Healing Her Heart {Trilogy}

Chapter 10

Garrett knew he was screwed. Why? Oh.. Because he fell deeply in love with Fiona. Yes, he was in love with the once heartbroken girl, who he felt he somehow managed to fix. He couldn't understand how he had fallen so deeply in love with her, when she only saw him as a friend.

You don't know she just sees you as a friend. A voice in his head chided. He wanted to believe the voice, but doing that required him to get hopeful. If it turns out he's wrong, and she doesn't like her? Garrett sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration as he tried to think of what to do. 

Garrett stood up from the end of his bed and began pacing back and forth so much, he felt he might burn holes into the floor under him. Frankly, he didn't care if that happened right now because his main concern? His main concern was if he was going to actually man up and go be a daredevil and ask Fiona out.

He leaned against the wall of his apartment bedroom and took a deep breath. He could do this, and he will be doing it. Tomorrow night, after their study session, Garrett was going to walk Fiona up to her door and ask her to go out with him.  If she were to say no, Garrett would pull it off and act like it was fine, and then go home and slam his face into the door.

Sounds good. Garrett thought to himself as he flopped back down on his bed. He peeked at the clock on his nightstand and saw it was six-thirty AM now, and he had to get going in a few minutes to make it to class in time. Groaning, Garrett stood up once more and searched for his worn blue backpack. He made sure he had everything in it once he found it and then hoisted it up on his shoulders.

He locked his apartment and then made his way outside. Garrett was sort of getting tired of the chilly air and the snowy ground. Every time he thought the snow was done with, after it turned to brown slush and annoying white footprints in the ground, more would fall and leave yet another layer to deal with. He seriously thought Santa was sick or something, that or he was shedding and his beard hair is what made the snow. 

Garrett nearly laughed out loud at that thought, the thought of Santa Claus's beard shedding the snow being the dandruff and left over fuzzballs from it. He would have to tell Fiona his little theory, he knew she'd find it as amusing as he did. Luckily, Garrett managed to keep his laughter down which saved him from getting weird looks on the sidewalk.

By the time Garrett arrived to his classes, his toes and fingers felt slightly numb from the walk. He had worn boots and gloves, but that still didn't save him from feeling the chill of the morning and post-snowfall. As he walked inside of the University halls, he noticed he was still somewhat early, seeing as class wouldn't start for another fifteen minutes. Garrett pulled off his gloves as he made his way to the cafeteria, reaching back and stuffing the black objects into a pocket of his backpack and then rubbing them together.

He had enough time to get a quick cup of hot chocolate and a nice, warm muffin. Though the hot chocolate and muffins at the University didn't even compare to the one's at Lou's Cafe, they'd have to do for now. As he bought his meal, he couldn't help but think about what he would say to Fiona when he met up with her tomorrow afternoon at the cafe. A smile quirked his lips, and he knew he'd probably make a fool of himself.

--

Garrett had indeed been right when he suspected Fiona would like his theory on where snow came from, because she was laughing so much her chest had hurt. Garrett laughed with her, just because her laughter was extremely contagious. He couldn't help it as he watched her beautiful face wrinkle with laughter and turn bright red.

Despite the joyful and cheerful atmosphere that went around the whole time they were studying, Garrett couldn't ignore the nervous tug in the pit of his stomach. He rubbed his hands together shakily sometimes and kept stealing glances at her. He noticed the tiniest things about her.

For example, when she was thinking hard about a math problem, she would tap the top of her pencil on her nose and chew her bottom lip while her eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration at what she was doing. Or when she was reading out loud a book she had for class and answer questions, she was very passionate. She would put on expressions for each line, depending on the mood of the scene, and would speak with emotion the character spoke with. It made Garrett feel even more love for the girl, and he couldn't stop his heart from expanding wider than the Grinch's did.

Finally, the time had come for Garrett to pull himself together. As the two began to put their things away, he rehearsed what he was going to say to Fiona. He needed to get himself together and stop being nervous before he got her home. 

Fiona had finished putting things away and was already standing up, zipping her coat with her backpack leaning against her left leg. After she slipped her gloves and hat, and scarf, on she hoisted her backpack on her shoulder and waited patiently. Garrett purposely took his merry little time, slowly putting things away and grabbing his coat and gloves.

By the time he had finished doing all that, he had no more excuses to stall. So he led Fiona to the door and opened the old wood door for her and watched her smile thankfully at him and walk out. They walked together in silence, not an awkward silence, more of a peaceful silence that gave Garrett time to think.

Pretty soon, they arrived at her house. Garrett walked her up to her steps and smiled at her. She returned it. "Thanks for walking me home, Garrett. You didn't have to do that, you know."

"I wanted to," Garrett told her, shaking his head. "It's no bother, really."

Fiona studied him for a moment, her icy blue eyes thoughtful. Then, to Garrett's surprise, she leaned up and pressed her lips to his cheek. They lingered for a moment, before pulling away with pink cheeks. Garrett blinked at her a couple times. Despite how cold it was outside, Garrett was all warm inside and out.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow," Fiona told him, biting her lip shyly and turning around. She put her hand on the door handle and slipped her door key inside of the lock and jiggled it. She opened the door.

"Wait, Fiona." Garrett grabbed her free wrist and gripped it slightly.

Fiona turned to him in surprise, her eyes meeting his. "Yes?" she breathed out, her frosty breath flowing from her mouth and fading away quickly. 

Garrett slipped his hand from her wrist and to her hand, cupping it in both of his. "Fiona.." he started, not moving his eyes from hers for a second. "Will you go out with me?"