Human

7.

Garrett and I watched a few movies, talked about our tastes in music, and laughed joking around with each other for a few hours before whatever was bothering him finally won out and he passed out cold.

After he fell asleep I sat at my desk watching him for a minute. There was no denying how adorable he looked laying in my floor, all sprawled out with one of my pillows shoved under his head. He was so tall and lanky that he was taking up a lot of the space in the floor. While he slept he didn't seem as sad or worried as he does sometimes. He looked peaceful, so I didn't have the heart to wake him. He said he'd needed to escape from his house, and no one would think to find him here.

I pulled my notebook over and began to draw him. I was going to draw the whole scene, but it turned out to only be of his face. I had to angle a little closer a few times to make sure I was getting the slope of his nose, and the dimple in his left cheek just right. He really was an attractive guy. It isn't really like me to sit and ogle a guy, but this one was truly a piece of art. He just had a face, and body actually, that looked like it had been sculpted in stone. He was almost freakishly perfect looking.

When I finished my sketch, I was actually pretty proud of it. My shading had worked out perfectly for me for once. I smiled and it, and then over at him.

I heard the front door slam and loud voices coming from downstairs.

Great. They're home.

From the sound of it, date night had not gone well, not that I am even the least bit surprised.

The voices got louder and I ran to my door to be sure that it was locked and then I slid down to sit in front of it. I hate this so much. Its times like these that make me long for my brother even more. He and I were disaster bodies when this would happen, which was often. Stephen had always been there to distract me from what was going on just down the hall. Now that it is just me, it's twenty times harder to pretend I don't hear it.

I laid my head down on my knees that were pulled up in front of me and tried not to cry. "Be tough." Stephen used to always say. "You and I are all that matters, screw them." His voice still rings in my ears. I hear glass break and bring my hands up to cover my ears and begin to quietly hum a song to try and drown out the ruckus.

Garrett was at my side all of a sudden. I hadn't seen or heard him move, but here he was, sitting right next to me with his back against my door and his arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him and he held my head close to his chest. His touch was so warm and comforting. "You don't have to be tough all of the time." He whispered. I looked up to him and found his blue eyes staring into my hazel ones. "You can cry if you want to."

"Did you just read my mind?" I asked, trying to make light of the situation.

He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. "Of course not, I just know how you're feeling." He responded.

I brought my hand up to his face and gently touched the bruise around his eye. "I guess you do." I whispered to him.

Garrett surprised me by leaning into my touch, and closing his eyes as I held his face.

We both jumped when there was a banging on my door. I reached up again, triple checking that the door was locked. "Open the damn door Cadence." My father's voice billowed. I could hear the muffled sound of my mother's cry somewhere else in the house. "Cadence!" He shouted again. I could feel that he was still standing there for a long time before he finally stomped away.

Garrett and I sat there, until well past midnight, without saying another word. I clung to him and he held me tightly.

I don't know when I fell asleep, I only remember waking up in the wee hours of the morning, laying in my own bed and looking down to see Garrett asleep in the floor beside me.

***

I woke up the next morning around noon.

I slowly crawled out of bed and stretched my arms out over my head yawning. I took one bad step and tripped over something in the floor and began falling.

I braced for the impact with the floor, but it never came. Instead, Garrett easily caught me in his arms where he was sitting on the floor.

I had forgotten for a moment that he was here. I laughed nervously and wiggled to my own feet. "My bad."

"It's fine." He smiled. He looked so cute with morning hair. "How are you today?"

"A little embarrassed honestly." I told him. "I know you said you get it, but it doesn't make me feel any better about someone else witnessing it."

Garrett stood up and pulled me into a kind one armed hug. "Please don't even feel that way." He said. "I know you won't believe me, but trust me, my house is way worse. I would rather be here than there any day."

"Well you are welcome to come over anytime you want."

"Ok, good."

"Good." I repeated.

He let me go and took a half step back. "Big plans today?" He asked.

I sighed loudly. "Actually, yeah." I said. "I forgot I am supposed to be going to Kaitlyn's party tonight."

"Blonde girl Kaitlyn?" He asked.

"That's the one." I smiled. "You want to come with me? I'm supposed to be going with David something, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you tagged along."

"David from my team?" He questioned.

"Uh huh."

"Oh, well I don't know." He said bobbing his head and looking around my room. "Who all is going? Also I wouldn't be too sure David wouldn't mine me crashing your date."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Nobody said it was a date, and I don't know who all will be there." I said and then I realized why he would ask that. "It's probably a bad idea because of Carrianne, huh?"

Garrett pursed his lips and nodded his head. "Yeah, probably not." He agreed. "Not that I don't want to go with you."

"It's cool." I assured him. "I will just see you at school then. That is if you are coming back to school."

"I am." He laughed then walked toward my door. "Is it cool if I go out this way?"

I looked at the time and peeked out my window to see if I could see either of my parent's cars in the drive, but I couldn't tell from here. "They should both be passed out still after the late night." I told him.

"Alright, see you later Cade." He said smiling and giving me a half wave as he opened the door. "Thanks again."

I waved back and watched him go.