“Okay” Zoey called “I’m coming out but you have to promise not to laugh!”
“I promise already!” Garrett yelled
It was the day of the dance and they were getting ready. It made sense that Zoey would get ready at the house instead of getting ready at her apartment and traveling all the way across town to pick Garrett up
“Zoey!” He yelled again “Just come out already!”
He heard the bathroom door unlock and stepped back. If he wasn’t already in awe of how attractive Zoey was he was going to be
“Wow” he said, eyes wide and mouth open “Wow”
She blushed and laughed nervously “So you like it?”
“Wow” he repeated
She stamped her foot “Garrett you need to give me more than ‘wow’”
“I-I’m sorry but just but wow” Garrett said again unable to form a sentence properly, so he said the only thing that was simple enough to say without the chance of him stammering like an idiot
“You look beautiful”
Zoey flushed and tugged at her dress “Yeah okay uh Garrett stop staring”
“Sorry” he said, blushing, he ran his fingers through his hair “I’ve just never seen you outside of jeans and t shirts”
Zoey laughed. It was true. During the time that they were friends Zoey had not once gotten dressed up. She never really had a reason to.
Garrett was dressed up for the occasion too. Wearing a black suit and a blue tie that matched Zoey’s dress he cleaned up pretty well. However, he had drawn the line at wearing shoes. Instead he wore sneakers.
“You look kinda short though” Garrett commented eyeing her up and down “I mean, aren’t you supposed to be wearing extremely high heels or something?”
Zoey grinned and lifted her dress revealing, surprise surprise, sneakers.
Garrett laughed
“Now” she said walking toward him “Your tie isn’t the only thing that matches”
She put her hands on his collar, slid them down and began adjusting his tie “You clean up pretty nice Nickelsen”
He smiled, not wanting to say anything that would make her move away from him.
“Hey you guys-?” John said bursting into the room “Wow Zoey” he said stopping midsentence and stopping to stare
“You guys! Stop doing that! And yes we are John. Where’s Ruth?” Zoey asked
“Right here!” Ruth joined John and slid an arm around his waist. The two of them had been going steady for months now and with Ruths track record this was probably the only relationship she’s had that lasted over two weeks. Zoey couldn’t be happier. She and Ruth went downstairs and the boys were left in Garretts room.
Garrett walked over to the mirror and started adjusting his tie. John eyed him from the doorway. “So, you and Zoey huh?”
Garrett frowned and continued to mess around with his tie
“Come on man, I know how you look at her” John continued, joining Garrett at the mirror “Look just because Rachel left-“
Garretts arms fell to his side. He opened his mouth to say something but thought better. He knew John was right, he knew what he was saying made sense but whenever anyone brought up Rachel, anger and pain was all Garrett saw. He grabbed his jacket off the bed and went downstairs. John ran his fingers through his hair and joined him.
--
“Are you okay? You’ve been acting weird all night” Zoey asked looking at Garrett.
He was still upset over what John had said earlier. The mere mention of Rachel was enough to send Garrett spiraling. The fact that she had come to the house was bad enough let alone the fact that she was back in Arizona for the summer. The fact that she looked the same, talked the same, made Garrett feel the same as if he was still that love sick teenager was all it took.
“Garrett?” Zoey asked again
“Yeah I’m fine” he mumbled sipping his soda.
Liar.
