Authors: Brooklyn Taylor
I smiled hoping he was right.
~ ~ ~
I had decided since it is such a pretty day today I am going to walk home. I heard Autumn screaming behind me. I stop and throw my arms in the air motioning what is going on?
“Wait up, Reese. I want to walk with you.”
“Why? I thought Ryan would be giving you a ride home?”
“No, not today. He has something after school.”
“Oh okay. “So what’s up?”
“Nothing… Do you still like Cannon?”
Boy, that didn’t take long, did it? Autumn got straight to the point and I couldn’t help but feel a little irritated. “Wow, bold move there. That was quick. You didn’t even wait till we got down the block. Yeah I like him alright. I don’t see anything long term or anything. To be honest, he kind of creeps me out. Always so touchy feely.”
“Ryan said he really likes you.”
“I think he likes me too.”
“Then why do I catch you staring at Garrison all the time?”
“Excuse me? I do not…”
“Yeah you do. I mean good God. He wears t-shirts and blue jeans everyday with chucks. At least Cannon wears something different.”
“Who the hell cares what they wear? I don’t.”
“Whatever.”
“I happen to love what Garrison wears. I think he has style.”
“You think?”
“He doesn’t have to put on an act in front of people. He is just… real… So…”
“Well, you are going to blow it with Cannon if you keep on watching Garrison’s every move. Garrison watches you just as much as you watch him. Everyone sees it.”
“We are just friends, Autumn. So what if I think he looks good? Is that not allowed?”
“You know as well as I do that if Garrison said be my girlfriend you would run into his arms.”
“Maybe.”
“I’m just giving you a heads up. I hear what Ryan and Cannon talk about and…”
“Thanks for the heads up. I don’t need it though. Any fascination that Cannon has with me will be over as soon as he sees he can’t get in my panties. I won’t even let him kiss me and it is driving him crazy.”
“You are a sophomore in high school, Reese. What are you waiting for? You should feel comfortable with Cannon. You have known him for years.”
“Yeah, I have but he is different. Gorgeous yes, knows what to say, yes. Sometimes though he is a creep and I don’t know that I could seriously date him. Have you not heard the rumors about him?”
“So what? All popular people have rumors spread about them.”
“Can we stop this conversation now?”
“One more question,” Autumn pleads.
“What?” As if I really want to know.
“Garrison really does seem like a good guy doesn’t he?”
“Yeah he really does.”
Chapter 10
Reese
Cannon asked me to go to the Winter Ball with him. I had agreed to go to the dance but only as friends. Ryan was taking Autumn so we were going to double date. Of course I was much more interested in going with another guy but that wasn’t going to happen. Garrison had said he wasn’t going to go because of his mother but then changed his mind at the last minute. When he found out I was going with Cannon, he asked Andrea, another senior that he had been friends with for years.
Autumn and I got ready in our first formal dresses we have ever worn. Mine was satin black and hers was emerald blue. My dark hair was curled to accent my dress. Autumn had an up-do. We weren’t sure what the guys were wearing, which of course drove Autumn crazy because she wanted to match. I didn’t care in the least.
She and Ryan had moved full speed ahead. He still won’t commit to her and it bugged her since she had given up her firsts to him. Me, I was still apprehensive in his actions and not committing to her just showed I was right with my instinct. Your first instinct is usually right.
Cannon was still making his advances but when I pulled back he stopped. He still expressed his frustration, but I didn’t care. I knew there was nothing I was going to give to him. I had heard a couple rumors that he had been saying we had done the “duty” but I had fired back saying he could only wish! I probably would have canceled tonight but came for Autumn. I’m gonna have to call it off with Cannon soon. Like after tonight most likely. I had only agreed to go as friends, and he is probably still assuming that he has a chance at something more. I don’t know how he could have possibly thought this was a date. Apparently, I wasn’t clear enough. He is really getting under my skin. I think he liked the challenge I presented more than me.
We arrived almost an hour late, and I was already frustrated but bit my tongue. We had gone to dinner, and Cannon had decided to hit on the waitress making a total fool of himself and our entire table. He apparently had been drinking alcohol before he left the house. Ryan had too but he wasn’t acting near as obnoxious as Cannon. He tried to feel me up three times in the car, and I had to threaten to stop the car and walk home if he tried it again. I had hoped that would settle him down and he would behave the rest of the night.
Wishful thinking
.
Garrison had told me several times during our talks that Cannon was a douche bag. To me, he was still the boy I grew up with that lived next door and I had the perpetual crush on. But now, his loser light was flashing as bright tonight as the neon moon. Frankly, I was mad at myself that I had allowed myself to continue to go out on dates with him. He was fun, and we always had a good time but now that I think about it I spent a lot of time playing defense. Maybe just maybe if I wouldn’t have met Garrison it would have been different, maybe not. Truthfully, why did it matter anyway? I already knew where Garrison stood. He didn’t want me that way but he didn’t want Cannon to have me that way either.
As soon as we walk into the hotel ballroom at the Omni it was black as night with the exception of the strobe lights flashing. The brightness mixed with the dark began to make me dizzy. Lots of students were dancing and lots were standing in groups around the dance floor. Everyone looked like they were having a good time. I was hoping since I am here now, I will too. I mean come on, dancing? That is my passion.
A slow song comes on and I ask Cannon if he wants to dance and he refuses. Why did he ask me to come to the dance if he isn’t going to dance?
“I don’t dance, Reese.”
“Then why did you ask me to come to a dance?”
“’Cause it is my last year at this school and I wanted to come to this joke. I’ve never been. Turns out, it’s as pathetic as I thought it would be.” He snorted out.
I roll my eyes and walk off to the punch table.
I see Dylan standing right beside it with Garrison and their other band mates. Garrison was dressed up and looked even more gorgeous than ever. He had on a pair of dark blue jeans. He wore a long sleeve button shirt with the first two buttons undone. It was a dark blue almost black, and I bet his eyes were a beautiful color reflecting off of it. For the first time he wasn’t wearing chucks replacing them with a pair of black dress shoes. I’ve always been attracted to him, from the first minute I saw him but tonight, he was hands down spectacular.
Dylan had his arm around some girl I didn’t recognize. She was really pretty. Garrison was standing next to a pretty blonde that was dressed immaculately and was in full conversation laughing. I presume this was Andrea. She was wearing tall heels and a dress that was cut to show off her cleavage. Cleavage I could only dream of. No wonder Garrison had no interest in me as more than friends. I looked down at myself in my dress disappointed. I looked like a little girl playing dress up in her mom’s dress before this woman who had clearly already hit womanhood.
Competition? There was none! I wouldn’t have stood a chance.
I turn around to walk off and feel fingers on my arm right under my elbow and a slight pull.
I circle around and look straight into the eyes of Garrison. “I see you came with that douche bag.”
“Yeah, as friends only!” I wanted him to know the friend card was on display.
“Think I can steal a dance right now?” Before I even answered he had taken my hand and was leading me to the dance floor.
“Okay.” The gulp in my throat was impossible for me to get down.
We were on the dance floor and moving towards the middle as if we were invisible. He was holding me close and leading me perfectly to the beat of the music.
“You look beautiful tonight, Reese.”
I could not form any words. I felt the tears building in my eyes. I wanted to tell him how much I loved him. How I wanted him to be my first for everything, for him to stop resisting what we had. It was more than friendship. I felt it so he had too also. I wanted to tell him to stop being bullheaded and give in.
I tried to move my face back from his a little so I could try to think rationally. I glanced over to my date and he was in what appeared to be a deep conversation with some girl obviously preoccupied. Autumn was sitting on Ryan’s lap at one of the tables. Dylan was drinking out of a flask not making any effort to hide it. I knew right then why Garrison was braver tonight crossing the lines he had previously drawn so thick in the cement by dancing so close to me, pulling me to him.
“Are you drinking tonight?”
He laughed a husky laugh. “Yeah, all the seniors are. Please don’t be mad. It was only a couple of sips out of Dylan’s flask. This is our last crappy dance other than prom.”
I started to shake my head to let him know I didn’t approve. I began to open my mouth to speak when what I had been dreaming of since the first time he talked to me happened.
He put his hands up to my face to move me closer to him and he kissed me softly and deeply. I had closed my eyes willing my senses to feel every second of this. This was totally different than the kiss the night he came to my window. This was passionate. One that was full of want. I knew what it was because I had been feeling it for him since the first time I realized I was falling for him. I felt the kiss in my toes. I would rather feel his lips than breathe. I opened my eyes slowly and looked into his trusting eyes.
“I have wanted to kiss you like that since the first time I saw you.” He swallowed staying close to my face, nose to nose.
And that my friends is what I thought a kiss should be. Full of fireworks, explosion and excitement throughout my entire world.
“I’ve wanted it too.” I placed my hand and head on his chest and we continued to dance. I could feel my heartbeat pounding out of my chest,
ba boom, ba boom
.
Good God, Reese. Hold it together, you freak
. I knew he would not remember what happened tomorrow but I knew I would remember it the rest of my life.
When the dance ended he kissed my hand and I walked back to my date and he did his. It may have started off being a crappy night but just for that one perfect moment, I got Garrison to be what I wanted him to be.
Garrison
I stayed at Dylan’s last night. I don’t even remember getting home, which is a horrible feeling. I woke up with the worst headache of my life. I don’t know if the taste in my mouth is worse or the headache. I sit up in bed and try to open my eyes.
“Hey, man, good to see you finally decided to grace me with your presence. I didn’t think you were ever going to wake up.”
I reach for my phone to see what time it is. 1:00 p.m., crap. I have to get my ass up.
My head is so heavy I can barely hold it up. I put my head in my hands and sit up and lean over the bed trying to not vomit.
“I am never drinking like that again. I don’t know how my mom likes this feeling.”
“I don’t know. I brought it for us to share but you hogged it. Looked like you enjoyed yourself though. You needed a night to let go and not think about everything.”
“Yeah I guess…”
“Do you remember anything?”
I blinked my eyes and then lay back on the bed looking at his ceiling fan. Just looking at the fan going round and round was making me dizzy. Great, how in the hell am I going to make it through the day?
“I remember us getting to the dance and standing around. I even debated on leaving since it was boring.”
“And.”
“Nothing is really ringing any bells.”
“Well…” Dylan sits down on the side of his bed. “I better fill you in, loverboy.”
I sit up. “Stop screwing around.”
“Do you remember who your date was?”
“Yeah, Andrea.”
“Then could you explain why you were kissing Reese out on the dance floor? I don’t think she saw it because she was in the restroom but I know others did. You were in the center of the dance floor but you stopped and started kissing her.”
I closed my eyes trying to remember. “Damn it. How could I be so weak?”
“Alcohol. Dude, if you like her, do something about it. Autumn said Reese likes you. I know you know it. I see how you look at her. You want it just as bad as she does.”
“Won’t happen. I won’t let it happen.”
“Why in the hell not?”
“Do you not realize what I come from? Look at what I have in life.”
“Garrison, because you think your parents are trash doesn’t mean you are. They are the ones that made the stupid mistakes over and over not caring about their son or themselves. That is what makes them trash not you. You just got dealt a shitty hand. You are nothing like them and never will be. In fact, you are the exact opposite. I know how much it bothers you. You have done this to yourself for years.”
I didn’t say anything. I knew he saw right through me. We had known each other for far too long for him not to know.
“Why would you turn away someone that really does like you, maybe even love you?”
“I already told you why.”
“So you are going to torture yourself the rest of your life because of something you have no control over?”
“For now I am.”
“That’s a shame. You know it might be too late when you do finally come around. A girl like that isn’t going to stay single forever. She’s the real deal.”
“I know. I guess I have to take my chances.”
“What are you going to do if she asks you if you remember?”
“I’ll play it off that I don’t remember and that I was drunk. Hell, I remember seeing her walking back to Cannon and my heart feeling like it was in a vise grip and then drinking some more. Apparently more than I intended.”
“I don’t think Reese is going to buy that but hell when have you ever listened to me.”
I stood up and made my way to the bathroom. “I got to get home.”