Chapter 4
Lying on his bed, Josh stared at the ceiling. He kept going over what Andy said in his mind. He had to come up with something. He was the master of all schemes and this was going to have to be one of the biggest – what could they do to convince her moms to let her stay?
There was a knock on the door.
"Go away," he said. The door opened anyway.
Stephen walked into Josh's room, closing the door behind him.
"Can we talk?" Stephen asked.
"That depends." He sat up. "Are you going to insult my girlfriend and yell at me for something I didn't do?"
"Josh, I'm sorry," he apologized. "I know what I said was wrong. I was upset and I said things were inappropriate and totally uncalled for. I'm sorry."
Josh nodded and slid over so his father could also sit on the bed. Stephen took a seat.
"I probably said some things that I shouldn't have said, too" Josh said.
"Well, I'd say we're even. So, Andy's moving?"
"Her mom got a promotion. She's leaving on Monday."
"That soon?"
Josh shrugged. "I guess it's a really good promotion."
"I know this is going to be hard, Josh."
"I just don't know what to do for her. I feel like she's told me that she has cancer all over again. Only this time, we're not just friends. She means so much to me, dad. And I told her that everything was going to be okay. I told her we'd figure out some way we'd stay together. But I don't know what to do."
"All you can is support her. Josh, if her moms are moving, you know she has to go with them."
"I know."
"But, if you care about her as much as you say you do, then let her know that it doesn't matter how far apart you are, you'll still care about her."
"I guess."
Stephen put his hand on Josh's shoulder. "Just hang in there."
The next day, Josh pulled up in front of Andy's house. He stared at her bedroom window and took a deep breath. He had been up all night thinking about what he was going to do and he knew his dad was right. There was nothing he could do to keep Andy with him any more than he could go to Boston with her. That was just something he was going to have to accept and help her accept as well.
He got out of the car and walked to the front door. Andy's mom answered when he knocked. She told him that Andy was upstairs in her room. Josh walked through the house and noticed that they had already started packing. The little knickknacks that made a house a home were no longer out on the shelves and side tables.
Josh made his way to Andy's bedroom. He could see her sitting on her bed listening to her IPod as he approached.
"Hi," she said, pulling the ear buds out of her ears.
"Hi yourself," he replied, sitting down next to her.
Her room looked exactly the same as it always did except for the dozen or so empty boxes that were piled up in the middle of the room.
"How did you go with your moms last night?"
"Well, after they accused me of being ungrateful and I threatened that if we didn't stay, I was going to become a republican, I went to my room and haven't come out since."
"Wait, you used threatening to become a republican as a bargaining tool?"
"Trust me, my moms are big democrats. I think they'd rather disown me than have a republican child."
"Wow, hardcore."
"Yeah, you could say that."
"If
it makes you feel any better, things with my parents didn't go so
well either."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, after I got home and they yelled at me for getting you pregnant…"
"Wait, what?"
"Apparently my mom assumed that the only thing that could make you as upset as you were would be that you were carrying my love child."
Andy burst out laughing and Josh joined her. He draped his arm around her shoulder.
"You know, that's not such a bad idea."
"What's not such a bad idea?"
"Well," she said, looking him directly in the eye, "if I get pregnant, they can't exactly separate us, can they?" Her face was completely deadpan. Josh didn't quite know what to say. Was she kidding? She had to be kidding. "Come on, it could be fun." She ran her finger down his arm and raised her eyebrow flirtatiously.
"You're not being serious, are you?"
She cracked a smile.
"You didn't really think I'd give up this body for a smelly, messy, crying baby, did you?"
"No, but sometimes your mind is really scary."
"Thank you," she said before she practically jumped on top of him, knocking him back. She kissed him deeply, running her through his hair.
"Andy!" Her mother yelled. "You better be packing!"
"What a mood killer," Andy said, pushing herself off of him. She pointed to the boxes. "I'm supposed to be packing."
"I can see you're doing a good job. Want some help?"
She shook her head. "I'm not packing."
"Andy, you're going to have to pack eventually."
"I'm not going."
"What do you mean you're not going?" A small amount of hope entered his mind.
"I'm staying here."
"But your moms are downstairs packing."
"They might be going, but I'm not. I'll run away and hide out or…"
"Run away? You can't just hide until your moms leave and think that they'll forget about you."
"Whose side are you on?"
"I'm not on anybody's side."
"Oh no? Because you're supposed to be on mine."
"I know this is hard, but…"
She jumped up off the bed in anger.
"What are you talking about? Last night you said that you didn't want me to go. You said that no matter what it took, we would be together. And now you're practically telling me to leave!"
"Andy, you know I don't want you to go."
"Then why are you acting like you do?"
He stood up and took a step towards her. She backed up.
"I just think we need to face reality."
"Reality? You think I'm not facing reality?"
"I think this is all happening so fast and you're scared and…"
"Do you want to know what I think? I think the only reality here is that you're a liar."
"Andy…"
He reached out for her. He didn't know what was going on. He didn't know why she was so angry or what he could do to make it better.
"You promised," she said near tears. Her lip was quivering. She didn't know what was happening. She wasn't angry at him and yet, she was. She had secretly been hoping that he would come up with some great idea as to how she could stay
"Look, I know I said we would figure something out and we will. But just because we're not in the same state doesn't mean that we can't still be together."
"So is this your way of being able to date other people and keep your girlfriend on the side?"
"Date other people? Andy, you know that you're the only one I want. We can make this work."
"Oh really? How many teenage relationships do you know that work long distance?"
"Is that what you think this is?" He raised his voice. "Just some teenage relationship?" Why was he suddenly so angry with her? He had come over to see her to tell her that everything was going to be alright and here he was, yelling.
"You're the one who wants me to leave!"
"How many times do I have to say it? I don't want you to leave!"
"Yeah, well I want you to leave. Get out!"
"What?"
"I said get out!"
"Fine, I'm leaving!"
Shoving his hands in his pockets, he practically ran out of the room.
"Yeah, well have a nice rest of your life!" Andy shouted down the hallway as he slammed the front door closed. She sank to her knees in her bedroom doorway. What was happening?
Author's Note: I know, it's a short one, but it was a logical place to end the chapter. Thank you again for all of my great reviews!