I yawned as I got up in the morning. Checking the clock revealed that it was just ten twenty in the morning; I was up early for a change. Getting up and changed into a long sleeved shirt and black skinny jeans with a pair of dark blue socks on my feet I unlocked my door.
Stepping out into the hallway I noticed that Val and Chance’s door was closed. After that little discovery I also noticed the scent of pancakes wafting throughout the house. My mouth watered almost uncontrollably; who was cooking?
Making my way into the kitchen I saw Andy standing there flipping pancakes on a griddle while humming a tune. Leaning in the doorway I had to keep myself from chuckling because he was also dancing around a little. Seriously, this dude was really getting into it.
Andy twirled around and saw me standing there smirking. Stopping he wobbled a little and had to catch himself before he fell. Laughing I went over and grabbed up the spatula from him; “Wonderful gracefulness Mr. Gazelle legs.” I said while flipping the batter on the griddle.
“Hey I’ll have you know I’m very graceful.”
“Mhm, not from what I just saw.”
“What are you doing up anyways?”
“I slept enough, why do you ask?”
“Just wondering since yesterday you slept almost to one.”
Flipping the finished pancakes onto the plate beside the griddle I began to put more batter on, “So I didn’t know you could make breakfast; Chance always burns it when he cooks.”
“With being on the road with four other guys you learn to cook.”
Laughing I finished the pancakes and set the plate on the table. Turning around to get the syrup I had flour thrown in my face. Sputtering I glared at him as the powder fell from my face; he was so gonna get it. Andy was laughing hard on the floor while holding his stomach.
Taking advantage of this I got the spray nozzle from the sink and turned on the water. Turning around I grinned at his suddenly shocked face as I pointed the nozzle at him. “You started this.” I stated. Squeezing down on the nozzle water shot out all over him as he scrambled out of the way. Lengthening the hose I went as far as possible to catch him with it until he ran out of the room.
Chuckling I replaced the hose and tried to wipe the flour off of my face and out of my hair. Hearing footsteps I saw Andy peeking back into the kitchen, “Are we good now?” He asked. Giggling I nodded and motioned for him to get in here already. Cautiously he came into the kitchen; looking around for some unseen threat.
Shaking my head and chuckling I watched as he finally sat down in the chair next to me at the huge dining room table. Looking at me he opened his mouth to ask my something but I reacted quickly. Taking a bit of flower from the jar that I had in my lap I tossed flour onto his face and even made it into his mouth. He coughed and hacked while trying to spit all of the flour out while I laughed my ass off; that was priceless.
“You are evil!” He gasped.
“Now we are even.”
“Flour is nasty.”
“Then you shouldn’t have started that war.”
“Ugh you win, you win.”
I grinned and ruffled his flour covered hair before digging into breakfast. He pouted at me for a bit but soon enough he dug in too. We devoured the pancakes with little to no problem before sitting back and sighing; that was good.
Taking the dishes I began to scrape them while putting the dishes into the dishwasher. Andy who refused to get anywhere near me while I was by the sink was putting up everything else. He was wiping down the table when I finally finished putting everything in the dishwasher and starting it up. Once that was finished I turned back to Andy who was just sort of staring.
“I know I’m pretty and all but… why the staring?”
“You’re reaaaalllyyyy preeeetttyy.”
I tried to hide my blush, “Sooooo…. What do you want to do today?”
“Hm… I don’t know. Do you have anything?”
“We could go see a movie or something.”
“Sure.”
Walking back upstairs I got on a pair of boots and my purse and phone. Putting on the rest of my makeup I went back downstairs to see Andy waiting there. He grinned at me as I came down and put his arm over my shoulders.
Making our way out of the house we went over to my car and I tossed him the keys. Unlocking the doors we got in and Andy started it up. As we drove to the movie theater we were constantly joking around. As we paid for our tickets and concessions we sat down in our seats to wait for the movie to start.
Half way through the movie he moved his arm over my shoulders and pulled me closer. Blushing slightly I was glad for the darkness of the movie theater; he was really trying to get that kiss. Settling back I got back into the movie again.
By the time it was finished it was only about one in the afternoon or so. Checking my phone revealed that there were no messages from Val or Chance; seemed that they were busy with each other still. Putting my phone back Andy and I decided to stop at the food court for something to eat. Andy went to get the food while I got us a table. Sitting there I was playing around on my phone when someone sat down next to me. Looking up my breath was taken away; it was Mitch, my ex.
Mitch looked at me and grinned, “It’s been awhile my sweet.” He purred. Mitch really hadn’t changed at all. Same blonde hair, same dark eyes, same cocky attitude. I slid a bit away from him but he remedied that by scooting closer; he really was more persistent than ever.
“You know darling I really missed you.” He said while stroking my arm.
I held back the urge to puke; he was still as scummy as before what did I ever see in him? “That’s nice but I can honestly say that I haven’t missed you.”
“Oh come now; you and both know that it’s not true. You miss me and I know it.”
“Mitch I wouldn’t miss you if my life depended on it.”
“Is this guy bothering you Senna?” Andy asked as he came back with pizza and drinks.
“It’s cool Andy; he’s not w-”
“Who are you?” Mitch asked.
“He-”
“I believe that I was asking him not you.”
“Chill man I’m Andy.”
Mitch’s gaze darkened, “Is he your boyfriend?”
“What if I was?”
“Back off guys; Mitch don’t you have some skank to see?” I cut in; this was getting ridiculous.
“Stay away from her; she’s mine.” Mitch then got up and left before Andy could even retort.
I watched Mitch as he stormed away from us; how the hell had he figured out where I was? Still I couldn’t believe that Mitch was even acting like that. When we had been dating he was nice and treated me like a queen. However when I caught him cheating on me that was that.
My thoughts were interrupted by Andy nudging me gently. Looking up at him I blinked with big eyes; how long had I been spacing on him? His eyes revealed worry in them and I could tell that he really did care about me; it was scary.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
I nodded, “Yeah it was just a bit of a shock to see him.”
“Who was he?”
“Couldn’t you tell? He’s a jealous ex.”
“Lovely.”
“I know right?”
Chuckling Andy and I finished our meals before deciding to leave the mall. Getting back into my car we sat there for a couple of minutes wondering what to do next. We really didn’t want to go home at the moment so we decided to head to Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Making our way to the workout machines we stood there in the boxing section hitting the punching bags. Of course when the workers gave us looks we left that section and went to the treadmills. Starting those up both of us had a race to see who could run longer on the fastest speed they had; sadly our competition was interrupted by the manager kicking us out. It was like these people didn’t know how to have any fun.
“You should be thanking that manager because I so would’ve beaten you.” Andy commented. I rolled my eyes and pushed him slightly; there was no way he would’ve won, gazelle legs or not. Andy whined at me pushing him and bumped into me slightly. Gasping as I about slipped and fell he caught me and laughed as we walked out into the parking lot.
“Shut up.” I growled.
“Oh come on, you know you love me.”
“I admit nothing.”
Andy put a hand over his heart, “Oh how you wound me so fair maiden!”
Rolling my eyes I catch him in a hug, “There are we better?”
“…No…”
“Then what pray tell will I have to do?”
“Kiss me better.”
“Nope~” With that I took my keys from his pocket and raced to the car.
Jumping into the car I put the keys in the ignition and watched as he raced after me. Andy pulled on the locked doors I looked at him while batting my eyelashes. He pouted as he looked at me and then to the locked door. Laughing I shook my head before watching him plead even more.
“Dance little monkey if you want to get back in!” I told him. He looked at me then narrowed his eyes. Yes, if he wanted to get back in he would have to dance; take that male pride. For a moment he seemed to be weighing his options but soon began dancing as I put the car into reverse. Laughing my ass off I watched him for a minute or two before decided that the dance was worthy enough for me to permit him to enter my car.
As he got into the car he glared at me; a slight pink blush on his face. Never in my years had I ever laughed so hard as I did then. Andy just rolled his eyes and sat there in the seat pouting but what he didn’t realize was that I had also been recording him on my phone; oh yeah it was never going away. Once I was done laughing I wiped my eyes clean of tears and then began the drive home.
Andy was still quite mad when we got home because he didn’t say a word to me. Getting out of the car he went straight inside and up to his room. I heard the slam of his door and felt a bit guilty but seriously couldn’t he take a joke?
Shaking it off I went into the kitchen and on my way passed Val and Chance as they sat on the couch watching a movie together. Smiling at them I went into the kitchen to find something to drink. Grabbing down a cup I filled it up with cool-aid and began to take huge gulps; I loved my cool-aid.
As I made my way back into the living room I sat down on the huge recliner in there. Chance and Val both smiled at me which I gladly returned. Taking a sip of my cool-aid again I realized that we were watching Marley & Me.
“Marley and Me… really?” I chuckled.
“What it’s a great movie!” Chance defended.
I shrugged, “Sure, sure…”
“So where were you this morning? You and Andy were gone by the time we were up.”
“We went and saw a movie and then got something to eat.”
“So you and him?”
“Nope; I told you before I'm done with love.”
“Also why did Andy just suddenly storm in and up to his room?”
I giggled guiltily while tossing them my phone; the lovely video cued up. As they watched it they burst out into giggles and by the end of it they were in tears while trying to calm their mad laughing fit down. Tossing my phone back to me Chance was red in the face from laughing so hard.
“You are a little devil!”
“It was good, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah but I can see why that would make him mad; Andy doesn’t like being made a fool of.”
“Who does but come on he’ll get over it won’t he?”
“Maybe.”
We all went back to watching Marley & Me but I wasn’t really paying attention to the movie. Was Andy really that mad about me doing that to him? Surely he wouldn’t stay mad forever… Sighing I went to take a sip of my cool-aid only to realize that my cup was empty. Making a face I got up to go and get more.
Making my way into the kitchen I saw Andy there sitting on the counter with the pitcher of cool-aid. At the sound of my footsteps he looked up to meet my eyes. For a second we both just stared at each other before he snorted and then hopped off the counter. As he was going by I reached out and gently took hold of his wrist. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face me.
“What do you want?” He sighed bitterly.
“Just to say that I’m sorry; I didn’t know that you would get so mad. But if it makes you feel any better I’ve had to do that before as well.”
Andy took a moment before he allowed a small smiled to grace his face, “Did you look as stupid?”
“Stupider if that’s possible.”
Andy laughed and then hugged me. I was shocked for a moment but soon enough hugged him back; I hate to admit it but I like his hugs, they’re nice. We were there for a few minutes before we broke the hug and I took the cool-aid. Pouring two cups I gave one to him with a smile.
He took the other one gratefully and we sat there on the kitchen counters talking about pretty much nothing in general. As we were laughing at a particular joke Andy leaned over a bit and he was leaning on my shoulder. After chuckling a small bit more we finished our cups and set them down on the counter.
I looked down at the tile in the kitchen as Andy continued to lean on my shoulder; not to sound creepy or anything but he smelled pretty nice. He moved around on my shoulder before he groaned and was laying his head right on top of my shoulder. “What are you doing?” I asked.
Andy situated himself a little more, “Your shoulder is really bony.” He said once he finally got ‘comfy’. I giggled a bit and pushed him off. He looked at me and pouted before going to lay his head on my shoulder again. I moved out of the way of him and he pretty much fell off the counter. Landing on his feet he looked up at me with puppy dog eyes.
I shook my head and I jumped down and went to run off. Andy however with his gazelle legs easily caught me around the waist and pulled me back into the kitchen. I squeaked in surprise as he then put me over his shoulder and walked with me upstairs. I looked and saw that Chance and Val were both watching us.
“Chance, Val, help me!” I cried out dramatically.
“Don’t worry, big brother Chance to the rescue!”
Chance came running toward us but Andy easily kicked my bedroom door open and then shut it behind him. There was a thud and a distinct yell of ‘Chase!’ that caused us to believe that my ‘Big Brother’ ran into the door. Andy carried me over to the bed and threw me on it before he jumped on it next to me.
We both looked at each other and I could tell that he was looking at my lips. There was banging on the door but that was kind of pushed to the side as Andy leaned closer. I smirked inwardly; I knew what he was doing and it wasn’t going to happen. Putting a finger to his lips I backed him up with a smirk on my lips, "Sorry but no." He pouted at me before trying again.
Just as Andy was about to kiss me I giggled and quickly scooted off the bed. Landing down on the floor I quickly darted over to the door and opened it. Chance suddenly tumbled through and was sprawled out on the floor with Valerie next to him; breathless from laughing. We all began to laugh even harder when he tried to get up but just laid back down in the end.
Once everything was calmed down we all just lay there on the floor staring at my ceiling; it was moments like this that made me really love life. Rolling over onto my stomach and looking at them all I smiled softly; yeah these are the moments I live for.
“So, anyone up for Chinese takeout?” I asked once my stomach growled. There was a chorus of yes and I was on my feet with a phone in hand ordering takeout. Sitting down in the kitchen I finished ordering what everyone wanted and then ended the call. Just as I put my phone down I heard someone strumming a guitar.
Peeking into the front room showed Val and Chance in heavy make out mode; ew. Trying to burn that mental image out of my mind forever I shook my head before going up the stairs. The sound of the guitar was getting louder the closer I got to Andy’s room that he was staying in. Tiptoeing over to stand by his door I heard the guitar and soft muttering; he must be working on a new song. Smiling I sat there to listen to it but suddenly the music stopped.
Fearing that I would be caught outside of his room I rolled away and then army crawled into my room. As I got in there and kicked my door shut I realized that Val was staring at me weirdly as she sat on my bed reading a magazine. Looking up at her I raised an eyebrow, “What are you looking at, haven’t you seen someone army crawl into their room before?”
“Uh… no.”
“Well today is just a day of firsts. Now what can I do for you?”
Val tossed the magazine onto the bed and I realized that she was reading a dog magazine. “Okay so you know how I used to have a dog named Max; the loveable black and white collie?”
“Yeeessssss, where is this going?”
“Well my mom doesn’t want him anymore so they’re bringing Max over here!”
“Oh my god that’s amazing! It’s gonna be great to have Max over here!”
“I knew that you’d be excited, they’re dropping him off today.”
“Cool!”
The doorbell rang and we both hurried past Andy and down the stairs. Opening the door we had the take out guy, Aunt Jezibel with Max, and Jake, CC, and Ashley all on our doorstep. I motioned for Ashley, CC, and Jake to come in while Aunt Jezibel smiled at me and handed me Max’s leash then left. Taking out my-Chance’s- wallet I paid the takeout guy and then took the bags of food in along with Max.
CC, Ashley, Jake, and Andy were all talking in the living room while I handed Max off to Val who squealed in joy and ran off somewhere with him. Walking into the kitchen I began to put all of the food into bowls and then took out the chopsticks. Setting those down I took out forks for the chopstick failures and then announced that everything was ready.
At hearing all of the pairs of footsteps thundering this way I stole my orange chicken, rice, cool-aid, and chopsticks. Getting out of the way just in time I saw the four brides run in along with Chance and then Val at the end of the pack. Shaking my head at all of the food being fought over I made my way into the living room and sat in the recliner.
Putting my cool-aid on the table beside the chair I began to dig into my bowl of deliciousness with my chopsticks; it was so good. Hearing someone sit down on the arm of the recliner I saw Andy grinning at me with his cool-aid and food. After taking his drink and putting it by mine I zeroed in on his fork and chuckled.
“What?” He asked.
“You’re a Chopstick Failure.”
“What?”
“Can you eat with chopsticks?”
He slightly looked away, “…Yes..”
“Ha you can’t can you? That is what Chance and I call Chopstick Failures!”
“And I guess you’re a Chopstick Master?”
“Yup cause I can pick up ice cubes and a single grain of rice with them!”
“Good for you now scoot over; I wanna sit in the chair too.”
I looked at him funny, “There’s no room for you.”
“There will be if you scoot over.” With that he slid down to sit on me. I groaned as his full weight was crushing me back into the recliner; for a stick guy he was freaking heavy!
“Get off you’re gonna kill me!” I wailed.
“Then move over.”
Growling I scooted over as far as possible while he slid into place right next to me. We were both crunched up in the recliner and our legs were pretty much squished together as well; great. Sighing I leaned over and grabbed up my food that I’d set down earlier. Eating once again everyone was finally in the living room and the brides were making cat calls and wolf whistles at us.
Blushing slightly I looked down at my food and continued to eat. After everyone decided to stop teasing us (Mainly because of Chance’s threats at them) we settled on watching some action movie that Val said was amazing. However I couldn’t focus on the movie because Andy wouldn’t quit squirming around and basically crushing me further into the armrest of the chair.
By the fifth time he did that I squirmed back. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see that he was looking at me. Making sure that he thought I was watching the movie I squirmed again; it was a good thing everyone else was so into this movie because they didn’t pay attention to us at all.
Andy squirmed again and I was pushed into the armrest yet again and even the side of the table. The air was blown out of my lungs for a minute as my stomach painfully hit the edge of the table; that fucking hurt.
Turning to glare at Andy he was smirking at me. Taking in a painful breath of air I elbowed him in the stomach as I moved around. I heard the whoosh of the air rushing out of his lungs at the contact of my elbow and his chest. Just as I was about to get comfy Andy picks me up and then puts me into his lap; locking his arms around my waist to keep me there.
I squirmed around but I wasn’t really getting anywhere. Huffing I settled down and crossed my arms; stupid male. I felt his chest rumble as a laugh left his lips; of course he would find this funny. Yet I would admit that he was pretty comfy to sit on.
As the movie wore on I began to get sleepy. Before long I found my eyes having a hard time staying up; my body really wanted its sleep. I settled more into Andy and then my eyelids decided that they no longer wanted to stay up. Fluttering closed I was out to dream world.
***
The credits to the movie were rolling and everyone was getting up to their feet; everyone but Senna. Andy looked down to see that the lovely girl was asleep in his lap; oh yeah he felt like he could climb the highest mountain at the moment. Hearing chuckles he looked up to see Ashley, CC, and Jake looking at him and Senna.
Careful not to wake his sleeping beauty Andy got to his feet with her in his arms. Sticking his tongue out at the guys he turned to take her up to her room. As he was going up the stairs Chance intercepted him.
“Hey man here let me get her.” He said.
“It’s cool I got her.”
“Please. I know you like her and all but can we talk about this after I put her to bed?”
Not wanting to piss Chance off again Andy bit back the stinging retort he had on his barbed tongue, “Alright man, here.” Handing his princess carefully off to Chance he stood there and watched him carry her off to her room.
Walking on downstairs he bypassed all of the guys who were giving him quizzical looks. Picking up the bowls, utensils of choice, and cups he walked them into the kitchen. Val was there when he entered into the room. She was rinsing off the cups, bowls, plates, and utensils as well as plastic wrapping what little left overs there were.
Tossing out the food in the bowls Andy then got rid of the chopsticks and brought the dishes over to Valerie at the sink. When she saw him handing her the bowls, cups, and silverware she smiled to him; Andy tried his best to return a smile.
Apparently though he didn’t put up as convincing a smile as he wished because she immediately dropped the smile. Taking the plates she put them into the soapy water that was there and then turned around to face him. “Alright Biersack spill it, what’s wrong?” She asked.
Andy was taken aback at her straightforwardness. It had been awhile since he had really had a one on one talk with Val and he had forgotten about how direct she could be with her words. It was almost like she saw right through every single façade that he put up.
“Lemme guess, it’s Chance’s overprotective nature around Senna?”
“Dammit do I have the words written on my forehead or something?”
“Nope but you’re very obvious.” She replied as she rinsed the remaining kitchenware and then put them into the dishwasher. Starting it up she grabbed a towel and dried her hands with it and then motioned for them to go into the dining room.
Going in there he sat down, “Are you going to chew me out about her too?”
“Nope but I will give you some advice about Chance’s protectiveness; well, only if you want it.”
“At this point I’m up for anything.”
“Then just go with it.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t fight him back on the matters until you have Senna’s heart. If he wants to be the one to take her to her room and put her to bed then let him. If he wants to drive her somewhere then get in the passenger seat and let him drive. If you do that he’ll think that you’re respecting his ‘limits’ even if he really doesn’t have any say.”
“Okay but why should I; they aren’t even related.”
“Well you know that Chance always wanted a sister right? Well when Senna came to live with us he took on the role of being an older brother for her. They really are close to one another and I’m glad that they get along but as you can see if she wants to date anyone that makes it kind of hard.”
“I’m surprised that you aren’t jumping all over me to tell you the truth.”
“That’s because for one I trust you with Senna and two she needs someone in her life that can treat her right.”
Andy looked at her mildly surprised, “You really think I’m that good for her?”
“Of course now just nod and go to your happy place when Chance comes down here to talk about Senna with you. I promise you that I’ll also try and talk to him about this as well.”
“Thanks Val, you’re a lifesaver.”
“No prob now I hear Chance coming back down so I’m going to go and get Max settled in. See ya later.” Val got up and then kissed Chance as he made his way into the room.
Andy sat there in the chair as Chance sat down in the one that Val was previously occupying. Just seeing Chance at the moment made him kind of mad; he really did love Senna. Wait a minute- did he really just say love? Was he really in love with Senna?
The more that Andy thought on it the more he realized that yes, he was in love with Senna. Just hearing her laugh was enough to make his day better. The way she would tease him just drove him mad enough to burst; yes he wasn’t afraid to say that he was in love with Senna.
“Andy you know that we’re good friends right?” Chance began.
“Yeah of course.”
“So you do realize that I’m only looking out for Senna right?”
Anger coursed through his veins, some best friend, “Chance do you seriously not trust me with her? I would think that you’d trust me above anyone else.”
“Andy it’s not that it’s just that I want to make sure that you’re not going to break her heart. You and I know that you fall in ‘love’ quickly and that usually it ends in bad heartbreak.”
“Dude I love Senna.”
Chance shot a sharp look at him, “You love her or you love her body?”
“I mean it; I love her. The way she smiles makes me feel better than any day I was with Scout and the way I feel when we accidentally brush each other in the halls or whatever is gives me a shock that I never felt when I dated Juliet. She is the one.”
A moment of silence seemed like an eternity to Andy but then Chance smiled, “If you’re sure about it then okay. However I’d better never catch wind of you doing anything less than acceptable to her. Also no going into her room after midnight and I will keep tabs.” He noticed Andy’s look. “My house my rules.”
“Yeah okay.”
“Alright then. Well I’m going to follow Senna’s suit and go to bed; good talk man.”
Chance got up and then walked out of the room leaving Andy alone to his thoughts. However when he heard all of the guys announcing that they were leaving to go to a club Andy was spurred onto his feet. Seeing the guys out he said customary goodbyes and then watched them all leave.
As much as he wanted to go with them he didn’t. Yes he liked the liquor and he would admit that some of the girls there are pretty but in general he wanted to stay here; especially after his talk with Chance. Going upstairs he decided that he would just try and go to sleep.
Getting ready for bed Andy changed into his batman pajama pants and then lay down on the soft mattress.
Well day one down… first attempt: Failure.
Chuckling to himself Andy settled back down into the bed and headed off to dreamland. Six more days to get her to kiss him; he would be victorious.