My Brother's Best Friend

twenty five

Minutes passed by, which felt like hours and even days.

I was about to go find Alexis and Hayes when I saw a group of girls sit down beside me, with the same voices I heard in the bathroom. "Yeah, never mind! He's so hooked on his girlfriend, she went to the bathroom and didn't come back, probably hooking up with another dude somewhere." They laughed.

Are they talking about me?

Being the nosy person, I am I look over at them and interrupt them, "Hey, do you guys know where that guy is now?"

"Last we saw him was in a booth over there."

They whispered, "What's wrong with her?"

I jump out of my chair and run towards the booths. Please still be there! My heart pounded as I turned the corner, I prayed for him for him to be there.

I stopped in my tracks, frozen. I was a deer in front of headlights. There he was. Swirling a drink in one hand and his other hand running through his hair, leaning on a post, looking off into the distance.

His jawline shut tight, and his piercing blue eyes sparkled as the disco ball spun in the corner of his eye. The shadow on his face made him barely recognizable, but I still knew it was him.

What was I even going to say to him? I stood there staring at him like those girls had been watching him.

I practiced our conversation in my head, "Garrett! I am so sorry I lost track of time!"

No, that's not good. A person bumped into the back of me, sending me a step forward, almost losing my balance. Just go get it over with Jessica.

I started walking towards him, my stride didn't seem to be big enough, and I felt like I was never going to reach him. The room was getting bigger and bigger.

I was finally behind him, one more step and I would reach him. I stretched my arm out towards his shoulder grabbing it.

He swiftly turned around, fixing to say something to me. He immediately stopped and stared at me, taking in a deep breath.

I stared into his glossy eyes. Had he been crying? He grabbed me, engulfing me in a hug. He must have set his drink down sometime between earlier and now.

I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him together. "I am so sorry," I mumbled into his shirt.

His hand was placed on the back of my head and his other one wrapped behind my back. "Shhh, don't worry about it. Let's get out of here."

We walked out of the club, most likely never coming back. He went around to my side of the car, opened the door for me, and jogged back around getting in on his side. He turned the ignition on the truck and took a deep breath.

"I thought I lost you, Jess, I didn't know what to do."

"Gare, I'm so sorry. I thought I lost you too. I went to the restroom then Alexis came in drunk and went around the whole place looking for you and couldn't find you. And I didn't have a phone. My anxiety was going through the roof."

He leaned over and kissed my head gently, "All that matters is we are together now."

A tear escaped my eye, "I am so sorry that I ruined this night for us."

"Do not say that baby. You didn't ruin anything. Believe me." His hand caressed my cheek, holding my head, staring into my eyes. He wiped the tear away from my eye.

"I don't want to go home," I muttered.

"Then we won't. I can call and book a hotel somewhere and we will stay there tonight?" I nodded in agreement. "Well, where do you want to go?"

An hour and thirty minutes later, we pulled into a hotel in Hollywood. Sighing I grabbed the bag filled with extra clothes out of the backseat. Of course, I brought extra clothes with me because I wasn't about to stay in a clubbing dress and heels all night.

Garrett didn't bring any extra clothes because he thought he would be going home after.

We headed to our hotel room and I was amazed at the view we had. You can see everything from here. It reminded me of New York City. There were so many lights, it looked beautiful in the night sky.

Garrett walked up behind me placing his hands on my hips, and whispered, "Please take that dress off before I have to." I smiled, turning around, and then looking into his eyes. I was not in the mood to do anything intimate tonight, I was still very shaken up about the events that had happened earlier.

I then kissed his cheek and walked over to my bag taking out a t-shirt. I then went into the bathroom to shower. The water instantly turned warm and I stepped in washing off every germ that was on my body.

I stepped back and leaned against the wall, reminiscing what happened earlier. Most people wouldn't care this much about something, but losing the love of my life, even if it was only thirty minutes, really made me go crazy.

It made me realize if I ever lost him for real, I would go insane.

Most people would say not to dedicate your life to some random boy at this age, I agree with them. But, if you were put in my shoes, Garrett has been there for me, always. He has helped me through so much with him. He has been my rock, my family. Matt is my family too, but he has his own life and I don't want to burden his life.

He doesn't have a family, so we are each other's. I think it's why we work so well with each other.

I finish up my shower and slide the T-shirt over my head. I walk back into the bedroom where Garrett lies spread out on the bed wearing only a pair of boxers.

"You look comfy." I giggled.

"It would be a lot comfier if you were here next to me." I smiled at his comment and walked over towards him. He moved over so I would lie down with him. He immediately wrapped his arm around me, and I rested my head in the crook of his neck.

"What are we watching?"

"The Simpson's, your favorite."

We lay there for who knows how long and fell asleep, still in each other's arms.

-

The next morning, we eventually got up around ten. I had never actually toured Hollywood, only passing by it by car a few times. I had no choice but to wear my T-shirt, a pair of jean shorts, and white Converse that were in the bag.

The T-shirt was a black band shirt, by the Beatles. I looked decent. Even though I had no makeup on, except for mascara, I had found a tube in the bottom of the bag, thank God. I had my hair in a bun because it was super frizzy this morning.

We walked around downtown for hours, looking at every star and taking photos with a bunch of them. I'm pretty sure we even bumped into Selena Gomez. Garrett agreed that it looked exactly like her.

We were currently climbing to the Hollywood sign. "I remember the first day I came to California, Matt drove me by here showing me everything."

We made it to the top and took in a deep breath. "Holy shit." Garrett breathed.

"My exact words."

It was beautiful. You can see everything from here. You could see a little bit of the ocean from a distance. The best part was that the sun was setting so there was a beautiful skyline of different colors between the buildings.

I was in love.

We made our way back to the car, remembering we had school tomorrow. We sang to every song, but this one just got to me.

It was by Maroon Five, "She Will Be Loved."

"I don't mind spending every day

Out on your corner in the pouring rain

Look for the girl with the broken smile

Ask her if she wants to stay awhile

And she will be loved"

Garrett looked at me every word that he sang of that song, of course, he wasn't driving at the time, and we had been stopped at a red light.

I know he meant every word.