Your Guardian Angel

There was nothing quite like the terror in my heart as Andy miscalculated, slipping off the marble structure. It was lead, it was ice. Cold and heavy, it was something I'd felt just once before. One time I'd been so terrified for Andy.. Make that two.
He flailed, trying to catch himself as he fell. I threw my bass aside, across the stage in the second I saw him start to fall. I caught him, exhaling a breath of relief. "Don't ever scare me like that again." I hugged him tight. My heart thudded in my chest, the adrenaline racing after each beat. He could've killed himself! My stomach was a puddle in my cowboy boots and my heart had jumped into my throat, the memory replaying over and over. If he'd fallen, he could've broken a bone, his ribs or his face, he could've split his head open or something. I was working myself into a fantastic panic thinking about it.. But he was okay. I caught him before he hit the ground, he was okay. I ended the concert and led him back to the bus.. the bus was a safe place. Before we got there, he ran back to grab something he'd lost in his attempted flight. The other three looked at me oddly.
"So you can teleport." Jake finally broke the silence.
"W-what do you mean?" I paled.
"When Andy tried to fly. You threw your bass and caught him, but nobody saw you move." He said, shoving his hands in his pocket and rocking back and forth on his feet. "You moved from one side of the stage to the other without anybody seeing you."
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Being terrified for your best friend's safety and well-being makes you do crazy things." I mumbled. The memory played again, everything slowed down as Andy fell in a ripple of hair and feathers and other accessories. Like the world had shrunk to me and him, me standing on the other side of the stage watching him tumble to his death. I honestly didn't even think to catch him, it was merely an instinct to forget all my lies, my disguise and my fronts to catch him, to keep him safe. It was so deeply ingrained in me to protect him, it didn't even take a conscious thought to catch him. To be that safe embrace for him was second nature, not even second. It was my first instinct to be there for him, my new mortal instincts falling second to him. Everything was second to him. Nothing else mattered to me except him..
"Crazy." Jake scoffed. "You're a crazy guy, Purdy. I'm glad you caught him though. God knows that kid gets injured too much already." I laughed lightly. "I know. He's a clumsy kid. Still growing into his height, probably." He was six foot two, three, already and still growing. Lanky and skinny, two traits that translate directly to extremely awkward, he trips over nothing a lot. Our little secret, he trips on his own feet.
A lot.
Jake and Jinxx climbed onto the bus, leaving CC and I alone outside. "That was really impressive, actually. That would've been a nasty fall...I don't want to think about if you hadn't caught him."
I nodded. "He's reckless. Maybe he thought he'd make it. Either way, I hope he isn't in there trying again." That would be like him, to try it again to see if he could make it. I hoped he wouldn't. I couldn't get all the way to him like I did before. If he did.. I'd be a calming presence until an ambulance came. Thinking about him, his diary entry came to mind again, the conversation we'd shared earlier. Despite my.. calming effect on him, I wasn't good for him. I really wasn't.. Even if I wanted to be, I wasn't. I had done nothing but lie and betray him in the time we'd known each other. I didn't even deserve to be his friend, much less anything he wanted me to be. I'd screwed up so much, just so many times in the past few days. Why did he love me? Why did he want me? I was the worst for him, I was. I knew that deep in my heart of hearts. No matter how much I wanted to be good for him, I'd never be what he deserved. He deserved somebody who would be good to him, who'd let him have space like he needed instead of coddling him and being so overprotective as I tended to be. I wasn't good for him. I'd lied to him for so long, I doubted there was anything to our relationship at all. What he knew of me was so entirely false.. Through all these lies, now he was suspicious that I didn't trust him, and he seemed almost positive I was lying. He was getting suspicious of me. The fallen feather was icing on the cake. Why didn't I just carry around a sign or something and announce it to everybody, for Christ's sake. That thought made me laugh. Forsaken for protecting him, to me, that was a little ironic. I was meant to protect him, but when I actually had to, I fell.
I fell for him in so many ways and I regretted none. In my reverie, I realized Andy had emerged again. "Hey, kid. You find what you were looking for?" He flashed his bandanna at me with a weak wrist flick. "Not really. Just as many, if not more unanswered questions, to be honest." He said dully, going inside. Was this a philosophical rant or what? Should I be worried?
Saying nothing, I followed him in. "Promise me you won't try to fly anymore?" I asked softly.
"Uh huh." He rolled over. "I won't."
I sat up. "Andy, hon, what's wrong?"
He grunted, pulling his curtain shut. "I'll tell you what's wrong when you stop lying to me."
I nudged the curtain away. "Andy, are you upset? Please, you can talk to me."
"Ashley, I advise you stop talking now!" CC called from the front.
"Can I?" He asked, voice icy. He looked at me, eyes a matching shade to his voice. I nodded, perching on the edge. He sat up, scooting away. "Ash, for fucks sake, leave me alone." he sighed. I sighed. "Please tell me what's wrong." He snapped. "Ashley, since you can't pull your head out of your ass enough to observe, yes, I am upset. I really don't feel like I can talk to you, considering you lie about everything. What's wrong? Well, I don't know anything about my own best friend, I literally know nothing about the man I call my best friend, yet you know everything about me. Isn't that just a little unfair in your mind? No, it's not. It's perfectly okay to you to lie to everybody and hide, but god forbid I tell a lie. You know when I'm lying but I don't even know what's a lie and what's truth. Do you see why I'm upset? Do you see why I'm hurt and why I feel lied to? Because you don't do anything but lie!"
I swallowed. "Andy.. I'm sorry.. I- I can't- sorry.." I whispered.
"Sorry for what? That I caught you lying?" He shut his curtain, shutting me out again. I stared at the curtain when his hand darted out, dropping something on the ground. "And uh- you can explain these at any time."
My hand shook as I picked it up. In my fingers, I held a black feather. My heart jumped into my throat, racing in my ears as I turned it over in my hands. It was cold in my clammy hands. I looked down and my own delicate feather, feeling my shame bear heavily on me.