Garret

by Allie Everhart

  “Do what?”

  “Give a person a hug.”

  “I’m not much of a hugger.”

  “Well, you need one, so don’t just stand there. Put your damn arms around me.”

  She does, but she keeps her arms away from me, barely touching my sides.

  “What the hell? Tighten your arms. I’m not going to break.”

  Her arms move closer around me, but not much.

  “That’s better.”

  She starts to pull away but I keep her in the hug.

  “Nope. You’re not done yet. You need more time.”

  “What? No. I’m done.”

  “You don’t like this?”

  “I like it, but I’m done.”

  “You need at least a minute.”

  “How do you know what I need?”

  “I can tell. You were all tensed up before. You’re starting to get less tense, but you’re not relaxed yet so we’re staying here until you are.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  “Whatever, but I’m not letting go until you relax.”

  She sighs as she puts her arms around me again.

  I know Jade grew up with an alcoholic, drug-addicted mother, but there must be more to the story because what happened just now wasn’t normal. She went crazy when I made that one comment about the TV. And the way she cowered like that, like she was preparing to be hit, makes me wonder if her mom abused her, like physically. Just thinking about that makes me hug her even tighter.

  “Are we done now?” she asks.

  I don’t want to let her go. Jade needs this. She needs to be hugged and I’m going to find a lot more opportunities to do so. But for now, I let her go.

  “Yes, we’re done.” I step back. “See? You’re way more relaxed now. Although I’ve never had to work so hard to get a girl to hug me.”

  She picks up the candy wrappers and empty soda bottles lying around. “Why did you get back so early?”

  “I was up at 7 so I left. Normally after one of those events I’m out until noon, but not today.” She goes to drop a candy wrapper in the trash but I stop her, my hand on her arm. “I was up early because I wasn’t hung over. I didn’t drink last night, Jade. I didn’t drink the whole day.”

  “You didn’t? Seriously?” She hugs me, which I wasn’t expecting.

  “Oh, now you hug me?” I hug her back. “Anyway Blake gave me shit for it. He was on my case the whole time trying to shove shots down my throat.”

  “Really?” She backs away.

  “Not literally, but he was holding them up to my face all night.”

  Blake’s parents wouldn’t let him leave to go to that other party, so he just got drunk at Courtney’s house and kept pushing me to join him, which I wouldn’t do.

  “He was so pissed,” I say. “That boy doesn’t like to drink alone.”

  “Well, thanks for doing that. I know it seems stupid but it’s a big deal to me because of, you know, how I grew up.”

  “I know. And I don’t think it’s stupid. So how about breakfast? Let’s go out. I’m craving a really big stack of pancakes.”

  “They have pancakes in the dining hall.”

  I roll my eyes. “I want good pancakes. Light, fluffy pancakes. Not ones that stick to the wall when you throw them. I’ve tried that by the way. And they do stick to the wall.”

  “They’re not that bad.”

  “If you like the pancakes at the cafeteria, then you’ve never had good pancakes. Allow me to introduce you to Al’s Pancake House, the finest pancakes in Connecticut.”

  “I don’t know. I think I should just eat in the dining hall.”

  “Because it’s paid for, right?”

  She doesn’t answer, which tells me it’s true. I don’t understand why Jade is so stubborn about letting me pay for shit, but I need to find a way around it because I want to take her out.

  “Okay, here’s the deal,” I say. “I’m really craving the pancakes at Al’s Pancake House, but I hate to eat alone at a restaurant, so if you went with me you’d be doing me a huge favor. And to show my gratitude, I will buy you breakfast.”

  She tilts her head like she’s thinking about it. “So I’m really helping you out here?”

  “Totally helping me out.”

  “All right. Let me go shower. Come down in 10 minutes.”

  As she leaves I say, “I still can’t believe you can get ready that fast.”

  We go to the pancake house which is in the next town over. The place has been here forever. I used to come here with my parents when I was a kid, usually on Saturdays.

  My mom loved this place because her favorite meal was breakfast and she loved pancakes. The menu is huge. They have every kind of pancake imaginable and then they rotate new ones in every season.

  After my mom died, my dad wouldn’t take me here anymore. He wouldn’t do anything that reminded him of her. When I was 16 and could drive, I came here one Saturday morning by myself and had pancakes, but it wasn’t the same without my mom. Actually, it was kind of depressing so I didn’t go back. Until today. It feels different this time. It’s not as sad. Maybe because more time has past. Or maybe it’s because I’m here with Jade.

  I’ve never seen anyone get so excited about pancakes. Jade’s eyes got huge when she opened the menu and saw all the different varieties. It took her forever to decide what to order. The waitress had to come back three times and even then, Jade hesitated before ordering. It’s like she thought this would be the only time she’d come here so she had to make sure she made the right choice. And after all that, she ended up getting the basic buttermilk pancakes.

  I’ve decided I need to bring Jade here every week. I want her to be able to try every type of pancake on the menu.

  “So what do you think of Al’s?” I ask her after the waitress leaves.

  “It’s great! I love it.” She looks around at the restaurant. It’s old and dated with orange vinyl booths and white laminate tables and paintings of trees on the wall that look like the owner did them.

  I can’t imagine taking any other girl I know to this place. They wouldn’t even come inside and they definitely wouldn’t eat here. But Jade seems to like these diner-style restaurants. And so do I. I still like going to nicer, more expensive restaurants, but sometimes you just want a good diner.

  Ten minutes later, the food arrives. Tall stacks of fluffy pancakes, just like I remember.

  “Okay, you were completely right about this,” Jade says as she takes a big bite of her pancakes. “This place does have the best pancakes. And I don’t think it’s just in Connecticut. They might have the best pancakes in the whole country. Maybe the world.”

  “I told you.” I ordered the blueberry pancakes, which is what I always used to get as a kid. “You know, we should make this a Sunday thing.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Like every Sunday we’ll come here for breakfast. It’ll be like our own little tradition.”

  “I don’t have money to eat out every week. And since I can’t seem to find a job on campus, I don’t see Sundays at Al’s Pancake House in my future. Although that would be really good. I could eat these pancakes every day.”

  I sigh and put my fork down and lean back in the booth. “Why won’t you just let me pay for stuff? You know my family has more money than we can ever spend. And I’m not trying to buy you a car here. It’s just pancakes.”

  “I’ve told you before. When people buy me stuff, I feel like I owe them. And I don’t want to owe you anything.”

  “What if we were dating?” I ask it just to see what she’ll say. “If we were on a date, you’d let me pay, right?”

  “I don’t know. When I’ve let guys pay for dates in the past they expected sex. So again, we have the owing problem to deal with.”

  I smile. “You won’t owe me sex. We’ll put that in the terms of our agreement.”

  “So we’ll have an agreement?”

  “Just a verbal one. You can set whatever
conditions you want.”

  “We said we’d just be friends, remember? Spend time getting to know each other?”

  “Then forget the dating idea and just go with the fact that you’re doing me a huge favor because you know I can’t sit here and eat by myself.”

  She stares down at her empty plate. “Hmm. I would like to come here again.”

  “And I would as well. But I can’t without a dining companion.”

  “That’s true. All right. I guess we can try it.”

  I get out my wallet and drop my credit card on the bill. “Week one of Sundays at Al’s Pancake House. Our first tradition.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “Our first?” she asks, smiling. “Are you thinking we’ll have others?”

  “We have four years here, Jade. I’m sure we’ll come up with some others.”

  The waitress clears our plates and takes my credit card.

  “So what are your plans for today?” Jade asks.

  “I’m playing football this afternoon. I’m on a flag football team and we play every Sunday. After that we’re all going to this guy’s apartment to watch some games. He has an 80-inch TV.”

  “I didn’t know you played football.”

  “It’s one of my many hidden talents.” I smile and say it in a tone that probably sounds cocky, but I don’t care. I don’t lack confidence and I’m not ashamed of that and I don’t try to hide it. And if people don’t like it, too bad. But I think Jade likes my confident attitude.

  “And what are your plans for today?” I ask her.

  “Probably go for a run. Call Frank and Ryan.”

  “You never say anything about them. Are you related to Frank? Is he like an uncle?”

  Jade always seems hesitant to talk about her life back in Iowa, but since she brought it up, this is my chance to ask her about it.

  “I thought you knew my whole life story. Didn’t your dad fill you in about Frank?”

  “My dad barely told me anything about you. I swear.”

  “Frank is my legal guardian. Well, he was until I turned 18. He and Ryan moved into my neighborhood when I was 12.”

  “So your neighbor offered to be your guardian?”

  “He’s more than a neighbor. He’s been like a dad to me ever since I met him. And he knew my mom from college.”

  “Your mom went to college?”

  “Yes. Why are you so surprised? She didn’t get knocked up until she was 20. She had two years of college. Anyway, Frank took me in after she died. He has MS and now he’s in a wheelchair. Well, he doesn’t always use it but he’s supposed to.”

  “That sucks. Is he going to be okay?”

  “I don’t know. It changes by the day. The day I got here he had to be rushed to the hospital and I thought he was going to die.”

  Shit. I had no idea that was going on. No wonder she looked so sad that day. I thought it was just because she missed home.

  “Jade, why didn’t you say something? I wouldn’t have dragged you all over town that day if I knew that was going on.”

  “It was good you got me out. Otherwise I would’ve sat in my room thinking about it. But Frank’s doing a lot better now.”

  I’m surprised she’s telling me all this. I’m going to keep asking questions and see if she’ll answer.

  “So is Frank divorced?”

  “No, his wife died a long time ago. She got cancer when Ryan was just a baby. Frank was working at the paper and going to grad school at the time and he hired my mom to babysit Ryan so he could take his wife to treatments. That’s how he got to know my mom. She was a freshman when he met her. Actually his wife met her first because she worked at the college. Anyway, around the time my mom got pregnant, Frank moved the family to San Diego to be closer to his wife’s parents. She died a few months later, but Frank stayed out there so his in-laws could help take care of Ryan. Then when they died, he moved back to Des Moines.”

  “So your mom used to babysit Ryan.” I say it like I’m confirming that’s what she said, because it doesn’t make sense that this Frank guy would want someone like Jade’s mom watching his kid.

  “Yeah, I know. But apparently she was normal back then. She didn’t turn crazy until after I was born.”

  The waitress returns with my credit card. As I’m signing the bill, Jade slides out of the booth. “Let’s get out of here before I order more pancakes.”

  She’s got this huge grin on her face. She really liked those pancakes. I’m glad I took her here and that she agreed to come back here with me. This will be a good tradition. For both of us.

  I love making traditions. Maybe it sounds old-fashioned or whatever, but to me, traditions give you something to look forward to. And I don’t think Jade’s ever had that. I don’t think she’s ever had anything she could look forward to and be excited about. So I want to give her that.

  Every Sunday, Jade can count on me taking her here for pancakes and she can look forward to it. In fact, I think that might be what put that big grin on her face that’s still there when we get in the car.

  On the way back to campus, I glance at Jade and say, “You can take this if you want to go somewhere later.”

  “Take what? The car?”

  “Yeah. If you want to get off campus, just take it.”

  “Are you kidding me?” She says it like she’s shocked I’d even suggest it. “This car costs a fortune. I was scared to death to drive it the other night.”

  “It’s insured, Jade. And I’m sure you’re a safe driver. How many tickets have you had?”

  “None. And no accidents.”

  “Then you’re already way better than me. You have a key to my room, so if you need the car, there’s an extra car key in my top drawer.”

  “I’m not taking your car, Garret. But thank you for offering.”

  I don’t understand why she has such a difficult time accepting things from me. I’m used to girls constantly trying to get stuff from me. To buy them expensive jewelry or designer shoes or clothes. But I can’t get Jade to take anything from me. She won’t even borrow my car.

  “Hey.” I get her attention again. “When we get back, come up to my room and take the food that’s left. You didn’t eat much of it.”

  “It’s yours. You can have it.”

  “I’ll never eat it. I’ll just throw it away.”

  She gives me that shocked look again. “Well, crap if you’re gonna do that, then I’ll take it.”

  “Or, if you plan on watching another movie soon, you could leave some of it there.”

  “I don’t know. Am I invited again?”

  Why does she even ask things like this? Have I not made it clear how much I like her and want her around? I’ve never tried this hard with a girl, which just shows how much I like her.

  “Jade, I told you to come by whenever you want to use the TV or any of my stuff.”

  “Okay, then leave the concession stand up. Maybe I’ll watch something this afternoon while you’re gone.”

  I smile, shaking my head. “Well, I was kind of hinting for you to stop by when I was there, but whatever.”

  I drop her off at her room, then go upstairs and change clothes and head to the football field. A few of the guys from my floor are there, along with some guys I don’t know.

  “Kensington.” Asher, a guy who lives across the hall from me, throws me the football.

  I catch it. “Hey. When’s the game start?”

  “In like 10 minutes. We’re just warming up.” He points to a guy out on the field. “That’s Kenton, the guy who organized this. He’s a junior.”

  “Over here.” Kenton holds his hands out for the ball.

  “Farther back,” I yell at him.

  He runs backward on the field as I throw the ball. It goes way past him and he doesn’t catch it.

  Kenton returns with the ball and comes up to me. “You can really throw.”

  “He was quarterback in high school,” Asher says to him.

  The othe
r guys on the field hear us talking. A wide guy with thick black hair and a dark tan comes up to me. “Tolshire Academy, right?”

  “Yeah. How’d you know?”

  “I’ve played you before. Sophomore year. Then I got hurt and couldn’t play anymore.”

  I try to remember him but I can’t. “What school was it?”

  “Lanston Prep.” He smiles. “You guys always beat us.”

  I laugh. “Yeah, Lanston was one of the few teams we beat. We totally sucked, so if we beat you, then you guys really sucked.”

  He nods, also laughing. “I’m not gonna deny it. But if I hadn’t gotten hurt, we could’ve beat you.”

  “So is this a rematch?” I feel my blood warming up. I freaking love competition and now that I’m back on the football field, that competitive side of me is kicking into high gear.

  “You’re on.” He holds his hand out. “I’m Chad, by the way.”

  I shake his hand. “Garret.”

  He smiles. “Yeah. I know. Everyone knows the Kensingtons.”

  Kenton raises his hand in the air and yells so the other guys can hear. “Okay, we’re making teams. Kensington on one side. Stiles on the other.”

  Chad Stiles. Now I remember. He was a lot smaller when I played him in high school. That’s probably why I didn’t recognize him at first.

  Everyone divides into teams and then the game starts. We play for a couple hours and my team wins. Stiles is pissed, but he gets over it. The loss just makes him more determined to beat me when we play again next week.

  After the game, we all go back to our rooms to clean up, then we meet up at Kenton’s place to watch the Patriots play on his giant TV. Kenton lives in the same gated community where Blake lives. His dad is a stockbroker on Wall Street so yeah, money isn’t an issue, which is the case for everyone at Moorhurst, except for Jade.

  Kenton orders pizza and sets out a cooler filled with beer. While I watch the game I have some pizza and a couple beers. I’d like a couple more but I stop at two, remembering my commitment to cut back on alcohol, not just for Jade, but for myself. I have to admit I feel a lot better when I’m not drinking so much. My head is clearer, I sleep better, and I have more energy.