One Kiss Was All It Took

Chapter 1

Garrett

Garrett knocked on Shane's door frantically.

"Hey, how you feeling?" he asked as his friend opened it.

"Not great," Shane mumbled under his breath.

"Do you still wanna make videos then?"

"To be honest, I just don't care anymore," they sat down on his couch as Shane continued "like I've just lost all of my motivation for this."

"But you've felt like this before and that didn't stop you."

"When I look back at my old videos. It doesn't feel the same. It makes me cringe. They all suck!" Shane's head sunk into his hands and he let out a long sigh.

"No! They don't suck!" Garrett's pleas fell on deaf ears.

"I should be a TV producer by now! But I've just been here for ten years with nothing to show for it!" He raised his hands flippantly in the air.

"Don't see it like that. You've made so many videos over the years that I think are great and you have millions of subscribers and they think you're great. Ryland agrees with me, don't you Ryland?" Garrett looked around the room for Shane's long-suffering boyfriend.

"Don't bother. He went out grocery shopping this morning. Not even he wants to be around me when I'm like this."

A pause ensued between them as Garrett figured out where to steer the conversation next. "How long have you felt like this?"

"Not sure. A while, I guess. But I didn't realise how bad it was until last night. You know, when you called me."

Shane looked like he was about to cry. Garrett hated seeing him this way but didn't know the magic words that would make it all better.

"The deadline for the next video release is tomorrow. I've filmed it but it's not edited or anything, I just need a break! I need someone to help me out with some of my videos so I don't feel so stretched."

"I could edit it for you." Shane looked up and grimaced, "then you'd have time to think about what you really want."

Garrett wanted to ask for a reply but was cut off when his friend pulled him into a hug. Looks like he didn't need to.

Andrew

Andrew texted Garrett the previous night about going to the movies and got a reply just moments later. They made a plan to meet at 17:00 that evening. Andrew was nervous. He'd dressed up properly for once. Hell. He never even put this much effort in for Gabbie! Garrett usually texted him when he was almost there but Andrew didn't have any new messages yet and it was 17:05.

"You're being stupid," he told himself while pacing up and down the living room and checking his watch.

The door rang. Andrew practically sprinted over to be rewarded with the beaming face of Garrett Watts.

"Hey Andrew, you look good," Garrett's compliment made the redhead blush, it was the first one he'd received in a while. "Shall we go then?"

"Sure, just one sec," Andrew fished around for a black and white KC snapback – his appearance was never complete without it.

"I'm sorry I didn't call. My phone died," his words tumbled out one after the other in a big goofy mess but he still managed to sound apologetic.

"That's ok," Andrew replied while grabbing his snapback and following Garrett out into the streets of LA.

The car journey was filled with comfortable silence and the only sound came from Frank Ocean's voice over the speakers:

I remember, how could I forget?

How you feel?

And though you were my first time

A new feel

Andrew watched Garrett staring out of the window, his head slowly nodding in time with the music.

"What you thinking about?"

"Nothing much," he murmured while failing to break eye contact with the outside. "Just about what we should see."

"Any suggestions?"

"I was thinking 'bout the new Alien movie."

"Sounds good," Andrew smiled to himself about the thought of doing something with his best friend. It'd been a while since he'd seen a movie with anyone.

"Oh wait!" Garrett sat bolt upright. "I just realised I can't have dinner beforehand."

"Why not?" Andrew turned around sharply to face the other boy.

"I promised a friend I would work on their YouTube video for them and post it tomorrow. Why don't we skip dinner and catch an earlier movie so I'm home with enough time to edit this evening?"

"Sure," Andrew replied, keeping his voice level. "So, what's it about?"

"I can't remember exactly," he trailed off for a few seconds. "Something 'bout building a movie theatre."

When the pair reached the venue, they waited in line for tickets and snacks. Garrett picked out a brand-new flavour of Oreos with a barely concealed yelp of delight. They took their seats with large slushies and even larger popcorn buckets, the latter of which was knocked over by Garrett almost immediately.

"Oh shit," Garrett cried while scrambling to save as much as possible.

"Why is that something only you would do?" Andrew giggled.

Andrew found (despite the film being advertised as a thriller) that it wasn't all that thrilling and drowsiness quickly overcame him. He found something warm and comfortable to rest his head on and fell asleep.

The next thing he knew, there was a light tapping on his head. Andrew opened his eyes to see the end credits rolling. He realised that the warm comfy object was in fact Garrett's shoulder and he sharply recoiled away.

"Don't worry, it's fine," Garrett tried to reassure him when he began to anxiously mumble an apology. The tall boy's characteristically warm smile put Andrew at ease.

"How about we go, get some food? I'm starving!"

"Sounds cool. I'm pretty hungry too," Garrett replied, completely forgetting about the video he was supposed to edit.

They went downtown for Mexican food but ended up ordering beer while they were at it. Every time Garrett looked like he wanted to leave, Andrew bought him another round. This was problematic for a couple of reasons: firstly, his friend was now very drunk and secondly, that meant he was holding onto Andrew for support. Was that second issue really important? He liked the warmth radiating off of his best friend. It made him feel secure.

"You k-know something Andrew?" Garrett gripped his buddy even tighter, "right now, there's no one I'd rather spend my time with."

"Thanks man," Andrew glowed at the compliment. "Are you sure you haven't had too much to drink?" He had a degree of concern in his voice that wasn't hard to decipher – even for Garrett who was drunk as fuck.

"I'm fine, d-don't worry. Anyway, you're driving us home so... we good." He explained himself to the multiple Andrews in front of him while swaying rather unsteadily. He fell forwards. Andrew saved him from the ground and for a moment, the tall boy was in his arms. What happened next was entirely unexpected. Garrett leaned forward and kissed his best friend on the lips.

When they pulled away, Andrew's jaw was agape. He almost dropped him on the floor. His tipsy mind struggled to process what had just happened. Garrett brought him back to reality by bursting into giggles as if he'd just done the most hilarious thing ever.

"I think we're both too drunk to drive home so I'll call an Uber," Andrew stuttered while helping him to his feet.

"Sure. W-Whatever," Garrett smiled in a contented way only drunk people could pull off before promptly vomiting all over Andrew's shoes. In any other situation, he would have been at least marginally annoyed about that but all he could think of was the kiss they'd just shared and what it meant.