His Saving Grace

Chapter Twelve

Who was Keith, you ask?

Keith was my best guy friend when we were in our freshman year. He was the one who left me because we lost the pageant. I thought I'd finally gotten rid of him when he was accelerated last year and finally went to college--but here he was, on the doorstep, in front of me.

"It's been a long time," he said, staring at me with the eyes that strangely resembled Garrett's. 

"Yeah," I said, shifting my gaze to the floor. "Come in?" I hastily backed into the living room, holding the door open for him. He had brought two travelling bags with him, and he dropped them carefully to the ground. He looked around the house, smiling.

"Nice," he said. "I heard you won Miss Arizona?" 

I nodded in reply, silently wishing that I hadn't fallen asleep. I willed myself to disappear, but alas, I wasn't a witch.

"Congrats," he said, holding out a hand for me to shake. I stared at it awkwardly. Probably sensing that I wasn't going to take it (and I wasn't going to take it anyway), he lowered it slowly, his smile faltering for just a second. He'd grown so much taller than I last remembered.

"Oi, Keith!" Kennedy shouted from the stairs. "I didn't know you brought Katie along."

I coughed. "I was here four hours ago, Kennedy."

Kennedy gave me a questioning look, but I flipped him off.

"Long time no see, bro," Kennedy said, giving Keith a high five. I felt so awkward and out of place, just standing there, confused as ever.

"You know him?" I asked Kennedy, still not able to process the fact that they've been long time friends.

"What does it look like, Katie?" Kennedy said sarcastically. "Yeah, we're pretty tight..." he said, cringing,  after I gave him a look.

"So I'll probably go..."

"You're not going anywhere," Kennedy said, reaching for the cordless phone on the kitchen wall. "Let's have dinner together! I'll order some pizza. Then you'd get to catch up, you know? Three years. That's damn long."

Keith and I looked at each other, and I immediately averted my gaze. It was awful enough that I had to endure supper time with the crankiest man who ever lived a.k.a.  Garrett--and now I had to mingle with my ex-best friend.

Kennedy was going to pay. And not just for the pizza.

~~

The rest of the boys had joined us five minutes later, and we were all gathered in the living room while we waited for the pizza to arrive. From what they've been saying so far, Keith had gotten into Harvard and was an engineering student. They were on their semestral break which, according to Keith, was 'fucking fantastic', so he decided to drop by and stay for the next three weeks.

Three weeks. Keith, in Tempe, for three weeks.

Fantastic.

"You could bring Katie to school every morning," Kennedy said casually, opening the huge box of pepperoni pizza that had just arrived. I choked into my Mountain Dew.

"I think I can take care of myself," I said indignantly, setting my can down while looking for a tissue.

"I'd love to bring Katie to school," Keith said, ignoring me completely. I gritted my teeth, reaching for a slice of pizza and stuffing it into my mouth to prevent myself from unnecessary cussing. I looked at John for help, but he was too preoccupied with his pizza at the moment. 

"NO," I said, my voice raising just a little. They all stopped eating and turned to look at me. I bit my lip.

"Don't force her if she doesn't want," Garrett snarled. Those were the first things I heard him say all day.

"Excuse me?" Keith said, turning to face Garrett. They glared at each other. "I'm her best friend--"

"Correction," I interrupted. "You were. And you don't have the right to control me, you arrogant douche."

Keith continued to ignore me. "Who are you, anyway? Her boyfriend? What makes you the right to speak for her?" The tension in the air was so thick. Everyone was silent. It was like the DQ incident all over again.

"I've heard much about you, Nickelsen," Keith snapped. "You're an egotistic asshole with a huge head. When Ashley decided that she'd leave me for someone like you, it broke me. But of course you wouldn't know, and you wouldn't care, because you had Ashley. She was so fucking happy with you and I couldn't understand why. She deserved better."

Ashley...who was Ashley? The way Garrett's expression changed when Keith mentioned Ashley...it was heartbreaking. 

"Don't you dare," Garrett said, his voice breaking for just a moment. His voice was so pained it that it was like I was the one being hurt by Keith's words. "Bring Ashley into this." 

And with that he stood up and walked upstairs, leaving the five of us in complete silence.

~~

Fifteen minutes after Garrett had made his grand walk out, everything was back to normal--well, sort of. It was still a little awkward and Keith was still mad, though the tension was lesser. In the middle of the conversation that only the boys could relate to, I felt the urge to pee.

I didn't bother excusing myself, and when I stood up they didn't seem to notice, so I made my way upstairs. The hallways were empty and quiet, sending chills down my spine. After opening various doors, I found the bathroom, near the far end of the hall.

I turned the knob. Just as I was about to go inside, I heard a sound from the room across. It sounded like something heavy had fallen to the floor. I leaned in closer, pressing my right ear to that said door, straining my hearing. Nothing. I shrugged. The wind probably knocked something off its place.

And then I heard it--someone was crying.

"Garrett?" I asked, knocking on the door. "Garrett? Are you in there?"

"Go away!" I heard him shout. 

"Open the door!" I demanded, knocking more furiously at the door. For some reason I found the necessity of invading his privacy. "Garrett Nickelsen, OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!"

No response. I was getting way too scared. The room beside his was open--I was guessing it was either Kennedy or Jared's. I knew that there was a tree on this side of the house, and from that window it was easy to get out. I rushed to said tree, bracing myself for another tree climbing expedition to break into someone's room.

Garrett's window was closed. I mentally cursed him. The curtains were closed and I couldn't tell what was inside. 

After getting the window up (which was way harder than anything I've ever encountered) I was sweating like it was a summer's day. Which it wasn't, by the way. 

I stumbled into the room. "Garrett?" I called, raising myself from the position I had fallen into. Nothing. I looked around. Nothing. I was pretty sure there was nothing to be suspicious or scared about.

Then, I saw Garrett. 

And there was blood.