If Only

Chapter 29

Austin's POV

The waitress brings Garrett his Oreo milkshake and his double Decker cheeseburger with fries, "Thanks."Garrett says in a cold tone of voice almost like he could care less about this waitress. She just sighs as she places my French vanilla cappuccino along with my chicken sandwich with a side of fries. "Thank you." I say smiling at her apologizing for Garrett's behavior. Once the waitress leaves Garrett and I alone we both sit in silences as we eat and it isn't too long before I can't take it anymore, "I have always wanted to ask you about why you transferred schools?" Garrett finishes his bite of his burger before cocking his head to the side with an odd expression on his face. "I am sure that there have been rumors about why I changed schools." I nod my head as I eat my fries and take a drink of my cappuccino, "Everyone has their story about you, some thought that your parents moved and forces you to come with them." Garrett throws his head back bursting out laughing, "That is hilarious!" He says through his laughter as he tries to get himself back under control. "I can kill that rumor because that is the farthest thing from the truth, and before you ask I don't want to talk about my family." He snaps the last part at me which makes me close my mouth quickly.

"Another rumor is that it is some type of foreign exchange program." Garrett looks at me with a dumb expression on his face as he rolls his eyes, "If I was a part of a program wouldn't I have been sent back to England already?" I am not sure howto answer that because I don't know how those programs work. "A lot of people think that the reason that you ended up in our high school is because you got expelled from your old school." Garrett smiles at me which makes me think that it wasn't rumor but it was fact. "Well everyone has to talk about something and if they are talking about me then that just means that they aren't talking about anyone else." I feel a somewhat odd connection to Garrett as I start thinking about my mom always saying that she is a strong believer in the old saying of opposites attract. Once the two of us are done with our dinner I grab my wallet and pull my card and grab the bill. "I guess this makes us even, you paid at the carnival and I am paying for our dinner." I say walking up to the front and paying the bill.

The ride back to campus is quite with the only sound coming from the music on the radio, and before I know it Garret and I arrive back to campus as pulls up to the front of my dorm building. "I have to say that you surprised me tonight Huntsman."I say making sure that I have everything and I hear Garrett let out a small laugh, "I told you that hanging out with me wasn't going to be as bad as you thought." I nod my head when the two of us get out of his car, "I can walk the rest of the way on my own." Garrett closes his door as he pulls out his cellphone and looking at the screen. "I know that, I am heading back to the frat house, and I don't trust my car around that place." I can feel my cheeks burn with embarrassment as I start fidgeting feeling like socially awkward. Garrett and I walk up to the front door of my building but as I open the glass door Garrett quickly shuts it. "You really want to know the truth about why I ended up here?" I nod my head already thinking to myself that I might not really want to the answer.

"I thought that the rule of the evening was that we don't talk about your personal life?" Garrett growls at me as his grip on the door handle gets tighter, "I guess I believe that someone should know that facts." He says through gritted teeth and I take a step back lowering my head to look at the ground. Garrett takes a deep breath as he takes his hand off the door handle. "The truth is that I left my old school in England is because I caught with a weapon, I was involved in a fight with another student that ended up with the other student getting seriously injured, I had multiple offenses of getting caught with cigarettes and weed, I came to school drunk on more than one occasion, and certain criminal activates." He says and this makes me look at Garrett in a whole different light because I never would have thought all of that. "Wow,that is a long list of trouble making, and I am very surprised that the school allowed you too stay in school that long." 

Garrettfinishes his food shrugging his shoulders, "No other school in England wouldtake me, and that is why I moved here to the States and ended up going toschool here." He says in a harsh tone telling me that he is done talking abouthis past. "Well everything happens for a reason." Garrett scoffs at me as hefixes his jacket, "I am only here because I am a rotten son of a bitch." I lookat Garrett not fully understanding why he would think that about himself. "Itwas cool hanging out with you Bookworm, maybe next time we hang out you will bea little less uptight." Before I can say anything about his comment Garrettwalks away vanishing into the night. I shake my head letting out a huge sigh asI enter my building and make my way to my dorm room.

As I enter my dorm I start pondering the strange feelings that I have been having all night and for the life of me I can't understand these feelings. "What is going with me?" I ask out loud with frustration and anger in my voice. I have experienced feeling jumpy and nervous around him for no real reason, I know that I am uncomfortable around him but that is sort of natural. I shake my head of these thoughts as I walk up to my room and open my journal and start writing down the bizarre but one of the best nights that I have had in my life.