What To Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection Part Two (192 page)

I cleared my throat to make my presence known.

“Bout time you got here. I was trying to show Leila here how to hacky sack. She’s never even heard of it before. Can you believe that?” Shawn said in complete disbelief.

“Yeah, actually I can believe it,” I said as I walked up to them. “Hi, I’m Garrett.”

“Hi, I’m Leila,” she said softly pushing her hair behind her ear.

She had the most beautiful blue eyes with the perfect amount of eye makeup to accentuate them and her smile was almost angelic.

“So you’ve never hackied before?”

She shook her head.

Taking the ball from her. “Here let us show you.”

Shawn and I took a few steps back. I threw the ball up in the air hitting it with the inside of my shoe in the direction of Shawn. We did this back and forth several times demonstrating to Leila exactly how to do it.

“You think you can handle it?” I asked, smiling at her.

“Yeah, I got this,” she said with cockiness in her voice.

“Then bring it,” I replied egging her on throwing the hacky sack in her direction.

I loved a girl with a little spunk and I could tell already she had spunk.

Without even batting an eye Leila kicked her leg out hitting the sack with the tip of her sneaker. The hacky sack went flying and hit Shawn in the head.

“What the?” He laughed.

“Heads up, Shawn,” Leila said smirking at him.

In complete astonishment I said, “Shawn, did you see that? I think we may have just been played.”

“Yeah, I saw it. She hit me in the head with it,” he said rubbing his head.

“Oh please,” Leila laughed. “It was beginners luck.”

The three of us hung out in Shawn’s backyard for a good hour playing hacky sack until it became too dark to see anymore.

“You guys wanna come in? We can order a pizza or something?” Shawn asked.

I looked at Leila waiting to see what she was going to say. I was definitely intrigued by her and wanted to spend more time with her.

“Yeah, sure,” she responded glancing over at me. “Are you going to stay too, Garrett?”

“Hell yeah! Pizza is my favorite.”

She gave me a coy smile.

“Come on let’s get you inside it is getting cold out here and you must be freezing with only a hoodie on.” I said as I began to take my jacket off.

“I’m okay,” she said leaning into me.

We climbed the two stairs onto the back porch and I pulled my cigarettes out of my pocket.

“Eeewww. . . You smoke?” Leila said with a look of disgust on her face.

I laughed a little. “I take it you don’t?”

“Oh God. No way,” she blurted out.

“Why don’t you go inside and find Shawn. I am going to smoke my cigarette and I’ll meet you inside in a few.”

“Okay. . . Suit yourself. You know those things are going to kill you?” She said as she closed the door behind her.

As I lit my cigarette, her words ran through my head. I took my first drag then exhaled “Fuck.” I threw the cigarette onto the ground, putting it out with my foot. I stood there contemplating my next move.

The door opened from behind me. “Garrett the pizza is going to be here in like five minutes,” Shawn said as he walked up and stood next to me. “So? What do you think of her? She’s cute. Right?”

“She’s more than cute. I’m just wondering what the hell she saw in you,” I laughed patting him on the back.

“We better get inside before my uncle starts hitting on her.”

The three of us sat in the living room eating pizza and playing cards. Leila was a horrible card player and only knew a few games. Shawn and I tried to teach her poker but she gave up after one hand. We ended up playing Go Fish. I had this shit eating grin on my face as I dealt the cards.

“Why are you smiling at me like that?” Leila asked suspiciously.

“Oh, I don’t know probably because I am sitting here playing Go Fish.” I winked at her.

Laughing back she said, “Hey there is nothing wrong with Go Fish.”

“You are right there is nothing wrong with it. It’s just I haven’t played this game in years.”

“Well, I play it all the time with the kids I babysit. You’re lucky I don’t have my Old Maid cards with me. I’d whoop your ass at the game,” she laughed, pushing her leg into mine.

Our eyes met and I couldn’t help but keep staring. Her eyes were mesmerizing to me. I needed to find out more about this girl.

“You wanna take a walk?” Finally came out of my mouth.

“Sure,” she said in barely a whisper as she was still staring into my eyes.

I stood up holding my hand out to her. “Come on.”

“Shawn we are going for a walk,” I said looking at Shawn.

Jumping up off the couch Shawn said, “Cool. Let me grab my coat.”

“No Shawn. Leila and I are taking a walk. You’re not invited.”

“Oh. . . Okay,” Shawn said with disappointment in his voice.

Taking Leila by the hand. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

“Okay,” she smiled.

We slowly walked down the street holding hands. “So Leila. Tell me about yourself.”

“There’s not much to tell. I’m a junior in high school, I love photography, and I babysit. That’s about it. What about you?”

“I’m the oldest of three boys. I live still live with my parents and I work full-time at a paper company right down the street.”

“Wow, we live thrilling lives,” she laughed.

“Ha! Yeah, I guess we do.”

“So you live around here?” Leila asked.

“Yeah, I actually live in that huge house on the corner over there.”

“Holy shit! That is a huge house.”

“Yeah, it used to be a two family house. My parents turned into a one family.” I laughed. “How are you getting home?”

“I’m not really sure. I’ll probably have to call my mom.”

I stopped walking. “I can drive you home if you want,” I said smiling at her.

She quickly looked down at the ground kicking a rock. “Sure,” she said quietly as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

“We’ll walk to my house and I’ll drive you home.”

I walked as slowly as I could trying to delay getting to my house. I wanted to spend more time with her, learn more about her. She told me about her photography and how much she loved taking pictures. Her entire face lit up as she talked about it.

Before I even realized we were standing at the foot of my driveway. “Well. . . Here we are,” I sighed heavily.

I rounded the front of my car unlocking and opening the passenger’s side door for her. Once I knew she was in, I carefully shut the door behind her. My car was an old piece of shit and sometimes the doors stuck. I was praying they wouldn’t tonight.

I opened the driver’s side door and slide in behind the wheel. “So, where am I going?” I asked her as I turned the ignition. My radio began to blare The Drop Kick Murphy’s. Leila began to cringe at the loudness of the music.

Quickly, I turned the volume down. “Sorry. I didn’t realize it was that loud.”

“What the hell was that?”

“You’ve never heard of The Drop Kick Murphy’s?” I gasped.

“Nope. They sound like pirates,” she laughed.

I began to laugh. “Yeah, I guess you’re kind of right they do. Don’t they?”

We both laughed as I backed out of my driveway.

She told me the directions to get to her house. I was trying to figure out a way to keep her with me longer. But nothing was coming to mind.

As we were coming up on a Dunkin Donuts I asked, “You want to stop for a coffee or hot chocolate?” I had noticed she had shivered a few times.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“It’ll warm you up.”

“This may sound really weird. But I don’t drink anything hot.”

“You what?” I said flabbergasted.

“Yeah, you heard me right. I don’t drink anything hot. Not coffee, tea or hot chocolate.”

Giving her a puzzled look. “What do you drink then?”

She then gave me that beautiful angelic smile again. “Diet Coke.”

I laughed loudly. “Did you just say Diet Coke?”

“Yup. It’s my vice. I drink it first thing in the morning to wake me up.”

Making a face. “Yuck! Soda in the morning?”

She laughed. “Well that’s exactly how I feel about coffee. I can’t stand the taste let alone the after taste. Gross.”

Nodding my head. “Fair enough,” I said.

“My street is just past that light,” she said pointing.

I anxiously ran my hand through my hair. The thought of her slipping away was gnawing at me. Think, Garret, Think. I screamed at myself. I quickly remember about a party that was going on at Wales Park this weekend.

“My street is the next one,” she said waking me from my train of thought. “I’m the third house down on the left. The one with all the lights on.”

I pulled into her driveway and put my car in park. We both sat silently as she unbuckled her seat belt.

“Well thanks for driving me home. I’m sure my mother would thank you as well. She can’t wait for me to get my license,” she said politely.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you didn’t have your license yet. How old are you?” I asked.

Smiling she responded, “I just turned sixteen at the beginning of the month. Only six more months and I can get my license. I can’t wait.”

“Well since I missed your birthday that means I need to take you out this weekend so we can celebrate.”

“You didn’t even know me when it was my birthday. Why would you take me out for it?” She laughed nervously.

I moved my body closer to hers. “Well, I was trying to make up an excuse to see you again. But since you just called me out on it.”

“Oh, sorry,” she said innocently moving closer to me.

“I really want to see you again, Leila,” I said softly.

“I would like that,” her voice barely a whisper.

I inched my face closer to hers. “How about Saturday Night? I’ll take you out to dinner. Where ever you want to go.”

She nodded her head.

She then moved her face closer to mine and gently brushed her lips up against mine. I slowly pulled her into me pressing my lips harder to hers. I’d been waiting all night to kiss her. I wasn’t expecting her to make the first move.

Helen’s voice brought me back to reality. “Leila, is that why you don’t like Garrett telling this story? Because you made the first move?”

I could feel myself smiling at the thought of our first kiss. I turned my attention to Leila waiting to hear her response.

Leila sighed. “It’s not that. I just hate people telling stories about me when I am sitting right here.”

“Well I think it’s a brilliant story and I loved how you told it, Garrett. Thank you for sharing,” Helen said smiling.

“I would like to move onto another topic,” she said turning to Garrett. “Garrett I would like to know a little more about you. Leila has told me about what happened to you Afghanistan, but what I am curious about is after your recovery and return to the Marines. What have you been up to? I am fully aware of Leila’s past as I am sure you are.”

I glanced nervously at Garrett.

Garrett took my hand. “What do you want to know?” Garrett asked.

“Have you had any serious girlfriends?”

Garrett squeezed my hand gently. “No not really.”

“What does not really mean exactly?” Helen asked.

“Yeah, I dated girls.” He squeezed my hand again.

This conversation was beginning to make me nervous. I knew exactly where Helen was going with this. She and I had this same conversation when I first started seeing her. I began to fidget in my seat. I was completely content on knowing that he hadn’t slept with anyone. I really didn’t want to hear about his ex-girlfriends.

“Was there anyone special?”

Garrett hesitated before he spoke. “There was one girl her name was Amanda. We dated for about six months.”

“And why did it end?” Helen asked.

“She told me she loved me,” Garrett said softly.

“And you didn’t love her back?” Helen encouraged him to keep going.

“I cared for her but I could never give her my heart.” He paused. “I wanted to love her and I really tried to. . . But there was nothing there. My heart belonged to someone else. It always had. When I told her I didn’t love her, she was pissed. She called me a cold hearted bastard and hoped someday someone would break my heart like I did hers. I tried to explain that it was nothing that she did and that it was all me. But she just laughed at me. I never saw her again after that.”

I sat in silence not knowing what to do or say. I clenched his hand tightly not wanting to let go.

“How did that make you feel when she said that to you?”

“To be honest, I didn’t feel anything. I knew I was an asshole to her. I knew she was falling for me and I guess I hoped that maybe I could eventually love her.” He stopped and took a deep breath. “The only time I felt anything was when the needle hit my skin when I got a tattoo. I guess that is why I am covered in them now,” he laughed looking down at his arms.