Sweet Silver Lining

Annabelle woke up the next morning with an arm wrapped around her naked waist. She turned her head to the left to see Andrew lying next to her, still sound asleep. She smiled to herself, thinking of everything that had transpired the day before.

After their snowball fight, Annabelle had invited Andrew back inside for a cup of hot chocolate, and they sat on the couch watching the Penguins play the Rangers. Just as Andrew was about to leave, a warning came on the television warning of severe winter weather, and Annabelle convinced him to just spend the night, not that it took too much convincing.

After dinner, one thing lead to another, and Annabelle found herself leading Andrew to her bedroom. And, that was where she woke up the following morning, lying next to Andrew. She glanced at the clock on her bedside stand and saw it said 10:45, and she couldn’t believe that she had slept in that late. She tried to gently move Andrew’s arm so she could get up without waking him up, but it didn’t work. As soon as she moved ever so slightly, Andrew began stirring, and his grasp on her waist tightened. He turned his head to look at her, a smile on his face. “Good morning,” he told her.

“It sure is,” Annabelle replied. “But, I need to get up,” she told him, moving his arm. “I can’t believe I slept until 10:45. I can’t remember the last time I slept in that late. Usually, I’m up at six to get Landon ready to go to school,” she told him.

“And, I’m usually up by seven to go to practice,” Andrew said, watching Annabelle as she put on a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt.

“Don’t judge me,” Annabelle joked when she saw Andrew looking at her attire. “And, you don’t have practice today, do you? I didn’t make you miss it, did I?” she asked worriedly.

“I’m just thinking how hot you look right now,” Andrew smirked, and Annabelle walked over to the bed, hitting him lightly in the arm. “And, no, I didn’t have practice today, so you’re off the hook,” he told her. “So, what time do we have to pick up Landon?” he asked.

“We?” Annabelle asked with a smile on her face. “You’re coming with me?”

“Yeah, if that’s okay with you,” Andrew said, getting out of bed and putting his clothes on from the day before. “I mean, you said something about the three of us doing something together, and I thought we could start today. After we pick him up, we can go do something,” he said, putting his shirt on.

Annabelle walked over to him, putting her arms around his neck. “Have I ever told you how perfect you are?” she asked him, leaning up and kissing him.

“I don’t think so, but you can tell me again if you’d like,” he laughed.

“No, I don’t think so. I wouldn’t want you to get too big of a head or anything,” she told him, turning around and heading toward the kitchen. “What do you want for breakfast?” she asked before thinking about what time it was. “Or lunch. Brunch, whatever you want to call it.”

“You’re going to cook for me?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “I should sleep over more often.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” she told him, and Andrew looked at her with a confused expression. “Not with Landon here, at least. But, whenever he has a sleepover, you’re definitely welcome over,” she smiled at him, and Andrew nodded his head in understanding. “So, what do you want to eat?”

“Whatever you want to make,” Andrew told her.

***

It was two-thirty, and Landon was just getting out of school. Annabelle stood there with Robin and Andrew, waiting on him to walk outside. Annabelle saw Landon walk out the door, and he saw her and started walking towards her. But, as soon as he saw Andrew standing next to her, he immediately began running at full speed.

“Andrew, what are you doing here?” Landon asked excitedly as he ran up to him.

Annabelle turned around to walk towards Andrew’s car, and Andrew and Landon followed her. “Well, Annie told you about the two of us, right?”

“Yeah, she said something about you two dating. Why?” Landon asked, wondering what that had to do with why Andrew was there today.

“Well, we were thinking that the three of us could do something together today,” Andrew explained as Annabelle helped Landon get into the back seat before getting in the passenger’s seat.

“Why? Can’t the two of us do something?” Landon asked.

“But, we want all three of us to do something,” Andrew explained. “Won’t that be fun to have Annie come with us?” he asked.

“But, I don’t want Annie to come with us,” Landon whined. Andrew looked over at Annabelle, and he saw her face immediately drop. He reached over and grabbed her hand, letting her know that it was going to be alright before he responded to Landon.

“Come on, buddy, Annie can come with us and we’ll have fun, right?”

“Why do you want her to come with us?” Landon questioned.

“She’s your sister, and she’s my girlfriend. I just want the three of us to do something,” Andrew explained as he pulled up to Annabelle’s apartment. The three of them got out and went upstairs, where their conversation continued.

“Well, if you’re only doing this because she’s your girlfriend, then I don’t want her to be your girlfriend anymore,” Landon argued. Annabelle’s eyes went wide, and she couldn’t figure out why Landon was acting this way. He had seemed fine when she told him about their relationship earlier.

“I’m not going to break up with Annie,” Andrew told him.

“Well, I don’t want you dating her!” Landon yelled.

“Landon!” Annabelle scolded, not wanting him to talk to Andrew that way.

“Why do you ruin everything?” Landon screamed at her, running to his room. “I hate you!”

Annabelle turned around to look at Andrew, tears in her eyes. Andrew scooped her up in his arms, kissing her forehead. “It’s going to be fine,” Andrew told her soothingly. “He’s just got to get used to the idea of us dating and the fact that we’ll be doing things all together.”

“He hates me,” Annabelle said quietly, trying to prevent the tears from falling.

“He doesn’t hate you,” Andrew assured her. “He’s just angry right now. Do you want me to go in there and talk to him?”

“No, I’ll do it,” Annabelle told him. “Thanks,” she added, giving him a kiss before walking back to Landon’s room. She slowly opened the door to see Landon lying face down on the bed. “Landon, we need to talk,” she told him.

“What?” he barked, flipping over and glaring at her.

“I don’t understand why you’re angry right now. I told you that Andrew and I were dating, and you seemed fine with it. Why are you so angry now?” she asked, sitting down on the edge of his bed.

Landon sat up, staring at her. “Yeah, you said you were dating him. But, you didn’t say we had to start doing things as a group. I want Andrew to myself,” he told her, and Annabelle nodded, finally understanding why Landon was acting the way he was. He thought she was taking Andrew away from him.

“Landon, Andrew’s still going to hang out with you. It’s just we want to try to hang out as a group, the three of us,” Annabelle explained.

“Well, I don’t want to,” Landon argued.

“Come on, Landon, why don’t you give it a try?” Annabelle tried coaxing him.

“I don’t want you coming with us,” Landon said angrily.

“Landon, I’m his girlfriend. I’m going to be doing things with Andrew,” Annabelle said calmly.

“Then, I don’t want you to be his girlfriend,” Landon stated.

Annabelle took a deep breath, trying to figure out what to do. Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door and she saw Andrew walk into the room. “Is everything okay?” he asked, looking between Landon and Annabelle.

“Why don’t you two just go?” Annabelle suggested, and Andrew gave her a funny look.

“I thought we were going to do things as a group?” Andrew asked.

“Not today,” she said, shaking her head. “You two go ahead,” she said, and Landon quickly jumped off the bed, a smile spreading across his face.

Landon ran out into the living room, and Andrew hung back a few moments to talk to Annabelle. “What’s this all about?” he asked her.

“Landon wants it to be the two of you,” she told him.

“But, I thought we were going to,” Andrew started.

“Just go,” Annabelle interrupted. “I’ll talk to you later,” she said, giving him a kiss before she heard Landon calling his name. “Go,” she said with a forced smile, and Andrew reluctantly stood up and went to the living room to find Landon.