Be My Bad Boy

He laughed but I insisted.

"It's not something I like to talk about." He grabbed a slice of toast off my plate and looked at me as if daring me to say anything. I didn't care. My stomach was so full, I never wanted to eat again.
"Well, obviously. It'd be no point having a bet about something you went around telling the world."
"The warehouse belongs to my father. My biological father. I don't have anything to do with him but he gives me money sometimes and thinks that's enough."
I choked on my coffee. I'd been thinking I was the rich bitch but now I had nothing and Andy had all the money.
"So, what's the story? You give me shit about being a rich girl who's slumming it but really it's you that’s doing that?"
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the the table. "My mum came from a poor family and they met when they were young. It was a love at first sight thing. You know, the whole young love with hearts and flowers and everything was going to be perfect so long as they were together."
"But it didn't last?"
I sipped at my coffee while he stared out the window.
"They were fine at first. But shit like that, it never lasts. People think they are all in love and they can overcome any obstacle. Then the obstacles are there, day after day and the love isn't as strong as it used to be."

He'd grabbed a sugar sachet and twisted in his hands.
"But surely you can work through those things, talk them over?"
He snorted. "You think?"
"Yeah, I really do think. If you really want it to work." I don't even know where I'd gotten ideas like that. I mean, Dad had never had a relationship that I knew about since Mum died and my only serious relationship, with Tom, had died when it no longer became convenient.
"Whatever. She got knocked up with me and he gave her a fistful of cash to deal with it."
"What did she do?"

He stopped to sip his coffee. I wondered how he felt about all this. He tried to sound detached but at times his voice shook and he'd twisted the sugar sachet so much, it'd split and the sugar spilt on the table.
"She moved back home to Gran's, and Gran pretty much raised me. Mum wasn't around much. She had boyfriends. I lost count of them. They were all no good scum, the whole lot of them. She'd think she was in love. He's the one, he's the one, is what she'd say. Until he was another lying, cheating douchebag."
He stopped again. His eyes clouded over like he was no longer there but off somewhere I couldn't reach.
"I got home from school one day. I was 14 at the time, and there was an ambulance outside Gran's house. I wanted to run then, ran as fast as I could, so I didn't have to go inside. But I sucked it up, you know. Gran had had a heart attack. They got her out of there and into hospital. I couldn't even contact Mum. Didn't know where she was."

He still held the fragments of the sugar packet in his clenched fist. I reached out and my hand over his. He didn't seem to notice but he didn't shake it off either.
"She was a tough old bird but she'd been old when Mum was born. No one lasts forever. I went in to see her everyday and then, at the end, had to make all the arrangements myself. I had to move out of her place, of course, but had nowhere else to go. Mum'd shacked up with some loser at the time and he sure as hell didn't want me around. I lived where I could, friend's couches, squats, sometimes sleeping outside. I started singing around then. One of the friends I stayed with loved my voice."
I looked at him with bright eyes. “I moved back into the squat but the council was coming down hard on that kinda stuff back then. I got kicked out and most of my stuff got broken or stolen. I'd never wanted to take anything from my father but I had no choice. Some guy turned up with an offer and I was sick of doing it rough. I moved into the warehouse and met Ashley not long after that. Mum’s still pretty messed up though. I dunno. I help her out when I can."
That woman we'd seen. Was that his mother? Angie and I had joked about it but we'd not considered the possibility she really was.
We ordered another coffee. I wanted to reach out and hug him but his face changed in an instant. No more sad eyes. No more unhappy Andy.
"And that's the hard luck story of Andy Biersack. Do you think it'll sell?"
I gulped. I didn't want to seem callous but I thought it would.
"Do you keep in touch with your dad?" I probably knew him. This wasn't such a big town.
Andy laughed but bitterly this time.
"I don't even know who he is. Mum won't talk about him. Everything I know, I learnt from Gran and she never told Gran either. He handled everything through a lawyer. Probably didn't want me chasing for more money or something. The only thing I have is this."
He pulled out a chain from under his shirt. It had a ring on it. A man’s ring. It had insignia that looked like a bird. Before I could see any more, he tucked it away.
"He gave that to Mum but Gran hid it away and gave it to me. She said Mum would just hock it for cash to give to one of her loser boyfriends otherwise. It doesn’t have much meaning but I kept it because Gran told me to."
If it didn’t mean anything, why did he bother wearing it?
"So, what about you?"
I told him a bit about what had happened. Not the part about Dad trying to steal the money though. Not about that.
"Things must have been tough for you the past few months, huh?"
I nodded. "But they’re looking up now. Did Jake tell you about the record company guy?'"
"Yeah, that's fantastic."
"Except for parents." I sighed. I did not want to go home and face my dad. I couldn't bear looking at what he'd become. Maybe he'd been like that all along and I'd just never seen it. He'd never been so desperate before.
"So, do you have plans for today? We’re rehearsing. Wanna come along?"
I grinned. Sounded perfect to me.

Notes

Now I know none of that shit actually happened with Andy's parents but it's a fanfiction and I make it however the fuck I want. Cx