I'm a Loaded Gun (Part 2)

Andy gathered all the paint supplies and primered the wall while I studied the sketch and copied it on another piece of paper. I went to the desk and removed a ruler. I graphed out the copy into squares. I couldn't find a measuring tape until I noticed one hanging off Andy's back pocket. Sneaking up, I removed it, met by Andy turning so fast, and something touching my nose. I reeled back as he busted up. "What?" He was holding his stomach with one hand and put down the paint roller. "What?"

His laughter slowed to a deep chuckle as he stepped closer to me, wrapping one arm around my back and pulling my hips into his. My hands were on his chest as his free hand touched my nose. "Got a little paint on your nose," he snickered.

I touched the wet paint on the tip of my nose, getting a little on the tip of my finger. "Oh," I looked up at him, "Oh, wait a sec." I leaned really close to his face, examining his cheek, before suddenly wiping the glob of white paint from my finger all the way down the opposite side of his face. "GOTCHA!"

I turned to run, but Andy's hands reacted lightning fast and had me by my hips as he drug me back into his body. He smeared the paint on my face. "Haha you'll never escape me!"

"Annndddyyy, don't ruin my dress!" I whined before he wiped his paint on me.

He released me, "Whoops, that could have been bad," he motioned holding up his entirely paint covered hand.

"Get back to work," I joked with a playful slap to his chest. I measured the walls dimensions so I could divide the sketch. I returned to sit on the floor with the pencil between my lips as I made the mental calculations necessary to scale the wall to paper. I gave the page to Andy with a meter stick I found so he could sketch the lines in pencil on the wall.
"Hey, why dont you go down the hall? Last bedroom on the right, use to be mine, some of my old shirts are in there. I'd hate to see you ruin your dress. I like that one," he smiled.

"Okay." I went down the the room, opening the door, obviously it hadn't been touched in awhile. There was a large wooden chest against a wall. I found a white t shirt that had black paint all over it already. I tossed it onto the bed so I could find some pants or something to cover my butt. Andy had no shorts in here or skinny jeans. Shit. A gentle knock on the door, made me turn. It was his grandmother.

"Andy said you might need some shorts or something. He wasn't sure if he had any. I brought you an old pair of my leisure shorts if you'd like to wear them."

"That'd be wonderful," I said quietly.

She tossed them onto the bed and closed the door. I pulled off my sweater, and kicked off my shoes. I unzipped the dress and laid it out flat on the bed, before pulling on Andy's old shirt and the pair of loose black cotton shorts. I used the single small mirror to pull my long, copper layers into a messy bun. But my bangs quickly fell out. Oh well. I returned to the living room, where Andy was just finishing the last line in pencil.

"Okay, let's get to work Andy!" I picked up a brush and we began to paint. It took us awhile. I don't even know how much time had passed, but we had divided the wall into four squares vertically with six horizontally. We had just finished the top half when his grandma called us to dinner. She had made tortellini soup with crescent rolls, something I loved! We all dug in.

"Well, I must say, Andy sure was right when he said you are a beauty," his grandmother said.

My face flushed, "Oh, thank you."

"No, thank you for finally painting my wall! I've been wanting to paint that for years, but never got the time!"

"When did you draw that?" I asked before placing another tortellini in my mouth.

"Ohhh, goodness," her hands clasped together as she looked toward the ceiling, lost in a memory. A small smile spread across her wrinkled face. "It would have been 1954. That was when I was just out of high school. I used to love to go out to that place. Andy, your grandfather and I loved to go out there and just talk. I wanted to paint that on a wall for so long. Your grandfather was going to help me paint it, but my back can't take standing up there for so long. I really can't wait to see it. When do you two go back to California?"
"Well, Reya and I are going to go see a friend of hers in Illinois where she is from for a few days before we head back. Then I have to get back to the studio and then we have a two weeks in Europe. Then we will get back for more work on the next record. I'm glad we got to come back for awhile cause Ill be so busy the next few months," Andy said.
"So when's the wedding?"

"The seventh of September," Andy said while picking up my hand in his. We shared a tensed smile over the memory. That day held a lot of meaning for us, but it was what we wanted.

"Sounds lovely," she answered.
Andy and I returned to the wall to continue painting after dinner. His grandmother really showed how Andy got his kind heart. I sat on the ground, painting the bottom row while Andy worked on the one above. As usual, he was humming some song I didn't know. I checked the original drawing and continued on the intricate flowers on the bottom right corner. Andy was working on the square above me, so I placed myself in between Andy's legs and he painted around me. I leaned my back into his chest for a moment, feeling the vibrations of his humming buzz through my back. A sigh escaped my lips, his fingers tips brushing over my bicep.

"Do you want to take a break?" his lips whispered against my cheek.

"Mmhhmm," I grumbled.
He chuckled and pecked my cheek once, before helping me to my feet. My body did not want to cooperate. I zombie walked over to the couch as Andy went to get the remote from his grandmothers chair. The clock beside the tv read 2:37 A.M. The feeling of a yawn spread through my chest as I flopped onto the leather sofa. Andy came over and crawled over me and laid between my body and the back of the couch. The tv buzzed for a moment before he switched it to Netflix and picked some tv show he was catching up on. I snuggled my spine against his body, prompting him to wrap his long arms around me and twining his fingers with mine before resting them against my sternum. My eyes slowly slipped closed and one small yawn escaped before I finally fell asleep.

Notes

Hey :) I know it's been a long time guys.
Senior year is winding down and I'm in the homestretch.
only two weeks and I'm done with this hell hole.

Ill definitely have more time in the summer to write :)