More Than This

5 - Garrett

Song of the chapter - I Want The One I Can't Have by The Smiths

Routines are comforting. Knowing what's coming keeps stress to a minimum. I like routines. I like similar, familiar. Adjusting to change, on the other hand, sucks.

I am a creature of habits. I like sitting in the same place everyday at lunch. I like my silent ride to school. I like hanging out every afternoon with Nico working on the junk cars we find. Well, I did.

Now it was uncomfortable, different. For the last month, every freaking afternoon, April would bring Amber with her to hang out in the garage. I figured she would be hanging with us for a while, but this was endless. Literally, there was no end in sight.

Amber was nice enough, maybe too nice. And she never got in our way. She made sure to sit on the couch Nico kept in the corner for those nights when he worked until the early morning to get a car running. Then he would pass out on the couch for a few hours, only to wake up and start working again.

I refused to sit on that couch. I knew that sometimes April stayed late while he was working and...yeah. I wasn't going near that couch.

The girls would work on homework, which I never thought I would see April doing willingly, while Nico and I rebuilt the guts of the Camaro. It wasn't that bad, I guess. Except that Amber was a distraction. One I didn't need. One that I had brought on myself.

I was constantly worried about her. Even when she was sitting right there in front of me and I could see she was just fine. I still worried that something would happen after she left. Or before she got there. I mean, April took care of her too. No one messed with April. But I couldn't help how my mind would wander.

I knew it was stupid, and crazy, and completely obsessive. But I just couldn't help it.

The other effing change I had to get used to was driving Amber home every afternoon. If I thought having her hanging around was awkward, the drive home was on a whole other level of uncomfortable. Epic. I was no good around females in a one on one situation.

Sure, if she was being assaulted or treated like shit, I was good. I could handle that. But small talk, getting to know you, yeah that was another story entirely. A fucking month and I still knew almost nothing about her. I didn't ask and she didn't volunteer. A perfect combination of awkward silence and just all around discomfort.

What a pair.

But today was a different day. Things had finally relaxed with the winter break and I didn't  have to worry about distractions. All I needed to think about was making this Camero as cherry as I could.

"Do you have the design planned out yet?" Nico grunted. He'd been under the car all morning.

"Almost. The basic plan is complete. Just working on the fine points" I reply. Never rush an artist. These things take time.

"I trust you, just curious."

"When are we leaving?"

Nico slides out from under the car. "At noon. April and Amber will be here soon, then we'll head out."

This was the first I was hearing about Amber going with us. "What? She's coming too? Since when?"

"Since the whole time. Where have you been, man? April and Amber are like sisters now. They spend every lunch in the lot and every afternoon here. Did you really think April would go to the car show without her?"

Yeah, I had noticed this new alliance. But I hadn't expected it to extend to our traditions. This car show was one of my routines. And now, it was just one more routine that had been altered by the presence of a little mouse.