Chapter Twenty-one

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*one month later*
  I sighed nervously as I twirled a curl around my finger. Andy gently took my hand away from my hair and squeezed it.
    "Angel, it's going to be okay."
He says.
  I'm nervous to meet the rest of Andy's family. I have only meet his mother and father. I will be meeting his entire family, including his grandmother, who is really important to him. He even wants to take me to the gravesite of his late grandfather. Our flight was soon called and I pulled my duffle bag into my shoulder. I refused to let Andy carry any of my stuff. I'm not the type of girl that makes her boyfriend carry her stuff. We got settled into our seats and I rested my head on Andy's shoulder.
    "You sleepy Angel?"
He asked.
    "Yeah, I didn't sleep well last night."
I say.
    "Yeah, I'm really excited to see my family. It will be the first time since me and her broke up."
He says, quietly.
  I gently squeeze Andy's fingers.
    "Andy, don't worry about her."
I say.
    "It's just my family really liked her."
He mutters.
    "Andy, don't worry about what your family says about our relationship. We have a strong relationship, and nothing can break that between us."
I say.
  He leans over and gently presses a chaste kiss to my lips. I smiled.
     "Thanks for that. Talking me out of that little moment that I had."
He says.
  I nodd.
    "It's nothing babe. Everybody has bad days, and everybody is going to fall down sometimes and that's okay because someone is always going to be there to pick you back up."
I say.
  He smiles and wraps an arm around me and squeezed my shoulder.
    "I honestly don't know what I would do without you."
He says.
    "Crash and burn."
I say, pecking his nose.
  He chuckles and his nose scrunches up. I giggle and lay my head back on his shoulder and yawn.
    "Get some rest Angel."
He says, pressing a kiss to my temple.
    "Okay, wake me up before we land."
I whisper.
  I snuggle closer into his side and close my eyes. I try to get my mind off the fact that I am about to be meeting Andy's entire family in less than twenty-four hours.

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    "McKinley, angel, wake up. The plane is about to land."
I heard someone whisper gently shaking my shoulder. I sat up and rubbed at my eyes. Andy chuckles lightly.
    "Lets go Angel. Its time to go."
He says.
  I stand up, stumbling a bit. Andy reaches out and steadies me. I yawn and we walk hand in hand off of the plane. We wait at the luggage claim for our luggage to come by and we grab it. We then walk to the front of the airport where Andy's parents would be waiting in their car. Andy's mom, Amy, smiled when we climbed into the backseat after putting our bags in the back.
    "How was the flight?"
Chris, Andy's dad, asked.
    "It was good. McKinley slept the entire flight. I don't think either of us slept well last night."
Andy says.
  Amy chuckles.
    "Well, I honestly can't blame McKinley for sleeping on the plane ride. If she is anything like I am, she doesn't like flying very much."
She says.
  I shrugg.
    "I'm used to flying because my cousin, Brantley, used to fly me back and forth to a lot of his shows."
I say.
    "Oh."
She says.
  I nodd and lean my head onto Andy's shoulder once again. Amy smiles when she sees this.
    "Joe is already here. He is staying at mom's house right now."
Amy says.
    "I figured that he would stay in L.A. until the last minute with Bryan and them."
Andy says.
    "He actually came in around three days ago. He wanted to surprise your grandma since he hasn't been home in a while. She's been wanting to see you as well. Ever since, that happened she has been asking about you everyday and when you are going to come home."
Amy says.
    "Yeah, I've been dying to come home. I've just been so busy after I got out. I had to make sure that I won over this ones heart."
Andy says, kissing my temple.
  I blush and look away. He chuckles.
    "You blush so easily."
He says.
  I blush even more and bury my face into my sweater paws as I like to call them. We finally made it to Andy's parents house and we all got out. Me and Andy grabbed our duffels from the back of the car and walked inside. Andy then took my hand and lead me up to the room that we would be staying in. We sat our duffels on the bed and made our way back downstairs.
    "Hey, mom where are the keys to my car?"
Andy asks, walking into the kitchen.
  There is a muffled reply and Andy goes to the hooks on the wall and grabs a set of keys from it. He then took my hand.
    "Where are we going?"
I ask.
    "I'm taking you meet my grandma and then I'm going to take you to my favorite diner to get some hot chocolate."
He says.
    "Sounds amazing. I could really use some hot chocolate."
I say, shoving my hands into my jacket pockets.
  He chuckles.
    "It'll be warm in my grandma's house. I used to go to her house everyday after school when I was having a bad day and needed time away from everything."
He says, cranking the car and turning the heat up so that it would be warming up.
  I smile.
    "That's the way that it was at my grandma and papaw's house. My grandmother always had it warm in there and she would always bake cookies and fix my favorite dinner."
I say, smiling at the memories.
    "How long has it been since they have been gone? I remember Brantley talking about them."
He says.
    "My grandfather died in 2009 and my grandmother not long after that. They were high school sweet hearts and she couldn't handle living without him so she died of a broken heart."
I say, biting my lip.
  Andy nodded, understanding. He soon pulled into a driveway. There was an older model mustang sitting in the driveway and a Ford truck. Andy smiled at the sight.
    "Grandma is still driving grandad's truck."
He says.
  We got out and joined in the front of the car. He took my hand in his and intertwined our fingers. We walked up to the door and Andy knocked on the door. A few seconds later, a shorter lady with snow white hair opened the door.
    "Andrew! It's so good to see you!"
She says, happily hugging him.
  Andy dropped my hand and hugged her back. Once they pulled away, she smiled at me.
    "Who's this beautiful young lady?"
She asks as she leads us into the warm house.
  Andy took my jacket and placed it on the coat rack beside his. He smiled and wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close to his side.
    "Grandma, this is my beautiful girlfriend, McKinley Tylers."
Andy says, a huge grin spreading across his face.
  She pulled me into a hug.
    "Well aren't you just precious!"
She says.
  I smile.
    "Thank you ma'am."
I say, tangling my fingers back into Andy's fingers.
    "Is that a southern accent I hear?"
She asks.
    "Yes ma'am. I'm from Georgia well originally Lousiana and moved to Florida when I was three, but when my parents died and I was adopted by my grandparents and then later my aunt and I moved to Gerogia. I was thirteen or fourteen."
I say, with a sad smile.
    "Well, that's why you are so humble and well mannered. I'm really sorry about your parents as well."
She said.
  I nodd, slightly.
    "It's fine. I've came to terms with the entire thing. It was their time to go."
I say, tucking a curl behind my ear.
  Andy gently squeezed my hand. That's when a guy stumbled down the stairs wearing pajama pants and a white tshirt. Andy smiled.
    "Hey there Joe!"
Andy exclaims going over and slapping him on the back.
    "Hey Andy, how's it going?"
He says, a smile across his face.
    "Really well man, really well. Things are really starting to look up finally."
He says.
    "That's good. I heard about what happened, man you have no idea how much you scared us."
He says.
  Andy looked down and nodded.
    "Yeah, I know. I realize now just how stupid it was. I was hurting and wasn't thinking of anybody but myself."
Andy says looking down.
  I wrap my arms around Andy and hug him tightly. He sighed and shook the thought away.
    "Sorry, it's just it's hard to talk about."
Andy says wiping under his eyes with his thumb.
  Joe nodded.
    "Don't strain yourself over it Andy. You don't have to talk about it."
I say.
  He nodds, gently squeezing my fingers. Andy's grandmother soon came in with mini sandwiches. Andy smiled. She placed them on the coffee table and Andy immediately grabbed one. I chuckled as he stuffed it into his mouth, his cheeks poking out like a chipmunk. He gave me a smile. I chuckled and shook my head.
    "You are a dork."
I say.
  He laughs and reached to grab another sandwich. He then hands one to me.
    "Try it."
He says.
  I sigh and take it from his hands. I take a bite and my eyes widen. It was amazing. Andy chuckled.
    "Good huh?"
  I nodd and finish the sandwich. I yawn and Andy shakes his head.
    "You slept on the plane yet you are still sleepy?"
He asks.
    "You have to remember, I still haven't gotten used to sleeping in bunks."
I say.
  Andy chuckles.
    "Andrew, why didn't you make your girl some of your famous tea that al says helped you rest at night?"
His grandmother asked, smacking him on the arm.
  He winced and rubbed at his arm.
    "I am going to get some before your stops back. We didn't have time to stop and get any of the tea."
He says.
    "Well, you better. Trust me cranky women are not fun to deal with."
She says, shaking a spoon at him.
  He chuckles.
    "I know. Juliet was never the nicest person in the world."
Andy grumbles.
  His grandmother chuckles.
    "We tried to tell you Andy, but you didn't listen to us."
She says.
  Andy then checks the time on the clock on the wall. He then stands up and hugs his grandmother and Joe.
    "Well, I'm going to take McKinley down to the old diner. I want her to meet Mary."
Andy says.
  His grandmother nodds.
    "Be careful Andrew."
She says.
  He nodds and we walk back out to his car.
    "Who's Mary?"
I ask Andy as soon as we get into the car.
    "She's an old family friend. She helped out a lot back when my grandmother was fighting cancer."
He says.
    "Oh, I'm sorry."
I say, looking out the window.
  Andy intertwined our fingers with his free hand.
    "You didn't know, Angel. You couldn't have known."
He says.
  We ride in a comfortable silence with the sound of the radio behind us. Andy soon pulled into a small diner. I smiled at the small diner. You could tell that it was family owned. Me and Andy climbed out and met in the front of the car. Andy then tangled his fingers with mine and we walked inside.
    "Andy!"
An older lady around his parents age called out as we came in with a smile stretched across his face.
    "Hey Mary!"
He says, a smile across his face as well.
    "Who's this?"
She asks when we sit down at the counter.
  Andy grins and wraps an arm around my shoulder.
    "This is my lovely girlfriend, McKinley Tylers."
He says.
  Mary smiles.
    "I'm so glad to hear that you are doing better. Your parents told me about what happened. Now, what do you two want?"
She asks, pulling out a notebook and pen.
  Andy smiles.
    "Two hot chocolates with whipped cream and chocolate and carmel syrup."
He says.
    "Coming right up."
She says.
  She goes over to the hot chocolate machine and gets down to large mugs. She then starts making them according to Andy's instructions. She then comes and brings them and sits then in front of us.
    "Thanks Mary."
Andy says, smiling.
  I unwrap a straw and put it into the mug of hot chocolate. I took a sip and was immediately in heaven. It was amazing. Andy chuckles.
    "I take it you like it."
He says.
    "Like it? I love it! It is amazing!"
I squeal.
  He laughs and dips his finger into the whipped cream. My eyes widen.
    "Andy don't you dare."
I say.
  He then put it on my nose. I gasped and done then same. He chuckled and got a napkin and wiped my nose off and then his. I giggle. We then finished up our hot chocolates. Andy walked up and paid and tangled our fingers together. We then walk back to the car and climb inside. Andy then drives back to his parent's house. We walk inside and his mother smiles.
    "How's your grandmother doing?"
She asks.
    "Good."
Andy says.
  I yawn yet again.
    "Dinner is almost ready."
His mother says.
    "Alright."
Andy says.
  Just then the timer goes off and she runs to the kitchen. We walk to the dining room and she is setting out plates and forks.
    "We are having lasgana."
She says.
  Andy nodds. Chris soon comes from his office and we sit down and start eating. Once we finished, Andy and me went upstairs. I yawned and Andy chuckles.
    "Lets get changed and get some rest."
He says.
  I nodd. I then go to my suitcase and grab a pair of leggings and one of my oversized long sleeve tshirts. I then  walk down down to the bathroom and quickly got changed. I then walked back into the room that me and Andy were staying in. He was dressed in a pair of plaid pajama bottoms and a black long sleeve. We climbed into the bed and I cuddled into Andy's side. He then clicked off the bedside lamp and pulled the blanket over us. I soon heard light snores escaping Andy's slightly opened mouth. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs they stopped outside of the doorway.
    "They are all tuckered out. They are so cute together. I just hope that they stay together, I really like her."
I hear Andy's mother whisper.
    "Amy, I think this one will last. He really likes her."
I heard Chris whisper.
  I then heard their footsteps go down the hall. I then fell asleep with a smile on my face.

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