Out of the Blue

15

Stephanie's heart began to pound. The door swung open, Andrew quickly lets go of her and she hears a vaguely familiar voice.

"Well, well, well. After all these summers, I finally found where my bro hides. So is this your "vacation" that you always go to?" Said the stranger with hints of sarcasm. Stephanie swallowed and slowly turned around to face the familiar stranger.

"What are you doing here Caleb? We're closed." It was Andrew's voice, but it was more monotone. It clicked in Stephanie's head who he was. It was one of Andrew's popular friends at school. Caleb was the quarterback of the varsity football team. He wore a white t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, exposing his overly worked out muscles. He was bigger then Andrew, about six foot four and easily two hundred and sixty pounds of pure muscle. His dark brown hair was about half way down his neck, slicked back under a backwards baseball cap. He wore khaki shorts that were ripped at the bottom. He had a slight tan and his eyes were the color of coal, and cruelty staring at Andrew. His black eyes were paired with a cocky side grin. Stephanie didn't understand why Andrew hung out with him. He was a bully to everyone and not the best influence. Caleb wasn't alone either. With him were three girls who wore tank tops that came midway down their torso and exposed more cleavage then needed and jean shorts that Stephanie wouldn't really consider shorts at all. The bleach blond was Anna and the two brunettes were Shelby and Taylor. There was also another guy, Alex. His dusty blond hair was gelled into a quiff and he was shorter then Andrew and more leanly built. All of them were jerks according to Stephanie.

"You see Andy babe, we thought this old shack was abandoned and would be a neat little place to hang out ya' know?" Said Anna through ruby lips, batting her heavily black eyelined eyes at Andrew. This made Stephanie's cheeks burn with jealousy and anger. At the same time Andrew and Stephanie both noticed Alex holding a twelve back of Bud Light.

" Clearly it's not a run down shack and we are closed for the night so you can all leave." Andrew said cooly. It was obvious to Stephanie that he was trying to hold back how angry he was. Stephanie slowly tried to step behind Andrew when Taylor pointed at her.

" Hey wait, you look familiar. Don't you go to school with us? Yeah you do! We had geography together. You're the tiny geek I copied off of."

"She's not a geek! She has a name Taylor, if you weren't too shallow you might know it." Andrew defensively raised his voice and gently moved her behind him. His blue eyes were knives staring at the five of them.

Alex began to laugh. It wasn't a nice laugh, it felt like a hundred needles pricking at Stephanie's skin. " Like you do? Come on man, she's not the kind of people we hang out with. I mean she's kinda hot but, unless... haha! She's your bang bitch isn't she? Way to go Andrew!" Alex began to walk towards Andrew with his hand raised for a high five but Andrew took one firm step, cocked back his arm, hand balled in a fist, and nailed Alex in the jaw with full force, knocked Alex back a few steps.

Stephanie gasped and all three girls screamed. Caleb charged at Andrew and pinned to the wall, his meaty hand around Andrew's neck and his other hand quickly punched Andrew directly on the side of his face.

Losing color in her skin, Stephanie finally mustered the courage and yelled, " Leave him alone!". She walked towards Caleb. He let go of Andrew, who slumped to the floor and turned to Stephanie, shoving her to the tile floor. Alex wiped a small streak of blood away from the corner of his mouth and picked up the case of beer. The group began to walk out the door and as Caleb was just about out the door he turned and said " Next time remember who your friends really are.". He stared coldly at Andrew's limp body and turned away, slamming the door behind him.

Stephanie got up and rushed to Andrew's side. She helped him sit up on the wall and he began to cough. A couple streaks of blood trickled from his head and the side of his face was black and blue and already began to swell up.

"I'm getting ice and calling Ms. Darla." Stephanie panted. She stood up, locked the front door and started to jog to the break room when Andrew spat out the word "Stop!" She froze where she was and turned to face Andrew.

Andrew struggled but managed to get up on his feet he said " Don't call Ms. Darla. She doesn't need to worry about this. Just get the ice and I'll be fine." Stephanie gave him a concerned look and she forced his goofiest smile, trying to hide his wince at the pain. Stephanie resumed jogging to the break room when Andrew was standing and leaning against the counter.

Stephanie came back with tissues and an ice pack wrapped with paper towels. Andrew sat on top of the counter and leaned his back against the wall. Stephanie stood beside him. She gently moved the ice pack towards the part of his face that was swelling the most and when the paper towel barely touched his face, Andrew flinched and recoiled in pain, letting out a small grunt. Stephanie bit her bottom lip hard, holding back tears while a ball formed in her throat.

" Sorry, sorry." She whispered through a quivering voice. Stephanie's hands were shaking but she tried again. This time when she put the ice pack in the side of Andrew's face he grunted in pain but didn't flinch. He put his hand over Stephanie's. She slowly removed her hand and Andrew held ice pack to his face.

" It's not your fault. All of them are asses. And if Caleb lays his hands on you again he's dead." Andrew said. Stephanie took the tissues and tried to wipe away the streams of blood on his face. Every time she applied the slightest amount of pressure he gritted his teeth.

"I'm fine. Caleb or any of them are not going to hurt me." She said soothingly. But Andrew shook his head.

" You don't know them like I do. They're mean. They don't know what the word stop is. Caleb is the worst of them all. Everything has to go according to him."

"Why do you hang out with them?" Stephanie starred directly at Andrew's blue eyes. He sat up a little taller.

" I was friends with them, but when they entered high school everyone changed. Caleb is, or was my best friend. But then he started drinking and at a party we were at he got really drunk and punched a kid in the face. One of the seniors there thought he was cool for doing so and said we could hang out with his crowd. Ever since then we started hanging out with the "popular kids" and he just became different."

" Then why didn't you find new friends if you didn't like it?

" I don't know. Probably because he was always my friend. And I didn't know what else to do."

"That's not a very valid answer."

" Fine!," Andrew raised his voice, " I liked being part of his crowd but I didn't like what they did!" His eyes burned and Stephanie took a step back. As soon as Andrew saw her pail face his eyes filled with remorse. " Steph, I'm sorry. That was the old me. Then I met you and it was like the clouds in front of my eyes disappeared. You showed me a new and better view on life. Baby I'm sorry, I'm just so pissed off at all of them. Nothing they said about you was true." He turned and put his hands on her shoulders. She couldn't hold in the tears anymore. A few slid down her face. " Oh baby please don't." Andrew cooed. He held her close as Stephanie's head laid on his chest, he gently swayed them back and forth.

" I was really scared Andrew." she whispered through hot tears and she wrapped her arms around his waist. Andrew kissed Stephanie on her forehead.

" I know baby, I'm sorry. This is never going to happen again. I'll protect you always. As long as you're with me you're safe." Andrew soothed her. He let go of his grip and gently placed his fingers around Stephanie's neck and wiped away her tears with his thumbs. Andrew kissed her and gave Stephanie his warmest smile and she smiled too.

"Damn, my girl is even beautiful when she cries. How about we pop some popcorn and watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3 in the break room? I have pillows and blankets in my truck." Andrew smiled. His eyes were brighter as he smiled at her. Stephanie smiled wide at the ground and giggled.

Looking up at Andrew, she said, " You get the pillows and blankets and I pop the popcorn."