Honor (Kickstarting My Heart # 1) (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mother had made homemade chocolate chip cookies as a celebration of Brendan's wins for as long as I could remember. A waft of the delicious aroma of the food baking hit me as I crept down the hall the next morning; it was both a delight and heart-wrenching scent. As I edged closer to the living room, the quiet chatter only added to my discomfort.

"It's nice of you to finally join us, Ariel." my mom muttered irritably. I froze in the foyer, my lips slowly parting as I analyzed the scene before me.

My parents sat on the love seat, Dad's large, muscular arm draped loosely over Mom's narrow, slumped shoulders. Across from them, on the ugly lime green sofa was Mr. and Mrs. McLaughlin, with Andrew squeezed between them like an eight year old. My cheeks began to flush upon realizing how bad I looked. I was still in my pj's and my hair, despite it being confined to a ponytail, still looked like a tangled birds nest.

"Ari, don't be rude. Say hello." my mother scolded. I waved at the family on the couch, bowing my head in embarrassment seconds later.

"I never took you f. . . for a teddy b. . . bear type of girl." Andy commented jokingly. I flashed him a dark, unamused look before looking toward the clock over my parents head. He'd seen me in these pajamas more times than I could count, his comment was unnecessary, but I couldn't fight that it didn't relax me a little. It was so typical Andy that it felt almost as if things were back to how they used to be. 

Almost. 

"Mom, Dad, I'm late! I have-"

My father interjected mid sentence. "You're not going to school today, Ariel."

I stared back and forth between my parents in confusion.

"What do you mean? I have to-"

"You're going to help Andy study today, sweetie." Mom answered. "Andy is taking a leave of absence from the team for obvious reasons and he needs to bring his grades up. Plus, you have a doctor's appointment at twelve so it would have been a short day for you anyway."

My gaze fell on Andy, who sat forward with his hands on his knees looking as miserable as I felt.

"Why me? Why can't you find someone else to tutor him?" I felt Deja Vu wash over me as I glared at my parents.

I'd asked Coach the same question yesterday afternoon. 

"Because you two are friends and you're a nice person, Ariel. You're happy to help, aren't you?" my mom forced a smile.

I shot another look Andy's way and felt my anger dissolve in an instant. He didn't want this any more than I did, and we were both well aware of how forceful and persistent my parents could be when they wanted something.

"I guess." I muttered, then pointed my finger at Andy. "One remark or comment out of you about anything that isn't related to school and I'll hit you with the textbook, are we clear?"

Our parents laughed, but Andy didn't look as if he took my threat as a joke; smart guy.

My parents showed the McLaughlin's out of the house before bidding me goodbye and leaving the house for work as well. I waited until they were out the front door to head into the kitchen to find the cookies, casting a glance through the blinds to see if the driveway had been vacated yet. Once I saw it was empty, with the exception of Bren's convertible, I leaned back on the heels of my feet and reached for a cookie on the small saucer in the middle of the kitchen table. Andy paused behind the creaky wooden chair at the end of the table. 

I picked up the plate and offered one to him with a sheepish smile.

"My mom makes the best cookies." I encouraged.

He rolled his eyes and leaned forward to pluck one from the plate. "I know. I've b. . . been Brendan's b. . . best friend s. . .since we were eight."

  I know, I almost said, I've been in love with you since the second I met you.

"Yeah, yeah." I said instead. "But you guys were always so busy playing some sport you never ate."

"T. . . that's because you w. . . were so annoying, f. . . following us around l. . . like a little puppy." he joked, then shook his head angrily. I shifted on my feet, shooting him a dark look.

"What did I say about remarks?" I knew it was better to not push on the subject of his stuttering.

A hint of a smirk appeared. "I thought it was c. . .cute, you always wanting my attention."

"Whatever." I grumbled, shoving passed him and out of the kitchen.

The last thing I wanted to hear right now was hearing how cute I was from the guy I'd been in love with for almost ten years.

"Ari, h. . . hey. What w. . . was that a. . . about?" Andy caught my arm in the hallway.

"Nothing." I shrugged. "I just want to get this over with."

He frowned, grasping my shoulder. "Ariel, c. . . come on. D. . .did I say s. . .something wrong? I w. . . was k. . .kidding."

"It's fine, Andy. Can we please just get this over with?" I saw a flash of something close to hurt in his eyes before they were distant and cold again.

He dropped the subject with no more than a nod and followed me down the hall. We paused outside of Brendan's bedroom, staring at the door in silence.

"I. . . I can't b. . . believe he's gone." Andy whispered, I laid my head against the door frame with my arms crossed over my chest.

"No one can." I replied quietly. "I think everyone keeps expecting him to walk in, grinning like a fool."

My eyes lingered on the Peyton Manning poster over his bed, causing an unfurling in my gut as I tried to keep my emotions from taking over.

"He w. . . was an idiot, w. . . wasn't he?" I felt Andy rest his arm above my head as he stared into the extraordinarily organized room. I'd spent the last few days trudging through the cold, claustrophobic space to try and clean and make it as livable as possible, the same thing I'd done for him for the last five years, despite there never being anyone coming into the room again. 

"We better go." I cleared my throat, breaking away from the room. Andrew stayed where he was, a longing in his eyes.

He reached into the room and hit the lights, grasping the door knob and shutting the door afterward. "Yeah."

"Goodnight, bro." he pressed his forehead into the white door for a second as he whispered to the door. It wasn't until we continued walking that my eyes began to sting at the realization of what Andy had just done. Andrew hadn't been saying goodnight, he'd been saying goodbye. 

***AN***

A very uneventful chapter, but you guys will understand why in the next :)

Let me know what you thought!

~ChasingMadness24