My Brother's Best Friend

twenty three

"Jess I'm sorry, but you are gonna get sick of me saying I love you now, so just be prepared." Garrett laughed beside me. We were currently at school. It was their first day back after the accident.

There were a lot of whispers and rumors going around about the accident. One said how the drunk driver died, and another about Matt pulled Garrett out and saved his life.

Garret and I decided to go sit outside on the patio today, it was a beautiful day. It was in the seventies since it was February, so it felt fantastic.

Garrett was quiet, I wasn't sure why. I reached out for his hand and slipped it into mine across the table. "Babe, what's wrong."

He looked up at me, his eyes filled with sadness, "I just can't believe I could have died last weekend. I almost left you alone."

"Garrett, but you didn't. You need to focus on the future now. Sure, you could have died but you didn't. What happened was a miracle, you need to realize that. God does weird things, but he knew it wasn't your time. You need to live your life to the fullest."

"I just," He let go of my hand and ran his fingers through his hair, "I just can't believe I could have died just like my parents did."

He had told me this story before when we first started dating. His parents had died in a car crash on his mother's birthday, they were going to a special birthday dinner, just the two of them.

It was a year ago, his junior year of high school. He was at his friend Blake's house when it happened. I can't even imagine his face when he found out. How he dealt with their death was even more questionable.

His eyes were starting to tear up, and he immediately wiped them away, "I don't want to end up like they did, Jess."

"I know baby, but sometimes things happen. You wouldn't be the strong man I know today if it wasn't for that. I wouldn't know you if this wouldn't have happened."

"I am never dying. Well, you will have to die before I die. I will never let you be alone like I was. You don't deserve that."

"Neither do you."

"I just don't want you to be alone."

"I appreciate that Garrett, I love how much you care about me." We sat there forever, just enjoying each other's presence. "Oh, crap we are gonna be late for our next class!"

He sat back and smirked, "let's skip."

"What?" I choked on my water. I never had skipped class before.

"Yeah, let's go check ourselves out and go home! I can think of some better things to do." He winked.

I playfully slapped his arm, "Garrett!" I reached across the table, shushing him, and put my finger on his lips to prevent him from speaking anymore.

"Come on let's go."

"Fine! You win."

We walked towards the front office where we told them I had a doctor's appointment and he had to drive me. She looked at us curiously, but then shrugged and wrote us the pass.

It was Friday night, so Matt wouldn't be home since he had a baseball game. Sure, he couldn't play with a broken leg, a dislocated arm, and a concussion, but you always support your team.

Garrett wasn't playing baseball this year since he will be playing college football

"So, Jess, it's February you know."

"Yeah?"

"College is coming soon..." I faked a smile. I couldn't imagine leaving him.

We never really discussed college with each other, mostly because we didn't want to hear about it.