Laughter [Garrett Watts x OFC]

[Sweet Siwicki]

My head was pounding when I woke up the next day. Between the crying and trying to numb my feelings with whiskey the night before, it felt like my skull was about to crack open. I made myself get out of bed and dragged myself to the kitchen to get some ibuprofen.

When I got in after breaking down to Garrett, I immediately opened the whiskey I had in the cupboard and started drinking straight from the bottle. A couple of gulps in, I decided to call Andrew.

"Hey, what's up," he answered.

"Why didn't you tell me about Aaron? I just made the biggest ass of myself," I whined.

"Aaron? What are you talking about."

"Don't act like you don't know. Aaron, the guy Garrett has been seeing. The guy he's feeling serious about."

"I swear, Elle, I don't have a clue. Garrett hasn't mentioned anything about anyone to me. I didn't even know he was ready to start dating again."

"Well what the fuck?"

The conversation went along more or less like that as we wondered why Garrett would keep something like that from his best friend. He was annoyed that he was left out of the loop and felt bad for me. It was a nice feeling to know that Andrew was rooting for me, even if it was laced with pity.

While I waited for my headache to go away, I sat in the shower and leaned against the wall while letting the hot water pour down on me. It helped my face feel less puffy and eventually the pressure in my skull started to dissipate. When the water started to finally cool down - which took awhile thanks to the impressive water heater - I got out. I was quite pruny, but definitely feeling more like a human.

Still feeling sorry for myself, I decided to be lazy and just let my hair air dry. After I'd put on my comfy leggings and a cropped tshirt that fell off my shoulder a bit, I decided to tackle my living room furniture. Garrett had said he would help, but I didn't want to wait for him. The sun was setting when I heard a knock on my door.

"Oh, hey. I didn't realize you were coming over now. Come on in." I stepped aside and let him into the foyer.

"I tried texting you to see when it would be a good time, but you never responded."

"Shit, yeah, that's my bad. I haven't even touched my phone today aside from turning on Spotify." We stood there awkwardly for a moment.

"Your place looks nice," he said as he looked over my head to the space behind me. From the foyer, you could get a good look into the living room and part of the kitchen.

"Thank you. I still have a ton to do, but it's coming along. I was working on assembling a couple of side tables. I already did the coffee table." I walked into the living room, hearing Garrett's footsteps trailing behind me. Broken down cardboard boxes and styrofoam were piled along one of the walls. My newly built coffee table was pushed against one of the other walls so it was out of the way and I had two half-constructed end tables sitting in the middle of the floor.

"You've been busy."

"Yeah. I made the mistake of thinking it would be quicker to do both tables at once, but I keep getting the parts mixed up. I didn't really organize them like I should've."

"It's okay. I can help you get everything together." Garrett picked up the instruction booklet from off the floor and turned to the page that laid out all of the pieces. I did the same with the other booklet and we quietly got to work, letting my playlist fill the room. I'd put on my favorite upbeat songs to help my overall mood and keep my energy up while working.