A Country Rebel Love Song

Chapter Twenty-two

*three days later*
  There was a gentle shake on my shoulder and a light kiss pressed to my temple.
    "Angel, it's time to get up. My family will start getting here in a little while."
Andy says.
  I sigh and sit up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I crawl out of the bed and pull down the long sleeve that I had been sleeping in. Andy chuckles.
    "You are so adorable."
He says.
  I flip him off.  He laughs and shakes his head.
    "Such a morning person."
He says.
  I go over to my suitcase and grab a pair of grey skinny jeans, a black sweatshirt with a silver anchor, and a pair of grey flats. I want to the bathroom and changed. I then took my hair out of its messy bun and walked back to Andy's room. Andy was finished getting dressed and was brushing and straightening his hair.
    "Andy will you straighten my hair?"
I ask, using my classic puppy dog eyes on him.
    "Yeah, sure Angel."
He says.
  Once he is finished with his hair, he has me sit on the bed in front of him. He then starts straightening the curls out of my messy hair. Once he was finished, he turned off the straightener and unplugged it. We then go downstairs, walking hand in hand. I took a deep breath. I am really nervous. Andy gently squeezed my hand.
    "It's okay, Angel. They are going to love you."
He whispers in my ear.
  That's when little kids and their parents start pouring in. I assumed they are Andy's cousins and such. I stand in the background awkwardly while Andy interacts with his family. He then comes over and grabs my hand and pulls me over to the people that he was talking too.
    "Aunt Lisa Uncle Josh (random names), this is my beautiful girlfriend, McKinley Tylers."
Andy says, a grin spreading across his face.
    "McKinley Tylers? Aren't you Brantley Gilbert's little cousin?"
The woman asked.
    "Yes ma'am."
I say, with a smile.
    "I thought you looked familiar. I was confused when I saw you in the corner."
She says.
  I nodd and chuckle.
    "Yeah. I'm pretty awkward around new people."
I say.
    "Oh don't be, hon. You are part of the family now, you make our Andrew here really happy and he is lucky to have a girl like you in his life."
She says.
  I blush and tuck a piece of hair behind my ear.
    "Thank you."
I say.
  Andy wraps his arm around my waist and kissed my temple. We then walk into the kitchen where Andy's mom and grandmother is hard at work on cooking. I immediately wash my hands and start helping. Amy smiled. I nudged Andy with my hip.
    "Go spend time with your family."
I say.
  He sighed and then nods. His mother shook her head.
    "You didn't have to help."
She said.
    "I used to help all the time when my grandmother was alive. It brings back memories."
I say, as I mix potato salad.
  She just nodds. I take in my surroundings. Andy is in the living room, which you can see from the kitchen, playing with his little cousins. I smile to myself. His mother stops to look follow my gaze. She smiles.
    "He is going to make an amazing father one day."
She says.
  Andy's grandmother nodds.
    "I hope that I am here to see it."
She says.
  I sigh, I would love a couple of kids but I want to wait until I am married. The thing is I don't think that Andy will be ready to think about marriage anytime soon. I finish up with the potato salad and put it into the refrigator. I then start on the mac-n-cheese that Andy's mother had for the kids that didn't really eat vegetables. Andy would probably end up eating some of it as well. I know he dislikes eating vegetables a lot of the time. I jumped as normal when Andy came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder. I chuckled and shook my head.
    "You really like doing that."
I say.
    "Sorry."
He says.
    "I heard what my mom and grandmother said earlier. Don't worry about kids right now.  We just started dating and we aren't going to think about that right this minute, okay?"
He says, kissing my cheek.
  I nodd and pour the noodles into the now boiling water. Andy grabbed a spoon from the drawer and handed it to me. I stirred the noodles. His mom and grandmother soon come back into the kitchen from wherever they had went. We finally finished up and placed everything onto the counter and got out the paper plates, plastic sppons, forks, and the plastic cups. Andy's mom then called that it was time to eat. I felt slightly weird because we usually have a big prayer before we eat and here we didn't. It kind of bothers me a little bit, but I wasn't going to show that it was bothering me. Me and Andy sat on the live seat and Andy immediately went to eating. I sighed and started eating as well. Andy seemed to notice my discomfort.
    "Something wrong, Angel?"
He asks.
    "I'll tell you later."
I say.
  He nodds and continues eating. I finished what I had on my plate and went and threw it away. Andy wasn't far behind me. He pulled me outside.
    "Now, explain what that was earlier."
He says.
    "It's just I felt a little uncomfortable not praying. We make a big deal of out of praying in my family, and I felt awakward. Then the thing with the kids. That kind of made me feel awkward too."
I say, looking down.
  He took my face in his hands and tilted it up.
    "Angel, my family is a lot different than yours. I understand that, I'm sorry I didn't warn you before hand. I'm sorry about the whole kids thing, I understand that it is way to early in our relationship to even be talking about kids. I get that, it's just that my mom is like that. She talks about those kinds of things. She always has. She didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, Angel."
He says, his blue eyes gazing into mine.
  I pull away and nodd.
    "I understand that much Andy. Its just, I don't like the thought of having kids until I'm married and I know that you won't be ready for something like that for a while."
I say.
  He sighes and runs his hand through his hair.
    "I understand that McKinley. It was how you were raised. I get that and I will be supportive of whatever you want to do. If you want to get married before having kids, we will get married. Only when we are both ready though."
He says.
  Andy's mom peeks her head out the door.
    "Everything okay out here?"
She asks.
    "Yeah, mom. We are just talking."
Andy says.
  She nodds and goes back into the house. I sigh and tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. Andy wraps his arms around me and hugs me tightly.
    "I'm sorry for making you feel uncomfortable."
He whispers.
  I nodd and rest my head on his chest. He rubbed soothing circles on my back.
    "We should probably head back inside before they think we got kidnapped or something."
He jokes.
  We walk hand in hand back into the house. Everyone is laughing and talking, carrying on like me and Andy hadn't left. Andy gently squeezed my hand. He knew that I was still a little uneasy. We went back into the living room. There was only a recliner open. Andy sat down and pulled me into his lap, wrapping his arms around my waist. I blushed and bit my lip. He was going to embarrass me in front of his family. His mother soon came down with a camera.
    "Time for pictures."
She says.
  I groan to myself. I hate taking pictures.
    "We'll go last Angel."
Andy whispered.
  It was like he read my mind. Soon it was mine and Andy's turn to take pictures. We stood in front of the fireplace like every one else and Andy wrapped his arms around me, kind of like a prom picture pose. We both smiled and the picture was taken. Me and Andy then went back to the recliner that we were sitting in. I sigh and lean my head against Andy's shoulder.
    "I probably looked terrible."
I groan.
  He chuckles and shakes his head.
    "No you wont. You know why because you are one of the most beautiful girls that I have ever laid my eyes on."
He says.
  I smiled and cuddled my face into his neck. He shivered and bit his lip. I smiled softly and reached up to kiss his jaw. He wrapped his arm around my waist and I then rested my head on his chest. His mom and grandmother smiled when they saw us all cuddled up in the small recliner, not really paying attention to anyone else in the room. Andy leaned down and gently kissed my forehead. Soon enough it started getting dark and everyone started to leave. I climbed out of Andy's lap and pecked his lips.
    "I'm going to go and take a shower."
I say.
  I go into the room that me and him were staying in and grabbed a pair of my leggings and one of Andy's t-shirts that had managed to get mixed up with my stuff. I grabbed underclothes and shampoo and stuff and walked to the bathroom. I found a washcloth and a towel and locked the door. I turned on the shower and undressed and climbed inside. I quickly showered and got out drying off and then wrapping my hair into the towel. I got dressed and then went into the room that me and Andy were staying in. Andy was laying across the bed in the same clothes playing on his phone. He looked up and smiled when he noticed that I was wearing his shirt.
    "As soon as the water heats back up, I am going to go and take a quick shower. You are welcome to watch tv while I am in there."
He says.
  I shrugg.
    "I don't watch much tv."
I say.
  He chuckles.
    "I've noticed and when you do, you watch L.A. Ink."
He says.
  I roll my eyes and climb in the bed beside him. I then take the towel from my hair and grab my wide-tooth comb from my bag. I start trying to work out the tangles in my hair. I sigh and wince from time to time. Andy chuckles and takes the comb from me. I start to protest but he shushs me and starts to comb my hair. I sigh when he successfully gets the tangles out, painlessly. Once he was finished, he pecked me on the lips and went to his bag grabbing a pair of black boxers, plaid pajama pants, and a white tshirt and a pair of black socks.
    "I'm going to go and take a quick shower. I will be back out in a few minutes. There is a blowdryer on the vanity if you need it."
He says.
    "Okay."
I say.
  He walks out with his clothes and shampoo and stuff in hand. I go over to his vanity and pick up the hairdryer plugging it in. I flip my hair over and turn the hairdryer on. I first dry the roots and then the ends of my hair. I flip my hair back over, my curls resting on the small of my back. I smile and pull my hair into a messy updo on the top of my head. I sat back on the bed and waited for Andy to come back. He came back around five minutes later, toweling off his hair. He goes over to the hairdryer I left plugged up and turned it on. He blowdryed his hair and then came and crawled into the bed. He cuddled up beside me and pulled the blankets up around me before turning behind him to turn the beside lamp off. I cuddled into his chest and let his gentle heartbeat lull me to sleep.