50 Shades Of Claire Bear (Andrew's POV)

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The whole house is under strict instructions to keep all of Mom's cleaning dirt-free. All Dad did was momentarily put his feet up on the newly-dusted coffee table to earn a swift smack in the face with the dusting towel. After twenty-some years of marriage, you'd think he'd learn by now.

Austin is put in charge of cleaning the dining room and I am assigned to the entire basement. Because that's fair.

Though, I do make sure that my room was tidy before starting on the basement. On the off chance that Claire ventures into my room again, I want it to be clean. She may not see me as a glorified sex addict anymore, but I don't want her to think I'm messy, either. The fewer strikes I have in the "con" column, the better.

When I finish with my portion of the cleaning, I stop by the kitchen and carefully eye all of the food. Man, how is Mom not stressing out?

"You excited for today?" she asks me, putting the finishing touches on the shrimp cocktail tower.

"Uh, sure, I guess," I say, grabbing a shrimp. "We haven't seen Grandma in a while."

Mom scoffed. "I'm talking about Claire being here."

I'm lucky I already swallowed the shrimp. I probably would have choked. "Excuse me?'

She smiles. "Honey, when are you going to say something to her? We've known her family forever. What do you have to lose by telling her how you feel?"

"Um, a lot, Mom. She's just now warming up to the idea of being my friend again...I think. I don't want to screw that up." I can't screw that up. "Besides, it's just a little crush. It's not like it's something I can't get over."

Liar, liar.

She sighs. "Andrew, why did she stop being your friend?"

Shit. I shouldn't have even brought it up. "It's a long story. She heard some things that aren't true and it made her think less of me."

Mom raised her eyebrows. "Andrew, honey, are you okay? Do we need to talk about something?"

Yes, I thought, but knew it wasn't worth it. My own mother would think less of me, too. I shouldn't have ever slept with Susanna and Ellie, even if I was drunk out of my mind and would've said yes to anything. All I could think about was Claire. Every day. All the fucking time. If I hadn't been with them, Claire would like me. She wouldn't see me as trash that was dumb enough to sleep with Susanna.

The truth is, I was too dumb to listen to my heart and save myself for Claire. Save everything for Claire. She deserved it.

"No," I say, eating another shrimp. "You don't have to worry about it, Mom. What she heard...wasn't true, I promise."

She touched my arm. "Please at least think about telling her, okay? Even Kyle knows—oh, shoot."

I narrow my eyes at her. "How do you know that Kyle knows?" God, this was like that one Friends episode.

Addie chose the wrong time to walk in. "Knows what?"

"Nothing—"

"That Andrew likes his sister, Claire!"

"MOM!" I yell. "What the hell was that?"

Addie crosses her arms. Shit. One more person that knows.

"Kyle knows, too? And he hasn't said anything?"

"Do you and Kyle talk or something? Because if so, that's weird." That prick never told me.

Mom sighed. "He told me he's known since middle school. I felt like a horrible mother not even knowing until last year."