The Whys of Us

40

Sabina and MJ were worried, and if Andy switched places with them, she would be, too. "You've been crying a lot, did you know?" Sabina said, and Andy winced. "Doesn't it hurt here, kid?" She touches the tip of her finger to Andy's chest, where her heart is.

Andy nodded. "It hurts a lot," she whispered.

But Andy keeps true to her promise—she calls Rhysand the next day. It doesn't even ring twice before he answers.

"Hey," he says, and Andy's heart breaks more—he sounds so tired, confused. Pained, and desperate, like he's been waiting for her call since last night.

"Hi," Andy answers, pulling at a thread in her blouse. "Are you busy?"

"No." She hears shuffling on the other end. "Can I—can I see you now?"

Andy holds a hand to her chest. She's so, so weak for him. "Yeah. Yes, please."

Andy makes Kyle delete the picture, but she doesn't quit her job. She stays friends with him.

Rhysand doesn't bring it up again.

*

It was Rhysand's fault, that time.

This time, Andy can admit that she was in the wrong.

It starts with Sophia. Andy has time today—she gets off her shift early, she drops by somewhere to run errands and to grab food and calls Rhysand on the way to Sterling, but he doesn't answer.

Andy pouts and sends him a message. Baby are u busy? U in a meeting? :D I got cable biters for our phone and laptop chargers!!! Mine is a puppy and yours is a porcupine. Or u want the whale or the tiger? I'm otw you can choose then :D

In the bus, Andy's plugging in her cable biter, smiling, while waiting for her phone to buzz.

But it doesn't. But Andy doesn't freak out—it just means either Rhysand is in a meeting, or he's incredibly distracted by his work that he didn't notice the notifications.

Still, Andy is skipping happily as she makes her way to his studio. It's empty. Andy hums to herself and sets the food on the coffee table, and grabs Rhysand's charger from his drawer.

Then the door opens, and Sophia walks in. "Oh, hi, Andy."

"Hello," Andy says, blinking. Does she just...come in whenever she wants?

When Rhysand came back from his trip abroad, he told Andy that Sophia tried to make a move on him, but that he pushed her and talked to her, said that what they had was a strict working relationship.

It annoyed Andy, but she kissed Rhysand—thanked him for telling her.

Sophia has a clipboard in her hands, and her heels click against the floor when she walks over, a smile on her annoyingly red lips. In a sickly sweet tone, she says, "I wasn't informed you were buzzed in."

Andy raises an eyebrow. "I'm not buzzed in when I visit. The guard lets me in. Braeden, too."

"Oh, that explains it." She laughs. "Sorry, Rhys doesn't like to be disturbed while he's working, so..."

"So?" Andy's jaw tightens, but she keeps her face neutral. "I know that."

She smiles at her. Andy wants to rip the nails off her fingers. "I don't think we can let non-Sterling employees enter the building anymore."

"This was never a problem before."

"It is now, I'm afraid." She grins. "Do you have a message for Rhys? I'll pass it onto him. He's still in a meeting."