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Garrett came home with his body heavy of disappointment. He had received a text from Rhiannon right after school ended, saying that things with her dad were more than ok and that she didn't need to stay at his house anymore.
His brain shortened that and came up with the thought that she didn't need him anymore. Period. He was a stubborn thinker. He basically took the key words out of a sentence and twisted them into something else.
He texted Austin and told him to come over immediately. Austin thought it was an actual emergency, and even put off his extra hour of watching AMC's The Walking Dead to run over to Garrett's house. He had been disappointed about Ron's death for a few weeks now. He was his favorite character.
Garrett's parents were both working late hours at work today. His dad was a firefighter and his mom was a doctor. Both jobs payed great money, which explains why Garrett's house was so huge.
Frantic poundings echoed off of the wood on his front door. It was Austin. Who else could it be?
Austin was greeted by a perfectly calm Garrett.
"Hey dude, what's up?"
Austin furrowed his eyebrows and cocked his head back in confusion. He peaked in the house from the view above Garrett's shoulder.
"Nothing's on fire. What the hell is wrong? You said there was an emergency."
Austin was already in Garrett's house by now. He made himself at home by raiding his fridge. He took out a cup of yogurt and popped it open, swirling his finger around the rim of the cup and licking the yogurt off of it.
"There is an emergency."
Austin jumped up on the counter.
"Not one worth missing a TV show for." He stated, swinging his legs around and kicking the bottom cabinets while eating the yogurt with his bare fingers.
"Rhiannon and her dad are fine now, and she said she didn't need me anymore."
Garrett pouted. You'd think he was pouting as a joke. But no, he did this naturally.
"That must've been what she cried about today." Austin looked off into the distance and quietly talked to himself.
"What?"
"Nothing. So what do you want me to do about it."
"Get started on those notes please."
Austin instantly groaned. Garrett dropped to the ground, holding his hands up and begging to Austin like he was some sort of king.
"I was hoping you forgot about that."
"Nope." Garrett smiled, jumping up to his feet.
"When do you need one by?" Austin sighed.
Why couldn't Garrett just do it himself? He had a brain, two hands, a pencil.
"I want you to have one slipped into her locker by tomorrow morning, so after first hour she can see it and it'd make her day."
Garrett had romantically planned out this ordeal all by himself. The notes would be slipped into her locker every morning, and she would receive a rose along with it. If only he could actually make the notes himself. Oh well, he had Austin for that.
"Well are you demanding a drawing and a note by tonight? Who am I? A wizard?"
Garrett nodded in response.
"I'm going home to write it then. Have fun doing nothing but sitting back and waiting for me to finish it." Austin remarked in his best crappy tone of voice.
Garrett led him out, shutting the door behind him. He hoped this would work out the way he planned. He hoped Austin would write something good, something that sounds like Garrett. If he made the letter too intelligent sounding, it would make it seem like Garrett didn't write it. The drawing on the other hand, had to be amazing. Remarkable.
Garrett remembered that she wasn't supposed to figure out it was him from the start anyways. That relieved him. That was his only job, dropping subtle hints to try and lie and make her think it's him who writes and draws the notes that are given to her.
Could they pull this off?
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My body went into its ghost-like routine. Where I would lay down on my bed and feel time pass through my body before I could even realize it was time to sleep. My mind is not my body, that I know. Both of them are numb. They fall under this routine every night when I come home to sit in my room alone.
I know I promised Garrett I would write about Rhiannon, but I couldn't bring myself up to it. I couldn't bring myself up to do anything. It's like I'm paralyzed from the head down, emotions included.
Rhiannon began to flow into my head. I remembered her running from this morning. My brain replayed her sassy voice, over and over. But what Garrett felt about her wasn't the way I felt about her. I guess I need to put myself in his position of thought.
Alright, so I'm Garrett. I'm 'in love with' Rhiannon.
Garrett wasn't really in love with Rhiannon.
He didn't know her at all. Her likes, her dislikes.
Wait. I didn't have to be Garrett. I was Sketch.
Alright, so let's just say Sketch, me, uh- I. Let's just say I had been in love with Rhiannon for a long time.
People who love others have to notice the little things. What little things does she have about her?
Hair. We'll start with the hair.
Her hair was long, purple and wavy.
I got up from my bed and went over to my desk, clicking the pen and beginning to write.
"Strands of hair fall against your face, my words are embedded with truth. You sprint the halls with such favored grace. I'm dying for something new. My brain repeats my salvaged thoughts of you and how you look. Taken back by words you breathe, tell me, tell me more."
He knew it was corny, but it would work. It would satisfy Garrett enough, right?
He put the letter aside and grabbed a clean sheet of paper to start sketching. He began with the outline of her head. She had a heart shaped head, and always sported a side part. He flicked the pencil to resemble her hair, falling against the apples of her cheeks. He drew her with such detail- trying to be as precise as possible.
His phone rang. He dropped the pencil momentarily to answer it. It was Garrett.
"How's it coming, buddy?"
"Fine." Austin mumbled, picking up the pencil and going back to sketching.
When you draw somebody you had to notice the little things. You draw what you see. Normally when he did drawings of people he had to have their picture right beside him to look off of. But with Rhiannon, he didn't have to have a picture of her out. He remembered what she looked like.
He couldn't keep her out of his mind or life whether it was in an annoying way, or a new way. Indescribable. Ever since her car hit his, she had been coming through his life again through school and his friends- like Garrett. If Garrett and Rhiannon did end up dating, Austin honestly wouldn't know how to react. Would he be jealous? He didn't know.
"Well I'm leaving you to it. Night. Don't forget- you're Sketch, not me. Don't let her know it's me, get the letter to her locker before school starts, I got the rest of it."
"By the rest of it, you mean you just sit back and watch?"
Austin heard Garrett sigh in defeat.
"Goodnight."
The phone hung up, and Austin dropped it, going back to his drawing.
Did he like Rhiannon?
No, he didn't know her enough.
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Don't give up on this story. It's just getting interesting from here, I promise. :)
