My Bear - Andrew Siwicki

Chapter XXIV

Quick Trigger warning - a little talk of self-harm in this chapter

Before I knew it, the next few weeks had passed. It was now mid-July and I had just gotten home from work. I was exhausted and had had a pretty bad day at work. Sighing, I grab my bag and climb out of the Jeep, swearing as the strap gets caught on the handbrake. I stomp up the stairs to my apartment and throw my bag to the side before heading into the kitchen and pouring myself a glass of whiskey, before heading into the lounge to watch the new Eboys video, with the bottle of whiskey still in hand. After a few minutes, there was a knock at my door, and I stood up to answer it.

"Hey Andrew," I say, seeing his smiling face. He brings me into a hug and I smile, instantly starting to feel better. As we pull away he places a light kiss on my lips.

"Hey Abby,' he says and I step to the side to let him in. The two of us head to the couch and he laughs lightly at the whiskey bottle on the couch. "Rough day?" he asks. I sigh loudly and he chuckles and pulls me beside him, holding me into a hug. I explain to him my frustrations as he delicately traces circles on my back. After I was done talking and telling the story of the day I thank him and place a kiss on his lips and deepen it. The rest of the night is spent chatting to each other and watching videos together. Throughout the night I was constantly flirting with him and trying to make things obvious. We'd been together for about a month or so now, and I guess when it's been three years... you kind of get a little desperate. I was comfortable enough around Andrew now to take things further and I always thought he treaded a little carefully around things like this because he knew how I felt about it all. Perhaps I wasn't obvious enough.

"I'm a little tired," I say, standing up from the couch. "I might head to bed," I grab Andrew's chin with my hand and direct his gaze up to me. With a smirk on my face I place a kiss on his lips. It was a passionate kiss and he gently moaned into it, caught by surprise. I pull away with a little smirk on my face. After sending him a wink I head down the hallway, my face bright red. Before I knew it a pair of arms snaked around my waist.

"Mind if I join? I'm a little tired too" Andrew murmurs in my ear. Smiling, I turn around in his arms, and wrap my arms around his neck and begin to kiss him again. Andrew's hands reached onto my thighs and he lifted me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. Without breaking the kiss, Andrew carries me to the bedroom and gently lays me on the bed.

Together, as cheesy and cliche as it sounds, the two of us spent a night of passion together. It was better than I could have ever imagined and we ended up cuddling, skin to skin. My head was on his chest and I was tracing hearts with my finger, in a state of euphoria.

"Tell me something I don't know about you Abby," Andrew says after a comfortable moment of silence I turn my head up to look at his face, studying it carefully.

"Is this a 'tell me a quirky fact about yourself' moment or a 'tell me your deepest darkest secrets' moment" I reply, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Whatever you feel comfortable with," he shrugs.

"I'll one up you, I'll do both," I say. I roll off of him and then prop myself up on my elbows so that I can catch his gaze. Andrew had a gentle smile on his face as he shifted up to sit against the headboard. "In probably about a month or so I'll be getting a pretty big tattoo to celebrate my five years clean from self harm"

"Oh wow," Andrew says.

"Yeah," I nod, kind of awkwardly. I usually hate the reaction people give me when I open up about this sort of stuff. "I did it for a few years, maybe about seven years, on and off. There were times it would get worrying and there were times I did it just because. It was just a dark time in my life and it took a lot to get me out of it so, I guess I'm just really proud of myself for doing. Tattoos designed, just need to find an artist that I love and wants to do it for me,"

"I'm really proud of you Abby," Andrew says, tilting his head as he gazes at me with glossy eyes. "That mustn't of been easy,"

"At times," I giggle lightly. "But it's past me now, and I'm proud'

"Can I see the design?" Andrew asks. I grab my phone from the side table and then scroll through my gallery to find it.

"Here," I say, passing him my phone. "I designed it a few years ago, obviously it needs touching up but I love it. It'll go here," I pull down the duvet covers from my body and then gesture to the outer side of my left thigh. I then flip back over onto my stomach and pull the covers over me again.

"That'll look really cool," Andrew smiles and I blush and look down.

"I'm kind of nervous, I've never gotten a tattoo that big before,"

"You have other tattoos?" Andrew asks, puzzled.

"A couple of small ones yeah," I say. "I'm not surprised you didn't notice them"

"I'm usually focused on trying not to make myself look like an idiot around you," Andrew replies and I laugh, causing him to smile.

"You could never make an idiot of yourself in front of me," I smile. "I just think it's adorable," Andrew chuckles and then looks out the window of my bedroom as a blush appears across his cheeks. I smile as I look attentively at him, taking in every feature of him. From his smile, to his eyes, the cute bump in his nose, down to his arms and his chest hair. I wanted this image to be burned in my mind forever.

That night, we fell asleep in each other's arms still as naked as ever. I think I slept the best I had ever slept in years, as Andrew's heartbeat, gentle breathing and scent lulls me to sleep, the sense of security comforting me. This man does something to me, I swear.