More Than This

11 - Garrett

Song of the chapter - Come Undone by Duran Duran

Things were different. Actually, different was an understatement. I woke up the morning after my date with Amber feeling...strange. I had no other word to describe it. Truthfully, I had been feeling off for a while. It crept up on me slowly, and the first moment I noticed it was that day behind the cafeteria.

Stepping out of my world to help Amber had been the first unusual experience over the past few months. She was something special, I knew that now. But back then I was just feeling tired of the game. I was sick of watching the assholes win. So I willingly walked into that mine field and started setting off one bomb after another. Matt wasn't the only casualty.

There was something about Amber that made me want to speak up and spill my guts. I know I've said it before but she just had this presence that made me feel safe. And safe was not something I had ever really felt. It scared the hell out of me at first. That's a simple way to say what was really going on in my mind. It was more than scared, it was overwhelmed. The way she made me feel was so unknown, so unusual, that I pushed it away as far as I could.

But she didn't give up or run away. Shit, I'm not even sure she realized how she'd affected me. It's like she took a chisel and started chipping away at the fucking wall I had kept up for so long I forgot it was even there. I felt it coming down, though. If it wasn't for running into Brett that night, most of that wall would still be there.

Damn, that was a heavy way to wake up.

I ran my hands down my face, rubbing away the memories, and sat up in bed. The long weekend meant sleeping in for most students, but I had a big job in front of me, so I wanted an early start. As I now did every morning, I looked over to the Mach five Amber gave me. Today, however, I smiled. Yeah I let the fucking grin spread across my face. I usually hated smiling, it was fake, forced. Now I had something to smile about, so who gave a shit how stupid it looked. That girl just made me so damn happy.

My bare feet hit the floor and I dragged myself into the kitchen. My mom was still asleep after pulling a sixteen hour shift and I wasn't about to wake her up. Scouring the cabinets, I found a box of stale cereal but there was no milk in the fridge. Mom would be shopping later, but I needed to eat fast, so I crunched on the dry crap and washed it down with tap water. I'd grab something else after my errand.

Next came the hunt for clean clothes. I never remembered to wash my clothes. Mom had passed that task onto me as soon as I could reach the nobs on the washer. Whatever, I was doing some pretty dirty work that day so what did it matter if my clothes weren't clean.

Once I was dressed, it was off to Nico's. And he wasn't too happy about it. That much I could tell the minute I stepped into his house. It was way too early for him to already be working in the garage.

"Hey, glad to see you're already up and I don't have to dump a glass of water on your head." I laughed.

"Shut the eff up, G. I seriously don't see why I have to get up this early in the first place." Nico is clearly not a morning person. Truth be told, neither am I but today was...special.

"Like I already explained, bro. This whole thing is your fault so it's just poetic justice that I'm dragging you along." I punched his shoulder as I laid on the guilt.

"How the hell is this my fault?" He shouts. I've probably never seen him quite this cranky.

"Oh probably comments like, 'Worried about your girl?' or maybe something like all the fucking smirks you give me when she's around." I raise my eyebrow at him, "Or could it be the 'It's about damn time you took her on a date' comment yesterday?"