Page 92 of Choosing You

I take the clothes and leave for the bathroom, unsure why I’m listening to him. The hot shower feels good so I linger a few extra minutes letting it thaw my muscles and warm my skin.

When I’m done I get dressed and head back to my room, certain Garret will be gone. But he’s not. He’s sitting right there on my bed, waiting.

“Feel better?” he asks.

I slowly walk over and stand in front of him. “What’s going on here?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you still here?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? Am I supposed to be somewhere else? Because last I checked my day was pretty much open.”

“But didn’t you hear me out there? Screaming at you?”

He shrugs. “You didn’t mean it. You’re just pissed about something.”

“I told you to leave me alone.”

“You don’t want to be alone. You just say that.”

“How do you know? Maybe I really do want to be alone.”

He smiles and pulls me onto his leg to sit. “Why would you want to be alone? Alone sucks.”

I can’t argue because it’s true. Alone does suck. But it’s all I know. When you lose faith in people, alone is your only option.

“So do you want to talk about what happened now?” he asks. “Or later?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay, then later it is.” He loosely holds my hand. “So here’s what I was thinking. I have to get at least an hour or two of swim practice in and I thought you could come with me. You don’t have to swim, but you could bring a book or music or whatever and just hang out. It’s nice and warm in there.”

“I guess I could do that.”

“And then after that is the Halloween party.”

I look at him confused. “I’m not going to a Halloween party. That’s like a regular party on steroids. And after the vodka incident last night, I can’t be around all that alcohol right now.”

“We’re not going anywhere. The party is upstairs. I’ve got my room all ready. We’re having a horror movie marathon.”

“We are?” I find myself smiling like an idiot. “But you hate horror movies.”

“I know. But what the hell? It’s Halloween, right?”

“So what else is going on at this party?” I try to act cool but I can’t hide the excitement in my voice.

“Well, I’ve loaded up on candy, of course, and your other favorite junk foods. I thought we’d order a pizza for some real food. That’s about it. It’s not that great but—”

“Are you kidding? It’s totally great! I can’t believe you did all this.” I have to hug him. I can’t stop myself. I don’t know how it’s possible, but he’s somehow turned my anger and sadness into pure joy and happiness.

“Wow. A hug. Thanks. I’m glad you’re excited about it.”

“But I thought you were going out tonight like everyone else.”

“It’s Saturday. That’s our night, remember?”

“But it’s Halloween. It’s a major party night. Isn’t Blake gonna get mad?”

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