BLACK ROSES

Chapter 17; Re-Introduce

~ happy birthday to that gay, sweaty sock, gerard trash way. thanks for ruining my life and not releasing US tour dates, bud ~

*Ellie's POV*

"So," I start, causing Andy to turn back to me. "You're my boyfriend, huh?" His cheeks reddened and I laughed, saying, "Why don't you just tell me how you know me, and then we'll get to that part."

"W-Well, we've known each other since we were born, practically," he started. He shifted in his seat, but I noticed he never let go of my hand. I didn't find it weird or uncomfortable, however. I felt strangely safe when he was near. I snapped out of looking at his fingers back to his face as he continued, "Our moms made sure we lived next to each other, so we got to see each other every day. We weren't exactly popular in school; we were the only kids that didn't listen to the Top 40 hits, and everybody thought it was weird when we hadn't heard the new Brittany Spears album or the new N'Sync song. We didn't have any other friends, just each other."

"Wow," I mutter, running a hand through my hair. "We must be really close, then."

"Yeah, we were," Andy said, but he looked down as he said the next part. "We were, but right before we started sophomore year, my dad got a new job in a different city. We had to move, and it absolutely sucked. I ended up not telling you until the day we had to leave. You didn't take it very well, believe it or not." He smiled to himself, but it faded from his face pretty quickly. "Yeah, the rest of high school was not fun all by myself. I don't think anybody there had an inkling of compassion, or, at least, they never showed it to me. You told me when we met again that it was basically the same for you."

"When did we meet again?" I asked. Everything he was saying sounded so familiar, and it made me angry that I couldn't remember it. It's like the feeling when you recognize a voice in a movie, but you can't place their name for the life of you. This feeling was multiplied by about a thousand, mind you, considering this was almost my entire life we're talking about.

"Well, we got a call one day from management about a new tour. Dr. Weekes told you about our bands, right?" Andy asks. I nod, and he continues, "So, we go to a restaurant to plan the tour and meet with the band we would be touring with, Royal Roses. I'm surprised I didn't recognize you from when we first looked you guys up; I guess I wasn't paying too much attention. But that day, you told me your name and it clicked. I realized I had you back. That you were physically there, in my arms again. I was so happy, I thought it was a dream."

I didn't realize I was crying a little until I sniffed and a tear rolled down my cheek. Andy looked up at me and gasped slightly, instantly raising his free hand to wipe it away with his thumb.

"I'm sorry, Andy," I whimper. "I'm sorry I can't remember anything. You seem so great and I feel so terrible for forgetting you." The tears began flowing more frequently.

All he did was gather me into his arms and held me tight against him.

"It's ok. Ellie, it's ok, it's not your fault. It's not your fault at all." he cooed into my ear. My breathing shook and rattled, but somehow calmed with his arms around me.

"Did we do this a lot?" I asked him, sniffing again.

Andy chuckled slightly, saying, "Yeah, you had a lot of anxiety attacks and this was how you would calm down. I'm not gonna lie, it made me feel a little better, too."

I smiled and closed my eyes.

"Good."

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Eventually, Dr. Weekes decided I would be stable enough to have my other friends in the room. Almost as soon as he opened the door, three girls and four guys streamed in and questions were thrown into the air like flies.