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Hilton on South Grand tomorrow and we can talk more about this when I have a clear head. I’m in room five twenty seven.”
    I looked at him and shook my head before I turned and walked out. The rest of the day would be mine. I’d take a nap, watch some television, and try to get this clusterfuck of a day out of my head.
    Tomorrow would be different; with the dawning of a new day, I would put Garrett’s declaration of love to the test.

Eleven
    I was sitting on the carpeted floor of the room the next morning watching The History Channel, when a knock came at the door. I had become so engrossed in the program on barbarians that I wasn't really aware of it until it came for the second time and harder than before.
    "Coming!" I called out, not moving from my spot. If it was that important to get into my room, whoever it was would be able to wait until a commercial came on. I pulled my legs underneath myself and leaned back against the edge of the bed, listening to the program expert when a voice rang out.
    "Zaydee? It's Garrett."
    I sighed and got to my feet. I went over to the door, unlocked it and pulled it open, eyes on the television the entire time. He walked into the room and I went back to my spot on the floor.
    "Sit down somewhere. It's the History channel. You should like this," I said, waving at him absentmindedly.
    Garrett chuckled and sat at the edge of the bed patiently. About six minutes later, the program braked for a commercial, and I turned my head up toward him. He looked down at me with a smile and I shook my head.
    "Shouldn't you be at school being official or something?" I asked.
    "I called in sick. You told me you wanted me to meet you here, remember?" he replied.
    "What can I say? I didn't think you'd show," I remarked with a shrug.
    Garrett shook his head as he nudged me with his knee. I moved over on the carpet and he sat down next to me, bringing his knees up, and resting his arms on them. He ran a hand back through his hair quickly and turned slightly toward me.
    "I've been asking myself since you left yesterday, if I should even show up. And now that I'm here, I'm asking myself why I'm sitting in the same room with you. Being around you brings back all of my old feelings; it makes everything feel like it might be okay again, but there's something really different about you, Zaydee."
    "Adulthood," I replied dryly.
    "That's not funny," he snapped.
    I smirked. I couldn't really remember who had initiated our soiree when I was in school, but I do remember enjoying every time we were alone together. Of course, that could have just been the young, romantic girl in me with her first love, as opposed to the bitter, grown woman who refused to believe in love.
    "Why am I here?" he asked, more calmly.
    "Tell you when this is over," I replied, turning my attention toward the program as it came back from commercial break. Garrett sighed irritably and I leaned over to rest my head on his shoulder.
    We watched the remainder of the show in silence and at some point he managed to slip his arm around me. Being as engrossed in the program as I was, I hadn't noticed until it was over and went to get to my feet to turn off the television. After I shut it off, I went over to the window overlooking the city and smiled.
    "It's been fourteen years, can you believe it?" I asked wistfully. "Fourteen years since I've been in this shit hole of a city. If I said I missed it, I'd be lying. This place is full of bad memories for me. It seems to keep taking everything I love away too. There's so much pain here. How can you stand it?"
    "I block it all out. Anything that's ever hurt me to think about, anything I've lost; I just push it all down into a place I can't reach. And quite honestly Zaydee, it was working just fine until you showed back up," he admitted, shaking his head.
    The smile on my lips widened a little. That was the thing with being damaged; no matter how hard you tried to keep it contained to just yourself, you always