Finding Grace

Andys POV

"She hasn't spoken a word to me in three days," I grunted. "She won't come out of the bedroom except to eat or shower, and I'm getting real fucking tired of having to sleep on the couch."
"Andy, you just gotta give her time, man," Jake sighed at me over the phone. I was sitting outside on the steps to the apartment, chain-smoking to try to calm my nerves.
Leah wouldn't talk to me, she wouldn't even look at me, she acted like I didn't exist. I hadn't done anything that deserved her to be so angry at me, and I wasn't sure if she was taking her medicine or not, but she definitely needed to be.
I was getting so tired of this shit.
"Man, I just don't know what to do. It's like living in the Arctic." I sighed, putting my cigarette out and lighting another immediately. "She keeps it like ten degrees in there now."
"She's only been out of the hospital for a couple days, she's got a lot of stuff going through her head, you know how complicated Leah is," Jake wasn't helping. "Have you tried talking to her without shouting?"
"Of course! I tried to hold a conversation with her but she just ignores me. It's like I'm some kind of monster."
"Well," Jake hesitated unsure what to tell me. "Has Vale or anyone been over?"
"Vale's been over almost every day, but Leah is doing the same thing to her. It's like we've personally blighted her or something. Vale pitched a bitch fit on her yesterday but Leah acted like she wasn't even in the room."
I didn't add I'd heard her crying all night that night though.
So maybe bitch fits wasn't the key here.
"She thinks we don't want her around, and I don't understand why," I sighed, my shoulders slumping as I watched the traffic go by. "I don't know how to fix this or make it better."
"Maybe it doens't need fixing, she just needs time. If she thinks you don't want her around, then you gotta do something to break that belief. Do something nice for her, does she need any help with the baby room?"
Well, my clothes were still in the closet, and I'd gotten her the paint she wanted to redecorate with. It was still sitting in the corner waiting to be used. Plus I knew she'd wanted a changing station put in there to make it easier, but we were still going to have to buy one of those, and the bed was supposed to be here any day now.
"I guess she does," I mumbled reluctantly, knowing I was going to have a lot of work to do.
"Well, that's what Leah really cares about right now, go help her with the baby room. What all does it need done?"
"Some new paint, some old stuff moved, the bed needs to come out," I ran a hand through my hair. "I have no idea where the thing is going to go, though."
"You can store it in our basement if you need too," Jake offered. "Whatever stuff needs to go, you can just drop it off here and get it later."
"Shit, thanks. Will Ella mind?"
"I doubt she'll even notice, she never goes down there. You want me to swing by later tonight and help out?"
"Fuck, yes, that would be great. You guys are gonna have to help me put the bed together anyway," I sighed. "I can't read instructions to save my life. Oh, and I need some new sheets."
"New sheets?"
"I'm about to start painting."
"Ohh. You know you were going to have to anyway, right? Leah can't be in those fumes."
"Yeah," I grunted, finishing my fourth cigarette and letting it drop. I put it out with my boot and stood, stretching. "I better start on that shit now if I wanna get it done quickly."
"Alright, man, I'll call when I head over. And don't look resentful when you do it," Jake added with a sigh. "Then it won't make a difference."
"Got it. Thanks," I told him before hanging up and heading back into my new home country of Alaska. I glanced at the bedroom door as I headed for the baby room, seeing it firmly shut and very quiet.
She was probably plotting my death in there since I was the bad guy right now, though what for I wasn't quite sure.
I flicked on the light, glancing around the baby room.
Leah had what she could looking nice. I knew she also wanted the dresser painted white with some pink designs on it. The stensils for it were pressed up against the wall behind the paint cans, brushes on top of them.
I looked towards the closet with a sigh, seeing my old concert clothes.
Guess I'd better get started.
I grabbed a trash bag from the kitchen and stuffed all the clothes in it neatly, placing my boots at the bottom and grimacing at the smell of mothballs and smoke that drifted off them; this closet seriously needed to be febreezed.
I moved all of it into the hallway, then grabbed some airfreshners and tossed them inside. I closed the closet doors and made my way to the bed, setting all the pillows and blankets to the side as I stripped the mattress and flipped it to the side, letting it lean against the wall a few minutes while I made sure the hallway was gonna be wide enough to hold the thing without it blocking the washer and dryer.
And then I began moving furniture, grunting and cursing until I had the fucking thing out in the hallway.
Why was it so heavy?
I glanced back in the room, and quicky grabbed the broom and dustpan, seeing three years worth of dust in the spot the bed had previously resided. I quickly swept it up and then even went so far as to vacuum the curtains, a desperate move I know but I wanted to make sure Leah knew I was serious about this.
I pulled the dresser away from the wall, wincing as it screeched against the hardwood, and made sure all the furniture was sitting in the middle of the room.
I heard Jake knock on the door, and shouted for him to come on in. He appeared in the door a few minutes later, raising his brows.
"Wow, you were serious," he said, offering me some already paint-stained sheets. "Ella sends her regards with these, by the way. She painted half our house with these on the floor."
"Thanks," I started flicking them out around the room, covering the remaining furniture.
"You gonna help me paint?"
"That's what I'm here for," Jake nodded, lifting up a can and a paint brush. "All of the walls?"
"Yes." I nodded, glad the clothes I was wearing were old and useless; I wasn't about to go in the bedroom and change, that room was like Russia during the Cold War.
"Just not the closet, Leahs wants it white."
"White and pink? Classic," Jake said, opening a can of paint. "Let's get started and have this done before tonight, okay?"
"Thanks for helping."
"That's what brothers do."
It took us a few hours, but we managed to get all the walls painted that shade of pink Leah had agonized so badly over, and both of us were splattered in pink flecks where Jake had shaken he brush thoughtlessly.
I think I even had it in my hair.
I took a few steps back, high off paint fumes and feeling very proud that we'd managed to get it all painted.
"It looks good," Jake nodded, gazing around.
"Think she'll like it?"
"I love it!"
We both turned to look at the door, and I blinked, seeing Leah standing there hesitantly, gazing around.
"I thought we'd never get that done," she said, the first sentence she'd spoken in what felt like forever.
"I'm hauling the bed off," Jake said, glancing at me with a wink; he was right, this had worked. "So that'll be out of you guys way. I wouldn't come in here too much for the fumes though."
She nodded, but I don't think she was really listening. She was playing with a strand of black hair as she looked around, probably envisioning a final result.
I hoped this made her happy.
I felt my phone buzz, and I fished it out of my pocket, hesitating. I glanced at Leah, then back at my phone, seeing Juliets name.
I had been so pissed off at Leah the other night I'd texted her, and even though we'd broke off on bad terms, we'd made up (which of course had caused major issues between me and Leah when I'd been a fuckup and kissed her thoughtlessly), and were now on friend terms.
And she was trying to help.
Leah wouldn't see it that way though, not since I'd promised her I'd never speak to Juliet again.
I slipped my phone back in my pocket.
I would just text her back later.
"Is it the right color?" I asked, and Leah nodded.
"Yes, it's perfect! I told you the colors were different!"
Sure they were.
"It does smell awful though," she grimaced, and stepped back into the livingroom, Jake and I following her hastily.
"Help me with the bed?"
"Yeah."
Jake and I shuffled the mattress out onto the bed of his borrowed truck, quickly adding the springs and then the frame, getting it out of the hallway, and I tossed my bag of old clothes with it.
"I'll come by tomorrow and help you unload it," I offered, and Jake nodded.
"Cool, I'll see you then. Bye, Leah!"
She waved from the door of the baby room, completley uninterested in anything else.
Jake sent me a look. "Now don't fuck up again."
"I won't," I mumbled, a little embarrassed. I really should've already had all this shit done.
I stepped back into the apartment, and Leah turned to glance back at me, her face impassive.
Was she still pissed? What more could I do to make it better?
Why was this so hard?
"It looks pretty," she said after a moment, her eyes flicking to my hair. "Thank you."
"No problem. I got the closet cleaned out too," I added, rubbing my back. "All the old stuff is gone out of it. I'll get to painting the dresser sometime this week the fumes aren't so bad. By that time the baby bed should be here, right?"
"Yes." She fiddled with the end of her shirt nervously, looking at the floor. "It should be."
"Okay," I gazed at her, wanting her to say something else.
Just something.
But she didn't.
She turned away from me and went back into the bedroom, and I sighed, deflating.
This hadn't changed anything.
"Here."
I looked up, seeing her offering me some pajamas. "You really need a shower, Andy. Your hair is pink."
"Thanks," I took them from her, watching her carefully. "Does this mean I don't have to sleep on the couch anymore?"
"Did you only do this so you wouldn't have to sleep on the couch?"
"No."
"Then... yes," she nodded, looking away from me like she was a little embarrassed by giving me the cold shoulder so long. "You don't have to sleep on the couch."
I grinned, relieved.
Maybe things could just go back to normal then.
I emptied my jean pockets quickly, letting all my shit land on the coffee table and then headed for the bathroom, grimacing when I saw myself in the reflection.
"Andy, your phone is ---."
"Just get it for me," I said thoughtlessly, tossing my clothes on the hamper as I tugged my shirt over my shoulders.
There was pink all in my hair.
Fuck, it was everywhere.
"Andy."
"Yeah?" I called through the door, pausing at her tone.
"Juliet wants to know if everything is okay."
Shit.

Notes

Andy can't win for losing, can he?
Are things about to get much worse?
Maybe.

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