And She Made the Shape of My Heart With Her Hands

When I was out of the shower with my hair up in a high, somewhat to the side ponytail and still wet, I got into some ‘chill’ sort of clothes like some gray sweat pants and a light pink shirt. I then slapped on a tiny bit of eyeliner and mascara. With that, I trotted down the stairs to the living room, where my mom was watching some crime show.

I plopped down on the beloved red couch near her and sighed. She turned to me with a small smile on her face. “So… Cara, your brother’s told me that you and a certain someone have been, you know… together.”

I scratched above my eyebrow before replying with, “If you’re talking about Pat, then yes, I am.” I shook my head back and forth. “I mean, we are. We are together.”

Her smile grew, her hazel green eyes shinning bright. “I’m so happy to hear that, honey. Patrick is so sweet and nice. I’m happy for you,” she congratulated me.

I smiled a little before mouthing a thank you. “Um, Mom?”

My mom’s concentrated stare tore away from the television screen. With her eyebrows raised a little, she asked, “Yeah?”

“Can Camille spend the night? She texted my phone the other day and said that she was home, and I sort of-”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Mom replied.

After getting my mom’s permission, I jogged up the carpeted stairs and into my room. I broke away the phone’s charger cord from the phone and scrolled through the contacts until I came to that one familiar name. I then pressed send.

“Yellow?”

I rolled my eyes and smiled to myself. “Hey. It’s me,” I spoke. I heard a squeal from on the other line and held the phone away from my ear a good, safe few inches.

“Oh my God, it’s you!”

I laughed. “Uh, yeah, Camille. I just said that,” I replied. “Anyway, you’re not going to sleep in your room tonight.”

“But why not?”

“Because… You’re sleeping here. Okay? Okay!”

She chuckled. “Alright! See you in seven minutes!” She hung up then.

Again, I rolled my eyes at her. I mean, come on, seven minutes? Whatever…

During those seven minutes, I picked up my room a little and continued to mess with the laundry. My clothes were finished being washed and ready to go in the dryer. Before shoving my wet clothes into the opened mouth dryer, I tossed a dryer sheet in along with them. My clothes should smell like a beautiful spring day sooner than soon.

“Garrett!”

“Yeah?”

I licked my lips and blinked. “I’m doing laundry,” I replied, scratching under the top of my cast. “Give me your clothes and I’ll wash them.”

I heard a quiet shuffle and soon saw the brown oak door of the laundry room swing open ‘gracefully’. Garrett had a pile of clothes in his arms. It was so high and wide that I could only see from his forehead and up, and then I could just make out the side of his left hip.

I chuckled and made my way over to him. Carefully, I took the top half of the massive heap and threw it down into the washing machine. Garrett copied my actions as his various articles of clothing landed with a thud. I turned the water on, starting the wash, and got out the large plastic jug of Tide, unscrewing the blue top of the orange container and filling it to the proper amount. I then distributed the substance evenly throughout the awaiting mountain of dirty clothes. I was just putting the Tide bottle back into the cupboard when I thought I heard the sound of the doorbell, signaling that someone was here, most likely Camille, of course.

“Hey, can you get that for me?” Garrett gave a slight nod of his head before making his way down the hallway and to the front door.

“Hi, Garrett!” Camille sang, her ‘hi’ being stretched out a lot more than what could’ve been necessary.

“Hi, Camille,” Garrett copied in a monotone, his ‘hi’ stretched out to imitate her greeting, but not so musical, of course. “It’s in the laundry room.” I only rolled my eyes as I heard over the sound of the washer what my brother just referred to me as.

My best friend came sliding down the hallway, her shoes already off, with a big grin on her sun-kissed face. “Hey, BFF!”

“Yo,” I replied with a smile as I recapped the mint green lid to the pale blue bottle of fabric softener. I shoved it in the cupboard quickly before pushing the door of it closed, then dropping the washer’s lid shut. “How are you?” I asked before wrapping my arms around my best friend’s thin frame.

She hugged back as she answered with a simple sigh, “I’m fine. Good. Content.” Camille then pulled back and shrugged, the locks of her light golden hair moving along with her shoulders. She blinked her topaz eyes once; her full lashes fluttering shut and then opening once again. “What about you? I remember you saying something over a text awhile back about like boy troubles…”

I leaned against the shaking washer and blinked. “Oh.” I bit my lip for a second, trying to sort the proper words in my head for my explanation. “Um, let’s go in my room and talk about this.”

I looked up and saw her frown as her pink lips straightened into a line. “Uh oh. Story time…”

I half smiled and half grimaced as I led my friend to my room upstairs. I closed the door securely behind Camille and switched the television on, just to help drown out our voices at least a little. We then both sat on my bed, Camille sitting against the headboard while I was sitting with one leg under me, towards the end.

“Alright, so… I… You know…” I sighed and shook my head before mumbling, “Let’s just start with the basics.”

“That’d be helpful,” Camille responded lightheartedly. Her mouth twitched up into a small yet gorgeous smile.

“My brother’s band, The Maine, is made up of five guys,” I started to explain slowly. “Those five boys are Garrett, Kennedy, Jared, Pat, and John.”

“Okay, that really does help. I really only knew who Pat was, and that was barely.”

I nodded twice before continuing. “Alright, so… I’m just going to skip the little stuff and whatever. So here goes.” I swallowed and squinted a little, as if I were in pain. My hands gripped each other nervously. “I’m going out with Pat Kirch,” I stated.

Camille’s face lit up like a five-year-old’s birthday cake. “Aw, really? That’s amazing! Cara, you have a boyfriend!”

A smile spread across my face. I didn’t know if it was from my friend’s enthusiasm or if it was from the feeling I got just hearing somebody else say aloud that I had a boyfriend, Pat. “I know,” I muttered. “But… there’s more.”

Camille calmed down and rested her back against the bedpost again. “I’m listening.”

I ran a hand through my hair and blew out a gust of stale carbon dioxide. I decided then that I couldn’t sit on the bed anymore, and that I had to stand up, maybe even pace around the small room, too. I noticed Camille’s watching eyes following my every move and expression. Body language was not my friend today.

“I have feelings for John. We kissed after a show once. Pat found us. We weren’t dating yet. That was when I knew that I had feelings for Pat and John, and they both liked me. Well, actually, I knew Pat liked me. He straight up told me and I appreciated that. But with John… It’s…” I sighed and nervously scratched the underside of my ear. “It’s just different. They’re just totally different people and I’m a totally different person with each one.” I stopped and took a glance over at Camille. She sat there, her gold eyes blank, as well as her expression. The only thing that could be heard was the TV and the sound of my pounding heart. I just wanted to know what she was thinking.

“What are you going to do?” She asked me quietly, still not moving.

A sharp smile pierced my features. It held no humor whatsoever. “I’ve been asking myself that damn question all summer, Camille.”

She nodded a few times, her stare not meeting mine. Her unique eyes only stayed with the first thing they could come upon, which was my lavender comforter laying across my bed. I knew what was coming next. “Well, so… Who do you like more?”

That cold, harsh grin returned. “And so there’s the million dollar question, isn’t it?”