Rose Tint my World

7

   Andy and I drove around the neighborhood for a couple of hours looking for Micheal. Andreas was a frantic mess and I was trying to calm him down more than anything else.
The way I saw it was Micheal disappeared and he obviously didn't want to be found.    Regardless of if this is true or not, it was still my job to look after Andreas and make sure he was okay so that was exactly what I did.
   No matter how hard I tried to stop them, Louis' words swam through my mind over and over again. I wanted to know what was so bad about Micheal, I wanted to know what he did and who he was. I wanted to know everything.
The sun set long ago and Andy stared anxiously out the window. I stopped my car and he turned, shooting me a weary glance.
   "Why'd you stop?" He asked, still gazing all around us just in case Micheal appeared out of thin air.
   "Andy he's not here." I said, sadly.
  "I know you wish he was and I know you want him to run into your arms more than anything right now but he's not here. I don't know where he is but clearly, he made a great effort to disappear and we're not going to be able to find him. I'm sorry." I stated, clearly done with wasting gas, and tired of looking for Micheal.
  "He didn't make an effort to disappear, it wasn't him. You don't understand." He mumbled, slouching into his seat in dismay.  
   "How do you expect me to understand?" I questioned.
   "I hate to ruin your little mood here but you're being extremely secretive yet you expect me to just know all of your problems. You need to let me in Andy. Our relationship cannot function if we hide things from one another, talk to me. Tell me what's wrong and maybe we can figure out where Micheal is together." He let out a long sigh and, finally, for the first time in the entirety of the night, looked at me.
   "Natasha it's bad. It's really bad. Micheal's in a gang. Not just any gang, a really bad one. His dad was killed as a result of this gang and his brother is an important part to it. Micheal is one of the youngest members and he's next in line." He let out and my eyes widened.
  "He's next in line to kill someone, it's part of initiation and if he doesn't then he gets killed, that's just how it runs. He said there's this rival gang, the Kingsley's, or something like that, and they're out to get him. He has to kill one of them or someone important to them in order to stay alive. But Nat that's not the biggest point here, he's not allowed to tell anyone this information and the day after he told me, he vanished out of thin air. That doesn't just happen, they're onto him. And he said that if they see him with me he'll have to kill me to prove there's no romance but I said it was a risk I'm willing to take. I love him Natasha, I really do and I know you think it's too soon and I'm getting ahead of myself, but he's so great to me and so great for me and I'm completely and utterly in love with him. I can't do this without him, I need him and I need to find him." Silence overtook us as I tried to process the words that were just put in my mind. I knew that guy was sketchy, I knew something was off about him.
   "Andreas I know you care about him and I know you love him but this guy is not good for you, he can get you in real trouble." I remembered Louis' words about Micheal.
   "It's a risk I'm willing to take. I love him and I need him back, he's not safe." He said confidently.
  "Well neither are you! Andreas by being with this guy you are putting your family, your friends, and most importantly your own life at danger. This isn't safe! You cannot date someone who killed a man! That stuff messes up people's heads Andy, you're too good of a person for this." I snapped and a certain rage filled his eyes.
   "Who do you think you are, my mom? Natasha this is my life and it's my decision to stay with Micheal and if that's what I want to do then I'm going to! I know you don't like him and I know you don't approve, but damn it I love him and he makes me happy and if you can't accept that then maybe you're the problem here." Tears filled my eyes as his words sunk in. That was it, he picked his boyfriend over me. I was left in the dust, left to find a new friend who actually cared about me, someone who would prioritize me first. He noticed the tears streaming down my cheeks and gasped when he realized what he had done.
   "Oh my gosh Nat I didn't mean it, I'm sorry I love you." He quickly blurted out, trying to give me a hug. My body remained immovable and I shook my head, letting my tears fall into my lap.
  "Get out." I said quietly, hoping I wouldn't have to repeat myself. He kept trying to hug me and give crappy excuses but I didn't believe him. How could I? He hurt me.
   "Get out!" I yelled and he quickly obliged, getting out of the car and walking home.
I went back to my house and went straight to bed, letting my pillow soak up the tears falling from my eyes.

• • •

   When my alarm woke me up I rubbed my eyes and sat up. Like a tsunami everything from the night before crashed into my mind. I decided to take a mental break that day and stay home from school. Seeing that I looked like an absolute disaster, my mom believed my "I'm sick" excuse and called me in. I checked my phone and, shocker, forty-eight text messages and thirty-one missed calls from Andreas. I rolled my eyes and scrolled past his name, seeing Louis texted me goodnight the night before. I replied to his message, explaining that I fell asleep and headed downstairs to eat. My parents had left for work and I was all by myself.
   I decided to call up my good friend Breena to see what she was up to. She lived about an hour away and had a total different schooling system so she was available to hang out. I hadn't seen her in a few months so it was nice to catch up. We went shopping and talked about everything new going on in our lives. She unintentionally struck a nerve when she brought up Andreas, but I assured her it was fine and explained the whole situation.
   Bree has always been one of my favorite people to hang out with because, instead of judging and finding flaws, she always gives great advice and helps me figure out my life. One quote she told me that really stuck was,   "Andreas is just blinded by love Nat, it happens. And I know what he said is wrong and there's no justification for that but he's probably beating himself up over it. I know you two and you can't let this break up your friendship, it'll literally destroy both of you."
She was right. Andreas and I being apart would quite literally destroy both of us. Regardless of what he said, I still loved him and I know he didn't truly mean it. I had to make things right with that boy.
   As much as I didn't want to see him in that moment, I knew I had to. I had to make things okay again.
   No matter how right I made things, or how much Andreas apologized, we still had no idea what was coming. We weren't prepared for that type of pain. We thought this fight was the end of the world but, boy, were we wrong.