The Man Behind the Makeup

Chapter 20: What Are You Hiding

Author's Note: That's Lzzy Hale aka Annabelle Stevens in this book.

I groaned and started to roll over, but my body wouldn't move. Um.. Oh yeah! I smiled as I looked at Andy. He looked so peaceful. I tried to move again, but his grip tightened a little as his eyes fluttered open. Sorry, that sounded really fucking stupid. What time even is it? I glanced at the cable box. 1:00 pm. Well, there goes that day.

"Don't leave." His voice was deeper and raspier than usual, making it sound very sexual even though it was unintentional. I pecked his lips and he helped me up since my back was still a bit tender, but a hell of a lot better than yesterday. They should just be faint scars by tomorrow. I hope.

"Then come back to my house with me." We held hands as we walked back over. I opened the door and was surprised to see that Dustin was home sitting next to Alex. She looked at me with apologetic eyes. Oh, what did she tell him? He didn't look too happy, so this can't be good. "Hey Dusty."

"Annabelle." Oh no, he broke out my real name. "Why didn't you tell me about dad? Show me what he did to you." I looked at Alex and she had a tear run down her face.

"I'm not mad at you Alex. Thank you for saying it for me, actually." I weakly smiled at her as I turned and carefully pulled off my shirt to show the bandaging. Andy helped me unwrap the gauze and I held onto his hand, giving it a slight squeeze. He sadly smiled at me. I knew it was hard for him to see them.

"He whipped you just like mom." I nodded and turned around to face him. I know it's weird being in front of your brother in a bra, but I've seen him naked at the age he is right now. There's nothing about each other we haven't seen. "Anna, I'm sorry." I shook my head and hugged him.

"There's nothing you could've possibly done. You're not a demon anymore. You're happily in love with your girlfriend. It's okay." I pulled away and smiled at him. He smiled back and patted my shoulder. "Also, Andy is my boyfriend now."

"Um, what?" I put back on my shirt and we all sat down on the couch. I sat in between Alex and Andy, while Dustin sat down on the chair across from us.

"We went out on a date. That was extremely romantic, might I add." I saw Andy blush in the corner of my eye and he grabbed my hand, lightly running his thumb over my knuckles. "We went for a walk on the beach after that. The beach is where I kept seeing dad and we had to rush back here. That's when I had to go and talk to dad and apparently was asleep for a week." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"Well, it was bound to happen sometime. You always liked him in high school." Blushing, I stared at the floor while he just laughed. I thought he would've been right at Andy's throat. Why is he being so understanding about things all of a sudden?

"What are you hiding, mister?" He raised his eyebrows and stared at me. I smirked at him and crossed my legs. "You've been acting like such a queer ever since I got home. C'mon, out with it. I can always tell when your lying." Sighing, he grabbed his computer and had to Skype call his girlfriend, Maggie. He gave her a certain look and I heard her say okay. He turned the computer around and the two looked a bit nervous. "Guys, I won't be mad. Really!"

"Well, um." He looked at Maggie for help and she just rolled her eyes.

"Anna, we are now engaged." She held up her hand and I gasped at the beautiful diamond ring that was on her finger. "What do you think?" My eyes were like saucers and they looked at me with hope in their eyes for my approval. Well, she is the one for him and they've been together for years now.

"I think it's great. About time Dustin grew some balls and asked you to marry him." They noticeably let out breaths of relief. I giggled and leaned in to Andy, pulling Alex with me. "I approve of this. Don't be so scared of me. We are technically going to be sisters-in-law." She laughed and Dustin smiled, happy with seeing the two people he really cares about most in his life getting along. After like the first week of me knowing they first got together, I was fine with it. Yeah, it freaked me out a girl could actually tolerate my brother, but somebody had to be out there for him. It just so happened that that girl happened to be Maggie.

"Well, I have to go to work. It was nice talking to you Anna." I smiled and nodded my head. "I love you, Dustin."

""I love you, too, Mags." I threw a pillow at him and she laughed.

"I only get to call her Mags." He rolled his eyes and ended the call. Dustin went into the kitchen, while Alex, Andy, and I all decided to go upstairs and into my room. I need to start on those picture collages before the next Warped Tour. I always make one for the band's and crew every year. It was a lot of hard time and work, but I always got lots of love and gratefulness from everyone I sent them to.

"I'm gonna go take a shower, then a nap. Don't get too crazy." Alex announced as she left the room and I laughed, while Andy just chuckled and started looking at all the framed pictures and collages I had on my walls. I had a slight chill, so I grabbed my grey and black hoodie and climbed under my covers.

"Did you take all these?" He walked over and snuggled into my bed with me. I nodded my head as I snuggled into his chest. It was like already 4:00 pm, which means we've literally only been up for three hours and that's crazy. Too much has gone over within those three hours.

"I take tons of pictures. Every year after Warped Tour, I send all the bands and crew members that went a collage of the entire tour. With the very first warped, I sent the pictures in a photo album. I hope that the people place the pictures into the album so when they get really old, they can look and reflect back on what great times they had." I looked up at him and he smiled as he pressed lips to mine. Fuck, I loved the feeling of that lip ring. The coolness of its contact on my lips reminds me that I am alive whenever I am with him and that this isn't all just some crazy dream. I pulled away and smiled at him.

"Will my band receive one of these?" I giggled and nodded my head. "Good. I don't want to miss out on that, considering it actually sounds really fucking cool." We just cuddled and started watching Batman on Netflix. I really enjoyed spending time like this with him. It showed the softer and more caring side of him, instead of the hard-headed and opinionated side he had around his friends.

Author's Note: Sorry, these all are just more so of filler chapters because I just don't really have any ideas for things. Feel free to give me some ideas to expand on so the story just doesn't come to a boring and dull moment of time.