My Bear - Andrew Siwicki

Chapter XXI

I was gently awoken by a bright light which I assumed was the sun, and when I slowly opened my eyes, my arm was slung across Andrew's body and my head was rested just below his chest. He was propped up on his elbows and looked down at me as I stirred.

"The sunrise is beautiful here," he says as I sit up from him, copying his seating position. It was, he was right. The sky was cast in a beautiful shade of purple and pink and the few clouds that had appeared during the night were a beautiful shade of golden yellow.

"It looks like a painting," I think aloud, and he turns and smiles at me. I notice him looking out of my peripherals and lean into him, resting my head on his upper arm. Together, we watch the sunrise in silence and just enjoy each other's company. Once the sun is up in the sky I yawn again.

"Right well, I really need some coffee," I say and Andrew chuckles. The two of us deflate the air mattress and pick up the rest of the stuff from last night before heading back to the Jeep, placing the stuff in the back.

"I can drive if you'd like," Andrew offers.

"Oh yes please," I reply, handing him the keys. "I only had like, two hours sleep," The two of us climb into the car and he starts the engine. I soon fell asleep as Andrew started driving and the time seemed to slip away from me. An hour or so later, I'm awakened by someone saying my name and gently shaking my shoulder.

"Hmm?" I groan as I rub my eyes.

"Do you want anything from McDonald's?" Andrew asks as I open my eyes to look at him. We were pulled into a drive-thru behind another car.

"Oh a hashbrown and a cappuccino would be fantastic," I say as I stretch. He chuckles at me before opening the window. In a few minutes, I had my coffee and hashbrown and we were back on the road. I nibble at my hashbrown and gaze out the window.

"You're so cute," Andrew chuckles. I turn and look at him.

"What do you mean?" I ask, confused by the out of the blue compliment.

"The way you're eating the hashbrown," he smiles, gesturing to it. "It's like you're a mouse,"

"It's called savouring it," I reply with a grin. "Enjoying every bite,"

"Totally," he replies, shaking his head as he looks out to the road. I smile, blushing from the compliment before turning back to gaze out the window at the passing scenery.

At about 9 am we reached our apartment and Andrew pulled into my usual parking spot. He helps me unpack and take everything up to the apartment and places it in the office. Once everything was back up into the apartment, we take a seat close to each other on the couch and put on some Netflix. I post mate us some Starbucks and then spend the rest of the day on the couch and I eventually fall asleep again, my head on his shoulder. When I wake up, I see Garrett and Zoe in the apartment with us.

"She's alive!" Garrett cries and I giggle as I sit back up and stretch.

"Barely," I mumble. Zoe hands me a cup of tea and I smile and thank her. It was nice to have all four of us together again and we spent the rest of the afternoon chatting away to each other. At about 7 pm Garrett and Andrew go downstairs to Andrew's apartment to talk about ideas for Garrett's new video, leaving Zoe and I on the couch.

"So how was last night?" she asks, raising her eyebrows as she takes a sip of her coffee.

"It was great," I reply. "On both fronts," I giggle and she smiles at me.

"Was it romantic?" she teases and I nod.

"I wasn't expecting it to be but it definitely was. A unique romantic,"

"That's cute," she says.

"I got some great photos too," I showed her the photos that we took last night and then whilst I remembered about it I messaged a few of the better ones to Mark. The two of us spent a few hours chatting before she headed off home again. I played some Animal Crossing until I could barely keep my eyes open and then climbed under the covers of my bed. I had work again tomorrow and managed to fall asleep.

The next few days flew by and before I knew it it was Thursday night. I was out seeing everybody else the last few days so I was looking forward to a night in at home and seeing Andrew. I had texted him earlier asking if he wanted to join me for dinner and he agreed, so on my way home, I stopped by the store to get what I needed. At about 5.30 pm I'd just gotten home and placed the bag of stuff on the kitchen counter. The sun was just starting to set and the sunlight flowed through the window as I started to prep the dinner, chopping up the beef. Andrew soon walks through the door and I smile at him as he joins me in the kitchen, taking a seat at the counter.

"Hey Bear," I say to him.

"Hey Abby," he smiles back. "How was your week?"

"Pretty good thanks!" I reply. "Just been catching up with people, how about you?"

"Not bad," Andrew says. "I've been at Shane's mostly all week. He's got a new series planned"

"Oh awesome!" I say as I finish cutting up the beef. "You starting filming soon?"

"Next week hopefully," he nods. "So I'll probably disappear for a few weeks,"

"Oh no! No cute dinners together," I pout playfully. "It's okay, as long as you're doing what you love," I turn back and look over at him and see him smiling at me. I give him a grin in return before turning back around to keep frying the beef.

"Hey, I was wondering..." Andrew starts, and I turn back around to look at him, leaning on the counter behind me. "I was gonna go for a hike on Saturday morning, would you like to join me?"

"I'd love to! Sounds like an awesome idea," I reply as I notice the familiar blush crawl across his face.

"Cool," he says nodding with a smile tugging the corners of his lips. "I was gonna leave at 8 am in the morning?"

"I'll be ready," I say. "Wanna come give me a hand?" Together the two of us make and enjoy the dinner together and chat about Shane's new series idea and then play some Mario together on the Switch after we had finished clearing up the kitchen. We spend the rest of the night laughing before wishing each other goodnight at about 10 pm. I walk Andrew to the door and then we give each other a hug. As we pull away, he kisses the top of my head, causing me to blush. He smirks at the sight of me being flustered before turning around and walking back down the stairs back to his apartment. I watch him walk down and as he reaches the bottom of the stairs I close the door and then head into my bedroom, changing into some pyjamas before climbing under the covers and drifting off to a dreamless sleep.