Paper Bags and Plastic Hearts

Monday afternoon. Work was going just like I’d thought it would. Andy was avoiding me. I was seriously beginning to think he’d regretted kissing me. Maybe I was a bad kisser or something.

Ugh. Just another one of my imperfections.

Earlier that day when I had arrived at Dash-Mart, I was hoping things wouldn’t be weird between Andy and myself. I was willing to forget about the whole kissing ordeal. I really didn’t want our friendship to go from care-free and easy-going to completely screwed up.

So when I saw Andy, I slowly walked up to him. He was arranging the shampoo bottles on the shelves, completely unaware of his surroundings. I shook away any unsettling feelings before speaking to him.

“Hi,” I said somewhat brightly with a small yet nervous smile on my face.

Andy stopped what he was doing and looked at me. He seemed just as tense as he was when he’d dropped me off at my house. An awkward smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Hey.”

Hmm.

“So, uh, how’s it going?” I asked casually, rocking back and forth on my heels.

He shrugged. “Normal.”

Normal? What the hell?

“Huh. Normal, you say?” I resisted the urge to slap his face for a straight answer. This kid wasn’t normal.

“Yep,” he stated. Then he went back to arranging the shampoos and conditioners.

Oh, come on!

A low sigh escaped my lips. This aloofness he had going on was really bugging the hell out of me. Why couldn’t he just talk to me? Was it so hard? Apparently.

After having shared that oh so pleasant conversation with Andy, I decided it was best to just get back to my damn job. I was dead set on finding out what his problem was, but it was going to have to wait. Unfortunately.

I worked the cash register and rang up a poor amount of customers. I really wouldn’t be surprised if Dash-Mart suddenly shut down. It sucked. Everything sucked.

The day dragged on and Andy still wasn’t talking to me. Everytime we’d cross paths, he’d look away and pretend to show interest in the ceiling. Andy was a very complex human being. I knew he wasn’t like any other boy I’d met and that’s one of the reasons that made us be friends. He was complicated and trying to talk to him about a fairly serious situation such as this one took a lot of work and patience. I wasn’t one to be patient, believe me.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost time for our break. As I left my spot behind the register, I suddenly had a brilliant idea. I was going to wait for Andy in the staff room because that was usually where he’d go before break.

I power walked to the staff room and positioned myself behind the office cabinet. I stood still and waited. Finally, about a minute later, Andy came in and walked to his locker, opening it. I bit my lip and watched him for a few seconds before stepping out from my hiding spot. “Andy.”

“Shit!” Andy suddenly exclaimed, startled by my presence. He turned around quickly to face me. A frown appeared on his face. “What the hell are you doing?”

I crossed my arms. “I was waiting to get you alone.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re avoiding me,” I spat.

Oh, he’s not getting away this time.

He narrowed his eyes at me. “No, I’m not.”

“Yes you are, Andy. You barely talked to me today!”

“Well, I’ve been working,” he replied smartly.

“So have I. But that never stopped you from talking to me,” I argued.

He sighed, crossing his arms. He became quiet.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” I questioned.

“I don’t have anything to say!”

I stared at him in disbelief. “You don’t have anything to say?!”

“No,” he replied quietly. An uneasy look spread across his face.

I breathed through my nose. “You kissed me, Andy.”

His eyes left my face and focused on the floor. I really didn’t understand why he was acting this way.

“Do you regret it?”

He frowned, looking back up at me. “What?”

“Do you regret kissing me?”

He blinked a few times. “I……I……uh……”

“Yes or no, Andy?” I pressed impatiently, taking a step forward.

He sighed angrily. “Farrah, I’m not good with these types of situations.”

I made a face. “What situations?”

“I don’t……ugh, I don’t get involved like this with people,” he blurted, looking uncomfortable as ever.

I frowned. “But you did with me.”

He nodded slowly.

“Why?” I questioned, taking another step forward. I was close to cornering him.

“Because,” he muttered. “Just because.”

I arched a brow. “Because why?”

“Just because, alright?!” He snapped, releasing a loud sigh.

My face fell and I uncrossed my arms. “I don’t want you to avoid me.”

His expression softened at my tone. “I’m sorry.”

I stuffed my hands in my jeans, now finding it hard to look at him directly in the eyes. “Do you or do you not regret kissing me, Andy?” I asked quietly.

He stared at me intently. “No.”

“Then why did you just walk away afterwards? Why have you been avoiding me all day?” I was surprised to hear how sad my voice sounded. And by the looks of it, so was Andy.

“Farrah….”

I looked down at my worn out Vans.

“Look,” he sighed. “If you haven’t already noticed, I suck at showing emotions towards these types of things. I really do,” he spoke quietly. I stayed silent and watched as he took two steps towards me. “I’m sorry I upset you. You have every right to be angry with me. I’m a fucking dick.”

A humorless chuckle escaped my lips. “Yeah, you are. A big one.”

“No argument there.”

I shook my head and stared at the wall behind him.

He smiled crookedly. “I really don’t regret kissing you. I can’t believe you actually thought that.”

“How could you expect me not to, Andy? You just completely threw me off. I convinced myself that I was a bad kisser,” I mumbled, digging my hands deeper inside my pockets.

“That’s bullshit,” he muttered.

“It’s not bullshit. It’s what you made me think of myself,” I snapped.

Andy shook his head, staring at me disbelievingly. And before I could say anything else, his lips abruptly collided with mine. Of course he caught me by surprise, just like he had the first time. My heart pounded faster inside my chest as I felt Andy’s warm arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. He was kissing me quite intensely and I was liking it. A lot.

Our tongues danced together perfectly. I found myself on my tiptoes, since he was significantly taller than me. I pulled him down by his neck and he helped by pushing me up just a little. It was enough to make me kiss him back harder.

Suddenly, we both heard the door opening, which immediately caused us to quickly pull away from each other in surprise. Mrs. DeLuca was standing in the doorway, wide-eyed and with a cigarette caught between her blood red lips.

“Uh….I’m….I’m so sorry,” she stuttered, looking back and forth at us. “I’ll uh…..I’ll be leaving now.” She gripped the handle on the door and quickly pulled it shut behind her.

Andy and I stayed quiet for a few seconds before exchanging glances. And that’s when the both of us snorted in laughter.

“That was…..”

“Awkward,” I finished Andy’s sentence.

“Shit, talk about bad timing,” he laughed, shaking his head.

I bit back a smile as I looked at him.

He smirked. “What are you staring at?”

I shrugged. “Nothing.”

He rolled his eyes.

I laughed. “I think we should get back out there.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

I smiled and walked ahead of him and he followed, smiling back at me.

__________________________________________________________

The rest of the day passed by pretty quickly. Mrs. DeLuca kept winking at us all the time. Her walking in on Andy and I was pretty embarrassing, but it could’ve been worse. It could’ve been Lenny. And trust me, he’d have quite a handful of comments regarding the whole situation.

Andy and I acted pretty much the same, except it felt sort of different at the same time. We were, I don’t know, “involved” now? It was damn obvious that Mrs. DeLuca had spread the word about what she had encountered in the staff room because everyone was staring at us with huge interest.

“Looks like we’re the main attraction of Dash-Mart now,” Andy muttered as we both walked across the parking lot.

“I’m sort of embarrassed,” I said, crossing my arms.

Andy snorted. “So am I. But you know what? Fuck it. It’s our life.” He shrugged.

“Right,” I agreed, nodding. “Fuck it.”

He gave me a smirk before staring straight forward. A frown then replaced his smirk. “You got your car fixed, huh?”

“Yeah. How do you think I got here?” I laughed.

He just shrugged, looking a little disappointed.

I didn’t say anything as we continued walking. It was sort of weird now that we both had our cars. We were no longer obligated to give each other rides anymore.

Shit.

“So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” I said with a small smile.

He mirrored my smile. “Yeah.”

I nodded, not moving an inch. Andy was quite close to me and I kind of figured what was going to happen next. He inched closer and I bit my lip, waiting for it. Once his face was right in front of mine and our noses touched, we heard a few snickers coming from our far left side. This caused us to turn our heads.

Two of our co-workers were standing there with big ass smiles on their faces. I could instantly feel my cheeks growing hot.

“Hi, can we help you?” Andy asked them, clearly annoyed.

“I just think it’s great that you two got together,” Kathleen said. Kathleen was around forty-five years old and always dressed like it was 1985. Nice woman, but awfully nosy at times.

“Yeah, I agree. You two make an adorable couple. Everyone else thinks so too,” Maria said with a nod. She was also in her forties and had pretty caramel skin. She also had a hint of a Spanish accent.

Andy sighed under his breath and I just gave the two women a lopsided smile.

“Alright, let’s go. Let’s leave them alone,” Kathleen stated, nudging Maria’s arm.

“Yes, of course.” She and Kathleen smiled at us before walking away, waving goodbye.

I turned back to Andy, who rolled his eyes dramatically. His expression made me laugh. “They mean well.”

“They’re intrusive,” he mumbled.

“That’s just how they are. I mean, what can we do?” I shrugged. “I guess it’s the price we pay for working with old people.”

Andy smirked and before I knew it, his lips were on mine in one quick motion. I felt the familiar fluttery sensation in my stomach and smiled. Andy pressed his mouth harder against mine and we stayed like that for just a few seconds before pulling away.

“Damn, you’re so fast. You don’t even give me a heads up before kissing me,” I teased.

“Am I supposed to ask you if can kiss you?” He questioned, lifting an eyebrow.

I chuckled. “No.”

“Good.” He smirked.

I rolled my eyes. “So…you’re not planning on avoiding me again, are you?”

He made a confused face. “No.”

“You sure? Because if you are, just tell me upfront,” I joked.

“Shut up,” he said with a laugh.

I grinned. “Promise you won’t avoid me?”

He grunted. “I won’t, Farrah.”

“Alright, then. That’s all I needed to know.” I continued grinning.

Andy shook his head. “Crazy.” He smirked.

“I’m thinking you like my crazyness, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Am I right?” I asked with a laugh.

“Yeah, you’re right. Your crazyness is what attracts me,” he teased.

“Only my crazyness?” I decided to extend our little game. It was quite fun.

He rolled his eyes. “No.”

“Then what else?” I questioned intriguingly.

He pursed his lips, while stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Everything else.”

The amusement left my face and I stared at him seriously. “Yeah?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

I smiled shyly.

“Please don’t say aww, okay? I’m not good with awws,” he mumbled, as a smile hinted on his lips.

“Awwwwwwwwwwww,” I teased.

He slapped his forehead and I laughed. “Sorry, I had to.”

“Whatever,” he said with a small laugh.

I moved some hair away from my face and smiled at him. “See you tomorrow, Biersack.”

“See ya, Hanley.”

I gave him a light shove and he gave me one back. I chuckled before opening the door of my beetle and getting in. Once I started the engine, I looked back at Andy and saw him getting into his van. He let me pass him as we made our way out of the parking lot. I honked once at him before we both drove opposite ways.