"Andy baby, I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but I enjoy your company, and I really like you." Ashley said, looking deep in my eyes.
My heart thudded against my chest as Ashley took a deep breath to continue.
"Andy, will you be my boyfriend?"
______________________________________________________________

Ashley’s point of view

I held my breath, waiting for his response. I didn’t dare look at him, but I could only imagine what his facial expression was.

Shock.

Disbelief.

Disgust.

I was stupid forever thinking he would want to be my boyfriend. He could do so much better - The kid was beautiful, smart, and funny… Yes, he was a little damaged, but weren’t we all? If it wasn’t for our stupid, judgmental school and my stupid fucking friends, he could be popular. He could have any guy or girl he wanted. Why would he want me?

Stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid.

How could you ever think he would want to-

"Ashley." Andy said softly, breaking me out of my thoughts. I closed my eyes tightly, holding back tears. I no longer wanted to hear his answer that was sure to break my heart.

"Ashley," Andy said again. I didn’t respond. "Ashes, I-"

I cut him off. “No Andy, it’s okay. I understand. How could you want me? You don’t have to say it. I already know I’m stupid for thinking I would have a chance with you. I’m sorry.”

I sighed and started to walk away, but this time it was his turn to grab my hand and make me stay.

"You are stupid Ashes." He whispered, and I felt tears spring to my eyes. I looked away, refusing to look at him until he gently grabbed my chin and forced me to. I looked into his bright blue eyes, which, to both my surprise and confusion, danced with happiness.

"You are stupid Ashley," He whispered again, brushing away the few tears that managed to escape my eyes. "But not for thinking that I could ever want you, but for even thinking that you were stupid for thinking that."

I looked up at him, looking into his eyes when I knew mine showed my confusion.

"Yes," Andy smiled. "Yes Ashley. I will be your boyfriend."

I froze for a second; letting his words and their meaning fully sink in. Slowly, my face broke into a smile.

"You will?" I asked grinning.

"Yes," Andy said, returning the smile. "Yes! I will be your boyfriend!" He shouted happily.

I laughed and pulled him tight in a hug. “You’re wonderful Andy.”

"I know." He said jokingly, returning the hug. I pulled away from him slowly, looking in his eyes. He looked down at me, his smile fading a little bit as his gaze fell to my lips. I stood on my tippy toes a bit as he leaned down. I slowly closed my eyes, his beautiful lips centimeters from mine. Just before our lips could touch, we heard a sound coming from Andy’s house and jumped away. Andy looked away, slightly embarrassed. He glanced at the door before looking down at his feet.

"Hey mum." He muttered, his cheeks turning a deep shade of red.

I cleared my throat awkwardly. “Hey Mrs. Biersack. Just came by to drop Andy off. Didn’t want him waking home by himself.” I shuffled my feet awkwardly.

"Oh! Hey Ashley. It’s nice seeing you again." She said, giving me a warm smile. If she saw anything that happened just moments before, she didn’t show it, and for that I was relieved.

"I heard yelling from outside and thought it was Andy. Just came out to see what the noise was about." Andy’s mum continued, slightly chuckling. She was completely unaware of the awkwardness.

"Yeah," Andy said, still talking to his feet. "Ashley is in my English class. He told me the assignment isn’t due until Monday. I got rather excited." He let out a forced laugh.

"Well that’s good then." She replied with a smile. "I hate to cut the party short, but it’s getting kind of late. Ashley can come in for a bit if he wants, but I really don’t want you outside at this time." Mrs. Biersack continued, talking to Andy.

"No, that’s okay Mrs. Biersack. I should be heading home anyway. I have some homework I should do for another class."

Mrs. Biersack smiled, again. “Well okay, and Ashley please call me Amy. Mrs. Biersack is my mum, and I’m not that old.” She laughed.

I inwardly cringed at the attempted joke but laughed anyway. “Alright Amy. It was nice seeing you again!”

"It was nice seeing you too Ashley. Say hello to your parents for me." Amy said, walking into the house. As soon as the screen door shut, I turned to Andy.

"Well that was close." I said with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah," Andy replied with a shaky laugh, his cheeks still bright red. "Do you think she saw anything?"

I shook my head. “Don’t your parents know you’re bi?”

"No," He whispered, looking back at the ground. "I told them in grade nine, but they thought nothing of it. Said it was a phase I was going through." He waved his hand, letting out a forced, short laugh that contained no humor. "Doesn’t matter."

"Okay. Well, I should probably go. We do still have that English assignment due tomorrow."

Andy let out a real laugh this time. “Yeah.” He looked up at me, his eyes full of happiness and hope. ”Will you text me when you get home?”

"Nope." I said, trying to keep a straight face, clear of all emotions. Andy’s face fell. "I’ll text you as soon as you walk into the house."

Andy’s face glowed as he smiled. “I miss you already Ashes,” He said, pulling me in for a hug.

"Not as much as I miss you, Bright Eyes." I said, returning the hug.


Andy’s point of view

I smiled so hard that it hurt at Ashley’s use of my new nickname. I was his boyfriend. Ashley Purdy was mine. Too soon, the warm embrace ended.

"I’ll text you, kay?" Ashley said, starting to walk towards his house.

"I’ll hold you to that." I said with a slight chuckle. We waved goodbye and I made my way up the concrete steps to the front door. My pocket vibrated just as I reached for the door handle. Without even opening the door, I excitedly pulled out my phone.

That was fun. :) xx

I smiled and quickly typed out a response, only using my right hand as I reached for the door with my left hand.

It was. I had an amazing time. Thank yoooooooooooooooooooou. xoxoxoxoxoxox :):):):):):)
I step inside and took off my boots, still smiling from ear to ear. My mum appeared around the corner.

"What are you so happy about?" She asked.

I focused on taking off my boots so that she wouldn’t see me blush. I shrugged, trying to act casual. “Just good to be hanging out with someone new is all. Always nice to make new friends.”

"And Ashley seems like a great kid. I never understood why you two didn’t get along before."
I shrugged again, not wanting to explain my problems at school. I already had to do that tomorrow.

Fuck.

I felt dread settle on my skin like an icy fog. I had completely forgotten about having to go to the principle’s office tomorrow with CC.

Ashley will probably hate me when he finds out. I thought, suddenly feeling sick to my stomach.

"I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I have some homework I need to finish for Chemistry tomorrow."

"Night sweetie," Mum called from behind me as I rushed up the stairs.

"Night." I called back.

You need to tell him now, before he finds out from Justin or anyone else. It’ll be better coming from you. I thought to myself, sitting on the edge of my bed. I pulled out my phone.

Hey babe. Please don’t be mad when I tell you this…

I struggled to find the right words to explain it to him, but came up blank. I sent off what I had and waited for his text. Instead, not even two seconds later, my phone started ringing, indicated a phone call.

"Hello?" I said, a little hesitantly.

"Tell me what?" Ashley’s voice came from the other end. He sounded worried, and a little bit mad.

"You have to promise not to get mad." I replied. Then I realised why he sounded mad. "Oh, no! Don’t worry baby, I didn’t cheat on you or anything already. You’re my boyfriend. The only one I want."

I heard him breathe out a sigh of relief. I laughed a little bit.

"Honestly Ashy, you think I would have cheated you already? I’m offended." I giggled, bringing my knees up to my chest. I probably looked like a love struck teenage girl chatting to her crush right now, but I didn’t care.

I heard his low laugh from the other end. “No. Yes. I don’t know. Your text was worrying!”

I giggled in response. “Sorry baby.”

"It’s okay. So what did you want to tell me?"

I paused. “You have to promise you won’t be mad.”

Ashley laughed, but I could tell it was a bit forced. “Baby, as long as you didn’t cheat on me in the five minutes since I saw you, I promise.”

I bit my lip ring. “Mrnormanismakingmeandccgototheofficetomorrowaboutjustin.”

Silence, then laughter. “What?”

I groaned. “Don’t make me say it again.”

"You’re going to have to if you want me to understand babe."

I sighed and took a deep breath. “My chemistry teacher is making me and CC go down to the office tomorrow.”

A long pause. “Is that it?” He laughed.

"No. There’s a reason. Uhm, we told him about Justin cause of what you told me today. I was afraid to walk to any of my classes alone. He agreed to walk us but only if we told the office about the bullying."

An even longer pause.

"Ashley?" I asked.

"Can I come over?" Ashley asked suddenly.

"Uh, everyone is sleeping. Mum would get mad."

"You have a tree I can climb up into and into your window. Please baby?"

I giggled. “Okay, but only because I miss you.”

"See you soon."

"Okay."

I hung up the phone, worried that he was actually mad. I mean, I was ratting out his best friend after all. I paced nervously for ten minutes straight until I heard a small knock at my window. I jumped a foot high into the air and looked over towards the window, spotting a giggling Ashley perched in the tree. I walked over and smiled. I took out the screen and opened the window to allow him to climb through.

"Hello birdman." I said, smiling from ear to ear. He smiled and pulled me into a hug.

"Hey Bright Eyes." He whispered, making me shiver. I hugged him back tightly, almost resting my chin on his head because of how tall I was.

"Why’d you have to come over?" I asked. Ash pulled out the hug and looked up at me, a slight smile tugging on the corners of his lips.

"Two reasons. One, I missed you. Two, I needed to tell you face-to-face that you’re an idiot for thinking I would ever be mad at you for something like this."

"So you’re not mad?" I asked, still not really believing him. I was fucking selling out his best friend, how could he not be?

"Andy baby," Ashley said, sitting down on the edge of my bed. "I haven’t been Justin’s best friend in a while. Of course he still thinks I am, but honestly, even before I started talking to you and your friends, I was more your friend than his."

I smiled and he took my hand, looking down at the floor. “Besides, if you tell someone about the bullying, they might do something about it. Justin and some of his friends might get suspended, expelled even. Then…” Ashley paused.

"Then…?" I asked, urging him to continue after a few seconds of silence. He looked up at me, a slight smile on his face.

"Then I can finally be myself. We could even go public as boyfriends…" He trailed off, whispering the last part. I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t say anything. Ashley wanted to go public? He actually wanted to be seen with me? My face broke into a grin, but he couldn’t see that because he was staring intensely at the floor.

"If you want…" He whispered after I didn’t say anything.

"If I want?" I exclaimed. "Ashes, what would I have to be worried about? Almost all of our school either already knows or just assumes that I’m bisexual. Or gay." I added, thinking of Justin. After a moment, I shook my head and continued. "Point is, I have no reputation to protect. I would love to be seen with you, hang out with you, and be known as yours. It was you I was worried about. I was worried you wouldn’t want to be seen with me; that you wouldn’t want to be known as ‘the gay emo kid’s boyfriend’."

Ashley leaned over and kissed my nose. “Baby, I told you I was done with my reputation a long time ago. It was you who was worried about it. But if Justin gets suspended, we wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. Everyone would know that you’re mine and I’m yours.”

"Really?" I asked, looking into Ashley’s deep brown eyes.

"Really."


Ashley’s point of view

After our talk about going public, Andy and I worked on our English assignment together and then cuddled on his bed for a bit. It was really nice, holding Andy in my arms while we talked about anything and everything. We were in the middle of talking about Batman when I heard soft snores coming from my chest where he lay. I had looked down at him, and saw that he was fast asleep. I had smiled and gently removed myself from beneath him, then kissed his forehead before climbing back out the window.

Now, I was laying in my bed staring up at the ceiling. It was 5am, but I still couldn’t sleep; I was too happy. Tomorrow, Justin may end up getting suspended and then I could finally start living my new life as Andy’s boyfriend.



A/N: I know that took forever to write and it’s such a crappy chapter! I’m sorry. :( But like always, comment on it! Tell me what you like and dont like! I can only improve if I know what I’m doing wrong. Love you all! See you in the next chapter! xoxo