Surprise!!! A double update! I knew you wouldn't be able to wait another week to hear from G, and rather than face a lynch mob I decided to go ahead and write his part. 😘

Song of the chapter - Destination Unknown by Missing Persons

The day had been surreal, like some kind of twisted dream. It hadn't even made enough sense to be a Dali painting. His shit was less intense than my effed up day.

Sitting in a court room, next to my mom, listening to the charges read against him, I could hardly stay still. The rage was still there, quietly seeping into my clenched fists. My mom kept rubbing my hands, trying to get me to relax.

"Calm down, Garrett. He's in custody. It's done now." She whispered.

It wouldn't be done for me as long as that bastard was still breathing. He took too much from us, from Lisa. He took everything. And I wouldn't be able to forgive him. Ever. He ruined what little security I had left after my dad overdosed, after Lisa left me, then after she came back, scared out of her mind. He proved that you can never be safe. I never forgot that. No one is safe, and everyone leaves you.

I pulled up to Nico's house an hour later than I thought I would. After the courthouse, I needed to just be silent for a while. I had nothing left. So I drove to my spot, a place that always helped me relax, and sat there for an hour, alone. I came to some conclusions sitting there. Some things in my life needed to change, it was time. But I wasn't sure I was ready.

I got out of my car and walked up the familiar driveway to Nico's sanctuary. Honestly, it had become mine as well. It was the one place in my life that felt safe. I knew what I was doing in there, I had a role that I felt comfortable playing. And I was good at it.

Nico had lived in this house as long as I could remember. His family stayed even after his dad died. There's no way I could have stayed like that. Nico had a great relationship with his dad, not the fucked up one I had with mine. This house was still full of good memories for them. I even had a few myself.

I got to the door of the garage and opened it, stepping inside. Still in my court clothes, basically my version of a suit and tie, which I didn't even own so my shirt and vest had to do, I knew I wouldn't be sliding under any car that day.

Nico had already found our next project, a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner. I could already picture the finished product; a midnight blue exterior and tan leather interior. It would cost a little more than we had spent on other cars, but the last sale had been a good one, we could afford to drop a bigger investment on it.

Except for the amount that I had put aside...

My thoughts were interrupted when I came around the car to see everyone already gathered. Nico was leaning against the front of the car, casually talking with the girls as he was covered from head to toe in grease. He had been working hard on the motor all weekend.

April and Amber were sitting together on the couch, talking heatedly about something that had apparently happened during lunch. The conversation ended as soon as I came into view, both girls and Nico looking over toward me, eyes expecting me to tell them all about it.

My eyes, however, went right to Amber. She was looking back at me and our gazes locked, intensely. Her mouth opened slightly and her eyes moved away from my own, traveling down.

Shit! Was she...checking me out?

My heart started speeding. I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying to get a handle on the nerves that erupted in my stomach. Amber's eyes came back up and met mine briefly, then she looked away. A blush formed in her cheeks.

Oh. God, she was just...damn, so beautiful.

I didn't trust myself to speak yet, but as I took as step further into the garage, April got up from the couch, that smirk back on her face. Strangely, it didn't piss me off like it had.

"Here ya go, G. Take a seat. You must be wiped out." April gestured toward the spot on the couch she had just occupied.

In my daze, after the electric connection Amber and I had just had, I shuffled over to the couch and sat down. The draw towards this girl was magnetic, and I was powerless against it. It was beginning to consume me.

It wasn't until after I sat down, my eyes focused over to Nico and the Plymouth, that I realized where I was sitting. Shit! The damn cooty couch... I had never sat on this couch, purposefully avoiding Nico and April's aftermath. The thought of those two tangled up on the very spot I was now sitting, next to Amber, made me break out in a cold sweat. Literally.

Getting up again so soon after sitting next to her was out of the question. I didn't want to insult her accidentally, and that's what would happen because there was no way I could explain why I didn't want to sit on the couch. I swallowed, a hard gulp, and shifted a little on the couch. That move brought my leg right up next to Ambers, which of course caused my pulse to increase. Could a guy have a heart attack from just sitting next to a girl?

Well, not just any girl, as I had spent the last hour figuring out. I was now pretty sure she was the girl, the one about to change my life in more ways then I even knew, and it scared the hell out of me. I knew I wouldn't be able to handle it if she left. And everybody leaves. So that was the dilemma I found myself in.

"You missed a hell of a show, G. The one day you aren't there, of all days." April said, obviously not noticing the tension a few feet away from her, leaping right off of the couch. Amber had her hands in her lap, I noticed with a quick glance, and was wringing her hands like a nervous mother. It made me want to comfort her, but I wasn't sure how. So I just put my hand on my leg, let it slide closer to her. Then I let my fingers brush her thigh, just slightly. Just enough to let her know I was there, next to her, and I wasn't moving away.

I had always moved away from her touch until that hug. The one that still sent electric shocks down my arms when I thought about it. But now, next to her again, I wanted to let it just...happen.

Ambers hands seemed to still, relax from their nervous movement. I sensed her take a deep breath, relaxing further, but she didn't look over at me. In fact, it seemed like she may have even closed her eyes.

"So, what do you think, Garrett? Did she do the right thing?" April asked, causing me to look over at her. She was still smirking.

Fuck. I had no idea what she was talking about.

"What?" No use acting like I had been listening.

"I said, did Amber do the right thing, confronting Matt like that?"

She what?! I looked over at Amber, whose eyes were focused on her hands, still unmoving in her lap. "What happened?" I asked, concern clearly filling my voice. I was past worrying about what April and Nico would have to say about that later. Fuck, I already knew.

"I heard some girls in the bathroom talking about how he had been cheating on me the entire time we dated. I guess I snapped, so then I marched over to his table and confronted him about it." She kept her eyes down throughout her speech, then shrugged at the end. This girl...

"How did he react?" I asked quietly.

"At first he was trying to apologize, but then he was explaining how he still wanted me back..." Amber shook her head.

I found myself holding my breath, wondering how she reacted to that statement. It actually made me a little nervous. Would this be what pulled her away from me?

"So I had to tell him that would never happen. Not again. Not with me. And I had to tell him in front of everyone. It was...awful."

The relief I felt hearing her say those words, that she would never be with him again, and that she said it in front of basically the entire school... Well, I hadn't felt that good in a long time. Deep down I'm sure I knew she would never get back with him. But it was still nice to hear that she told him, with no room for him to keep trying.

"How are you doing with all of this?" I asked, still quietly even though Nico and April still stood close by, listening to the entire conversation.

She took another deep breath, then looked over at me. My fucking stomach practically turned inside out. "I'm okay. It needed to happen. He needed to hear it directly."

It was my turn to take the deep breath. She had no idea what she was doing to me. I barely knew, it had just snuck up on me. I didn't realize it until last week at the police station. Well, I realized something was going on, but I couldn't handle it. But now, after spending an hour thinking of only her, thinking of how fucking scared I was about the way she made me feel, and after the look she just gave me, I had to pull it together and do something about all of it. Nico's shit eating grin be damned.

Before I could focus on another thought, Amber asked, "So, how did things go today?"

Her voice was tentative, unsure if she should even bring it up. But I wanted to tell her. Suddenly I wanted her to know everything.

"It went better than expected. The charges were read. And strangely enough, it was supposed to be a pre-trial motion, not a reading of charges. But I guess Brett's lawyer made some kind of deal and they pushed past the beginning stages and just jumped into the main show."

It had been a surprise that things were picking up basically right where they left off before he had run. I was relieved, it meant things would end quicker too. He would be gone, hopefully for a long time.

"Wow, how is your mom doing with all of it?" Nico interjected. He was almost as close to my mom as I was.

"Surprisingly pretty well. I think she's always handled all of this better than me, anyway." She had already gone to work. I couldn't even finish a sentence for the first hour, I don't know how she was able to concentrate on helping sick people at the hospital.

"Melody is a strong woman, she's had to be."
April stated.

"That's for sure." I agreed.

Amber was still sitting close to me, hands clasped together tightly. She'd stayed mostly quiet, listening to the rest of us talking. I noticed that Nico and April started talking about something else quietly. This was an opportunity to ask Amber what I had been thinking about for an hour. And if I kept thinking about it, I would probably talk myself out of it.

I leaned a little closer to her, "Hey, I had an idea."

Her eyes shot over to me, eyebrows raised, "what would that be?" The corner of her mouth started to curl up, almost smiling.

"There's a place I want to take you. Are you available on Thursday night?"

"Um...are you asking me out?" She said in almost a whisper, surprise clear in her eyes, and something more I couldn't interpret.

Shit. I was, wasn't I. It hadn't occurred to me at the time I was thinking about it. I just wanted to let her into my world a little more. But, if it was a date, then...why not call it that.

"Yeah, I guess so." I answered her.

She smiled a little more at that, which actually made me smile back. "Okay, yeah I'm free, especially since it's a four day weekend."

"Good." Now I just had to wait until Thursday. Which suddenly seemed like a long time to wait.

***

Amber got in the car as soon as I pulled up to her house. Apparently she had been waiting for me. The past three days had seemed so long, anticipating the date, which I still had a hard time calling it. Not because I didn't want to go on a date with her, but mostly because it meant things were changing between Amber and I. That was a lot for me to handle, but I was doing okay with it. At least I thought so.

"Hey." She said as I pulled away.

"Hey" she looked really nice. I wanted to say so, but something held me back.

"So, where are we going?"

I had decided to be completely cliche with this event, since it had been determined to be an actual first date, "You'll see when we get there." I could keep a secret, obviously. And some of them were about to come out.

"Haha, okay. I can wait then." She seemed more relaxed than she had been at Nico's on Monday. But our conversations during the week had been more casual than on Monday, too. The whole situation was strange and unfamiliar. It was like trying to walk through thick fucking mud and not knowing how, looking for the easy way out but not finding one anywhere. I just needed to figure out how to walk in mud I guess.

I took a deep breath and reached across the seat, slowly grasping Ambers hand. To my surprise, she opened her fingers, allowing my hand to close around hers. For some reason I guess I expected her to shy away from me. But she never had so I'm not sure where that idea came from. I sensed her smile, even though she continued to look out the passenger window, maybe avoiding my gaze. But her fingers wrapped around mine confidently.

Maybe walking through mud wouldn't be that hard after all.

^^^^^

What did you think about that???? Part 10 has concluded. So here is some housekeeping info: There are a total of 12 parts. Then there will be a double epilogue and my behind-the-scenes notes. Part 11 will be in Amber-Garrett-Matt order. Amber's next part will continue with the date. 😏

So this Friday gave you about 4,400 words of More Than This. And G is starting to heat things up!! I know what you're waiting for, trust me. And I promise to deliver so stick with it!

Garrett is on the untraveled road, therefore Destination Unknown, both with Brett finally in custody and with his feelings for Amber.

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