clear night away from the city lights. The night sky was clear and beautiful. And he was far enough from the party to not hear the latest pop song that was playing.

“Excuse me” He heard a voice say coming from the front of his truck.
He sat up coming face to face with a petite girl with beautiful blue eyes. “Hi. I just want to see if you were okay” The girl said a tint of pick spreading across her face. “I just saw you laying there and didn’t know if you needed help”

John cracked a smile at the girl and nodded his head. “I’m fine, I’m Just looking at the stars. Did you know that there’s a meteor shower?” John asked
“Yea I did,” She said “But my friends thought it was lame that I wanted to watch it and talked me into coming to the party” She said rubbing her arm.

“Well, you’re at the party. And you can watch it with me. My name’s John.” He said extending his hand.

Katie took his hand shaking it “I’m Katie. And I’d love to”
John smiled scooting over to make room for her as she climbed up and sat next to him as they looked up at the sky.



“I know.” John said quietly snapping both of them out of the memories. “And now we’re watching it as best friends. Maybe next meteor shower we’ll be more than best friends”

This caught Katie off guard. Did he really say that? She wondered to herself.

“I’d like that” She replied surprised at her response. She had had more than friend feeling for John for a while now. And apparently he felt the same way.

“Well then, next time you’ll be my girlfriend and my best friend” He said closing the space between them until their lips connected.

John and Katie laid underneath the stars kissing and just in an instant Katie’s horrible day turned into one of the best nights of her life.