Come As You Are Ch. 02

"Let's not talk about Danny anymore. How about you and I work on getting to know each other? The two of us and two beers each, we can be honest without worrying about what other people will think."

"If it counts for anything, I am having a good time. Dinner and beer? This is the last thing I expected." Garrett motioned to the window. Snowdrifts reached halfway up the glass as the snow was still coming down. "Five, six more hours and it'll stop, but we still have to be dug out."

"Let's light a fire then. We'll watch the snow fall while we talk, and you'll be nice and toasty when you go to sleep later tonight. Oh, I almost forgot about dessert! There's some apple pie in the fridge I've been looking for an excuse to polish off..."

X X X X X

"Thank you for bringing in the firewood this morning," Brenda said as she grabbed a gray reading pillow from the two-person loveseat. "That snowdrift's covering the entire woodpile. Mr. Hansen's definitely going to be earning what my folks pay him to clear the driveway." She watched as Garrett, kneeling in front of the fireplace, stacked the wood in a two-by-two formation by laying a pair of logs parallel to each other before putting two perpendicular pieces on top. By the time he was finished, six alternating rows of white birch logs surrounded two vertical pieces. "I've never seen someone build a fire like that before," she remarked.

"My grandfather again." Garrett studded newspapers into the empty spaces around the firewood. "It makes for a better-ventilated fire that lights quicker and burns hotter. You got a lighter?"

"We have long matches." After setting the reading pillow on the floor against the loveseat Brenda walked over to the fireplace. She bent over, her t-shirt hanging loose around her body, and grabbed a long box from inside a brass spittoon. She turned in such a way as to give Garrett a good view down the temporarily plunging neckline of her shirt while she handed him the box.

He reached out and took the box without looking in her direction. A frown creased Brenda's face as she sat down on the living room floor. The momentary pang of disappointment was washed away from the swig of cold beer she took while watching Garrett light the pile of newspapers. By the time Garrett blew out the match and joined Brenda in leaning against the loveseat, flames were beginning to lick at the bottom of the firewood.

Once Garrett was comfortable against his side of the reading pillow, Brenda held her bottle of beer out towards him. Garrett clinked his bottle against hers before taking a sip. "This is pretty good," she said. "I'm really not a beer person. My family's more into wine and spirits and it's nothing but Coors and Coors Light at the basketball team's parties."

"The joys of living in Colorado," Garrett said. "Coors is pretty much the official state drink. It's what my granddad drank for over fifty years until he switched to Ruby Red. So," he said with a hint of apprehension, "we've got beer and we've got a fire. I guess we should work on that 'getting to know each other' thing that you suggested."

"Yes. But no talk of school. No homework, no classes, no teachers, and NO Danny Eastman. Just Garrett West, just Brenda Lattimore."

"Let me start by saying that the venison we had for dinner was amazing, especially since you said you had to improvise."

"It's nothing complicated," she said modestly. "Just a dash of pepper and tin foil to keep it juicy and cut down on the gamey taste. I know a bunch of different ways to cook and prepare venison. It mixed really well with the beer."

"Is cooking a hobby?"

"It goes beyond a hobby. Ever since I was nine years old I wanted to be a chef. Remember when they took our class to Comstock's for a field trip? Rosemary's dad showed us all the behind-the-counter stuff and the health inspector talked to us about food safety, and I was hooked immediately. I almost burned out my E-Z-Bake oven that year and had to practically beg my mom to let me get a stepstool and help her cook."

She leaned against the loveseat, one elbow resting on the cushion. "I just fell in love with the whole process. Setting everything up, putting it all together, keeping an eye on it to make sure it all comes out right, not to mention the presentation. It's like chemistry and art rolled into one profession." Brenda's eyes sparkled with delight as she talked. "I knew right then and there I wanted to be a chef."

"Are you going to culinary school after graduation?"

"Not right away. I'm going to the University of Colorado but I want to swing a part-time job so I can get some hands-on training. I'd rather jump right into the fire and save the frying pan experience once I have some time under my belt. Even if I don't make it as a chef, I can still cook for myself and my friends?" Brenda rested her chin against her hand. "What about you? Any hobbies?"

"I like pool," he answered. "My aunt Bailey taught me how to play. I shoot against my grandfather's friends and Gio's family all the time. Um... I also like music. It's how Vienna and I bonded. Whenever I'd sleep over her house we'd spend hours on Limewire or Bearshare. She was always making mix CDs for me. Same for Gio. It turned out the three of us had a shared love of music. And skiing. Gio's dragged both of us down a couple of black diamonds up at the Drop."

"Michelle's done the same thing. She's even gotten Sadie to do a black diamond and she's an admitted lodge rat. So what about you personally? What do you want to be when you grow up?"

His fingers tapped against the couch in an off-beat manner. He took a long sip of beer, eyes looking off into the distance. The crackling of the fire was the only sound for a few moments until Garrett quietly answered, "I don't know yet. I was always so focused on trying to hang on until graduation because of..." He held up his hand. "Nope. You said we're not going to talk about him. That's your rule and I'm sticking to it."

"Then let's toast to possibly, maybe, finding out what we want." The two young adults lightly tapped their bottles before polishing off what beer remained inside. "Are you empty?"

"Yeah."

"Gimme." Garrett handed the empty beer bottle to Brenda. She got up from the floor, rocking forward to help push herself up to her feet. "I'm gonna toss these in the recycling bin and get us some water. Be right back." She left Garrett in front of the roaring fire as she walked through the darkened dining room and foyer. Her head was pleasantly buzzing. She was teetering in that gray area between "tipsy" and "slightly drunk." A second six-pack of Ruby Red would have been a really good idea at that moment, but it was a good enough idea for her brain to remind her just how bad an idea it would have been.

Both bottles managed to make it to the recycling bin, bouncing off the rubber mat on the back wall before landing inside from Brenda's underhand throw. She meandered over to the sink. Her mind was on two glasses of cold water until she saw that during her and Garrett's cleaning efforts they had missed putting the sour cream back into the fridge. Humming to herself, she opened the fridge and put the container in the dairy compartment on the inner door. While closing the door, however, something at the corner of her eye caught her attention.

"No. No, no, no, no. Bad idea Brenda."

A bottle of red wine sat next to a gallon of milk. Her parents had opened it with dinner the night before they had left for California, and had put the cork back in the bottle for when they returned. Brenda stared at the bottle for a few moments, letting her alcohol-fueled logic turn its gears and blow its whistles before she grabbed the bottle.

Whistling cheerfully, Brenda retraced her steps across the darkened house to the living room. Garrett was still sitting on the floor, illuminated by the flames in the fireplace as he looked out the bay window. Even at its tail end, the storm wasn't letting up. The canopy of trees on this side of the house swayed back and forth, providing a dark backdrop to the thick flakes. From start to finish over thirty-six hours, it was easily the biggest snowstorm that Brenda had ever experienced.

"Look what I found," Brenda said as she sat cross-legged before putting the bottle and the wine glasses on the wooden floor in front of them.

"No water?"

"What's better than wine in front of a fire?"

"Aren't your parents going to miss it?"

Brenda poured both glasses half full. "There's a recipe for spiced venison in a red wine sauce. I'll just tell my folks that we wanted to try it and ended up using the whole bottle to get it right." She put the bottle on the nearby table and picked up both glasses. "We cook with wine all the time. I make an awesome pork chops dish with mushrooms and white wine." Brenda handed one of the glasses to Garrett. "To the blizzard," she toasted as they clinked the glasses together.

"Yeah," Garrett said after taking a sip. "This is going right to my head." The fire illuminated Garrett's side, outlining his face, his slender shoulders, and somewhat defined arms. Brenda was reminded of an unfinished statue sitting inside a block of marble, with the sculptor slowly putting the finishing touches on a masterpiece once all the stone had been chipped away. The heat from the roaring, well-ventilated fire filled the entire room. There were a few spots of sweat in Garrett's hair, and Brenda felt her shirt clinging to her in several spots.

She took another sip, enjoying the feeling of warmth flowing down her throat and into her chest. "Neither of us will have any trouble sleeping tonight at least." Garrett hummed in agreement. The next few minutes passed in silence as the two young adults sipped their wine and watched the falling snow outside the living room window.

"What's on your mind?" Brenda eventually asked.

"I'm sitting in front of a fire, in a dark house, with a bottle of wine, drinking with Brenda Lattimore after she cooked me dinner. I'm trying to figure out how I got here."

She reached out and lightly poked him in the side, causing him to flinch and chuckle. "Hello pot. I'm kettle. That's black over there in the corner." She finished her wine. "It doesn't matter how we ended up here. Sit back and enjoy the moment. It's just two people being friendly and getting to know each other..."

The fire popped at that moment before dimming slightly. Garrett finished his glass of wine before crawling over to the fireplace. Brenda's eyes followed him, falling onto his butt as he threw two more pieces of wood into the fireplace.

"Speaking of enjoying the moment..."

The fire roared up from the sudden inflow of fuel and oxygen. "OK," he said, looking over his shoulder, "that should... Brenda?" Her eyes shot up, meeting his. "Were... were you looking at my butt?"

She felt her cheeks turn red. "Oh damn it. Yeah, I was. It's mainly the beer and wine talking, but you got kind of hot." After he sat back down next to her Brenda reached out and lightly poked at his upper arm. "You dropped the skinny factor like a bad habit. You are no longer the scarecrow I remember growing up."

The smile fell from his face as he looked at Brenda. "You're not teasing me?"

"A little, but I'm not lying." She pulled her knees up to her chest after taking a final sip of her wine. "Swimming definitely agrees with you. What motivated you to get in shape?"

"Honest answer?"

"After this morning, do you think I want a lie?"

"Labor Day weekend, I lost my virginity. And that kickstarted everything." The words came out in a rush, clipped and fast, with Garrett not meeting Brenda's eyes until he had finished.

"Oh my God!" Brenda reached out and punched Garrett on the shoulder. "I should have known! The confidence, the getting in shape... you discovered girls and just... wait... Vienna. It was Vienna, wasn't it? You two finally hooked up!"

Garrett surprised Brenda by throwing his head back and laughing loud enough for it to echo through the empty house. "Vienna and I are friends. Really good friends. Nothing more. She's taken me to Victoria's Secret to watch her try on bras so she could get my opinion on them. That's the level of friendship we operate on. I've known her since kindergarten. I'd have a better shot with Gio than Vienna."

"Then who? Was it anyone I know? Someone who goes to our school?"

Garrett ran a hand through his hair. "This is so 'my girlfriend lives in Canada.' OK, my family drove up to Vail for Labor Day. We left Friday as soon as school was out and didn't come back until nearly midnight on Monday. Dad and my cousin spent the whole time fishing, my Mom golfed every day, and I wandered around the resort and town on my own. Have you ever been to Vail? There are all kinds of little music shops and art exhibits. I met this girl working in one of the shops, we hit it off, one thing led to another and come Sunday night..." He shrugged. "I wasn't a virgin anymore."

Brenda pouted. "That's it? Come on, there have to be more details than that!"

"I don't kiss and tell. That stuff's private, you know? Whatever happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom."

"Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't... damn it."

Brenda sat up on her knees, resting one arm against the couch as she leaned in closer to him. "Don't kiss and tell, huh? Want to prove it?"

A mix of confusion and eagerness blanketed Garrett's face. He looked down to where her t-shirt hung loose, giving him a good view of her bra-covered breasts. "Whoa. OK. You're buzzed. I'm buzzed. This..."

"Where's your newfound confidence? The only time you've been shy and nervous has been when I did anything that might be considered flirting." She leaned in closer. He pulled back. Not as far as he could have though. His eyes reminded her of a deer caught in oncoming headlights as she smiled down at him. One of her fingers ran down his bicep. She grinned as she could both feel and see him shiver at her touch.

"This is out of nowhere," he said with his hand somehow resting on her hip. "I don't know if..."

"I've seen you naked. Brenda leaned in close, a few inches separating her lips and his. "It's only fair you should see me," she whispered...

The ringing of the house phone killed the mood. Brenda and Garrett had locked eyes, his emerald staring at her blue. The two 18-year olds were frozen as the sound of civilization shattered the animal attraction that had begun to build between them. "You should get that," Garrett said. "It could be your parents."

Muttering, Brenda got to her feet. The phone had rung a fourth time before she could grab it. "Lattimore residence. Hey Mom. Yeah, everything's fine. How are you guys? Still raining in San Francisco? Yeah, it's still snowing here. But they're saying it's going to end soon. Yeah. No, Garrett and I are just sitting in front of the fire. We cooked some venison for dinner and we used the red wine in the fridge to make the sauce. No, we didn't drink it. Promise. Do you want to talk to Garrett? OK. Yes, I'll call Mr. Hansen and have him come to plow the driveway as soon as he can. OK. No, it's fine. I love you too. Tell Dad I love him. Bye."

Brenda ended the phone call, but when she turned around Garrett was getting to his feet. "I think I'm going to get ready for bed." He rubbed the back of his head while not quite meeting Brenda's eyes. "Mixing beer and wine wasn't a good idea. I'm feeling dizzy."

"Yeah, me too," Brenda said, trying to hide her momentary disappointment.

The two young adults looked at each other for a moment before Garrett said, "Thank you for dinner."

"And thank you for the beer." Brenda sighed and threw a smile in Garrett's direction. "Are we cool?"

He nodded in response. "Yeah. We're cool. I'll get the wine glasses and..."

"Just leave them for tomorrow. We'll dump the wine, there's not much left anyway." She turned and headed for the dining room and the stairs beyond. "Thank you for a pleasant evening Garrett," she called over her shoulder. "Good night."

"Good night, Brenda," she heard him respond quietly.

X X X X X

"We dodged a bullet. 'Want to prove it?' That's our best line?"

"Oh God," Brenda moaned. She sat on the bench in front of her vanity, hands over her mouth and nose, eyes closed, head slightly throbbing, doing everything she could to ignore the pressure in her lower body as it slowly dissipated. "I hit on Garrett West. I would have slept with Garrett West as a rebound. That would have been so bad."

He was a nice guy. He was sweet. And yeah, he was bordering on attractive. But no matter how much muscle he packed on and how much self-confidence he had gained, he was still Scarecrow. The rest of the school year would have been a study in awkward every time she passed him in the hall. And if Danny ever found out, there was a good chance Garrett's body wouldn't be discovered until the spring thaw.

"Chalk it up to the booze and the emotion. Tomorrow when we're sober we laugh it off with Garrett, Colette's dad digs us out, Garrett goes home, and we get the girls on the phone and talk about Danny. Simple."

Brenda nodded in agreement with herself. As she shook her head to clear it, she noticed an orange light blinking softly on her cell phone, letting her know that there were messages waiting. It was all text messages - one from Sadie and one from Michelle, both saying that Colette had gone ahead and told them about what happened. The rest of the messages were from Danny.

Hey, when you said you broke up with me. Were you serious?

I'm sorry. Call me, please.

Brenda, call me. I want to talk about this.

Call me.

Fine. If you want to break up, then we're broken up. Anne's a better lay than you are anyway. And if you or Garrett mention anything to anyone about him staying at your house, I will kick his ass so hard he'll run away at the sight of you.

Brenda stared at the phone. A year-and-a-half relationship thrown away over an unexpected houseguest. A boyfriend who had been cheating on her since the summer. But her primary thought, the main images and ideas running through her mind at that particular moment, was best summed up in two simple sentences

"Fuck it. Do what we have to do."

X X X X X

"Garrett?"

After a lack of response, Brenda took a step inside the living room to see Garrett laying on the couch listening to his Nano. His gaze was focused on the falling snow which was throwing out its last gasps just beyond the window. A couple of fresh logs on the fire bathed the entire room with an orange glow. The bottle of wine and two empty glasses still sat atop the living room table.

She licked her lips, partially from nerves, partially from excitement. "Garrett."

It took a moment for him to recognize her presence. "Brenda?" He sat up, pulling out his earbuds. "Is everything..."

"Kiss me."

She walked over to the couch. "Kiss me. Please." Before Garrett could say anything, Brenda leaned down and pressed her lips against his. His body trembled. A quivering hand reached out to touch her as if he was trying to assure himself this wasn't a dream before he raised up to return her kiss. The feeling of new lips touching hers for the first time in over eighteen months sent a thrill racing through her body. His light kiss mixed confused hesitation with tenderness. After a few moments, she pulled away and ran her hand through his messy brown hair. "Not bad," she told him.

"Brenda..."

"Two things. Just let me say two things. Afterward, if you don't want to go any further I'll say goodnight and go back upstairs." His hand still rested on her hip as Garrett nodded his agreement. "First thing. I know what you're going to say. We barely know each other, and that's a fair point. Right now I'm hurt, I'm lonely, I'm vulnerable, and I'm in the frame of mind to do something stupid. One of those things is trying to patch fences with my ex-boyfriend. The other is getting over him by hooking up with the first guy I come across. If I'm going to do something stupid, I'd rather that something stupid be you."