The Hand of Destiny

"Isn't that slightly childish?" Andy asked.

"More childish than Spin The Drumstick?"

"Hey! That's a win of a game!" C.C argued, mock-offended.

"I know C.C, he just can't appreciate our sophisticated game choices!" I chuckled, feeling Jinxx's chest vibrate as he laughed.

"Yeah yeah, sophisticated, that's the word..." Andy smiled.

"Anyway, I'm in, what about you two?" C.C asked.

"Alright" Jinxx said as Jake nodded. "Who's starting?"

"Ooh! I am!" Jake piped up. "Truth or dare for Jinxx!" he exclaimed.

"... truth" Jinxx replied after a moment.

"Okay, do you fancy Sammi?" he grinned, enjoying the moment Jinxx's face dropped and flushed red.

"Um... can I change to dare?" he asked, looking somewhat helpless.

"You can, but the dare will be to call Sammi and ask her out" I replied for Jake, who grinned at me. That is co-operation bitches!

"Fine, I'll stick with truth!" he tilted his head down so he wasn't looking anyone in the eye. "Yes..." he mumbled almost inaudibly before burying his head in my chest. The guys must have heard him though as they all started cheering and cat-calling.

I wrapped my arms around him. "Aw, leave Jinxxy and his little crush alone!" I said, causing Jinxx to lightly slap my leg.

"Shut up..." he mumbled.

"You realise that teasing you about this is going to get old real quick now you've told us, right? If you would have admitted it at the start, we would have been over it by now"

He looked at me like a child would look at someone who took away there sweets.

"I'm going to pretend that's not true and that I didn't go through all your teasing for no reason" he concluded.

"Anyway Jinxx, your turn to ask a question" I told the boy as he lent back from my chest and sat down properly again.

"Okay then... Andy, truth or dare?"

Andy frowned, "I'm going to have to go for truth aren't I? I remember the last time we played this and I ended up having to run down the street naked for a dare. I am NOT doing that again" he shuddered.

"It wasn't that bad! It was night so barely anyone was around or could see anyway!" C.C said.

"Don't make it sound better than it was! It was horrible!" Andy gestured wildly with his hands. "So yeah, truth, let's get this over with".

"Okay, staying on the theme of crushes do you fancy anyone Andy?" he smiled, his tone amused and teasing.

"Yes" he replied evenly and without pause which I wasn't expecting. I had expected him to be evasive and avoid the question.

"Who is it?!" Jinxx asked delightedly (though I suspect it had something to do with the fact that the attention wasn't on his crushes anymore).

"I'm not saying, you only had one question. And as rules state that now that I've had truth this time, I have to do a dare next time. You can't ask then either" he grinned, pleased that he had left them all wondering without an answer.

"Ashley" he said.

Wait, did he just say he had a crush on me? I mean, I know he obviously felt something for me but he just admitted it to the group, didn't he?

"Wait, what?" I asked in disbelief.

"I choose you; it's your turn to decide, truth or dare?"

Oh, of course he meant it like that...

"Truth" I replied, prompting C.C to moan "Seriously, is everyone just going to choose truth? Oh well, you'll all have to do dares next" he reminded us.

"Are you a virgin?"

WTF? Personal much? Oh god, the guys are going to think I'm such a loser... and I'm a terrible liar so I can't just say I'm not...

I could literally feel my cheeks go red.

"... yes..." Now it was my turn to hide my face on my friend's chest. Jinxx wrapped his arms around me tightly and while the other guys were busy cooing over how sweet it was, Jinxx sensed how embarrassed I felt.

"Hey, don't worry about it, I am too" Jinxx whispered to me, quiet enough that it was clearly intended for my ears only. In truth, it did make me feel better.

"Thanks Jinxx" I murmured, still hugging him and refusing to look at the others, at least until they stopped 'aww!'ing. Well fine, if Andy wanted to play this game then bring it on, I got my own little tactic…

“Okay then, I choose Andy. Since you chose truth last time, you have to have a dare now, right?”

He nodded, a slight wariness in his eyes. I’m not surprised, I asked him that with too much fake enthusiasm and I couldn’t control the glint in my eyes which can only signify that I have a plan and a devious one at that.

I started to wiggle out of Jinxx’s embrace and he released his arms when he realised I was getting up to tell Andy his dare. I leant right over close to him, which made him move back slightly, automatically.

I lowered my lips near his ear, making sure to breathe over his ear slightly as I remembered him telling me it drives him crazy when we were in that café.

“If you’re going to get personal then I can too. So, I’m going to be blunt here Andy, we both want to be together but you said it can’t happen because of the effect a previous experience had on you. I’m dying to make you think differently, so tell me, why did you break up with your boyfriend? Go on, tell me, I dare you…”

Andy stood up abruptly and started to walk off, great, now I’ve made him mad at me.

Smooth move jackass…

He made his way across the living room, ignoring Jake when he asked where Andy was going and what the dare was; he obviously hadn’t picked up on Andy’s anger from across the room and thought he was off to do his dare.

When Andy stopped at the bathroom door though and gestured for me to follow him, I started to think Jake was right about him going to do his dare. Though, by the expressions and whistles now coming from the other guys, they obviously thought the dare was of a sexual nature. Well, Andy did choose the bathroom.

When we both stepped inside the surprisingly spacious bathroom and Andy clicked the door shut.

“It’s the only room here that has a lock…” he said, sensing my confusion as to why we were in a bathroom. He sat on the edge of the white bathtub and gestured for me to do the same. After a couple of seconds he looked at me and asked me why I wanted to know about this so much.

“Like I told you a minute ago Andy, something obviously happened in the past that has made you wary, maybe even scared of having relationships with your friends. I’ll do whatever I can to show you that nothing bad will happen but I can’t try to do that unless you tell me what went wrong in the first place. It’s like how you can’t treat a person in hospital, if you don’t know what they’re suffering from” I ghosted my hand over his, mildly surprised when he didn’t hurry to yank his own hand away.

“If I tell you, you’ll think my reasoning is stupid because I can only give you the cause of what happened, rather than the whole story” he told me somberly.

“I won’t, finding out even a little bit of information could be enough to save the patient, even if it doesn’t seem completely relevant” I replied.

His head looked up and he smirked crookedly, “seriously dude! What’s with all the hospital/ patient analogies?! I’m not dying!” he laughed.

“I think I’ve been watching to many of those E.R programmes lately…” I admitted. “Anyway, now you’ve had the ultra persuasive power of my medical analogies, can you tell me what happened? Even if it is only a trigger factor of the event?”.

“He was obsessive…” Andy breathed, shuddering slightly as he did. This probably brought up some bad memories if what happened affected him this much. “He was impulsive and controlling, he got jealous a lot…”

“Andy you know I’m not the jealous type and am in no way controlling, you know that”.

“Neither was he though, Ash. It’s not personal and it’s not your fault but right now it’s just bringing back stuff I want to forget. I guess I kind of repressed the memory or something by trying not to think about it but now it’s all coming back…” he sighed, like trying to explain this made him physically tired.

I knew not to try and push Andy further that night; Andy was clearly having trouble processing the emotions that revoking the memory brought to the surface.

“I promise I’ll tell you more later, Ash, but right now just isn’t the time. By the way, don’t mention this to any of the guys, they don’t know anything about it. It was before I met them”.

This was fine by me, he didn’t know how much it meant to me that he told me. Even if it was just a little bit of the story, especially when he hadn’t even told the others.

When he’s ready, I’ll be willing to listen to whatever he has to say.

“Okay, Andy, I understand.” I surprised him by pulling him into a tight hug and smiled to myself when he relaxed in my arms. After a few seconds, we pulled apart and C.C’s voice came floating through the door.

“Are you guys done in there? You took so long Jake fell asleep and he snores. Usually I don’t care ‘cause he’s in his own room and I can’t hear but since you two completely ruined my plans to fall asleep first, I have a bad feeling that it’s going to be like sleeping next to an engine tonight. ”

“Better get used to it C.C” I joked quietly, making Andy chuckle.

“I heard that you creeps!” I imagined C.C standing outside the door pouting, which made me laugh more. Sharing this thought with Andy sent us both into fits of giggles.

I love Andy’s laugh, it’s so natural and happy. Plus, it’s a sign that even if other things are going wrong, there is still some things going right and there is still some hope and happiness.

That’s all I want for Andy really, hope and happiness.