Andy

“When you take the side of lies over truth.”
- World of Sacrifice - Black Veil Brides

Andy holds open the bathroom door for me while I muster the courage to walk through it, entirely unsure of what would lie ahead. A heartbroken Eliza, no doubt.

I step through the doorway and Andy allows it to close behind me. I walk around the tile partition that hides the rest of the restroom from the hallway. The bathroom is empty, the vanity void of any gossiping girls fixing their makeup and swapping stories. But all is not quiet... Within one of the closed stall doors, comes faint, muffled whimpering.

I hesitate, trying to figure out which one she’s in when I hear a harsh, low whisper, and I fall dead silent. The voice was so quiet I might’ve missed it at first.

“Elizabeth?” I call out, walking forward hesitantly, the sound of my high heels on the bathroom tile sounding too loud in the tiny bathroom. I crouch down a bit to look under the stall doors, my breath hitching in my throat when I see two pairs of feet in one stall. The whispering and crying immediately seizes and I hold my breath for a moment.

“Elizabeth? Are you in here?”

I get up and walk towards the door, listening carefully for several seconds before knocking lightly on the khaki colored steel panel.

“I’m coming in, okay?”

“No!” Her voice rips from the otherside of the door, terror and anguish in her voice. “No, no please... Leave me alone.”

“Eliza, we need to talk... Please open the door.” I try to reason, trying not to make either of them realize that I know there are two of them in there and that Eliza is not alone. God only knows what is going on in there.

“Ash! Go away!” She sobs brokenly, “Please leave me alone!”

“Are you okay? Elizabeth!”

She doesn’t repond again and worry consumes my senses. I grab the door handle and yank on it. Locked, of course.

“Ash!” She shrieks, “Leave me the fuck alone! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!”

“Reece...” I growl, ignoring the venomous and terrified insults being thrown at me. “are you in there?”

Of course he doesn’t answer.

I sidestep a little, peering through the little slit in the stall door, allowing me limited and narrow peek into the cramped stall. I see an arm adorned with charm bracelets, pressed against the wall, smears of crimson on her hand.

“Open this door, now!” I shout, slamming my fists against the steel, “Reece! Open this damn door!”

“Fuck off, Ash!” He shouts back angrily, “Why don’t you go punch someone in the hall? Hm? Why don’t you go get yourself excluded again.”

“Grow up, Reece. I’m getting the principle if you don’t open this door within the next five seconds.”

“Ha! What’s that fat, alcoholic fucker going to do? He’s terrified of me, terrified of my family. He won’t do anything to me... He’ll go after you for making up stories.”

A sharp wail of pain comes from the stall and my blood freezes in my veins. I can’t risk leaving for help and letting him get away or framing the scene to blame me.

“Andy!” I shout his name, my voice strained with stress and panic. He bursts into the room in a fraction of a second, his nice funeral jacket whipping behind him like a cape.

“Open this door, fucker, or you’re gonna have much bigger problems to contend with than a night in jail.”

“Oh good, the gay emo guy is here.” Reece sneers angrily.

Elizabeth starts to cry harder, and is immediately muffled.

“Get him.” I mutter under my breath, and Andy flickers invisible and leaps up, grabbing the stall door and climbing over it like a contorted spider. The door is rattling under his weight, and soon, all three walls enclosing the troubled couple start shaking violently then immediately stop.

I want to smile evilly, knowing that Andy is now in there with the both of them and Reece doesn’t even know it... But there’s still too much stress in the situation to celebrate much.

“SHIT!” Reece curses, followed by the slapping sound of skin colliding with skin and the shrill cry of the stall door as it’s flung open, propelled by Reece’s flying body. Andy is marching out of the stall before he can even recover, left spatting over the sink of the vanity he fell into.

He’s in the middle of wiping his mouth of blood and spit when Andy’s hands enclose around his throat, shoving him up against the tile wall behind me.

I jump out of the way and immediately go to Elizabeth left lying on the floor of the stall, eyes blood shot with blood pouring from her nose and her left eye forming a gnarly purple bruise.

She doesn’t move or focus on me when I crouch in front of her, asking if she is okay.

“Elizabeth, look at me.” I say firmly, grabbing her chin and turning her face towards me so she has no choice but to meet my gaze. I grab her by her shoulders and pull her into my side.

“Ash, get her out of here.” Andy growls, tightening his grip around Reece’s neck.

“What about you?” I cry out in panic, “Do you have yourself under control?”

“I’m fine.” He replies dryly.

I pull Eliza up, supporting her weight and dragging her out of the bathroom. She’s sobbing and coming undone in my hands as we make our way back into the hallway where Ashley waits.

“What the Hell happened in there?” He demands as I set her down against the wall, lifting her chin to check the damage.

“Ash, what is Andy going to do to him?! I need him!”

“No you don’t! You don’t need him, Eliza.”

“Yes I do...” She sobs, “You don’t understand.”

“Help me understand, then.”

“I’m pregnant!” She wails, buring her face into my collarbone, her sticky tears sticking to my skin as I cradle her to my chest. I look to Ashley and nod toward the bathroom for him to investigate.

“I can’t do this by myself.” Eliza sobs as Andy bursts out of the bathroom before Ashley even pulls open the door. He narrows his eyes at him as he straightens his jacket, looking completely calm and reserved.

“What happened in there?” Ashley demands.

“I dealt with it,” He sighs, “He won’t be bothering you anymore.”

He looks at me and tries to look at Eliza, but she won’t look up.

“What did you do?” I whisper.

“He’s not dead,” He says quickly, holding up his hands. “He’ll wake up with a killer headache and no memory of what happened, that much is certain.”

I watch him fix his tie, peeling off his masquerade mask and tucking it inside his jacket. “Is she going to be okay?”

“I think so,” I murmur, looking down at her pinned to my side. “She’s pretty broken up.”

“Let me fix her.” Andy offers, walking toward me and crouching beside me, holding his hand out toward her. His eyes meet mine for a moment, seeing the concern in them. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this healing thing figured out now.”

I’m doubtful, but say nothing as he grabs ahold of Eliza’s limp hand lying in her lap and squeezes it, closing his eyes and concentrating while he does.

While he’s doing his thing, my gaze goes to Ashley who is still standing a few feet back, his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He’s focusing on Eliza’s face with great intensity.

“There you go,” Andy huffs, taking a deep breath and sitting back on his haunches. “You’re all beautiful again.”

Eliza lifts her head a bit wiping her eyes and looking around in confusion. She blinks and looks at me. “Ash? Why am I on the floor?”

“What do you mean?” I ask in confusion.

She shakes her head, pulling away from me and accepting Ashley’s help getting back to her feet. She looks at each of us carefully, a million questions running through her head.

“Are you okay?” I ask her, getting up myself and assisting Andy to his feet. We both study her face carefully.

“I’m fine,” She huffs, shaking her head. “I’m gonna head back to the dance.”

“Have fun,” Andy calls after her as she promptly leaves. “I think we’re gonna head out.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, confused. “We’re not staying?”

“We’ve got a show to be at, remember?” He asks, flashing a wink at me before looping his arm through mine and towing me toward the exit. I throw a look back at Ashley, who has turned his back on us and is headed back toward the dance.

“What about Ashley?”

“He’ll keep an eye on her,” He tells me nonchalantly as we cross the parking lot under the cover of darkness, street lights and stars toward CC’s car. “You don’t have to worry about her.”

“I’m not worried about her.” I tell him, pulling my arm away from him and stopping in my tracks. He takes a few more steps, turning to look back at me in confusion.

“I’m worried about you.”

“Why?” He snorts, “I’m fine.”

“You’re not,” I accuse, “How are you so calm right now when I’m losing my shit? If things had gone any different tonight I could have been in a lot of trouble, you realize that, right? I can’t tell the cops that I don’t know how my bully ended up dead in the girls room when I was there with a witness that’ll sing like a song bird.”

“You don’t need to worry,” He assures with a kind smile. “I left him alive so you can finish him.”

“Very funny.” I reply dryly, crossing my arms.

“Okay,” He sighs, immediately dropping his joking and lighthearted demeanor. “I understand your concern and I apologize. It shouldn’t have even escalated as far as it did. It won’t happen like that again. I promise.”

I fidget a bit, thinking hard to make sure that I’d asked every question and made every point I needed to before moving on. This is a very serious thing that has taken place and I can’t brush it under the rug as quickly as he apparently can.

“Are you good?” He asks, ducking down a bit to my height to look into my eyes. I look into his and nod, giving him a smile to sell the change of mood that I wasn’t actually feeling.

“Do you still want to go to the show, then?”

“We did promise CC.” I remind him as he opens my door for me, assisting me as I get in.

I watch him circle the front of the car and get in on his side, sticking the key in the ignition and bringing the old muscle car to life.

“Are you sure that you’re okay, Ash?” He asks me one more time, looking at my face with a concerned expression. “I can’t go on trying to have fun if you’re mad at me or upset.”

“I’m upset with your lack of concern!” I snap at him, harsher than I intended. He face softens and he leans back in his seat, staring out the windshield.

“If something worse had happened, it’d come back to me and I’d be screwed. Forget California... I wouldn’t even make it there to worry about that because I’d be sitting in juvy. For the love of God, Andy, we can’t afford to take risks like that.”

“I get that,” He replies, a cold, annoyed edge to his tone now. “I was trying to protect you. I promise you, he’s going to be just fine.”

“And is he going to remember any of this?” I ask, shaking my head to attempt to rid it of the headache forming.

“No.” He replies shortly. “I promise you that, too.”

I look over at him and he looks back, face unreadable.

A few moments of awkward silence follow before I speak again. “I appreciate you coming to my aid, but we can’t beat kids to death, okay?”

There is a long silence that follows and I start to think that he is ignoring me.

“Okay.” He finally replies, throwing the car into reverse and backing out of the spot.

The drive to the Daisy Chain Bar is a long quiet trip that I can’t wait to get out of. I’ve never felt so uncomfortable and out of place beside Andy before. His demeanor has certainly changed since the prom. He is now very quiet as he drives, making calculated turns and movements, perfectly navigating the water damaged streets of Pendant with ease.

“Are you going to perform tonight?” I ask him once he’d pulled into a parking spot in front of the neon clad backwoods building where music was playing loud enough to vibrate the glass in the windows.

“Maybe.” He says as he pushes open his door and walks around to my side like before, helping me out once again. Only this time it lacks the endearing, loving feeling. It feels robotic for him to be doing these things... Maybe I’ve really screwed things up this time.

He ties on his mask again and leads me through the front doors.

“Are we gonna get carded?” I ask nervously.

“No.” He replies, “it’s an all-ages bar. They don’t serve alcohol here.”

I don’t know how a place like this on Pendant’s map had managed to evade my knowledge. The place is fantastic inside, glowing brightly like a fairy garden made up of rainbow colored neon beer signs lighting up every available surface on the walls.

An opening band is already on the stage at the far end with sweaty teens moshing in front. I don’t recognize anyone.

I search the sea of faces for those of CC, Jinxx, and Jake... But they are nowhere to be found.

“I feel bad,” I admit to Andy as we stand off to the side of the crowded room, taking it all in. “Ashley should be here for this, not catering to me or anyone around me.”

“He’s a big boy, he does what he wants.” Andy replies without looking at me. I open my mouth to speak but he interupts me by pointing.

“There’s Jake.”

He tows me over on his arm, struggling to keep up with his broad steps.

“You guys made it!” Jake greets us, raising a glass to us, knowing full well there’s no joy in his poison. “And- Dennis, I’ve got some people to introduce you to.” He gestures toward three other guys that look like they’re similar in age.

I detach myself from Andy’s arm and sit at the counter, tugging at my skirt to tuck it in around me and out of the way of the aisle in a frustrated manner. I can’t quite put my finger on it or explain it, but I feel completely defeated now. I look over at Andy laughing and having a great time with Jake and the younger guys he’d just introduced him to, his mask concealing his true identity.

I watch them, feeling like an outsider looking in on their fun evening, conceited as that may sound.

I sigh, looking down at my nails, then up at the woman tending to the mock bar. She is wiping down the scratched up counter with a passive expression. I turn on my stool to search for CC, the only other person sure-fire to put me in a better mood. I’d already burned the recovery bridge with Andy, evidently.

My heart feels heavy in my chest. I take deep breaths to keep my emotions in check, knowing that if I put too much thought into how I am feeling, I’d start to cry in frustration and that would definitely ruin the evening.

I spare one last look at Jake and Andy chatting away and push my stool away, climbing down and handling my own skirt and lace train as I venture off into the crowd in a petty fashion.

The dirty punk scene inside the Daisy Chain isn’t quite my thing. The balloon garland and tissue paper flower aesthetics of my own senior prom where more my speed. All the same, I keep my head high and do my best to come off as one of them despite me being the only one dressed up at all, let alone in a prom dress.

Most of the kids are wearing plaid flannel and band shirts, their hair crazy colors and styled to exhibit their individuality as best as possible. I am still wearing my mask, a mystery to them all, not that anyone was wondering. I could’ve been a ghost myself drifting through that crowd all heavy hearted.

Despite my difference in appearance, no one looked my way or bothered much with me.

Sweaty bodies bump into me the closer I get to the stage where the opening act is playing their hearts out. I stop, standing in front of the stage, a few feet away, surrounded by thrashing bodies and limbs above my head. I study the faces of each band member and immediately recognize Jinxx on guitar and CC playing the drums while two mystery men handled vocals and bass.

I meet CC’s eyes for a moment and he throws me an excited grin, not missing a lick on his drum fills. I smile back at him, hoping that I don’t look as sad as I feel, especially when any happiness that could’ve been in my eyes was sapped by the dark shadows of the masquerade mask.

Jinxx nods toward me, giving me a small smile of acknowledgment while he plays on, making his rounds, walking back and forth across the stage. I stare up at the both of them, feeling an ache in my heart.

A tear blurs my vision, daring to slide down my cheek, falling out of the shadow of my mask, betraying my true self hidden behind it.

How the Hell did I even end up here? Of course there are parts of this whole situation that are wonderful that I’d never trade for the world, but there’s also these dark confusing parts that often leave me wondering what on Earth I am doing. How did I go from being a preppy perfect girl to the one who’s friends with the town rockers who never moved on and spending prom beating up on kids and hanging out in an underground scene all-ages bar.

I turn and leave the heart of the thrashing crowd to take refuge in the shadows under the wrap around balcony of the second floor above my head.

I look across the bar at Andy chatting with strangers. He laughs, leaning against the bar counter.

The singer announces that the band will be taking a quick break. Shortly after, CC climbs down from his kit and cuts through the crowd toward me with his arms spread out at his sides, a massive grin on his face.

“You made it!” He laughs, hugging me to his chest and spinning me in a circle. I laugh, too. “I told you I would... How did you know it was me in the crowd? The dress wasn’t visible.”

He pats my hair. “You’re the only weirdo in town that I know of with green hair and four inches of black roots.”

“I need to touch that up.”

“I don’t know,” CC shrugs, circling me in an exaggerated fashion. “Black suits you... No, black becomes you.”

“Of course you’d think that. You’re color blind.” Jinxx tells him dully, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, earning himself a smack on the arm from CC for his comment. “I am not.” CC snaps back.

“I appreciate it.” I smile, reaching back to untie the mask and pulling it off.

“So how was prom?” Jinxx asks, looking like he’s expecting me to launch into a gossip-filled rant about how fantastic is was. I shrug, noticing how he also looks disappointed when I respond with “It was alright.”

“What do you mean alright? Prom is a very special night for preppy teens such as yourself. What happened that made it feel any less?” CC asks.

I throw a glance back at Andy to make sure he hadn’t moved from his place at the counter. I shrug again, sighing and deciding not to dig into it right now. “I don’t really feel like talking about it,” I admit, “can I tell you later?”

“Of course!”

I admire CC’s easy-going nature and often find myself envying him. Yes, sometimes I have my moments where I am proud of how quick and witty I am with my responses but most of the time it’s just me trying to awkwardly navigate a conversation without messing it up too bad.

“He’s being good to you, right?” Jinxx asks me quietly when CC had gotten up chatting with a girl, giving a look in Andy’s direction to indicate who he is talking about.

“Yeah... Yeah, of course.” I nod quickly. “There was just a sour experience that kinda put a damn mood on things. Hopefully he’ll perk back up once the band plays.”

I’m hopeful that him getting back into his old groove for a few songs will be enough to bring him back around.

“It’s perfect now,” Jinxx says conversationally. “His voice has changed so much since the last time anyone heard it that it’s practically unrecognizeable.”

Considering Andy’s background in music, I’ve seldom heard him sing, if at all... It’s always jokingly or in a passive fashion. I’ve never heard him actually go for it and belt out some good notes.

The singer who’d been on stage with them earlier comes over, clapping both of them high fives. “So who’d you get to replace me?” He asks jokingly, scanning the sea of faces for a new one that might be his rival.

“Old friend.” Jinxx replies without giving much away.

“You’ll see.”

Not too long later, Jinxx and CC climb back on stage and Jake joins them. It's weird seeing them all together without Ashley with them.

Jake takes to the mic to introduce their singer.

“So tonight, we have a very special old friend of ours joining us for a few songs. Please welcome our pal Dennis.”

Andy climbs up the steps to the stage, and despite his face being partially obscured by the mask, the enthusiasm and charisma is radiating off of him. He waves at the sea of teens and music enthusiasts cheering as the band assembles.

Andy doesn’t bother with introducing himself or small talk. He takes the mic into his hands the the opening guitar riff of Knives and Pens rips through the speakers. Andy plays it up, letting out a low gutteral growl into the mic that completely sends the crowd into a frenzy.

His voice easily carries the opening lines. I watch from the side of the stage as he falters for a moment, looking into the faces of his audience for any sign of recognition or a sign that he’d been caught, but there is none.

With more confidence he carries on, putting his complete heart and soul into the performance, the massive grin on his face telling me that he’d really been missing this.

“One final fight for this tonight~” He extends the mic toward the crowd and they sing it back at him. I join in, smiling up at him, his excitement contagious.

Of course they all know this song... The off-brand Black Veil Brides that formed after Andy’s departure to California kept up their regular shows with their small setlist. These songs feel as much like home to the crowd as it does to them.

I look to the others, laughing when I see the pure joy on their face as they work together, back at creating their art with one another. Even though Ashley is still missing, it must feel pretty close to the good old days.

They easily conform to their former selves. CC is doing stick tricks between beats and Jake, Jinxx, and the fill-in bass player are playing back to back with massive grins on their faces.

The night I’d gotten to play with them, I thought they were excited and fully invested, but I can see now that was not the case. That concert was a memorial to their fallen friends. They played their hearts out hoping and praying that Ashley and Andy could hear it and know that they were missed and loved. This is something completely different... It’s like homecoming.

Just watching them play and have the time of their lives is enough to make me forget about my qualms. It’s fascinating to watch how they interact onstage and how they use their chemistry to provide a powerful performance. Andy puts his whole heart into every verse and is smiling like crazy when the breakdown comes and he gets to scream and growl. It’s probably been years since he’s gotten to do that.

The song ends and they immediately go into Perfect Weapon. The same theatrics ensue and the crowd is eating it up. I get more involved this time, doing my best to blend into the crowd despite my different attire. So far no one has stopped me to ask, most probably just assume I’m a reject from the prom.

As I learned over the course of their set is that Mom did not sew this dress to allow for moshpit jumping or spastic dancing which forced me to resort to an awkward shuffle, the only real dance move the tight skirt allowed.

“Alright... So,” Andy speaks into the mic, directly to the crowd for the first time. “This is our second to last song tonight. Let me say that it’s always held a special place in my heart, but over these last few weeks it’s found new meaning and purpose in my life. I’d like to dedicate it to the girl in blue. The emo bitch queen.” He nods toward me with a huge grin on his face. “This is called The Mortician’s Daughter.”

During the introduction, Jake and Jinxx had switched to acoustic guitars and their bassist played piano.

For a moment it felt like the room was completely empty and everyone else had gone. The spotlights reflect off the guitars and glimmer. The play the intro and I feel it in my heart... This damn song that had done so much to forge us together until this point.

It’s really a very centering moment... I take a deep breath and close my eyes, waiting for his voice to come and deliver that sweet opening line. I listen to his voice carrying the words and I feel like myself from five weeks ago when everything was about the funeral and Apture and this song.

I still love him. I’ll always love him.

I open my eyes and look up into his. He smiles at me as he sings, really making a proud peacock out of himself.

“We booked our flight those years ago, I said I loved you as I left you...”

I block out everything else and focus on him. All the bad things happening to me now, none of it matters. The good moments are often far and few between so we have to enjoy them completely when we can by living in the moment while its happening.

“And now I’m home again... Again, again... I’m home again.”

He grins, looking over the crowd who cheered them on before his gaze fell back onto me.

“Here’s our last song of the evening before they kick us off the stage for the headlining act,” he chuckles. “This is Sweet Blasphemy.”

I clap and cheer them on, absolutely loving everything and being fully absorbed in it because I know as soon as the music ends and the lights go dark all those other problems will come rushing back to mind... Eliza, my Grandmother, my parents, the shapeshifting demons...

“When darkness is all you see, this is our sweet blasphemy.”

~~~


Around twenty minutes later, the group of us are hanging out around the bar, the band chatting with eager fans that came up to talk to them, a lot of them asking why Andy was wearing a mask and why he wouldn’t take it off. As far as I could tell, none of them recognized him. Granted, the last time any of these people saw him in person was over five years ago when he still has psychotically long tangled black hair with random blonde highlights and way too much bodypaint.

“Here,” CC pushes a glass into Andy’s hand. “Sorry, no alcohol.”

“That was always the killing point of this bar when we used to play here. It’s fine.” Andy shrugs, drinking the mystery substance. “It doesn’t do anything for me anymore, anyway.”

“Hey what did you do to your shirt?” CC laughs, pointing toward he collar of his white button down. I look to see what he’s talking about. There’s several small red droplets scattered across the area.

“Oh - being a ghost doesn’t grant you awesome gracefulness, unfortunately. I spilled punch on myself.”

“Slob.” CC cackles, cutting back into the crowd to go talk with someone waving him down by the bar.

“So, what’d ya think?”

“It was amazing,” I tell him, patting the stool beside me for him to hop up. He does so, perching his feet on the bar below, admiring the people dancing to the headlining band playing a cover of a Whitesnake song.

“Do you miss it?”

He shrugs. “Of course... To an extent. I gave my heart away when I’d perform and come home to be an empty shell of a person with no more motivation or energy. It definitely drained me. Now in my older days, had things gone a bit differently, yeah, I could have considered reforming the band.”

“Where do you think the band would’ve been now?”

“If it’d stayed together?”

I nod.

“I don’t know... Probably a couple albums, a nice-sized fanbase and hopefully a few awards for the effort.” He chuckles at his own sarcasm. “I’d like to imagine that it did some good in people’s lives... That these things I wrote and sang about had gone beyond me and touched other people in a way that nothing else could. That’s all I would have wanted.”

“Do you think Ashley and Eliza are alright?”

“I think so.” He replies “She’s in good hands.”

“I’m worried about what went down after Reece...” I sigh, feeling guilt for having to bring it up again but it’d been eating at me all evening.

“I’m sure she made it work and still enjoyed prom. As for Reece, his best friend will be an ice pack for the next couple days.”

I frown grimly, getting a mental image of how Andy might’ve left him in that bathroom. Battered and bloodied and probably shitting himself.

We hang out for a while longer, enjoying the set from the headlining band and making a few friends. I got caught up and it all and didn’t realize how much time had passed until Andy made it known by saying it was almost one in the morning.

“Really?” I ask in surprise.

“It’s getting late,” Andy says, straightening his jacket. “I’d better get Ash home. You’re coming to pick up your car in the morning, right?”

“Yes.” CC replies, nodding toward him.

“It was great getting to play with you guys again. I missed it.” He says fondly, his smile nostalgic as he reflects on the evening he’d had. I wonder idly how it compares to the memories of his own prom years ago.

“We did, too.” Jinxx tells him. “Despite your predicament, it’s good to have you back. We should do this stuff more often.”

With that, it occurs to me that Jinxx may not be aware of my upcoming move. I bite my tongue to keep from spilling the beans, not wanting to ruin the nice moment between the four with my sour comments.

“C’mere.” Andy reaches toward Jake and pulls him close, wrapping him in a tight, apologetic hug. I can hear him murmuring something in his ear but it’s too low to hear. He pulls away and does the same with CC and Jinxx. When he is back by my side, he sighs fondly.

“I’ll see you three later. I’ll let Ashey know he was missed.”

“You do that... Drive safe, please.” Jake says, only joking half way. The look on his face is dread when he realizes who is driving.

“I’m a good driver!” Andy defends as we step out onto the porch area at the front of the bar, walking down the steps to the sidewalk. “That accident wasn’t my fault... I’d sure like to find that fucker and give him a good scare.”

Andy helps me back into the car and waves goodbye from the drivers side before climbing in and starting the engine. He sighs, smiling over at me. “Was that fun?”

I nod, smiling back to hide the strange feeling that has overcome me this evening. I search his eyes for the evidence I need to support my theory but I see nothing note worthy. I look away out my window. “It was great.” I reply.

He backs out of the lot, and goes left. I don’t know this side of Pendant well, but I know it well enough to be confused.

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

I lean back in my seat and watch the road ahead as we drive through the cityscape.

“I hate to keep bringing this up, but you swear Reece will be okay? I can’t get in trouble for this, Andy.”

“I promise.” He replies sincerely.

“What did you do to him?” I ask, hesitantly curious to see if it’d be the same story.

“I beat the shit out of him. He had it coming to him for a long time now.”

“Does it not bother you that you had to do that?” I ask with uncertainty, stealing glances at his face, trying to read him. He’s acting so out of character and it’s got me worried.

“Should it?” He asks easily, voice untroubled. I lean back in my seat, allowing the silence to resume, my heart pounding.

Notes

Sorry for missing the updates last week - had some family stuff to attend to and it was just easier to not write than force out a chapter that I'd end up hating later lol. I'm ahead by a few chapters now so things will be easier.

Thank you all for reading! Who else is excited for Andy's new album? Favorite single so far?