My Brother's Best Friend

forty one

"Okay, I've met your mom once when she came down here for Matt for like half a day, but she is a bitch."

"Yeah, he is definitely the favorite child."

"I can see that. She was like "Matthew who is this stranger? Why is he here?" And I had just lost my parents and I was fixing to get a knife and stab her if he didn't shut up." He laughed a little, "You're a daddy's girl."

I laughed with him, "Obviously, what can I say? Girls just love their daddies." I winked at him seductively and bit my lip.

He let out a husky laugh and tightened his grip on me. We have been talking in my room for the past few hours after Boomer's funeral. We ate dinner in my bed as well, Matt had brought back In-n-out, and I ate my burger in literally three bites.

"I forgot to say another thing that happened with my mom, the actual reason I'm here." I took a big swallow and looked down at my lap.

He could feel him look at me, confused, so I began to speak before he could say anything, "She um, hit me."

"She what?" His voice raised, making me wince a little.

"She slapped me hard across the face, leaving a huge red mark. Before I left to come here I coated my face in a pound of concealer to cover it up. It didn't help, it was so red, but I just said I was flushed." I played with the end of my bed comforter.

"I remember reading something about that in your diary back in Atlanta. I was confused, but I didn't want to intrude and ask questions."

I smiled at him, "It's okay, I wouldn't have minded. It happened once before but the first time was a lot worse. The night Remy was run over she got very drunk and well I happened to bump her shoulder on accident and she overreacted, and um, hit me a few times."

"Jess I am so sorry. Did your Dad know about this?" He rubbed my shoulder which started to relieve my tense body.

I nodded, "That's why he was cool with me leaving so immediately. I love my dad so much. I wouldn't trade him for the world. I hate that I never get to see him anymore."

"Me too." I didn't respond after that, we just sat in a comfortable silence with each other. I stared at the moon that was reflecting off of the ocean. I wish I could be out there right now, with no soul in sight.

It was a little past midnight and I was finally getting tired. I didn't want to sleep, I just wanted to talk more about our pasts.

"You know what was weird?" I started thinking back to a day when I had first gotten to California. One of the first times I went to the beach.

"What?" Garrett asks curiously, propping one of his arms on the bed so he could see me better.

"Okay, so one day when we were at the beach, it was forever ago, I had gone back to the house to get a drink right?" He nodded, "Something really weird happened when I went inside."

"What?" He says, letting his eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"I heard footsteps and the floor creaking. I was freaked out. I grabbed a water and ran into the hallway to see who it was, but they ran. Was it you?"

"No?" He asked confused. He was probably more confused than me.

"Garrett, I have no clue, but it was so weird. They ran so fast I couldn't see who it was."

His eyes immediately lit up and I could have sworn I saw a lightbulb flash above his head because he had an idea. "What? I ask.

"Come with me." He got out of bed and grabbed my hand, dragging me out of my room and down the stairs. He pulls me into the office that I had never been to. He sits in the chair and pulls me down onto his lap and turns on the computer.

"Why are we in here?" I whispered. I don't know why I whispered I felt like I needed to since it was so late. Even though Matt was most likely still awake, I felt like I needed to be quiet.

"Because" He opens a link on the computer, "We can see who it was by looking at the security camera."

"Wait, we have security cameras?"

"Yes! Of course, we do."

"Wow, I did not know that." I am learning new things every day at this house.

He looks through a few dates and doesn't find anything. I could tell he was getting frustrated not finding it yet. He pulled up the last date of the month, June 30th.

He sped it up to around noon since we didn't go out until around them. You could see me stop in the distance to talk to the guy who had hit me with a Frisbee.

I continue to walk closer to the house and start to see the guy look in my direction again.

"I wish I could tell who that is," Garrett mutters.

"Me too, I can't remember his name." He starts to walk in the direction I walked in, "Holy shit."

As he gets closer Garrett mutters, "Holy fucking shit."

The guy stands at the door, sneakily creaks the door open, and walks inside after me. Minutes later, you see him run out with me chasing him.

Garrett pauses the video and turns towards me, "I can't believe it."

"Me either!"

"Well, Nick. Someone has some explaining to do."

I nodded in agreement, "Why yes he does."

Just like that, the exhaustion hit me. All I needed now was to go to sleep.

Garrett seemed to notice my state so he started to move around, "Alright let's go to sleep." I yawned and got off of his lap and we both went up to my room to sleep.

I immediately smiled once my body hit my warm covers. All I wanted was to go to dreamland and forget all about my troubles right now.

"I'm proud of you today," Garrett murmured into my ear.

I smiled at his little comment. This boy is the one.

I rolled over so I was facing him, "Thank you. Thank you for everything."

His hand caressed my cheek and his soft lips touched my nose. My eyes were shut since it was dark in my room except for the moon that was shining through the cracks of my blinds.

It's so amazing that I can feel so comfortable around him so easily. He is my home.

"I love you." I simply told him.

"I love you too." He responded. His lips found mine and kissed me gently. Though I was exhausted I just didn't want to sleep just yet. I wanted to spend every waking moment with him just talking.

But unfortunately, sleep overtook me. I haven't slept in over a day so I probably was just short of having a mental breakdown if I hadn't fallen asleep.

I snuggled into Garrett a little more, feeling the need to be closer to him. He squeezed his arms around my body as if he was hugging me.

The last words I remember thinking before I fell asleep was, "I love you, Boomer."