Chapter 19
Another few weeks went by and I was back at work. Andy and I had become good friends and we spent a lot of time together. He was trying always trying to trick me to come to their apartment so I could talk to Adam and Joel, but I just couldn’t. Not yet anyway.
“Andy, he hates me. What am I supposed to do about it?” I asked Andy as I was getting some tea ready for us. Andy was sitting by my kitchen table. They were soon ready to go on a headline tour around the UK and I was so proud of them. I just wished I could tell the person I love that I was.
“He doesn’t hate you,” Andy sighed. I turned around and looked at him sternly before returning to the tea. “Yes, he was very mad at you for a while, but he misses you.” I sighed heavily and walked over to the table to sit down. I handed him his cup and sat down across from him.
“He misses me?” I asked in disbelief.
“Yes,” Andy said and leaned forward on the table, supporting himself with his elbows. His big brown eyes were looking deeply into mine and his broad shoulders showing clearly through his t-shirt. “Look, I know him better than anyone. Trust me, he misses you. He just hasn’t admitted it to himself yet.”
“So what am I supposed to do?”
“Come to our gig tomorrow night,” Andy said and smiled. I just looked at him. I couldn’t decide if this was a horrible idea and it would just make things worse, or if this might fix everything. A comfortable silence fell over us as I thought about whether or not to go to the gig. I sighed and gave Andy a small smile.
“Fine,” I said and a big smile spread over Andy’s face. “I’ll be there. But if this goes horribly wrong and he hates me, you owe me big time,” I said and raised a finger to threaten him. Andy laughed and then made some horrible joke, which somehow made me crack up to. “What do I do about Joel then?” I asked, suddenly remembered the cute guitarist who had almost captured my heart.
“He’s a mess,” Andy said, his eyes suddenly finding his tea-cup very interesting. I sighed. “Adam and he made up somehow. Thank god,” Andy sighed, “but he still feels terrible for betraying your trust.”
“I just… I just don’t know if I’d be able to be around him,” I said, feeling my stomach clenching, “It’s not that I hate him or still blame him for telling Adam. Honestly, he did the right thing and in some way what he did was good, I just hate the consequences. I guess it says more about me than him really.” I scoffed. “I’m the bad person here, not Joel.”
“You’re not a bad person, Lucy,” Andy said softly.
“I cheated on my boyfriend and then I wanted Joel to lie about it to his best friend,” I stated matter-of-factly.
“You did what you thought was right at the moment. You didn’t want to risk losing one of the best things in your life. You’re not a bad person, you’re just human.”
“I still cheated,” I whispered.
“You were vulnerable and Joel took advantage of that. Actually, you and Joel are just so similar to one another; I think you related to each other in a way. From the beginning I kind of thought you would end up with him.” Andy said and led out a humours laugh. I gave him a look of desperation. Andy stood up and pulled me up from my chair and into a hug. I placed my hands around his waist and my cheek rested against his strong chest. Andy had one arm around my waist; the other was lightly stroking my hair. Since my “situation” with Adam and Joel, he had learned that that calmed me down. It had been nice having a male friend I could trust and who could comfort me. For some reason it just always felt better being comforted by someone who was about twice your own size. Andy had been perfect for that. Andy took a deep breath as I was fighting the tears.
