Laughter [Garrett Watts x OFC]

[Love to Not Date You]

Pushing down my feelings didn't seem to be working, but avoiding Garrett did. We'd been home from Florida just over a week and I'd only seen him once in passing when leaving Shane's house. No one said anything about the obvious avoidance, but they didn't need to. It was apparent they were concerned. Garrett tried texting me a few times, but after my lack of replying, he seemed to get the hint.

I knew I was being childish and that I was too committed to being friends with these people, so in order to cease the awkwardness, I'd have to get things smoothed over. I wallowed in self-pity for a little while longer before gaining the courage to face the issue head-on. After checking with Shane to make sure I wouldn't arrive to an empty house, I grabbed an Uber to Garrett's place.

My stomach was twisted and I was a ball of nerves the entire ride. I hadn't felt this way about someone before, nor had I ever decided to show up at anyone's home prepared to grovel. When I arrived, my hands shook as I knocked on the door. I could hear movement from inside and then Garrett saying "hold on". His house wasn't very big, so I imagined that he was tidying up a bit before opening the door.

"Hell - oh! I thought you were Shane." His eyes shown definite surprise, but he didn't look upset to see me.

"Yeah, I, uh, I had him lie so you'd for sure be home. I didn't know if you'd actually be willing to see me after I ghosted you." I scratched the back of my neck and looked anywhere but him. I don't know why that seemed to be the go-to body movement when anyone seemed nervous, but there I was, doing just that. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, for sure. Let's sit out here." He came out and shut the door behind him before leading me to a couple of chairs near his little miniature house he had placed in his small backyard. "So, um, how have you been?" It was sweet how he was trying to make small talk instead of calling me out on my bullshit. I knew he was too kind to do that anyway, but I was still appreciative.

"I've been pretty shitty. I feel horrible for just leaving you that night and then ignoring you for so long. I wanted to apologize."

"You really don't have to."

"Yeah, I do. I've had time to think about it and I can see that I was unfair and overreacted. It's been so long since I've been close to anyone, let alone develop feelings, and I got too attached too fast. I just feel like we have a lot in common and I think you're really attractive, but we both agreed to not rush into anything and I lost sight of that. I'm really sorry." I looked over to try and get a read on him, but he didn't really let anything show. He was leaning, elbows on knees, with his head propped on his hands while he thought. It was a few moments before he spoke.

"If I felt like you owed me an apology, I would 100% accept that one, but I'm the one that owes you an apology. I'm the first one that said we should go slow but then told you we shouldn't think about while we were there. That's the definition of mixed signals. I hope you don't mind, but I talked to Andrew and Shane about it a little and they agreed that I'm the one that messed up."

"You didn't storm away and ignore me, though."

"Yeah, but what I did hurt you and I'm sorry."

"I'll accept yours if you accept mine," I suggested. I gave him a hopeful smile.

"Deal." He grinned at me and I could feel my cheeks flushing. He stood and opened his arms for a hug. I rose to meet him and relished in his embrace.

"I've gotta be honest," I said without pulling away. I was on an honesty roll, so why quit now? "I still feel strongly about you, so please let me know if I'm crossing any lines. I'll do my best not to, but I'm an emotional, impulsive person, as you've probably figured out."