Author's Note: Hey, everybody! Back again I am.
So I'm really chuffed that people liked 'Bedside Manners'. But on re-reading it, there are chapters that I just hated. I think that the story suffered from a lack of planning, but I intend to redeem myself with this!
Please do read and enjoy. Mandie for the win!
Two Steps Forward
Chapter 1: We're Okay
Andie heaved a wistful sigh as she gazed out at the Baltimore skyline, still and glowing amber under the setting sun. Then she looked to the dark-haired boy stuffing himself with Turkish Delight and all romantic sentiments died. She smirked and shook her head, reaching out to brush a trace of icing sugar off his bottom lip.
"Dork," she murmured. "Stop eating with your face."
"Says the girl who won't eat at all."
"Hey! This,"she smoothed a hand down her torso with flourish, "doesn't come easy."
"And you think this does?" Moose pulled his shirt up and peered at his abdomen. How he managed to craft any sort of muscle out of that scrawny frame she would never know. She would never really care. Long as she got to look at it…
"Easy, stud. You'll give Mrs. Phelps a heart attack." She inclined her head to the apartment building across the street.
He smirked. "At least she'd die happy…"
It was the last day before school opened and Andie felt supremely bummed. Just about every vacation before MSA had been a string of dull days, with nothing to look forward to besides the 410's dance sessions. Her time with Moose more than made up for that, and she had allowed herself to pretend it could last forever. This was the end of forever.
"Hey, we don't have to go back to school." She blinked in surprise as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Moose had developed an uncanny ability to read her mind when her thoughts were at their most intimate. It pissed her off some of the time, comforted her most of the time. "We could go start a dance studio in New York or something."
Andie snorted. "Your mum would die of disappointment."
"Meh…" he muttered, but didn't argue any further.
They stood like so on the roof of the boarding house, until the sky darkened and Andie shivered. Moose squeezed her a little and she wondered how the school would react to them as the year came to an end. Being together was easy when nobody else was watching…
"We'll be okay, Andie. We'll be better than okay. We'll be…"
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?"
"For lack of a real word, yeah!"
Andie wriggled round in his grasp and sighed dramatically.
"You don't believe me?" he pouted.
She shook her head and eyed his bottom lip. Moose brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes and stooped to kiss her into a more optimistic mood…
A/N: All right then! 'Two Steps Forward' is sort of a working title. Not quite sure if it will stick! Time will tell…