She Said Goodbye

Pleasant Surprises

Kissing dad on the forehead, I felt a cold tear run down my cheek. Seeing him sober, and looking so sad laying here on this bed has me ready to give up. Again. As I walked out I did a quick smile and wave for a goodbye to the secretary, Joanne. She was always so nice to me since he came here. I've been visiting daily, if I can. I pulled the 27 dollars I grabbed from his coat while I was in there, and started the car. I needed gas. But I didn't know how to pump it. Pulling into the nearest gas station, I walked inside searching for the store manager or even a store Clark. With no luck I started out of the door, when a hand grabbed mine. "Hello, sorry, I was in the back" I hard a deep voice explain. I turned around to face a younger boy, maybe 17 or 18. 'I-it's fine" I stumble to say. he cracks a wide smile, and his face softens a little bit, "Come on, I'll pump for you," and we walk towards my car. "Do you know how to do this?" He asks casually. 'Uh, yeah. I've done it so much I'm an expert." I lie. He laughs and takes the 20 from me, leaving me with the 5 and 2 ones. "Let me show you." He pulls me a little bit closer and points to the insert tab on top of a slit in the machine, "Your money goes face up this way, in that slit," he inserts the money, and the number 20 pops onto the screen. he points to 83, UNLEADED sign, and presses the button underneath it. "You'll want to press Unleaded every time, 83, remember that." I shake my head, and he opens my gas gasket. turning around he pulls the pump out of its safe hold, and hands it to me. "Come on expert, pump the gas." He says, with a small smile. I just look at the pump, and hand it back, cracking a small smile of my own. "Can you please show me" I say, feeling warmth run up my neck, and he laughs and puts the nozzle in the gasket, pulling the lever back until you could hear the gas through the rubber pipes. After watching the numbers rise to 20 and stop, he pulled it out and put it back where it belongs. He then put my gas cap back on, and shut my lid. Smiling at me he immediately says, "Do you have a phone?", After explaining that I don't, he just laughed and asked for my address. We exchanged addresses, he told me his name was Garrett, and he let me know I could come back anytime, and that I was bad at lying. Waving me goodbye, he ran back into the store for the customer that had just walked in. Smiling to myself, I turned the car on and pulled off, glad I was welcome somewhere other than my local store and the hospital.

*

Dad's condition hasn't gotten any better, if anything his heart rate is slower than it used to be. Garrett's been to my house twice now, and we've just hung around. Today, I go over to his house, and boy am I nervous. Pulling my hair up in a messy bun, throwing on my new grey sweats over my Victoria Secret red and black laced panties, and a white long sleeve fleece crop top over my VS white and black checkered Lacey bra, and my black and white converse, I was out of the house. I had on minimal makeup, just mascara and clear lip gloss, checking myself over in the mirror once before getting out the car. I stepped onto his driveway. He had a nice house, it was a beige two story, with two trimmed hedges on each side of the white oak wood door. This made me feel so poor. But I loved it. Stepping up to the door, I wen to knock and it opened before impact. Shocked, I see a young lady, maybe in her early 30's late 20's, wearing a fading dark blue crop top and white wash skinny jeans matched with a pair of gold lace up heels.She was beautiful. She smiled at me, and asked if I wanted to come in, and i nodded. She smiled a bit wider, and grabbed my hand. "So you must me Alexandra." She noted, and I nodded, "That's me." I say, smiling slightly. "I've heard so much about you from Gare, he really likes you yanno." She says, walking me through the house to a giant flight of steps, taking two at a time she reaches the top before me, "Is that so?" I ask, following her to a dark green door with a skateboard sticker on it, she opens the door to reveal Garrett, flopped on his bed lazily in his boxers and no shirt on. I have to admit, he does look pretty good half naked and asleep.

I laugh and jump on his bed, making him wobble sideways and always off the bed. I grab his hand as he bolts upright, eyes wide, "What are you doing here?!" He half yells half mumbles. I smile and laugh at him, not giving a response. I sit back and let him wake up a bit, before he joined me, resting with his head on the backboard of his bed also. I look at him and laugh. He had red marks on his face from sleeping the way he did, and when he noticed me laughing he blushed and ran to the bathroom, grabbing a shirt and a pair of grey shorts along his way. "Give me a minute" He gruffs. I just nod and grab the remote on the side of the bed, turning on the TV. After what seemed like eternity of switching through channels of old movies and shows, I switched the TV off, and walked to the bathroom door. Knocking twice, I heard him laugh. "Hold up" he said, before the door opened. His hair was still wet from his shower, and he had a toothbrush hanging out of the side of his mouth, and still no shirt on. I laughed and walked to the sink, pulling myself onto his over sized counter next to him, I laugh at him while he finishes his teeth, and move onto his hair. Pulling me off the counter when he was done I yell and laugh as he runs to the bed with me, flopping me on it and walking over to the movies beside the TV. He picks out an original, "White Chicks?" I ask, raising my eyebrows. He smiles, "Hey, I like this movie!" He defends, making me giggle. He put the movie in, and instantly it plays, then he came and sat on the bed next to me, leaning back with his head on the backboard. That's how the rest of the day went.