Andy, You're A Star

"Need that," she said, and her voice was quiet. I froze, waiting in case she were about to say something else, but when she remained silent, I turned slowly to look at her.

I felt myself trying to form words, but it wasn't working. She was even more stunning than I remembered. Her hair, instead of being the light caramel brown I remembered, was now jet black. I could see little bits of red, but it was up in a ponytail, so most of it was out of my vision. Her bangs kept slipping into her eyes; she would move her head to the side or brush them away with her free hand.

Her fingernails were done up with the black equivalence of a french manicure. Between her thumb and forefinger she was pinching a half-eaten strawberry. She had a pair of earmuff headphones hanging around her neck, but there was no music on, at least not now. She looked at me through thick lashes, and her jaw was moving slowly as she chewed.

The only familiar thing about the way she looked were her chocolate colored eyes and the shirt she was wearing. I remembered it from New Years, without much effort.

"Andy," I breathed, not able to use my actual voice. She swallowed and took a drink of her milk, breaking eye contact.

"Hi Ol," she said, and her tongue flicked across her lips before she swallowed again.

The room was silent after that, and I eventually snapped out of the initial shock of seeing her. I walked away from the light-switch, to the fridge and got out the regular milk and a box of cereal from the cupboard.

"Do I get to meet her?" Andy's voice was stronger now, and I glanced at her just as her lips wrapped around a strawberry and she bit down. I capped the milk and closed the cereal box, leaving them on the counter as I grabbed a spoon and joined Andy at the island, before answering.

"Meet who, Andy?" I asked, and she rolled her wide eyes at me.

"This girl that you've been seeing. Got to be something special 'bout her," she said, looking at the strawberry she had bitten, before eating the rest of it and setting the stem on the counter, where a small pile was forming.

"How'd you know?" I asked quietly, spooning some cereal into my mouth.

"I'm not dense, Oliver. When do I get to meet her?" she demanded, and I was a little surprised. She was different in more than just her looks, I could tell already.

"Not sure if that's such a good idea."

"You tossed me after a few weeks for this girl. I want to see what's so great about her. She have a nice rack? Or is it her sparkling personality?" she snapped, her voice harsh. It hurt, but she didn't need to know the real reason Archel and I got together.

"Don't be like that, Andy," I said, and she laughed once; a hard, bitter laugh.

"Have you fucked her yet? That why you abandoned me? 'Cause I wouldn't put out?" she raised her tweezed eyebrows at me, and I sighed.

"Was she worth it?" she leaned forward, biting into another strawberry.

"Enough, Andy. You left me, remember?"

"I went to visit my brother, for fucks sake. It's not like I just walked out on you without a word," her voice held many implications, and I guessed she was referring to my lack of phone calls recently.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Andy," I set down my spoon and looked at her, held her eyes with mine, and saw the hurt there. She was aching, just like me. It had to be this way, though. She needed the chance for happiness.

"Why'd you just give up on me? I know you still love me, I can see it inside you. So why are you making this hurt so much?" she urged, her jaw tight and clenched.

I could see that she wasn't giving up that easily. It would make it easier if I hurt her. Make it easier for her to hate me, to move on.

"Whatever you see in me, it's not love. I don't love you, Andy," I said firmly, and she inhaled deeply, narrowing her eyes at me.

"I knew you were a jerk, but I had no idea you were a liar too," she said, picking up her dish that was now empty, and her half-full cup of soy milk, carrying it to the sink. I watched as she dumped the milk down the drink and rinsed out the cup, before putting all the dirty dishes on the counter into the dishwasher.

"I'm a patient person, Oliver. You need to make sure you want me out of your life before you make anything permanent. I'll be around if you need me," she told me and walked past me toward the stairs.

I wanted to go after her, to pull that Cricket shirt off and run my fingers over her lean stomach, to smooth my hands over the curve above her ass, but I instead stood up and slipped my feet into my vans, grabbing my car keys.

I hadn't really decided where I was going until I was already halfway to Curtis' house. He would be pissed if I showed up when Vivian was there, but I wouldn't bother them. I would probably end up picking up a dime bag and leaving. This was definitely a situation that called from memory loss due to smoking.

Even if Andy did call me out on my lie, she was still hurting. And it hurt me to hurt her, because nothing in this world was more important to me than her.

I pulled into the driveway and shut off my car, making my way to the front door.

I knocked a few time, and the door swung open soon after. Shit, he looked mad already. I glanced behind him and saw Vivian smiling at me, sitting on the couch crossed-legged.

"Hey kid, I'm here for the jealousy," I said, and he still looked kind of mad, but let me in anyway. It was Curtis' idea to call it 'Jealousy'. It was clever, really. Jealousy was often referred to as the "Green Monster" and I guess he thought that weed could also be considered the green monster, and it just kind of stuck.

And anyway, you can get busted for asking for jealousy.

"Sorry to break up your party, but Andy's back in town," I said, and both of them looked at me like they knew exactly what that meant.

"Well in that case, you're stayin' here and smokin' up with us, Ol. Can't have you at home where she's wanderin' 'round, can we?" Vivian grinned, and Curtis glanced at her, before shrugging.

He told me to follow him, and the three of us went into his room in the basement. It smelled intensely of ganja and incense.

This was the Fortress of Solitude to my Superman.

This was the happy place in my mind when things got shitty.

Something that seemed to be happening more and more often these days.