A Sweet Surprise

After a whole summer of mixed signals, it was nice to finally know where things stood. Classes were starting up again soon, so Hallie and her friends had decided to go to the beach. Unexpectedly, Hallie found another reason to enjoy the trip.

Things with Garrett had been shaky. They were together though not officially, but he wouldn't do a single thing when their friends were around. She would be lucky if he would actually treat her as a friend and not an acquaintance. Whenever friends meet up, they greet each other. Not doing so is practically saying that they don't matter. It had hurt. And after weeks of that treatment, she was close to giving up. She didn't think it was worth the happy moments when it was just them, over the pain he caused her when they were around friends.

So she started pulling away. She texted him less and didn't try talking with him when they were hanging out with their friends. She made excuses to back out when he would try to see her, even though it hurt to hear the disappointment in his voice. She was hesitant to end things entirely because she didn't want it to be like before where the both of them had been pining over each other. That had been hell, especially since she hadn't even known he had wanted her back just as much as she had wanted him.

A few nights before the beach trip, he had called her wanting to know if anything was wrong. She almost broke down and told him about how he was causing her so much pain, but she stopped herself. She didn't feel she had all of her thoughts in order to tell him and have it make sense. The pain was still too fresh for her to let him see. So she brushed off his concern saying that everything was fine and that she couldn't talk long because she had to go finish a few chores before she went to bed. His goodbye had sounded absolutely miserable and she almost called him back to apologize. Her courage failed her though, and she had flung her phone onto her bed in frustration.

She had thought that he would understand what she was doing, and she realized that she didn't want to tell him because she wanted him to confront her. Then when she realized that, she had to refrain from freezing up in fear every time she got a text or someone called her. She didn't want to let go of him even though that was exactly what she was trying to do. She was the maker of her own downfall.

Sleep had been difficult for her the night before the beach trip. Anticipation had her full of energy, while anxiety about spending it with Garrett after that brief, but painful phone call had her tossing and turning most of the night. It hadn't been surprising to wake up tired and aching. What had surprised her though was Garrett.

Her friends had driven up to her driveway and Garrett was sitting on the passenger side with his window rolled down. He had leaned over the side and greeted her with a flirty smile and a quirk of his eyebrow. Too surprised that he had actually said hello to her while their friends were around, she had only managed to smile and hesitantly return his greeting.

They had to travel in two cars since their group was so large and she ended up in the one without Garrett. She hadn't been sure whether that was a good thing or not. She got a text from him complimenting her and she couldn't help blushing.

It was at the beach that she finally understood what was going on. After everyone had set up their stuff up, Garrett had walked up to her and asked if she would go on a walk with him. The surprised look she gave him was completely justified after the summer she had of him basically ignoring her around their friends. She had agreed though and they walked until they came to a spot where there were few people, and then he surprised her further by apologizing.

"I've been a complete jerk to you this summer. I let the whole thing with Aubrie affect me too much and I even let it affect how I treated you. I've been unfair to you and I know I should just let you move on." He looked away from her frowning and she felt tears form when he looked back with a shine to his eyes that hadn't been there before. "But I want to be with you. I'm not good at being a person, but I want to try being better for you." He had taken her hand and held it in both of his. "I'm sorry for hurting you."

She wasn't ashamed to say that she had cried a little when he had done that. And she had cried a bit more when she had told him she lied about everything being fine and how she had been pulling away because she was hurting. He had hugged her and she breathed in his scent as the tension from the stressful summer slowly left.

The rest of her day had only been better. The two of them had returned to their friends and joined in on the game of Frisbee. And Garrett had been true to his word. She couldn't remember how many times he had surprised her by suddenly going up to her and hugging her, holding her around the shoulders, or even kissing her. A part of her was thrilled that he was doing it around their friends, but mostly because he hadn't done so before.

She was happy. So completely happy, she felt as if she was brimming with it. They had finished at the beach and had gone into town to go get candy. She was leading the way with Garrett beside her, but as soon as she saw the store, she had skipped all the way inside.

A clear, plastic bag was in her hand as she walked into an aisle, looking at the assorted candies to see if there were any that she wanted. Garrett walked over to her and she flashed him a smile before looking back at the sweets. She didn't see any, so she started walking away.

Only to be abruptly pulled back by the strap of her bag into Garrett's arms. She tilted her head back and smiled playfully. "What?"

"Hey, I'm your boyfriend."

She hesitated only a second before she responded, the importance of the statement echoing in her mind. "Are you now?"

"Yeah." His eyes softened as he looked at her and she turned slightly in order to grip his shirt. She didn't have to stand entirely on her toes as he leaned down to meet her lips tenderly.