Escaping Grace

"Can I please stay with you for a couple days?" I whispered, and Andy chuckled at me over the phone.
"That bad, huh?"
"Please, pretty please," I begged. "You don't know. It's been three days and Vale is driving me crazy."
"Oh, it's Vale? Are you sure I should be coming tonight? I mean, CC is totally ---."
"You're not bitching out on me!" I heard CC interrupt in the background. "I'm not going in alone!"
Andy sighed. "Meet me at the door in a few minutes?"
"I'll meet you in the hallway," I hit End, then hastily scuttled through the living room and outside, where I let my breath go.
This was going to be awful.
And I really did not enjoy sleeping on our couch.
I waited a few minutes, tapping my phone anxiously against my hand. Please let this go well, I prayed, hearing them coming up the stairs.
I turned gratefully as Andy and CC stepped up onto our floor.
"Why do you look as nervous as Vale sounded?" CC asked anxiously.
"I'm not," I said quickly, accepting Andys kiss on the cheek. "Just glad you're not late."
CC looked even more tense now.
"Well, come on in. There's no point in putting it off," I sighed, clenching Andys hand. "Let's go."
CC sucked in a breath, and then followed us into the apartment. Andy threaded his fingers through mine as Vales mom turned around, a smile plastered on her face as she took in their appearance.
"You must be Christian," she said, offering her hand after a few tense moments. CC shot Vale a glance, then took her hand. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Durant."
Her smile became more genuine. "You as well. It's nice to actually meet one of Valeries boyfriends for once before she gets rid of them."
"Mom!" Vale looked horrified.
"Well you do!" her mom rolled her eyes. "Now," she turned her attention to Andy, "You're Andy, yes?"
"Yeah. Nice to meet you, " he offered his hand, and Mrs. Durant took it, looking him up and down. "Hmm," she turned away to her husband. "What do you think, Marcus?"
"I think they look just fine," he gave a congenial smile. "Why don't we all sit down?"
Kill me.
Andy shot me a glance, and I shrugged as we all moved to the couches. Clarke sent us a worried glance, then perched on the arm of the couch we sat on.
"So, you boys are in a band?" Mr. Durant asked. "What do you play?"
"I'm the drummer."
"I sing."
"Ah," he raised a brow. "You did well, Leah. Getting the lead singer. I've never had much of a voice. I play the drums myself, Christian." he gave a genuine smile. "Maybe we can hit the barrels for fun some day?"
I relaxed. He wasn't on the war front.
CC gave a grin. "Sure."
I had so thought this was going to go bad initially.
Vale looked relieved too, and her mom chuckled. "Really, Vale, we're not that awful. When you told us about them I googled them." she smiled. "I probably know more than you do now!"
After that, it was smooth sailing. Everyone got along, but I was more then relieved when CC and Andy decided to leave, and I was so going with them.
"You're leaving me?" Vale hissed at me in my room as I gathered several days worth of clothes and items into a backpack. "ALONE?"
"Vale, I'm not gonna keep sleeping on the couch. And you need to spend some time with your family without me constantly around. Plus I wanna spend some time with Andy. Its a plus all around."
She glared. "You can spend time with your boyfriend, but I can't get two foot near mine without worrying if my mom will ask me if we're having sex."
"She's only done that twice," I rolled my eyes.
"And I never saw those guys again after that! It was humiliating!"
"She's just trying to be protective," I told her, putting my pills in a side pocket. "Kasey and Sam were both dicks anyway and you know it."
"that's not the point," she followed me around the room. "I moved across the country to get some freedom and now its like I'm living at home all over again. You're the only lifeline I have!"
"Vale, you're not required to babysit them the entire time they're here. Let them go see some tourist stuff," I zipped up my bag. "Let Clarke show them around." I hefted my bag onto my shoulder. "You're way overstressing this."
"I'm just worried, is all," she admitted with a sigh. "They've never been out here and seen my lifestyle until now. I don't know how they're going to react! I don't even have a church."
"It's your life, Vale," I squeezed her hand. "You don't live with them anymore, this is your territory. Now, I gotta go," I gave her a quick hug, "I left Andy in the crossfire."
I stepped out of my room and walked over to where he leaned against the kitchen table, Vales dad interrogating CC on all of his techniques. Vale scurried past me with an alarmed expression.
"Ready?" Andy asked, taking my bag, and I nodded. "Beyond."
"Are you leaving?" Mrs. Durant popped up in front of me.
"Um, yeah, I was going to let all of you have some actual family time," I said, hesitating; I hoped I wasn't going to hurt her feelings.
"Honey, you ARE part of the family," she clucked, and then gave me a quick hug. "But you be careful, okay? Drive safe. Call Vale when you get there!" she followed us to the door. "Don't get into any trouble, either."
I hid my smile as we stepped out into the hallway.
"Leah!" Mrs. Durant caught my hand before I could escape. "I just want you to know we are so proud of you," she brushed my hair out of my eyes. "You and Vale and Clarke are doing so very well for yourselves. Your daddy would be so happy for you."
I hesitated, then forced a smile and nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Durant." She hugged me again, and then finally let me go.
"Call when you get there," she warned again, and I assured her I would.
Finally, we made it downstairs, and I let my breath go.
"That was... A new experience. Vales mom is something else," Andy chuckled.
"I thought that was going to be a disaster," I told him. "For a moment I thought her dad was going to eat CC."
"I did too!" CC stepped out of the building. "But he's pretty cool. Vale was more freaked about her mom."
"Vale always freaks about her mom. They freak about each other constantly." I hailed a cab; Andys car was in the shop still and even if he had another one I wasn't about to let him drive it.
CC shook his head, and let out a long breath. "I'll see you guys later. I think I need a drink."
"Seeya," Andy watched him disappear around the block, then looked at me. He looked like he wanted to ask me something, but I pretended not to notice. If it was about my dad, I really didn't want to get into it.
Finally, a cab pulled to the curb, and we slipped inside.

Notes