He Has A Heart Of Fire

Andy had turned the car around as soon as he'd had his idea. Did he really think this would work?
We raced back to my apartment, Andy practically running up the stairs to my floor. As I let us in, Taz's, Tobi's and Jason's heads turned around from the TV to look at us. This was happening way too often.
"I'm going to make Jason's plan work," Andy announced, clearly pumped for this.
"YES!" Jason jumped up and high fived Andy.
"Um... What?" Taz and Tobias asked simultaneously, looking confused.
We explained our conversation from the car, and eventually everyone was up for it. They were just having trouble convincing me.
"Guys, come on," I whined. "You know I don't like singing in front of people. Look how long it took you to convince me to sing on Guitar Hero!" I sighed. "I'm not even that good."
I was met by a chorus of "What?!"'s.
"Autumn," Andy stepped towards me, grabbing my hands. "You are one of the most amazing singers I've ever heard. I can tell you love singing because you're eyes light up when you do, and you put so much passion into it. I was nervous at first to, but I can help you get over that stage fright, we'll work and practice so hard you won't even remember being scared. This can work, just trust me."
I stared into his eyes for a minute and I knew he was being deadly serious.
"Fine," I surrendered, while everyone cheered and pulled me in for a group hug.
"Right," Andy looked at us all while grinning. "I need to go round up my guys and talk to them about all this. I want you all up, ready and outside by 9am, okay?"
"Okay, Dad!" Jason, Tobi and Taz chimed in while I just giggled to myself.
Andy walked over to me and smiled sweetly. "Okay?"
"Okay." I smiled back.
And then he left.
Was this really happening? Were we really starting a band? And Black Veil Brides were going to train us? This couldn't be happening.

We played some video games for a while, me, Tobi, Taz and Jason, and the next time I looked at the clock, it was 9pm. I took myself for a refreshing bath, using my new bath salts and bubble bath that I got the other day. I spent an hour relaxing in the tub, listening to Blink-182, managing to completely clear my head and keep myself calm for a little while.
After my bath, I went and lay in bed to watch some TV and chill out. Shortly, I got a text of Andy.

Andy: Are we going to talk about last night?
Me: Do you want to?
Andy: Of course I do.
Me: Well... It was nice.
Andy: Nice?
Me: Do you want me to use another word? Lovely?

Then my phone was buzzing as he called me.
"Did you think about me at all since high school" was the first thing he said.
"Um, sure, sometimes, why?" I was getting confused. Where was this coming from, we had a good night, right?
"I've thought about you a heck of a lot since high school," he sighed. "And there's a lot of things I never told you that I really should have."
"Andy, what are you talking about?"
"I really, really liked you in school, Autumn. And it never went away. I hated not seeing you all that time. Last night meant everything to me, and I really hope it meant as much to you as it did to me."
What? What was going on? Andy's liked me since high school? My mind was racing, so I hadn't realised that I'd gone silent for a minute or two.
"Autumn," Andy said my name hesitantly.
"Wow. Um. Andy, I think this is a conversation we need to have face to face, not over the phone. I promise we'll talk about this tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay," I sighed with relief as he said that, glad he didn't get upset. At least, I think he didn't get upset. After that, we hung up.

I spent the night lying in bed awake, staring at the ceiling. Had Andy really confessed all of that? What I really needed to think about was, how do I feel about him? He's only been back in my life for less than a week and this was already happening?
Whatever I was thinking about that night, it made my anxiety levels soar, making the nightmares come back.
It wasn't a proper nightmare this time though, more like flashes of scenes. I'm being shouted at. Flash. I'm being pushed up the stairs. Flash. I'm punched to the floor. Flash. I'm on the floor, bleeding and crying. Flash.

I shot up in my bed, awoken by the beeping of my alarm. It's okay, it wasn't real, I'm okay.

Notes

Bit of a late update tonight, I had writers block!