You Don't Know Me | A Andy Gibb What If Story

Chapter 19

"And it took you this long to figure it out?" I asked Andy.

He chuckled.

"Well, not exactly but it hit me in the shower this morning. The conversation we had in Sears in December came back to me about the Secret Santa stuff," Andy confessed.

We were sitting out at a coffee shop. He was sort of in disguise with a baseball cap and kept the collar on his shirt popped. He tried to stifle his accent but it really didn't work.

I looked down at my coffee cup and smiled.

"H-how did that make you remember?" I asked him.

"I went to put my cross necklace on and I kept thinking about it. It still ate at me for 3 months of who it was. Then, somehow it took me back to Sears in December when you were asking for recommendations for the guy you were seeing," he told me.

I smiled again. God damn was I smitten like Violet told me I was?

"I had no idea you would figure it out. I was hoping it would stay a secret," I told him.

He chuckled at my comment.

"Well surprise," he told me.

"Definitely," I replied chuckling.

"So were you ever gonna tell me you did it?" Andy asked me as the waitress came and gave us coffee refreshments.

I shook my head.

"I think secrets are good for the soul like those sort of secrets. Not toxic ones but genuine surprise secrets," I explained after we thanked the waitress for the coffee refill.

He paused and looked at me.

"Just like you did when I was in rehab last year? You know how much that meant to me, right?" he asked.

I sighed.

"Yeah, I know. I wanted to do something good for you. Not because of your stage name. I know what the headlines said and have continued to say about you and it's nasty," I told him.

"You know I think you are the first woman in my life that actually takes all of it into consideration," he explained.

"It's just who I am Andy. I know I don't know you really just what we've learned in the last year but," I explained but he cut me off.

"Hey, hey, hey, you don't have to defend yourself with me," he told me as he put his hand on top of mine.

My heart fluttered at the gesture. I had Violet in the back of my head.

"I've always defended myself with people. It's a force of habit," I told him as he held my hand in his.

He was just a friend. But, I don't want the world to see this. If this gets broken, then I will never be able to let him know who I am anymore.

Andy sighed at my comment.

"I know. That's the world I grew up in myself. I always had to defend myself because when I was younger in grade school I only did well because I was the "Bee Gee's brother." I get it completely," he told me.

I frowned at his remark.

"That's totally unfair and I cannot imagine the pain that's caused you. Even today," I told him.

He took a sigh at what I had said.

"Well yeah, that's one of the things that drove me last year prior to the stay at Betty Ford. I always wanted to be a Bee Gee and well maybe it's not meant to be," he commented.

Our food came about this time so we paused to focus on our food for a few.

I changed the subject to move us from his sad revelation. I couldn't help but try and distract him.