My bloodsucking best friend

Chapter Nineteen

My stomach is tied in knots when I walk into the small house closely behind Andy and Jess, and his mother's gentle smile makes me doubt coming here in the first place, but I force my lips to curl up foolishly.

"Andy, it's so lovely to see you!" his mother Amy exclaims, her arms opened wide to pull her son into a hug he certainly doesn't enjoy, but I'm glad he lets her have her moment.

"Yeah, sure," he awkwardly responds while slowly pulling back and entwining his fingers with Jess'. Maybe it's just because of the painful feeling it erupts in my gut when my narrowed eyes watch it happen, but I believe you can tell by looking at it that this is the first time they're doing this couple thing.
Amy doesn't seem to notice anything when she welcomingly wraps her arms around the girl she seems to be taking by surprise.
Jess' entire body stiffens and she doesn't speak a word before she's being let go of.
"You must be Andy's girlfriend!" Amy establishes the obvious and Jess finally nods, but her lack of words is incredibly impolite towards someone as nice as Amy and I want to smack her for behaving so rudely.
"Jess, right?" Another stupid nod, but Amy smiles it all away before turning to me.
Maybe I'm making it up, but I feel betrayed because she turned to the bitch before me.
We haven't seen each other in a while, but we have known each other for years.
Finally, her strong arms embrace me too and I melt into the familiar scent I missed for so long.
I have parents myself, but even though I would have never admitted it, I secretly always preferred spending time with Andy's mom to doing the same thing with my own. She was always so understanding and compassionate and never belittled anything you would tell her the way my mother would. 
"You look wonderful, Lily," she then informs me when taking a step back to eye me up and down.
"Did you do something with your hair?"
Chuckling, I remember the terrible bangs I had the last time I entered the house.
"It's been a while," I remind her and she smiles too, a shadow of sadness behind her eyes.
"It sure has. I'm glad you could tag along."
"Me too." I'm not sure if I'm telling the truth, though.
"Hey, how about we go inside and have a cup of coffee?" Andy suddenly interrupts the moment, still standing next to us with his fingers uncomfortably grasping Jess'. 

The front door falling shut behind us, I already know something will have to go wrong this weekend. 
"So, how is college?" Amy questions while heading for the kitchen, and it's obvious how embarrassing and distressing this will be and one can only hope it won't remain this uncomfortable, but the stakes are high that it will when we all sit down on the old couch and avoid each other's eyes.
Andy is next to his faux bae, but careful not to accidentally touch her skin or clothes. Her dull eyes stare into nothing and her lips with the cheap matte drugstore lipstick are pressed together and I pray they will stay that way. 

When Amy returns with coffee and cookies, she sits down too and looks at one after another with way too high expectations and way too much joy.
"Have you already picked your majors?" she wants to know and all of us nod like dolls on their strings while I pick up one of the cups to keep my shaky hands busy.
"I'm going for music performance," Andy responds, his voice reeking of his discomfort even though he forces himself to smile at his mother.
"I always knew you'd be on stage," his mom immediately agrees excitedly. "You're going to sing, right?"
"Vocal performance is my main goal, yeah," he mumbles and stares at his shoes like the rude idiot he is.
"That's so great, Andy." Amy's eyes literally light up. "It's perfect for you. How are your classes?"
"I still have to take algebra and that stuff, but my major classes are a lot of fun," her son responds, his voice still pressed, and I feel the urge to smack him for behaving like a stubborn child.
"He found friends there too," I inform his mother smiling because he obviously refuses to speak for himself, and Amy seems pleased.
"Oh, really?" She turns to her child again. "People with your interests?"
"It's not like that. We're just..." he attempts to talk his way out of it, but I won't let him.
"They're super close. They're probably already forming a band together," I decide to claim freely which makes her even more euphoric.
"Wow! Andy, that's what you always wanted!"

Andy throws me a look that's probably supposed to tell me he wants to murder me and I respond with a wide grin.
This is his fault and not mine.
"Yeah, but we're not..." he tries again, but my charm has convinced Amy already.
"It's so wonderful to hear how well things are going for you!" she exclaims and to my amusement, he seems to struggle with his choice of words.
"We're not actually..."
"And he's in a great relationship too. As you can see," I add pointing at the two dorks as if they were my two cows for sale.
"Oh yes. Tell me, how did you two meet?"
Andy's eyes show signs of stress for a moment, but he quickly settles on an easy story. "Just, you know. Classes. The usual."
That part might even be true.
"Which class?" I ask him in a friendly manner and watch him clench his jaw before responding. Anger looks too good on him.
"Literature," he presses and his mom is still up on her cloud number seven.
"Oh, wasn't that always an interest of yours, Lily?"
Happy that she remembers, I nod.
"I'm thinking of making it my major, actually."
"Really? Then you must know a lot about it," Amy assumes while we both sip on our coffees like soccer moms before their kids come home. Except that I'm not a mom and her kid is an immature brat.
"A bit, sure. But since Andy is taking so many literature classes now, I'm sure he knows just as much," I say, my smile sugar sweet and my eyes throwing a look at Andy to show him my triumph over him while his sparkle with fury.
"And Jess, what's your major?" Amy continues the conversation without noticing anything of the false game that's being played here. And I'm winning.
"Nutrition."
That makes it impossible for me to hold back my laughter which greatly irritates Amy.
"That sounds... interesting. Why would you pick that?"
I'm curious to hear that answer, though.
"Oh, you know. Eating healthy is important. I want to teach people that, you know?" This girl's brain has the size of a peanut.
"You can start with your boyfriend. Half of his diet consists of cereals for children," I say into the following discomforting silence.
"That's not true," he protests quietly and I chuckle.
"I spend more money on your fruit loops than on bread."
"Bread tastes like nothing," Andy weakly tries to defend himself and I raise an eyebrow at him, earning a shake of his head.
"Would you like to try one of my cookies? There's a lot of chocolate in there," Amy tries to make us happy.
"Oh, I'm sure that's way too many calories for Jess," I stab the bitch into her fragile back. "But I'd love some."
Glad to be appreciated for her baking, Amy hands me the plate.
She looks so nice today with her hair loose and straight and the patterned dress she picked.

"You know, I figured that, now that you'll be here for the weekend, we could all do something together," she then suggests and looks at all of us with a combination of fear and excitement.
"Mom, I think..." Andy already starts to dismantle her plans, but she interrupts him.
"I know there's not much around here, but we could have fun at the mini golf course and have a nice dinner at a restaurant. What do you think?"
It's so adorable how hard she tries and I want to do everything to make sure sure she gets the appreciation she deserves for her effort.
"Maybe we..." Andy tries to ruin it again, but I cut him off again.
"That sounds perfect."
"Are you sure? Because we don't have to do this if you don't want to," Amy says, uncertainty visible because of her son's awful behavior.
I can hear his quiet sigh as he runs his hand through his hair like some self-centered model. Which is probably exactly what he is.
"It's fine, mom. Really," he mumbles and Amy practically glows.
"Awesome! I'll go get my purse!"
Once she's left the room in a hurry, Jess inspects her manicure and Andy turns to me.
"I hate you," he says, his tone with a dark edge, but he's the last one to scare me.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I lie smiling.