The Crew | On Hold

Chapter 20

Within a heartbeat, Andrew is on his feet, and already striding toward me. Unfortunately for the situation, Marcus gets out of the car. Without saying anything, he walks around the car without releasing his stare from Andrew, who has now noticed Marcus, too, and a frown is appearing on his lovely face.

Marcus opens my door, and I get out quickly. My eyes immediately find Andrew again, and now he's looking at my dress, his eyes widening in awe. A half-smile even appears on his face, making me uncommonly shy. I've never really had a man I liked check me out like this. And, hopefully, it looks like Andrew likes how I look.

His expression changes immediately to suspicious stare, as Marcus closes the door and puts his hand around my waist, shocking both me and my mother, who gasps out loud, but nobody pays attention to her. Andrew stops just a few steps away from us, and stares at Marcus's arm on my waist. There is just silence around us. Silence and confusion, both from me and Andrew, who is probably thinking that Marcus is my boyfriend, just like he did on my first day of work.

"Hi, Tanya!" Marcus gives my mother a thousand watt smile, which she doesn't return. Instead, she scoffs and crosses her arms below her breasts. His behaviour confuses me. What is he doing? He has never been like this. Like a freaking teenager, who's showing his rival - who's got the girl. But, after all, I'm not his girlfriend. And he is risking that I won't be his friend, too, after this mortifyingly embarrassing stunt. 

Andrew is still standing, frozen. His eyes meet mine again, but by the time they do, his expression has changed again. The loving and awe-looking expression on his face is long gone, as is the confusion. It has all been covered up with a cold mask, concealing his true feelings, which I can almost guess, because I can easily imagine how this looks right now.

Deciding to finally do something to put Marcus back in his place, I take his hand off of my waist, and turn to him. "Thank you, Marcus, for this friendly outing." I stress the word, narrowing my eyes. "Be careful on the road back home."

Marcus's eyes widen slightly, but he doesn't seem much surprised that I am acting like this, probably trying to look more masculine in his rival's eyes. Actually, rival is an inaccurate description of what Andrew is to him. He would be a rival, if we were actually together. Or even had the possibility of being together, since my love for him is long gone. At the moment, they are mostly two strangers, out of which, one of them is being unexplainably rude and annoying.

"Aren't you gonna invite me inside, babe?" The sudden pet-name makes me feel like I've been punched in my gut. What the hell is happening here? Since when is Marcus such an asshole? Now I'm already mirroring my mother's expression, as I scoff, and turn away from him. 

Taking Andrew by his hand, I drag him away from the prick named Marcus, who's standing by his car, smiling like nothing has happened. 

As I'm about to cross the threshold, I hear Marcus yell after us: "I'll call you later, babe! Goodbye, Tanya, it was nice seeing you!", which almost makes me stop dead in my tracks and run over to him to strangle him. How dare he? 

Mom follows us into the house, slamming the door as a response to Marcus's unexpected behaviour. Maybe he really has changed that much in Mexico? Are people ruder there? No, I don't think so. It must be Marcus's wealth. It always makes people messed up, one way or another.

"I'm sorry, Andrew, I don't understand him." I look up at him, begging him to understand with my eyes. "He's not my boyfriend. We're just old friends." 

"Old exe's." Mom corrects me, as she slips past us into the kitchen. 

Somehow I had forgotten that mom was there, and that I was still holding Andrew's hand. Shyly, I release it, but Andrew quickly takes a hold of my hand again, and gives me a half-smile. Squeezing it gently, he doesn't allow me to release it again, so all I can do is just smile back at him, consumed by his grey irises that are shining even in the half-light of our badly-lit hallway.

"Andrew, would you like something to drink?" Mom offers from the kitchen. I can hear the familiar sound of the cabinets being open, then closed. The sound of mom filling up the teapot. Trying to reach the tea bags that are placed on the microwave, on a large shelf.

Andrew replies that he'd love a green tea, and mom happily chirps back, that she has a hand-picked peppermint tea that Andrew is just going to love.

Hearing both of them in the same house, going along unexpectedly well makes me happy. With Marcus, she never got along with him. Though Marcus was always polite, mom just didn't like him. Seeing how Marcus acted today, I can only call that mother's instinct, when she realised that Marcus isn't a very good person. Or, at least, that he isn't going to be a nice person.

Holding Andrew's hand, I lead him in the kitchen. Mom's back is turned to us, so she doesn't see us holding hands, thankfully. Quickly releasing his hand, I usher him to sit down at a triangular table in the corner before he starts to protest against me releasing his hand. 

When Andrew is seated, I move on to help mom prepare the tea. Since the both of us drink only tea (mostly because we can pick it up in our humble garden in our backyard, and it doesn't cost anything), I can tell she's happy that Andrew didn't ask for coffee, because the only one we have is an old can of natural coffee, still left from dad. 

With a slightly trembling arm, I place the cup right in front of Andrew, who, in response, pulls me on his lap, and puts his right hand on my outer thigh. 

Embarrassed from such a public display of affection, and mostly feeling confused, because, even though I dream about Andrew almost every night, I would never dare to show my feelings for him. Remembering that cast members aren't allowed to date, too, is like throwing a bucket of cold water on myself. 

I try to get up, but Andrew locks me in place. My eyes immediately jump to mom, afraid that she would be looking at us with a stern gaze, but, instead, she is looking at us with a heart-warming smile.

As she comes over to the table, my eyes don't leave her's, examining her every facial expression and emotion, that flies by in her eyes. My mother takes a long sip of her tea, and looks at us like we're two newborn babies.

"Oh, Emmy, I'm so glad you finally found someone!"

Hello, my dear reader! Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, that you'll vote for it, and, most importantly, that you'll continue reading the story. :)