Come As You Are Ch. 01

Sadie had once joked that Garrett grew up but not out when he hit puberty, causing the nickname 'Scarecrow' to be hung on him during middle school. His arms and legs were just a hint too long for the rest of his frame and his wild brown hair screamed out for some kind of styling product. Loose shirts and well-worn jeans tended to be his clothing of choice, obscuring the shape of his body.

Garrett hesitantly broke the silence. "So, how do you want to do this?"

"First off," Brenda responded, "relax. We were assigned a project to do together. Danny's not going to get upset about that."

"You saw what Danny did to me out on the court today, and that was during a scrimmage. How do you think he's going to react when you tell him you're going to be spending two hours with me? More than that, with the discussion questions."

"Danny plays hard, Garrett. You know that. He's worked up before game day, that's all."

"If you say so. Do you want to get together tomorrow to work on this?"

"I can't tomorrow. I'm driving to Aspen in the morning and I'm cooking dinner for Danny, so I have to spend the afternoon prepping everything. And he's staying over tomorrow night..."

"Got it," Garrett said. "And I work until midnight tonight." He ran a hand through his hair, tossling it in the process. "What time does Danny leave on Sunday?"

"I'd have to check with him. What time was it supposed to start snowing? Around 7 pm? If you come over around 1 o'clock that will give us time to watch the movie and go over the questions. We should be done by 5:30 and that will get you home before the storm hits."

"And you're SURE Danny's not going to mind?"

"Even if he does, he'll feel better about you coming to my house instead of me going to your house."

"Alright. What's your address?"

"11680 Topaz Road. It's right past the turnoff to McArthur Point if you're coming up from town. Let's trade phone numbers." When Garrett pulled a small silver device from his pocket, she couldn't help but laugh. "Is that a slide phone? They still make those?"

"For Christmas, I had a choice between a new cell phone and an iPod Nano. I chose the Nano." After exchanging phone numbers, Garrett motioned towards a nearby locker. "This is my stop. Guess I'll see you on Sunday then."

"I'll call you if plans change." As Brenda headed for her locker further down the hall, she called over her shoulder, "have a good weekend!"

X X X X X

"Have you told Danny?"

"Not yet," Brenda answered Colette while she rinsed her hands in the kitchen sink. "He's going to boil over at the news, no matter how I give it to him. I figured I'd mention it later tonight when I can catch him in a good mood."

"You mean after he's been fedded and bedded?"

"Fedded isn't a word. I keep telling you that."

"And I keep telling you English is my worst subject," Colette laughed, her voice surprisingly clear through the smartphone's speaker.

"You and Sadie's. Thank God we have Michelle to keep the class average up." After wiping her hands dry on her apron, Brenda unrolled a strip of wax paper.

"Hopefully Danny won his basketball game today," she said as she set the wax paper over several chicken breasts laid out on the marble cutting board. "Between that, his favorite meal, and some quality time, he won't freak out too badly."

"If it was anyone else, Danny wouldn't freak out. But since it's..."

Thwack.

"...Garrett..."

Thwack.

"...Danny's going to..."

Thwack.

"What the hell are you doing over there?"

"Tenderizing the chicken."

"Please tell me that isn't a euphemism."

Brenda laughed as she used the meat tenderizer to break up the muscles and sinew in several chicken breasts. The wax paper kept bits of raw poultry from scattering over the counter. "I'm tenderizing the chicken breasts before brining them."

"Wow," Colette said, sounding impressed. "Look at you, going all in with the cooking. Are you OK with Garrett coming over?"

Brenda threw the wax paper into the trash before washing her hands. "I'm fine with it," she told Colette. "Garrett's harmless. He's petrified of Danny so he'll either be a nervous wreck or a perfect gentleman. He shows up, we watch the movie, we answer the questions, and he's out the door before the storm hits. No muss, no fuss. I'll be surprised if he even risks a goodbye handshake." Brenda dipped her finger in the brining solution to confirm it had cooled to room temperature. "It's last minute, but it's worth the letter of accreditation to make my folks happy."

"I'm jealous. Your extra credit project is to watch a movie. Mine was to help Mr. Cortez organize the chem storeroom... one sec. What's up, Mom?" A series of muffled words came in reply. "I gotta go," she told Brenda. "Dad's making a supply run and he needs me to help him load the truck."

The idea of Colette's father needing help to load the Hansen's pickup truck was foreign to Brenda. He was a bear of a man who worked in the motor pool at Sapphire Drop alongside Michelle's father and routinely slung around 50-pound bags of salt like throw pillows. "Is he OK?"

"He's starting to miss me, and I haven't even gone off to college yet! I think my folks are going to try to cram in as much quality time as they can before September."

"Would it be cynical of me to suggest that you play on that guilt and get all kinds of stuff so we'll have the nicest room in the freshman dorm?"

"No, that would be pragmatic of you. And a good suggestion. Catch you later!"

X X X X X

Brenda looked up from the rice cooker at the sound of the front door opening. "Hey," Danny's voice yelled from the foyer.

"I'm in the kitchen!" She sat up from the kitchen table just as Danny walked into the kitchen, wearing a gray tank-top and blue athletic shorts.

"Hey," he said again. "Something smells like it's about to smell good."

"That's the smell of prep work." Brenda stepped onto the bench next to the kitchen table and from there onto the table itself. Momentarily caught off guard, Danny quickly smiled as Brenda gently fell forward, giving him plenty of time to catch her. His hands went to her butt to support her while she wrapped her arms and legs around his waist and chest. "Hi, by the way."

"Hey." Danny's third use of the word was punctuated by a slow, lingering kiss. Brenda squeezed him tightly as her lips pressed against his.

Brenda crinkled her nose as she caught a whiff of Danny's body odor. "You need a shower. Bad."

With a chagrined smile, Danny gently set Brenda down. "Let me get a drink of water first." As he walked towards the refrigerator, he saw all the ingredients and cooking utensils neatly organized along the countertop. "Oh babe," he said quietly, "you didn't have to do all this. I'm perfectly cool with having a pizza delivered and curling up on the couch, right?"

"Hush. I like cooking for you. Did you win today?"

"Crushed them." Danny took a glass from a nearby cupboard. The clink of ice cubes against glass was replaced by the snapping hiss of water cracking the cubes open as Danny filled up the glass from the waterspout on the refrigerator door. "Michelle was right. Roaring Fork fielded a bunch of scrubs. Coach had the second string on by halftime."

"Did you just say Michelle was right?"

"Don't let her know I said so. She'll never let me live it down." He finished his water in three long gulps before refilling the glass. "I'm starved. When were you going to start cooking?"

"As soon as you showed up." Brenda moved towards the stovetop. Her gentle hip bump against Danny as she passed him was met with a flirty smack on her behind. "I'm already simmering the rice and the skillet's oiled. Go hop in the shower and I'll get the chicken on. It should be almost ready by the time you're done, and then you can help me set the table."

Danny headed towards the stairs at the rear of the kitchen. "Any chance I could use your parents' shower?" he asked hopefully.

"Sorry," Brenda answered, unable to fight the smile on her face. "You're stuck using my shower, pink loofah and all."

"Come on," Danny pouted. "Your parents won't be home until tomorrow night. I'll clean it afterward, I swear."

"I know you would. My parents know you stay over, but they pretend they don't know you stay over. Using their shower would... it's a bridge too far, to quote Colette." She held up a finger. "However, there might be some good news coming next week that will change their minds, or at least open them a little bit."

"Really? What good news?"

"Shower first." Brenda gestured towards the second floor with a spatula. "I'll tell you after dinner. Promise."

X X X X X

Danny took the tiniest sip of Dr. Pepper from the can. A moment later however his hand was pressed against his mouth. Brenda chuckled as he saw his cheeks bulge slightly underneath his fingers. "Sorry," he said, laughing as he set the soda can on the coaster. "I know belching is a compliment to the chef, but I'm not a total slob."

"I appreciate the sentiment." Sitting across the kitchen table from Danny, Brenda glanced down at his empty plate with a smile of her own. "I'm guessing you enjoyed the second plate as much as you did the first?"

"Absolutely." He took another sip of Dr. Pepper, a rare sugary treat for the young man. "That was seriously delicious, Brenda."

She beamed. There were few things in the world she appreciated more than a sincere compliment on her cooking. Seeing Danny, someone who watched his diet with clockwork precision, praising her food filled her with pride. "Now comes the fun part."

"Yep," Danny chuckled, already getting to his feet. "The cleanup. The culinary cooldown."

Between the two of them and Brenda's routine of cleaning while cooking, in less than ten minutes the pots were drying in the rack while the dirty plates were rinsed and placed in the dishwasher along with the glasses and cutlery. "Your cooking is what I'm going to miss when I head off to college," Danny said while wiping his hands with a dishtowel.

"And not me?" Brenda reached up and gently booped a finger against Danny's nose. "I mean, I know my cooking's good, but I'm not so bad myself, mister." She dragged her finger from his nose down to his lips.

He kissed the tip of her finger before stepping back. "You said you had some good news to share. What is it?"

Brenda's sense of pride quickly gave way to anxiety. "You know my folks aren't exactly fans of you staying over when they're out of town. They think you're a distraction even though I've pulled A's and B's ever since we started dating. I'm one point short of an A in History class but Miss Jaine said that she'd bump me up to an A and write me a letter of accreditation if I did an extra credit project this weekend. That letter might help put my folks at ease with you crashing here all the time."

"That's fucking great! What's the project?"

"I've got to watch a movie and answer some discussion questions on it." Brenda's eyes flickered downward. She studied the tile floor of her kitchen as she tried to pick her next words with care. "Miss Jaine assigned the project to me and someone else. We're going to watch it Sunday afternoon and try to finish the discussion questions before the storm rolls in."

"Cool! I was planning on taking off around noon on Sunday anyway. Simon," Danny said, referring to his elderly next door neighbor and longtime family friend to the Eastmans, "needs a hand grocery shopping. I'll be out of your hair so you won't be distracted. Who's your partner? Colette?"

Pulling her gaze away from a particularly interesting discoloration on the floor, Brenda did her best to look at her boyfriend. "Garrett West."

Danny's eyes immediately smoldered with anger. "West? How the fuck," he said, the word shooting from his mouth like a bullet, "did you end up with Scarecrow as your partner?"

"Miss Jaine assigned both of us to the project," she explained, "so he could make up the quiz he missed yesterday..."

Danny cut her off. "He misses a quiz and gets rewarded with an extra credit project? That's bullshit." He spun away from Brenda, walking forward a few steps. "Motherfucker... wait, and he's coming over HERE to watch a movie with you? Fuck that noise." Arms crossed over his massive chest, Danny turned back to Brenda and said, "I'm staying. To make sure he's not going to try anything."

Brenda rubbed the bridge of her nose, sighing deeply. "Do you really think Garrett's going to try anything? He already tried to beg off the project because he knew you'd be upset. I'm pretty sure Garrett knows that you'd get in his face if he tried anything."

"Well, he's not going to try anything, because I'm going to be right here."

Brenda loved Danny. She truly, madly, deeply did. But she wasn't blind. Danny's biggest flaw, one that he would never admit to, was his inability to let a slight or insult go unanswered. During a pick-up basketball game at the YMCA the previous summer, a high school sophomore managed to slip around Danny and hit a lay-up before. He had stuck his tongue out at Danny afterward. For the rest of the game, Danny made it his mission to go around, over, and through the sophomore every time one of them had the ball. By the time the game was over, the sophomore was in tears from the humiliation while Danny walked off the court without a second thought.

In Garrett's case, he had crossed Danny during eighth grade in defense of Vienna after she made an off-hand comment about him. When he got into her face about it, Garrett had stepped up to defend his friend. By the time the confrontation was over, Garrett was on his way to the nurse's office, Vienna had been covered in her best friend's blood, and Gio, finishing up his first week at Emerald Pines Middle School after moving from Chicago, had challenged Danny's burgeoning alpha male status. Since then, even a perceived slight or rumored insult was enough to turn Danny's ire towards Garrett.

The presence of Gio combined with Vienna's fierce protection of her best friend had kept Garrett safe from outright beatings. That didn't stop Danny from raining mental and emotional cruelty upon Garrett, done out of sight of the teachers and administrative staff. Between Danny's rampant popularity and Garrett's mostly passive acceptance of his fate, the bullying had become nothing more than another brick in the social structure of Emerald Pines High School.

Out of the four friends only Michelle had any real opinion about Garrett. "Garrett's always talking smack when Danny's not around," she had said one day after English class. "And he always has to get in the last word before cowering behind Gio or Vienna. He needs to stand up or shut up, and he doesn't have the balls either way." Colette and Sadie rarely interacted with Garrett outside of shared classes. As for Brenda, she and Garrett had been nothing more than casual acquaintances, although in the past year Garrett had done his best to keep away from her as if the simple act of talking to her would bring fire and fury down upon him.

Until now, Brenda believed that Garrett was overreacting. But seeing the raw anger in Danny's eyes at the thought of his girlfriend and his self-styled worst enemy working together, perhaps there was a kernel of truth in Garrett's wariness.

"I'm sorry babe," Danny told her. "I don't trust West. Never have, never will."

"But you trust me, right?"

The pointed question made Danny blink. "Of course I do."

Brenda stepped forward to take Danny's hands in hers. "Garrett's going to be a ball of anxious energy the entire time he's here. He knows anything less than his best behavior is going to result in you and him having a talk." She smiled. "I'll have the home-court advantage."

The basketball reference managed to pull a smile from her boyfriend. "I still don't like it babe, but I trust you. You," he emphasized, "not him. Just make sure he doesn't slack off and make you do all the work, OK?"

Brenda glanced out the window. The sun had already dipped below the mountains. The remaining daylight painted the sky with colors of vibrant purple and burnt umber. "What do you want to do now?" she asked Danny. "Go downstairs and watch a movie?"

Danny looked over at the green digital clock above the stovetop. "Actually, can we watch basketball in the living room? The Pickaxes are playing Louisville tonight, and it's a hell of a lot easier to snuggle on the couch than it is on those recliners."

"You had me at 'snuggle.''

X X X X X

Brenda wasn't into basketball.

Sports were Michelle's bag due to a shared interest between her and her father. Colette drank in any and all things related to movies, while Sadie had dove headfirst into a love of video games that saw her tiny bedroom, no bigger than a spacious walk-in closet, bursting at the seams with cartridges and discs. Brenda was all about cooking and the science behind it. Whenever she watched a basketball game, she placed the action on the court in terms of a recipe - five individual players mixing into a final product.

Danny rarely watched basketball games for enjoyment. Instead, he soaked in every play, every foul, every shot, every move the players made. A point guard's job, he had told her, was to be a "hardwood general," directing his teammates and calling out what the other team was doing. As physically gifted as Danny was, it was his keen basketball mind that made him a highly sought after recruit. The two would watch games in silence, curled up with one another, with Brenda's head on his shoulder while her mind voyaged elsewhere.

The sun had long since set. The clear sky outside the long bay window in Brenda's living room shone with bright stars that would soon be obscured by the intense snowstorm set to hit Colorado's Western Slope the following evening before rolling over into the Roaring Fork Valley. The interior of the house was dark as well. The only illumination came from the television shining upon them as they cuddled together underneath a thick checkered quilt. Brenda's head rested against Danny's shoulder as he focused on the television, where the Denver Pickaxes fought to hold a fourth-quarter lead over the Louisville Rovers.

"How much longer?" Brenda asked during a stoppage in play.

"About ten more minutes." Danny didn't take his eyes off the screen, watching the Rovers as they huddled around their coach while he drew up a play on a small dry erase board.

Brenda readjusted her body, molding herself against Danny, who responded by pulling her closer. "Did you want to watch the second game too?"

"There's something else I want to do more."

"Mmm." Brenda gently kissed the side of his neck. "Same here."

He softly ran his fingers through her platinum blonde hair. "As soon as this game's over."

She threw one leg across his lap, hooking it around his waist. Her fingers slipped underneath his tank top, allowing her to drag her hand across his firm chest. Danny sighed at her soft touch, bringing a smile to Brenda's face as the clock wound down to 0.0.

When the final buzzer went off on the television, Danny clapped at the screen. "Good game guys," he said, congratulating the Pickaxes' on their victory over a distance of 1300 miles. He slipped out of Brenda's grasp and used the remote to turn the television off. Darkness flooded the living room as the sole source of light in the entire house was extinguished.

Strong arms suddenly picked Brenda up from the couch. The quilt fell away from her body as she was hoisted into the air. "Danny!" she yelped. "What are you doing?"

"Carrying my girlfriend to bed."

"Put me down," she squealed. In response, she was flung over his broad shoulder. "Danny!" There was more laughter than anger in her protest as Danny carried her across the living room. "You better not hit my head against anything!" she proclaimed while playfully beating her fists against his back. "Concussions are NOT sexy!" He carried her through the dining room into the front foyer. The blood was beginning to rush to Brenda's head as her boyfriend hauled her up the front steps as if she weighed no more than a down pillow.