Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fanfiction story. The Office is the property of NBC. Please support the official release.
It wasn't easy in those early days.
Ever since the documentary of their lives aired out and became an unexpected hit, Erin had been dealt with far more attention than she ever thought possible. She could now certainly see why the celebrities always had big bodyguards and covered their faces whenever they went outside. But it wasn't that people were pushing cameras in her face or constantly asking her for an autograph; sure she got that, but she would've preferred just that over the other, worse part of the attention The Office got her.
At first, many viewers loved her. They found her sweet, funny, and sympathetic in her search for her long-lost birth parents and quest for love and happiness. But then the last few episodes came out, airing out everything that happened with her and Andy and Pete. It just started with a few angry posts on Twitter, nothing too bad that Erin couldn't ignore. But soon, she began to get angry messages on her email accounts, and even actual hate letters calling her all kinds of cruel horrible names.
Tears came to Erin's eyes. It was only three days since that episode showing her and Andy's break-up had aired, but already she saw at least fifty tweets and messages, and none of them were the slightest bit nice.
You're a selfish bitch! How could you hurt Andy like that!?
This is the face of a Slut.
FUCKING WHORE!
I'l' rape u nxt time I see u cunt
This ho here ain't loyal.
And too many more.
There was also an email message with pictures of mutilated animals, and she counted eighteen emails from random men sending her pictures of their penises. Erin saw how Pam and Nellie cringed next to her, all color drained from the other women's faces.
"What do I do?" Erin asked, hands shaking.
Pam shook her head and replied, "I'm not really sure." That didn't help Erin's already rock-bottom spirits and the glare Nellie gave Pam drove her to quickly add, "But I think it's probably for the best that you should stay off the Internet for a while."
Nellie reached around and took the mouse for Erin's computer. "Well, the joke is on them. Tonight, with this, I'll be getting some good dough as you Americans call it," Nellie said as she forwarded the emails to her own email. Erin and Pam looked at her in confusion, leading to Nellie to clarify, "Oh, it's my side job - I send a picture of a man's genitals over to this gay porn website and I get ten dollars. And this here is a veritable goldmine."
"Here's the important question," Meredith dropped in. "You ever sent any of your boyfriends nude pics?"
Pam's jaw dropped at the crude question, but Erin, through an intense blush, stammered, "N-no. No-no, I never did any of that."
Meredith nodded approvingly at that. "Good girl."
As she walked away, Erin and Pam looked at each other, silently agreeing they did not want to know whatever the sordid details of that was and they would not speak of it again, all the while Nellie was calculating how much she would get for all the pictures.
It only got worse. Death threats actually came in, hecklers yelling stuff at her, and even a phone call from an especially angry man who made all sorts of lewd and crude threats at her. Going to the police was useless and they didn't think it was anything serious. The rest of the office, Jim and Pam especially, were the only source of support she had in all this in all that, as well as successfully convincing Dwight to beef up security at the office.
It was a normal Wednesday until she got that call around 2:30. Reed had called and he was frantic, to put it lightly.
"Reed, slow down and talk clearly! What is going on?" she asked. The rest of the office looked at her with concern.
On the other side of the line, Reed replied, "I don't know exactly, but apparently, someone has tracked down our address and made a fake call to the police, and they sent a full SWAT team to our apartment!"
Erin's heart sank at this, barely comprehending as her foster brother kept talking. No one was home at the time, thankfully. But he was not taking this well, especially because he did read about how those things went. She shook her head, took a deep breath, and quickly said, "I'm coming home right now, just wait for me. Bye."
"What's going on, Erin? Is everything okay?" Pam asked.
Once Erin was finished explaining the situation, everyone gasped. Even Stanley was shaken.
"I need to leave right now," Erin said in a shaky voice. "I need to talk with the police… and I don't know… I got to do something. And Reed needs help…"
"I'll come with you," Dwight immediately offered, grabbing his blazer and suitcase.
"You sure, Dwight?" Erin asked. "I don't want you to have to-"
"It's fine, Erin. You need help, and I'll help you," he said firmly.
Pam took Jim's arm and firmly said, "You should go with them, too, Jim. I think this is going to need some more hands to help. I'll hold down the fort here while you're out."
Jim agreed, grabbing his coat and bag as he joined Erin and Dwight to sort out this mess.
When they got to Erin's apartment, to say the scene was chaotic would be an understatement. There were large armored SWAT trucks strewn around the area, cop cars, police officers trying to sort things out as the SWAT team grumbled about time wasted over what turned out to be a malicious prank, and angry neighbors giving out earfuls to beleaguered officers.
"Good God…" Jim breathed in astonishment. As Reed ran up to Erin, looking frazzled and frantic as he filled her in on the details, and Dwight went off to confer with the police sheriff, Jim was left to contemplate things.
"Is there any low they won't go?" he asked no one in particular.
A nearby police officer that happened to be eavesdropping replied, "Nope, there really isn't."
That was not a very encouraging answer. Jim approached Erin, who was now in a cluster consisting of herself, Reed, Dwight, the SWAT leader and the sheriff, discussing things.
"What do you suggest, Sheriff? I would believe she wouldn't be safe staying here anymore," Dwight pointed out.
"Indeed, she wouldn't," the sheriff concurred before turning to Erin. "Personally, Miss Hannon, I'd recommend you should probably stay with a friend until this blows over, if not relocate altogether."
"Move?" Erin asked in shock. "That's going to take a lot of work."
"Well, actually," Reed cut in, "it's not too inconvenient. The lease here is about to expire, and you've been talking about getting your own place a lot."
"Yeah," Erin nodded, "but not like this. And who am I going to stay with until I get a new place?"
"You can't stay with Pete?" Jim asked.
"No," Erin replied dejectedly. "His roommates… don't really like me much."
"You can stay in my guest house," Dwight offered. Before anyone could raise possible objections, he quickly added, "And you need not worry, there are modern amenities, including plumbing and electricity, in there."
So for the next three weeks, Erin stayed in Dwight's guest house. It wasn't as bad as she'd feared, and it helped that Mose didn't act like a total weirdo around her. With Pam's help, she was able to quickly find a new apartment.
Erin had always looked forward to the day when she would finally have her own apartment. She loved Reed, but he was often messy and she wanted to live like an independent adult.
But she didn't like that it to be like this. Being forced to move to another place because someone tracked down her address and sent a SWAT team in there.
Jim, Dwight, and Pete had assembled and sorted out her new furniture while Pam and Nellie carried up the boxes of Erin's few possessions. Erin was truly grateful for their help in this. And it was a nice apartment too.
But as she began sorting out her clothes in the closet (her own closet! She was supposed to be happy about that!), she couldn't help but back to that one incredibly rude salesman at the IKEA she went to a couple weeks ago. How he barely helped her, made passive-aggressive remarks about the size of the bed she wanted to buy as if that had to do with anything…
She decided to just buy it all online. At least she didn't have to deal with people that way.
Even with the change in address and added security guards, Erin still didn't feel completely safe at times. During the first month in her new apartment, she slept with the lights on.
Her safety and sense of privacy weren't the only things taken away either.
Pete just couldn't handle it. He tried to stand firm against the wave of anger and hate, but the Internet was not afraid to go low. He and some of his family members got doxxed, he would get hate mail of his own, and some especially terrible people from his past attempted to trash talk him to some tabloid. He similarly had to move to another apartment and also slept with the lights on for a couple weeks.
(He also hated that the "Plop" nickname stuck. So maybe in a way, Andy did get the last laugh on that.)
Still, they tried to make it work. They supported each other, helped each other. But it wasn't easy when they were getting a constant deluge of angry messages and were expected by everyone to personally bear the burden of every angry brain-fart some random strangers had about their relationship that was all caught on camera. And it was hard! Constantly having to read messages from total strangers telling them what horrible people they were was painful and wore down on a person!
Watching themselves on the documentary didn't help either, as Erin saw for herself how she had behaved through those times and it forced her to really reevaluate herself, that she should have handled it better.
And all of these combined to make the perfect ingredients to cause her and Pete to start fighting. They first started off small; a few instances of one snapping at the other in a state of extreme stress, followed by an apology about an hour later. But that too grew worse over time. Arguments over minor annoyances to bigger concerns grew in frequency and intensity. It got to the point they could barely speak to each other at work, much less in normal life.
"What have I done?" was all Erin could ask herself.
Pete looked at her with a curious expression. They finally (at the behest of Darryl via Skype) got themselves to watch that episode. And it was painful, he could see that. Watching oneself in a video recording was already surreal enough, but to also watch the start of a relationship and realize it didn't have the best beginnings was a whole different feeling altogether.
After a minute of awkward silence, Erin screamed.
"I am a monster!" Erin sobbed. "They were right!"
"Erin," Pete said to her reassuringly, "you're not a monster-"
"I am!" she interrupted. "You saw it! I went behind his back, I was selfish! I… I told him to just get over it, when… when I couldn't even do the same for him."
Erin couldn't talk anymore and kept crying. Pete had seen her cry in sadness before, but here… she was just so racked with guilt, shame and self-loathing.
They broke her.
Pete tried to put an arm around her to comfort her, to do something, but she swatted it away.
"Pete, please, don't touch me right now!" she snapped, voice becoming uncharacteristically shrill. She didn't know why, but right now, the thought of him laying even a hand on her shoulder made her feel wrong. Gross even.
Pete withdrew away, now feeling at a loss. How was he supposed to comfort her if she wouldn't even let him hug her?
He was shaken out of his thoughts when Erin's phone began to ring.
"Who is that?"
Erin looked at it and rolled her eyes, swiping over the "reject" button. She flatly said, "I don't know. Caller ID said it's from Minnesota, so probably another person wanting to tell me I'm a bad person."
"Maybe you should change your number," Pete recommended.
"You can do that?" Erin asked with surprise.
Pete's expression changed from sad but supportive to… the only way to describe it would be that he wanted to ask if she was kidding him but wouldn't say it.
"Yes. Yes, you can, Erin," he said with a sigh.
At this time, Erin didn't know why the way he talked to her there hurt her feelings. She would realize why a lot later.
It all came to a head when Andy, of all people, came to their defense and posted a video on Youtube in which he angrily called out the people throwing death threats at her and Pete.
Erin and Pete had seen Andy angry plenty of times before, but never like in that video. His tone of voice was surprisingly even and calm in the beginning, only for him to steadily growl and shake with fury as he told the Internet bullies, people that claimed to be his fans, to grow up and leave the two alone, all the while admitting to his own faults that contributed to the dissolution of his and Erin's relationship. While it didn't do much to stem the tide of rage and some people still mocked him (as this was at the height of the "Baby Waa-Waa" meme's popularity), others (including Erin herself) found it an admirable move on his part.
After they saw it, Pete was the first to say something after a long minute of utter silence.
"I don't think this is going to work, Erin."
"Wait, WHAT?!" Erin blurted out in shock. "What do you mean?!"
"Exactly what I said," Pete answered. Pointing at the both of them, he continued, "This, us as a couple, this isn't going to work."
Erin's jaw dropped in shock at that. She stuttered to find the right words, choking out and almost pleading, "I know it's been hard, and I know it will still be hard, but I'm willing to stick it out with you. I really do like you, Pete!"
Pete sadly smiled and replied, "But do you really, Erin? Do you really like me, or did you just like that I happened to be there when you needed someone?"
That question hit her like a ton of bricks. She was silent for about a full minute, which said more than any words could ever express.
"You know I'm right, Erin," he added sadly.
Erin's lip quivered as she tried to keep her tears at bay. Her voice shook as she weakly retorted, "We can make this work though, Pete. We can prove them wrong." She loathed admitting she was trying to convince herself of this as much as she was trying to convince Pete.
"The way this relationship started was already not super great, but having all this," he said as he pointed at the computer screen, "doesn't help. And trying to prove someone else wrong about your relationship… that sort of thing doesn't work. We wouldn't be happy like that. You should be with someone because you love them and want to be with them in the long run, not because you want to prove someone else wrong."
Try as she might, she couldn't find any argument against his points. It would be wrong to just stay together for the sake of proving some random strangers on the Internet wrong. And this relationship itself… it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't quite what Erin thought it would be either. The longer she got to know Pete, the more she began to see his less good aspects. And he probably saw hers too.
And the way it began… there was no dancing around it, she did go behind Andy's back. Sure, he left her and barely kept contact with her for those three months, but still, it wasn't the best move on her part either. And relationships founded on cheating rarely ended well.
"So… is this it then? Are we… breaking up?" she asked in a low voice.
Pete nodded. "Yeah."
Erin tightly squeezed her eyes shut, took a shaky breath, and solemnly nodded. "Okay then. I guess I'll go then." She got up, grabbed her bag and coat, and quickly walked towards the door. Before she was about to go, Pete came up next to her.
"Look, Erin, I want you to know there's really no hard feelings here. You're a really nice person and a lot of fun to hang out with, and I hope we can still at least be friends and work together. I'm… I'm sorry that this had to happen to you."
Erin suppressed the urge to groan, to cry, to scream, to slap him across the face. Instead, she smiled (as much as it strained her facial muscles to do so), nodded, and replied, "I know, Pete. Of course, we can. Bye." She then rushed out the door, got into her car, and sped off back to her place.
She only started crying once she got back home.
Over the next few months after that, she got herself together. She threw herself into her work, into self-improvement, into whatever helped get her mind away from the fact that her life was spinning out of control. The results from all that were… mixed, to say the least. Dwight was impressed with Erin's new dedication to her work, giving her new responsibilities and even a pay increase. Oscar even trusted her with some parts of his campaign. And she discovered that she liked, of all things, kickboxing. In a way, it was therapeutic, kicking and punching at stuff and pretending she was hitting back at all those jerks who gave her such a hard time. The self-defense aspect and the fact it helped keep her toned were nice bonuses.
Erin huffed and wheezed, feeling like her lungs were about to jump out of her chest.
"Stop trying to hit me, and hit me!" barked the instructor. Erin looked up at the intimidating woman, this real-life Amazon warrior who took no nonsense and could probably crush a walnut in between her buttcheeks.
Erin tried to throw in another punch, but her limbs felt like limp noodles. She could only really make a pat against the instructor's gear.
"Use that anger! You have a rage you need to channel!"
Use her anger? Erin could feel that. She thought back to all those hurtful things people said to her, all the insults, the water bottles being thrown at her, how no one truly understood her pain, the past, her mistakes…
"ARRRGGHHH!"
She heard a hard wump against the instructor's hand pad. Amazon Lady smiled.
"Good. Just like that."
And eventually, even the Internet bullying began to die down, mostly because the angry mobs got tired of bothering her and found someone new to direct their rage at. While she still got an angry email or message here and there, people on the whole eventually moved on. Some forgave her (or at least came to understand her, even if they didn't approve of her actions). Others straight up apologized to her, stating her actions may not have been the coolest but she didn't deserve any of the ridiculously toxic harassment and haranguing that plagued her. She greatly appreciated that.
However, this still left a stain on her life. For one thing, it turned out a lot of guys weren't exactly jazzed about dating the office receptionist who went behind her boyfriend's back, even if he was being a jerk too. And Scranton didn't exactly offer a great selection of men to begin with. But it still hurt that she was having to pay for this action and likely would continue to pay for it for a long, long time.
It was still so surreal to Andy that for almost ten years of his life, he was filmed on a documentary. And then it became an unexpected hit, giving him a new lease on life. Sure, it wasn't an easy road, and it was painful and twisted and he fell a lot. But he got back up, dusted himself off again, and kept going.
Going forward was all he could do.
"So, what is this big news that you wanted to tell us?" Jim asked, seated across from Andy at the break room table in the corner. Pam was next to him. All three of them were chowing down on sandwiches and chips. Andy took a quick sip of his soda to wash down his mouthful before answering.
"Well… I'm moving to New York. Ithaca to be exact. I'll be leaving in three days," Andy said to them.
Jim and Pam looked taken aback by Andy's announcement. "Well… wow, this is kind of out of the blue. Why would you be going there?" Pam asked.
"The Cornell staff invited me actually," Andy explained. "Well, the graduating class specifically. I'm going to do the commencement speech."
Neither looked particularly enthused by this, looking at one another worriedly.
"Are you sure you're making the right choice here?" Jim asked, concerned. "I mean, you're talking about moving to another city, with no job lined up or anything."
Andy shrugged and replied, "I got enough saved up to last me for a couple months and I've lived in Ithaca for seven years. Plus I got a few old friends there, so I can crash with them while I get back on my feet if I need to. Besides… no offense, you two, but… I really don't think there's anything left for me here in Scranton."
Pam's mouth went ajar, a look of worry and sadness crossing her face. "Are you serious, Andy? I mean, surely-"
"Pam," Andy interrupted, holding a hand up, "I appreciate the concern. I really do. But my mind's been made up already. I just wanted to let you guys know beforehand."
The couple across from him looked at each other again with worry but seemed to realize there was no use in trying to change his mind. "Well, you should at least say goodbye to everyone here before you go," Jim pointed out.
"Yeah, I suppose so," Andy admitted. With that, he finished off the last of his lunch, tossed the garbage away, and grabbed his backpack. Walking out of the break room and into the main office, he made a little trumpet sound to gain everyone's attention.
"Hey, guys!" Andy announced. "So in three days, for realsies this time, I'm leaving Scranton, and I just want to say goodbye to you all before I go."
Phyllis gave a confused look. "Where will you be going and why?"
Andy simply replied, "I'll be going to Ithaca for a new opportunity. It's been a fun ride but I think it's time to write a new chapter for my life, expand my horizons, all that good stuff."
Oscar interjected, "Do you even know what you're going to do? It sounds to me like you're just jumping in without a plan." He wanted to also say that he had a strong feeling that Andy was using this as an excuse to just run away from everything, but held his tongue, figuring it would be in poor taste to say that.
Andy waved his hand and said, "I'll be fine, Oscar! You don't need to worry about little ol' me."
"Just go before you change your mind again," Stanley grumbled, not even looking up from his crossword puzzle.
"I'll miss you too, Stanley," Andy nodded. "In fact, I'll miss you all. Even you, Nellie."
That got a small smile from the Brit who had been something of an arch-enemy to him since the day they met. She said, "Why, thank you, Andy. I understand the healing power of a fresh start, it's why I'm here in America. I wish you all the best."
"Please don't get sappy on me," Andy said flatly. He gave a long gracious bow. "Well, au revoir, so long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, adieu, adieu to you and you and you. Take of yourselves, everyone."
As he left, a feeling of sadness gripped the office. Andy had gone through a lot, and as much as they would miss him, they all knew on some level that getting away from here was probably the best thing he could do for himself.
About a minute later, Erin got out of the bathroom and was about to return to her desk, but noticed how the atmosphere of the place was so somber. "Hey, what's with everyone here? Why are you all looking so sad?"
Pam realized that Erin wasn't in the room with them and answered, "You missed it. Andy just left. He said he's leaving Scranton in a few days to go live in New York."
Erin gasped. Was he going to leave town without at least saying goodbye to her? She sprinted out of the office and ran down the stairs, knowing that the elevator was way too slow for a building with only four floors. She pushed past the exit doors, ignoring the security guard trying to stop her from running in the lobby. To her relief, Andy was still in the parking lot, about to get into his car.
"Andy! Wait! Andy!" Erin called out. Andy felt his throat tighten when he heard her calling his name out, her footsteps coming closer to him. He silently cursed to himself that she had to come out; he just wanted to make it nice and clean, like ripping off a band-aid (although he always peeled those off slowly).
"They said you're leaving for New York! Is that true, Andy?" she asked in shock.
"Yeah, it is," he replied. "What's it to you?"
"Well, I'm just wondering why." Her voice then got low. "You're not going to compete in another reality show, right?"
Andy sighed, "No, I'm going to Ithaca. It's the town where my old college is at. I need to move on, find some new opportunities, and I think relocating will do that."
"But-"
"You're not going to change my mind, Erin, so don't waste the effort," he told her bluntly, cutting her off before she could get another word in.
Erin flinched. Even if she wasn't the best at reading people, she could hear the venom in his voice.
Then Andy looked up at the sky, his tone a little gentler as he said, "Look, we all have to move on, right? Well, this is me moving on. You said it yourself that I should."
Erin shook, her stomach starting to hurt. He was right, she did say that. So why did it make her feel bad to see him following her wishes?
"So… are you leaving then? Like, forever?" she asked, trying to sound steady.
He nodded. "Yeah."
A long, sad silence took hold. Looking down at the pavement, Erin slowly nodded. If this was what he needed to be happy, then she wouldn't step in his way. She at least owed him that much.
"Okay then," she said, blinking fast. "I… I'm glad I met you and… I hope you do well in your life, Andy. Goodbye. And good luck."
"Thanks," he said. "I'm… glad I met you too. Goodbye, Erin. Take care of yourself." And with that, he got into his car, started it up, and drove away.
Erin wasn't sure why, but it cut her deeply that not once during their goodbye did Andy turn away from his car to face her.
Meanwhile, up in the conference room, the rest of the office watched it all. Pam shook her head. "Damn. Not even a goodbye hug."
He had to move forward after all. He'd made an ass of himself more times than he could care to remember. He made some downright stupid and cruel mistakes, and it was a miracle anyone would even want to still talk to him. Especially after...
No, best not to think about that.
So he decided to start over fresh. He left Dunder Mifflin, got a new job at Cornell that was much better suited for him (by accident, no less), and even made being "Baby Waa-Waa" work for him in a way. His life finally seemed to resemble something that actually looked normal. He actually looked like a responsible and functional adult, rather than the spoiled WASP manchild recorded on the documentary.
He also threw himself fully into the self-improvement thing, to keep becoming a better person than the idiot on TV.
Of course, digging himself out of that pit wasn't always easy but he went on.
Therapy helped too.
"Diet Day One is a go," he said to himself. His therapist, Dr. Jonathan Harper, had suggested he start finding certain new ways to occupy his time and build up his sense of self-worth. Exercising was one, so Andy decided to try it out.
It wasn't getting off to the best start though. Andy scrunched his face as he chugged the glass of water mixed with a green "superfood" powder made of kale, spinach, some stuff called spirulina, and other vegetables. It wasn't the worst thing he'd tasted in his life, but it was not pleasant either. It even felt like what he'd imagine the color green tasting like.
But that smoothie was only the first part. Now came the actual exercising. Andy bought himself a whole new section for his wardrobe, a collection of sleek athletic wear for optimal jogging. He already felt pretty good in these clothes, but he knew he'd feel even better once he actually used them for the purpose they were made for. He then placed the earbuds in and pushed play on his iPhone to start his workout mix. As the beats of Eric Prydz's "Call On Me" picked up, he began his run.
But it was such a hassle. Sure, he could feel it working out places he'd never even considered being worked out, but his whole body just wanted to give up. His legs were sore, his lungs were going to pop, even his buttocks started to feel strained.
But he pushed himself. Old Andy would've stopped after two minutes; New Andy was going to see this through.
But the more he kept pushing himself, the more his body began to push back. His abdomen started to hurt, the pain sharp. And then, before he could stop himself, or even at least get to a bush or a trash can or something, the green superfood drink leaped out of his stomach, burning through his throat, and spewing out of his mouth in a disgusting projectile spray all over the sidewalk.
Even though the day was a fairly warm spring day for Ithaca, Andy's whole body felt clammy, sweat dripping off his hair as he fell to his knees and clutched his stomach, taking several deep breaths to steady himself. This was not what he had in mind.
And then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a birthday party in the park nearby. The little kids and their parents all looked at him, shocked and concerned. One of the mothers came up to him, a look of worry on her face.
"Sir, are you alright?" she asked, holding a bottle of Gatorade in one hand. Andy, wheezing and coughing as he tried to clear out the horrible taste of vomited up green superfood from his mouth, weakly nodded as the woman escorted him to a bench nearby. He graciously took the bottle, mouthing thanks to the nice lady.
For the next half hour, Andy stayed seated, recovering and taking periodic sips of the drink. The party went on, kids playing and adults interacting. He wondered what they were talking about. Even if they were talking about him, he wasn't too torn up by the thought. He had just vomited while jogging, which wasn't even close to being the third most embarrassing thing to ever happen to him.
A party guest then took a seat next to him. She was too young to be a mother to any of those kids; probably an older sister around at least her late teens or very early twenties. Her fashion choices were also pretty offbeat, with an almost bohemian-hippie vibe going on, her blond hair in a messy and loose braid. She took a seat next to him.
"Sorry that had to happen to you," she said to him. "You feeling better now?"
"Yeah," he said with a slightly bitter laugh. "Not exactly how I imagined this going."
The young lady looked at him with sympathy and replied, "Well, here's a little hint for you to use next time - don't overexert yourself on the first few sessions. Start with power walking, then work your way up."
He smiled at that. "Thanks. I'll… keep that in mind."
"You're welcome." She then added, "Not to sound mean, but I'm pretty sure puking in front a birthday party is nothing compared to all the other crap that's happened for you."
Andy couldn't help but flinch, that someone recognized him as Baby Waa-Waa. She saw that and quickly said, "You shouldn't be so ashamed of it. Besides, if anything, you had a really bad day there. It probably could've gone worse. I'm surprised you didn't just snap and go on a rampage with a chainsaw. Toby too, now that I think about it."
For the first time in a while, Andy laughed. "Yeah, that's actually kind of a miracle in itself."
"And this jogging thing shows that you're trying to improve your life," she added. "I think you'll be okay." She then handed Andy what looked like a business card. Her name was Cassie Lockheart, she worked for a cosmetics company, and he saw her number and email.
Cassie got up from her seat, a little grin on her face. "Call me soon. I'll be leaving to go back to Vermont in a few days, so you shouldn't dawdle on that." With a wink, she turned around and said, "See you later, Andy."
He took her up on the offer the next day and he definitely didn't regret it.
This new Andy Bernard, a more self-assured, considerate, and stable man, rose from the ashes of embarrassment and made something of himself. The new job was a great shot that jolted a real and true confidence in him, and it only got better. He even found a new theatre group to join. After all, he could never give up his love of singing.
And the results more than spoke for themselves - he made new friends with his Cornell coworkers and the theatre company. They weren't as amazing as the friendships he'd made with the Dunder Mifflin crew, but they were fun to interact and go out with. He had the respect of many of the students too, not just from his commencement speech, but also for how surprisingly resilient he was. Hell, he even got acknowledgment from his family for this. Not that he really needed the last one that much anymore.
He really didn't want any kind of big party to celebrate his birthday. But his mom and sister Gretchen had insisted, so Andy let them do it. Lots of guests invited, a nice dinner, drinks, cake...
The party had all the family friends and relatives come, many of whom pitied him. They all said sorry for all the stuff that he was filmed on, for becoming an Internet laughingstock, his love life. Andy's birthday was a literal pity party.
His father was icy, as usual. Mom was slightly better, as usual. Gretchen was probably the only one who understood him best, so she stayed with him the whole time, handling most of the interactions. And Walt just stayed out of the way, drinking anything with alcohol in it.
He just wanted to go back to Ithaca honestly.
When the party finally ended after a merciful few hours later, Andy immediately grabbed a large bottle of rum. Drinking it straight from the bottle (with a coke, just to add something sweet to counteract the burning bitterness), he took a seat next to Walt on the patio.
"Not any easier, huh?" Walt remarked.
"What do you mean?" Andy asked.
"Getting older."
Andy shrugged, chugging another swig of rum. "Happens to everyone."
Silence again as the two brothers continued drinking.
"Andy?"
"What?"
"I just want to say that I'm sorry," said Walt. "For everything. The shit Mom and Dad put you through, all that stuff with The Office, the stuff with the boat and Erin… the last one especially. I don't know, it just… I feel like I caused it."
Andy felt a sting as he was reminded of the boat trip. Three months at sea, no contact with anyone, feeling lost, grappling with an existential crisis, inadvertently pushing Erin away…
He stamped the thought out. No use in harping on it. All it brought him was pain and he was sick of it.
"It wasn't your fault, Walt," he said reassuringly. "There were some problems already and Erin and I… we weren't meant to be. We tried it before and it didn't work."
Walt still looked guilty though, and maybe not entirely convinced. "Maybe…"
"Look, what happened has happened and life goes on. I've moved on from it and you should too. Don't beat yourself up for anything," Andy said to him.
Walt nodded. "Alright then. I won't."
Yet, even with all the great strides he had made over the past year, there was still one thing that Andy wasn't exactly in a rush to get back into.
After all, he went through three failed relationships (one being done twice with the same girl, and was cheated on twice) during the course of the filming of the documentary as well as a general history of bad luck in the past, which all left Andy feeling burnt out on dating. He got a few dates over the past year. They were never anything serious; none of them got past the first date. Most of the year was filled with casual flings, even the occasional one night stand, and a large number of those women slept with him simply out of sympathy. Not that he minded at first; getting laid was getting laid, but even that got boring after a while. It just felt so… empty.
Andy had no idea why he was even here. The music was too loud, the patrons obnoxious, and the drinks were ridiculously overpriced.
The kinds of girls that went to these sorts of establishments also weren't really the types to take home to mom either.
"Oh, you poor little baby," the brunette woman said to him, her hand coming lower, lower down his body. She was wearing a very skimpy and tight strapless black dress and matching high heels. They were in the largest stall of the bathroom, their sounds drowned out by the DJ's playing.
The woman, Sara, wasn't repulsive or anything, but the way she came onto Andy was not the most comfortable. She recognized he was on Youtube, and thought he was cute, and was more than a little drunk, as evidenced by the rather sloppy way she was sucking him off to get him hard. She then hiked the bottom of her dress up, pulling her underwear down.
Andy wrapped it up quick, slipping on a condom and thrusting in. In and out, in and out. Sara grinding against him as she was bent over, holding on to the handicap bar for support. "Oh yeah, like that…" she moaned.
It was several minutes of this before they finished. There was no afterglow to really bask in, but they leaned against the wall bar to catch their breaths.
Sara then grinned and said, "You're not half bad at all. We should do this again sometime."
Andy cracked a smile at that and nodded. "Sure, we should."
That was a lie. As soon as he got home, Andy jumped into the shower, turned the water on to nearly scalding hot and vigorously scrubbed every inch of his skin.
It wasn't that he didn't want companionship, but between his bad history and doing some self-reflection after watching himself in the documentary, he began to wonder if he would ever be able to find someone, much less be able to keep them. Andy had struggled, toiled and paid a high price to find himself, to finally make peace with it all, and he wasn't going to risk undoing all that over something that was probably just doomed to begin with.
But more than anything, he was determined not to get hurt or disappointed again.
He had enough of that over his life.
So as it can be ascertained, I despised how Season 9 handled Andy's character and the Andy/Erin relationship, so I felt the need to write my feelings out. I figured it's a bit of a stretch, and probably self-indulgent, but I'm having fun for this. Andy and Erin have both been put in the grinder and it will only get more feels and sad from here. Let's go on a journey now, shall we, and see how this can possibly work...