Page 11 of Between Hope & Tragedy

Garrett chuckled and sat patiently on the edge of the bed. About six minutes later, the program breaked for a commercial, and I turned my head up toward him. He looked down at me with a smile and I shook my head.

"Shouldn't you be at school being official or something?" I asked.

"I called in sick. You told me you wanted me to meet you here, remember?" he replied.

"What can I say? I didn't think you'd show," I remarked with a shrug.

Garrett shook his head as he nudged me with his knee. I moved over on the carpet and he sat down next to me, bringing his knees up and resting his arms on them. He ran a hand quickly back through his hair and turned slightly toward me.

"I've been asking myself since you left yesterday if I should even show up. And now that I'm here, I'm asking myself why I'm sitting in the same room with you. Being around you brings back all of my old feelings; it makes everything feel like it might be okay again, but there's something really different about you, Zaydee."

"Adulthood," I replied dryly.

"That's not funny," he snapped.

I smirked. I couldn't really remember who had initiated our soiree when I was in school, but I do remember enjoying every time we were alone together. Of course, that could have justbeen the young, romantic girl in me with her first love, as opposed to the bitter, grown woman who refused to believe in love.

"Why am I here?" he asked, more calmly.

"Tell you when this is over," I replied, turning my attention toward the program as it came back from commercial break. Garrett sighed irritably, and I leaned over to rest my head on his shoulder.

We watched the remainder of the show in silence and at some point he managed to slip his arm around me. Being as engrossed in the program as I was, I hadn't noticed until it was over and went to get to my feet to turn off the television. After I shut it off, I went over to the window overlooking the city and smiled.

"It's been fourteen years, can you believe it?" I asked wistfully. "Fourteen years since I've been in this shithole of a city. If I said I missed it, I'd be lying. This place is full of bad memories for me. It seems to keep taking everything I love away too. There's so much pain here. How can you stand it?"

"I block it all out. Anything that's ever hurt me to think about, anything I've lost; I just push it all down into a place I can't reach. And quite honestly, Zaydee, it was working just fine until you showed back up," he admitted, shaking his head.

The smile on my lips widened a little. That was the thing with being damaged; no matter how hard you tried to keep it contained to just yourself, you always ended up hurting those around you.

"I'm going to Grandma's house today and though you might want to come," I said, finally answering his initial question.

"Yeah, I'd love to go," he replied as he got to his feet.

I tore my eyes away from the Los Angeles skyline and glanced at the clock near my bed. We still had a couple of hours before we had to get there, but I had already run out of things to say.

"What time is she expecting you?" he asked, coming over to the window.

"Eleven-ish."

"What's been your biggest heartbreak?" I asked, glancing up into Garrett's eyes. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I wasn't exactly sure what his answer would be, but I knew I just wanted to know if someone else beside me could pinpoint where things went to hell in their life.

"I honestly don't think it was just one thing. I think it was a culmination of things here and there that eventually swelled into a volcano of piss and shit, and then boom; one day the pressure just boiled. That was also the same day I told Josie about us," he said with a chuckle.

"I reallyamsorry about that," I said softly.

Garrett shrugged as he sat down in the chair near the window. He didn't say anything more on that subject; almost like he didn't want to talk about it. I kind of got it though, because had he not kept me after school one day for being tardy to class, neither of us would be here having this damn conversation.

I glanced at him and tilted my head. Garrett's brown warm eyes were fixated on the skyline and I found myself slowly walkingover the two or three steps toward him. He turned his attention to me and raised an eyebrow at my smile. Taking a deep breath, he moved the chair around so that he would be facing me completely. I filled the gap between us and put my hands on his shoulders, and watched a slow smile spread across his face as he gripped my hips.

"Remember how yesterday you said you gave up everything for me?" I asked, leaning down to graze his ear with my lips. He nodded and took in a shuddery breath. "How much more are you willing to give?"

"Anything I have left. Anything you want, Zaydee," he whispered as his voice started to tremble.

"Promise?" I asked, letting my lips travel to his neck.

"I promise."

I smiled deviously and straddled him in the chair. His breath caught in his throat because I had taken him off guard, but as I leaned down to kiss him, his hands firmly gripped my hips. I rocked ever so slightly as our tongues touched, and a sigh escaped my lips.

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