Broken (22 page)

I slowly closed my eyes and exhaled,
it felt like the weight of the world was just lifted off my
shoulders by hearing him say those words. “I love you
too.

Chapter 18

Garrett and I were having
a lazy Saturday afternoon lying on the couch watching what he
called
chick flicks
on Lifetime when my phone buzzed. I glanced over at my phone
on the end table.

“
Oh it’s Nicole,” I said
excitedly. I hadn’t talked to her in ages. Garrett had been taking
up most of my free time.

“
Oh Yeah? What’s she up
to?” Garrett said with his head resting on my legs.

Nicole --

Sup beoytche. You guys
wanna go out tonight? I really want you to meet Michael. Dinner and
then to a club?

Me --

Yah! I wanna go. Let’s see
what baby bitch over here says . . .
I may
have to entice him.

Nicole--

You better take one for
the team and get your ass out with me tonight.

Me--

OK. Here goes nothing.
BRB

I looked back at Garrett. “She wants
to know if we want to go out tonight with her and Michael. Dinner
and dancing. . .” I said holding my breath. I knew this was going
to over like a lead balloon. Garrett hated dancing. I looked down
at him giving him my best pouty face. “Please. . .”

He let out a huge gasp and rolled his
eyes. “Fine. . . I’ll go. You’re going to owe me,” he said, giving
me a wink.

Me--

We are in! What time and
where?

Nicole--

How about that new steak
place Texas Rodeo? 7ish.

Me --

Hell Yes! That’s the place
with the mechanical bull? We are so there! I can’t wait to meet
Michael. We’ll see you @ 7.

Looking down at Garrett, I gave him a
huge smile. “Thanks Baby.” I leaned over and kissed him on the
forehead. “I’m really excited to finally meet Michael. She really
likes him. He’s all she talks about.”

“
Anyone is better than
that dude she dated when you guys were in high school. That guy was
a fucking douche bag. What was his name?”

“
Matt. Ugh, you had to
bring him up,” I sneered.

Matt was Nicole’s first love and he
treated her like shit and things with Garrett and Matt didn’t end
well.

I never really knew Matt
that well. He had transferred to our school our junior year. I can
remember so clearly Nicole’s reaction the first time she saw him in
the hallway.

“
Who . . . Is . . . That,”
she said nearly drooling.

I turned in the direction
she was looking. “Oh, that’s the new kid. He’s in my Bio class. I
think his name is Matt.”

“
And why didn’t you tell
me about him?”

“
I don’t know. I wasn’t
thinking hmmmm. . . He would be perfect for Nicole, right before I
took my Bio test,” I said jokingly.

I could tell by the look
in her eyes, she was interested. If Nicole was anything, she was
determined. When she had her sights set on something or someone she
was bound and determined to get it. She pursued him for over a
month until she finally got him to ask her out. It didn’t take
Nicole too long to start wearing his football jacket and class
ring. The more she saw Matt the less I saw of her. He began to
become very possessive of her, and he almost seemed jealous of our
friendship. He wouldn’t let her hang out with me and Garrett
because he didn’t like the fact that Garrett was older than us and
that his friends hung out with us.

On the few occasions that
the four of us did go out, Matt made no attempts to even get to
know us. I tried my best to strike up conversations with him, but
he would reply with one or two word answers. After a while, I just
gave up and would act like he wasn’t even there. Needless to say,
our double dates ended rather quickly.

I was glad to see Nicole
so happy, but on the other hand, I really missed seeing and talking
to her all of the time. We had been inseparable for so many years
we were more like sisters than friends. Neither of us had the heart
to mention going out on any more double date. We both made up
excuses on why we couldn’t go to spare the other’s
feelings.

Matt was one of the star
players on our high school football team, and Nicole managed to
drag me to all the home games to watch him play. One Friday night I
even convinced Garrett to come to the game with us, he was less
than thrilled, but he went anyway.

After the game, there was
a huge party in the woods celebrating the upcoming playoff game. If
our team won the next game, they would be headed to the state
championships. After the game ended the three of us headed to the
woods. Matt texted Nicole after the game telling her he would meet
up with her at the party. He told her the coaches wanted to go over
the game with the team.

By the time we arrived at
the party the majority of the junior and senior classes were
already there. By the looks of it some of them had skipped the game
and came straight here. We walked up to one of my classmates who
was collecting $7.00 a head to drink. Somehow someone managed to
get five kegs of beer. Garrett paid for the three of us, and we
headed for the kegs.

“
Hey, I see some of the
player’s girlfriends over there, I’m going to say hi,” Nicole said
to me.

“
Okay.” I turned to
Garrett and rolled my eyes.

“
What’s the
matter?”

“
Oh nothing, they’re a
bunch of stuck up bitches. If I knew she was going to ditch us as
soon as we got here I wouldn’t have come.”

“
Well, we’re here now so
let’s have some drinks.” Garrett pulled me close to him hugging me
tightly.

We mingled through the
crowd and talked to some of my classmates. We ran into Howie and
Joe, a couple of guys Garrett had become friendly with after
attending other parties and school events, I had dragged him to. We
hung around with them for about an hour before we both started to
get bored.

I looked around the party
and noticed Nicole hanging with her new friends, and I was pissed.
I watched her from a distance she kept checking her watch and
anxiously looking around. Matt and the other players still hadn’t
shown up yet. Apparently, their football meeting was pretty damn
important. This party was being held in honor of the football
team.

Garrett leaned into me and
asked me if I wanted to go. I felt relieved. I was so ready to go.
I took him by the hand and led him to the opening in the woods. He
pulled me to him. “Don’t you want to say bye to Nicole?”

I rolled my eyes. “She
seems to be getting along just fine without me.”

“
Leila, don’t be like
that, you need to tell her we are leaving so she isn’t looking for
us. Come on let’s go over and say goodbye,” he said leading me
towards Nicole and her new friends.

We heard all sorts of
cheering and we turned our heads to where the sound was coming
from. It was Matt and the rest of the football players headed our
way.

“
Who the fuck is with
Matt?” I said staring in shock.

I quickly glanced at
Nicole hoping she wasn’t seeing what I was seeing. Matt had arrived
with some girl. Both of her arms wrapped around his waist, and she
was kissing his neck. Matt and the rest of the team where high
fiving everyone in celebration of their victory. Matt especially
seemed to be enjoying himself laughing and having a great ole time
with his teammates. By the look on Nicole’s face, it was obvious
she saw what was going on and took off into the dark
woods.

“
What the fuck!” Garrett
said. “I knew I didn’t like that guy for a reason.”

Matt walked right past us
with a smug look on his face. “What the fuck, Matt,” I shouted at
him. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. There was no way this dickhead
was going to break my best friend’s heart.

Matt stopped directly in
front of me. “What sweetheart you jealous? You want a piece of me
too?” He laughed.

“
Oh please, in your
fucking dreams!” I shouted back at him.

Garrett got right up in
Matt’s face, they were nose to nose. “What the fuck did you just
say to her you piece of shit.”

Matt had a shit eating
grin on his face. “I think your girl wants me,” he said, nodding
his head in my direction.

“
What the fuck did you
say?”

“
Let me say it again a
little clearer. . . I . . . Think . . . Your . . . Girl . . . Wants
. . . Me,” Matt said condescendingly.

Garrett huffed, “She
wouldn’t go for a piece of shit like you.”

“
Oh No? Well it would be a
step up from a fucking loser like you,” Matt said poking his finger
at Garrett’s chest.

Garrett slapped it away.
“Don’t fucking touch me.”

“
Why? What are you going
to do about it?” A crowd was starting to form around Garrett and
Matt. The entire football team was lined up behind Matt like a
wall.

I knew Garrett could hold
his own against Matt, but there was no way he could fight the
entire football team. I had a sick feeling this was going to end
badly. I tugged at Garrett’s arm. “Come on, he’s not worth it,” I
said into his ear.

“
Yeah, go ahead leave,”
Matt laughed.

Garrett and I turned
around to walk away when we both heard Matt say, “You pussy whipped
fuck!”

Garrett swung around and
punched Matt square in the jaw. Matt was completely caught off
guard and fell to his knees. “Get up mother fucker,” Garrett
growled as his chest heaved.

“
Garrett stop! He’s not
worth it!” I yelled.

“
Leila go find Nicole and
go to the car.”

Matt’s team mates were
helping him up, and they didn’t look happy. This was not good, and
I had no idea how Garrett was going to get out of there alive. I
desperately looked around for Howie and Joe. There was no way this
was going to be a fair fight, even if they did come to Garrett’s
defense.

By the time I found them
in the crowd, Matt was back up on his feet and walking towards
Garrett. His lip was split and bleeding, and as he wiped the blood
from his lip with the back of his hand he said, “Oh you stupid
fuck! You’re going to wish you never did that.”

He took his jacket off and
handed it to the slut he showed up with. I got in between Garrett
and Matt. “Matt! Just stop! We are leaving.” I turned to the slut
he brought to the party. “And you! He has a girlfriend you know and
she’s my best friend. Or should I say, he HAD a girl friend.” I
looked over at Matt with a look of disgust on my face. “Nicole’s
too good for you, anyways.”

“
Oh please, that bitch is
all talk and no action,” he scoffed coldly. He looked back at his
teammates, and they all started laughing.

“
Come on, Garrett! Let’s
go!” I dragged him away.

“
Yeah, Garrett listen to
your mommy,” Matt said mockingly.

Garrett stopped walking
and his fists balled up. “Let it go. He’s not worth it,” I said.
“We need to find Nicole. She’s out in the woods
somewhere.”

“
Yo Garrett! This isn’t
over,” Matt yelled as we walked into the darkness to find
Nicole.

It took us about twenty
minutes to find her. She was sitting on the ground leaning up
against a tree hugging her knees crying. “Oh honey! He’s a
worthless, two-timing piece of shit. Don’t give him the
satisfaction of your tears,” I said as I sat down next to her
wrapping my arms around her. She was ice cold and
shivering.

“
And to think I was going
to sleep with him after the big game,” she said through her
tears.

“
Well if it makes you feel
any better, Garrett punched him in the mouth and bloodied his lip,”
I laughed.

“
He did?” She said half
laughing yet still crying.

“
He sure the hell did,” I
said with a huge smile on my face looking up at him.

“
I hate to break up this
love fest, but can we get the hell out of here before the entire
football team comes after me,” Garrett said.

“
Jesus, that was a fucked
up night,” Garrett said.

“
Yeah, it was. I am pretty
sure Michael is nothing like Matt. I’m telling you her entire face
lights up when she mentions him. I’m beginning to think he’s the
one for her,” I said with a smile.

“
We should probably start
getting ready to go. I know how long it takes for you to do your
hair,” I said teasing him.

He was looking incredibly sexy lying
on my couch with his wife beater and basketball shorts. Just
looking at him got me excited, my stomach did somersaults. Checking
the time I felt slightly disappointed because I knew there was no
time to sneak in a quickie. I never wanted to rush anything when it
came to Garrett. I knew our time was limited, and I wanted to spend
as much quality time with him as I could.

Garrett rolled off my lap. “Let’s go
lazy, it’s time to get ready,” he said extending his hand to me to
help me off the couch. “I want to wash that sweet body of yours in
the shower.”