Bullets in a Music Box

Warm California air whipped in through the open windows my car as I drove down the road. Zara had kept me longer than expected, so by the time I left it was shortly after five. Her apartment is a half hour away from my house, which meant that Andy was probably home already. As I pulled onto the street and into the driveway, I noticed that Andy wasn’t home yet. I wonder what’s keeping him. I parked the car and turned it off before climbing out and bringing the groceries into the house. When I set the bags on the counter, I heard someone in the living room. If Andy isn’t home yet, who’s here? I warily walked out of the kitchen and across the entryway to the living room. When I got to the living room, I noticed that his dad was sitting on the couch.

“Um, where’s Andy?” I asked him and he looked up at me.

“Him and his mother went to go grab something. You must be Sadee,” he said as he got off the couch and walked over to me.

“I am, you must be Chris. Nice to meet you,” I smiled and held my hand out. I was leaning against the wall with my arms crossed, but I held one arm out to shake hands. But instead of shaking hands, he held his arms out and I swallowed. He wants a hug. I smiled before giving him a hug.

“It is really nice to finally meet you. Andy talks about you all the time, and I am really happy to be able to put a person with a name,” he said.

“Same here. How long ago did you get here?” I asked.

“Only about a half hour ago. Andy and Amy were here for maybe ten minutes before Amy decided she wanted to get you something, so her and Andy left,” Chris explained and I nodded.

“She doesn’t have to get me anything,” I chuckled and Chris shrugged.

“I don’t know what she’s getting, so, I don’t know,” he chuckled and I smiled.

“Did your flight go okay? I heard there was a three hour delay,” I said as I began to walk back into the kitchen.

“The flight was fine. There was a misunderstanding with the plane tickets or something,” he said. I nodded.

“Gotcha. I hope you guys are okay with eating a broccoli, cheese, and chicken bake thing,” I said and he smiled. His smile was really similar to Andy’s, big and bright.

“That’s fine. You guys keep this house really clean, I was expecting some sort of mess since Andy never cleans up after himself,” Chris laughed and I smiled.

“It’s not normally this clean, but I keep it clean,” I smiled and began to pull things out of the bags.

“So tell me, since Andy wouldn’t. His and Juliet’s parting wasn’t mutual, was it?” He asked. I held the package of chicken in my hand as I bit my lip and looked at him.

“No, it wasn’t. Andy was torn apart for days, weeks even. But eventually he moved on, with my help of course,” I smiled and Chris nodded.

“I’m glad you were there for him,” he said. I nodded and then heard the front door open before hearing Andy say something to his mom. They walked into the house and came into the kitchen. When And saw me and his dad talking, he smiled really big.

“I see you’ve met my dad,” he said as he walked over and gave me a kiss. I gave him a look before pushing him away slightly and turning to his parents, who were looking at us with those parent eyes.

“Since dad has already met you, mom, this is Sadee. Sadee, this is my mom,” Andy introduced us and I smiled at her. She walked over by me and wrapped her arms around me. She was around my height, which is awesome.

“You are a lot prettier than Andy said,” she smirked at Andy and I held my laugh in.

“Thanks,” I smiled and bit my lip.

“Okay, what are we making?” She asked. I looked at her and swallowed.

“Well, I decided to make a broccoli, cheese, and chicken bake thing,” I smiled and she chuckled.

“Do you have recipe?” She asked and I nodded warily.

“Yes and no. I know how to make it, it might just take me a little while,” I smiled sheepishly and she laughed.

“I’ll help. Boys, out of the kitchen,” she shooed Andy and his dad. I laughed at Andy, who pouted at his mom before walking out, not without grabbing a beer of course.

“So Sadee, tell me about you,” she said after a while. I stirred the chicken in the pan and looked at her.

“What do you want to know?” I asked.

“Where’re you from? How you met Andy, what you do, the normal stuff,” she said.

“Well, I’m from Nashville, TN. Born and raised there. I moved to California three or four years ago. I met Andy when I was hired to help him write songs for his Andy Black project. We sparked a friendship really fast. Um, I’m the singer in a band. We’re just starting out though, we still need to record our EP. Um, yeah,” I smiled at her and she nodded.

“You love Andy, right?” She asked. I furrowed my eyebrows and nodded.

“Yeah. I do,” I said.

“I know this is probably a sensitive topic, but, if you love him, why did you cheat on him?” She asked. I stopped stirring the chicken and took a breath.

“Um. Well. Did Andy tell you the whole story?” I asked as I turned to her. She looked at me as she was chopping the broccoli.

“He did, I want to hear your side of it,” she said. I nodded and turned off the chicken before crossing my arms and looking at my feet.

“Well, we were at a party and I got a little too drunk, as in I blacked out. Um, the next morning I woke up next to my former bassist. We found out the next day that he was a hell of a lot less intoxicated than me and basically took advantage of my drunken state. I told Andy four days after it happened, and it tore me up inside all four of those days. We didn’t talk for like two weeks after it happened, but Andy was the one who talked to me first and told me he wanted to be back together,” I told her and she nodded.

“Alright, I can accept that. I’m just a protective mom over him. He was hurt by both Scout and Juliet, I don’t want to see him hurt by you. I can tell he truly loves you. The way he talks about you, the pictures on twitter and instagram. It can’t be missed. So, please promise me you won’t hurt him intentionally,” she said and I nodded.

“I saw the way he was after Juliet left him and I don’t want to see him that way again. It tore me apart,” I said and she smiled.

“I don’t want to sound like that person who judges, I just want to protect my son,” she told me and I nodded.

“I understand. If I had a son I would do that too,” I shrugged and she looked at me.

“Do you want kids?” She asked. I looked at her and thought. Do I? I never really thought about that. Since I had such a shitty mom, I always thought I’d be a shitty mom.

“Um, I don’t know I’ve never really thought about it,” I told her and she looked at me again.

“Why not?” She asked.

“Well, I don’t really have the best of role model for a mom. So I always thought I’d be a bad mom,” I shrugged.

“I’ve heard how you are with Andy and his band. Andy’s also told me about how you are with your nephew, I think you’d be a good mom,” she said. I smiled at her and bit my lip.

“Thank you,” I said. After that, I began to put everything together in the pan before putting the pan in the oven and beginning to clean up the counters. Amy walked into the living room while I leaned against the counter and took a drink of the wine I put into a glass. I never really thought about having kids, especially at 23. I mean, I’d love to have kids with Andy, but we’re both at such a vital point in our careers, him on the rise to extreme fame, me just at the beginning of the music scene. I’ve also always been the kind of person who was on the move, never really settling down. And now that I’m in a band and we’re going to be touring sometime in the future, having kids now would be pointless.

I felt something rub against the ankles that tore me from my thoughts. As I looked down, Crow looked up at me and meowed with a purr. A smile formed on my face as I squatted down and sat on the floor to pet him. He climbed onto my lap and rubbed against my chin.

“So many decisions to make Crow,” I said as I kissed the top of his head. He was purring loudly and I smiled more. I took another drink of my wine and sighed. Of course, if I want kids, I’d rather be married first. But I know that neither me nor Andy are anywhere near ready for that kind of commitment. A groan left my mouth as I set my wine glass down and bent forward over Crow.

“Why must being an adult be so damn difficult?” I scratched his sides and he meowed happily.

“What are you doing?” I heard above me. when I looked up, I saw Andy.

“Mauling Crow, why?” I asked.

“Why are you mauling my cat?” He asked as he grabbed another beer.

“Cause I’m thinking about stuff and Crow happened to be here so I decided to maul him,” I smiled. Andy gave me a look before sitting down next to me.

“What’re you thinking about?” He asked.

“Something your mom said,” I answered and he gave me a scared look.

“What did my mom say?” He asked, wary.

“Nothing bad Andy, jeez,” I laughed and pet Crow down his spine.

“What did she say?” He asked.

“She asked me if I wanted kids,” I told him and his eyes got really wide and he stopped moving.

“Don’t worry, I know that both of our careers are at a pivotal point and having kids right now would be a bad idea,” I patted his knee and he nodded.

“My mom never asked that question when I was with Juliet, it threw me for a loop,” he chuckled and I smiled.

“Threw me for a loop too. I’ve always had a shitty role model for a mom so I always thought I’d be like her and be a shitty mom,” I said and he gave me a look.

“You won’t be a shitty mom, whenever you, or we, have kids. Don’t worry. But you’re right, kids right now would be a bad idea,” he said.

“Exactly,” I said and rested my head on his chest. As we sat there, the oven timer went off. I groaned before getting up. This week is going to be a long week.

Notes

Hello my dear readers! I hope you like this one. I talked about a few things. Biggest being the possible future of Sadee and Andy.

I don't really know what I'm going to write for next week, but I'll figure it out, and you guys will love it!!!

Peace!!!