And She Made the Shape of My Heart With Her Hands

I knocked on his door four times like I always did. I’ve never been fond of odd numbers.

“Hm?” Garrett grunted. I pushed the door open and then closed it again, taking a seat on his messy bed. He spun around in his computer chair so that he faced me.

“I can’t take this any longer. I cannot spend my whole freaking summer alone with Mom when she’s like this,” I said, staring at his questioning green eyes.

Garrett sighed deeply. “Cara, I understand what you’re saying and all, but she’s not just gonna bounce back like that. She’s-”

“It’s been 13 damn days, Garrett. I’ve only seen her leave the room once. That’s not normal for her, and you know it,” I interrupted him. “Besides, she’s been particularly mean to me, and I just can’t sit here and bite my tongue any longer.”

He looked away from my pale face for a second, and then his eyes flickered back up to my sea green ones. Then he spoke slowly, “What do you want to do then, Cara?”

I rolled my eyes at my brother’s thickness. “I want to get out of here for the rest of the summer!”

He scratched his jaw a couple times before he spoke, “Alright. Then go stay with Camille.”

Hey, why didn’t I think of that? Oh, because I already have! Good grief, my brother was so dumb sometimes. I sighed, letting some of my frustration leave my body. “She’s on a cruise with her family. It’s one of those things that go all around Europe, like around the Mediterranean and whatever. She won’t be back from that until late July. Then after that, Camille’s going to visit her sister in Florida. I’m not going with her for that, I mean that’s like their only time together.” Garrett looked at me blankly. “Yeah. I’m pretty much screwed.”

He breathed in and then out, rubbing his temples the same time. “Listen Cara, Kennedy and Pat are coming over any second now. Can we deal with this later?”

“Whatever,” I muttered and got up from his bed to go back to my room.

Almost as soon as I entered my room, the front doorbell rang throughout the house. I heard Garrett shuffle downstairs to greet Pat and Kennedy. I just remained here in my nifty washed-out skinny jeans and my black Boys Like Girls tank top. I didn’t bother wearing any shoes, I mean, who wears shoes around their own house? Not me!

“I need to get a life,” I mumbled into my white pillow. I laid there for another minute before I said to myself, “I haven’t talked to Camille in awhile. I’ll see how she’s doing!” I shuffled around my room looking for my cell phone. Hm. It was nowhere in here. “It better be downstairs.” With that, I started trotting down the steps.

“Dude, I can’t wait for this. It’s gonna be so awesome,” I heard Garrett say to Pat and Kennedy.

“Heck yes!” Pat squealed. I’d known Pat for some time now, I mean we both go to the same high school and stuff, but I never really knew him. Kennedy, on the other hand, well I’ve never really known him too well at all.

I passed the living room, where the boys were, and rounded the corner into the kitchen. Apparently, I had too much momentum turning, because my socks made me almost make a fool of myself. However, I continued into the kitchen ignoring the stares I probably got from my brother and his two band mates.

“Hm. No cell phone here,” I murmured to no one but myself. I walked out of the kitchen and into the laundry room. Still, no phone was found. I walked back into the entryway of our living room, just standing there with my hands on my hips and my eyes wondering around the room. Garrett and his friends watched me.

“Are you done checking out Kennedy and Pat now, Cara?” My head snapped up to my brother, some of my brown side bangs falling into my view.

I flipped them out of the way before I jokingly spoke, “No, hold on.” I gazed up and down Kennedy quickly, and then Pat, whom I noticed had the slightest bit of blush tinted over his cheeks. I playfully smirked. “Nice try Garrett, but I’m only standing here because I can’t find my cell. Do you know wh-”

“No, Cara,” he interrupted.

I narrowed my eyes at him quickly before sweetly saying, “Fine. If you find it, I’ll be upstairs.” Without waiting for a reply, I jogged up the carpeted steps again.

Only being in my room for six minutes, I heard knocking on my room’s door. Unlike Garrett who only grunts for approval, I got up and answered it. It was Pat.

“Um, hey, Cara.” He flipped his soft brown hair from his face while his hands remained in his back pockets.

“Hi, Pat. How goes it?” I walked away from the doorway and plopped myself down on my purple bed.

Pat walked in the room a little. “Great, I guess. Well, I’m excited for the tour and all, so yeah. Great!” He smiled big, showing off his perfect white teeth. I chuckled. Pat whipped out his right hand, revealing my dark purple Sidekick. “Found this in between the couch cushions.”

I smiled sheepishly and gratefully took the phone. “Thanks, Pat.”

He genuinely smiled again. Pat was always the nicest person ever, but I’d forgotten how pretty his smile was and how his dark brown eyes would just glow. “No problem. But you know, you should probably play hide and seek with a person, not your phone.”

I laughed. “I’ll try to remember that.”

He sighed and put his hands back into his back pockets. “Well I’m gonna go back down there now. It was nice talking to you, Cara.” Pat started making his way out of my room.

“Same here,” I called out. After that, I started to wonder about my brother’s band and how much fun they’ll probably have on tour for the summer.

Garrett was always the lucky one.