winds of change ~ wolverine

fourteen

BAILEY'S POV

Waiting in line at a cafe on campus, I spotted Andy out of the corner of my eye at the same time she saw me. I saw her smile in hello, then freeze for a second as she regarded Logan behind me. "Shit." I muttered under my breath, I'd forgotten that I said I'd give her some kind of explanation the next time I saw her. Putting a light hand on Logan's arm to grab his attention, I said to him. "I'll be back in a minute, alright."

His eyes picked out Andy and he nodded shortly. "Don't go far."

"Such a mother hen." I teased, slipping out of the line and pulling Andy to the side but still in sight of him. I gave her a short hug. "Bitch since when do you come to class on Mondays?" 

She punched my shoulder. "Since you promised me an explanation of whatever's going on between you and all that hunk of man." She pointed a twirling finger at Logan and I quickly covered her hand, lowering it so he wouldn't see, though I suspected he was probably listening anyway.

"I did say that, didn't I."

"You did, indeed."

I sighed, opening my mouth to say something, then changing my mind. Telling her he was my boyfriend worked to explain his presence around the apartment, but what could I say to explain him being in university and attached to me at the hip. Andy's jaw dropped as her mind ran away from her, taking my reluctance as an admission of something scandalous being afoot. "Oh my god... you dirty little slut, did you two fuck?"

I gasped, whipping my head back to look at Logan. The eavesdropping little rat was wearing a proud smirk as he faced forward in line. I slapped Andy's shoulder lightly. "No! Get your head out of the gutter, Andy!"

She narrowed her eyes. "You... didn't? Then why is he here? Where did you two go on Friday?"

I opened my mouth and started speaking, words coming out almost as soon as I thought of them. "He... apologized, for being a dick that day at the bar. And then..." I had no idea where I was going with this. "... he took me on a day trip, and..." I cleared my throat, pushing my hair out of my face as I thought of something. "Well, he said that... he was interested in enrolling in our course and he wants to, uh, shadow me? For the next couple of months? Just to see what it's like, what the classes are like, all that crap." 

I stammered through my answer, knowing I probably sounded like the biggest liar ever, so to try and cover it up, I broke out a slightly ditzy laugh. "God, it's been a long weekend, I feel like I'm all over the place... but yeah, you're probably gonna be seeing a lot more of him for a while."

Andy frowned as she pieced the information together. "Shadow you? A fourth year? I thought prospects only shadowed first years?"

I cleared my throat. "They do, but... he's a mature student and already has a little experience in the field so he wasn't interested in hanging around eighteen year old's for two months and sitting through introductory stuff." My gut felt like I was struck right through the middle. I wanted to tell her the truth, to tell her everything, but I just couldn't fathom how she might react. I wasn't ready to lose Andy, and I wouldn't be for a long time. I didn't even want to risk it.

She hummed, not even trying to hide that she was checking him out. "I wouldn't be opposed to a little eye candy hanging around for a couple months." Her eyes flicked to me in question. "And you're sure nothing's going on between you two?"

"If you're asking for permission to try bang the guy, I'd like to remind you again that he's sticking around Andrea." I laughed lightly, throwing an arm around her waist and skillfully evading the question. After literally waking up in his arms this morning, no matter how well I played it off, I honestly wasn't sure if there was something going on, but I was going to follow the same advice I'd given Andrea. I had no interest in turning my last couple of months in college into one long awkward walk of shame. "I can introduce you though?"