We had made it to the grading couch after making love in the hot tub an hour or so later. We were wrapped up against each other with an old t-shirt blanket, naked and keeping each other warm against the chill of the open back door. We faced one another, smiling happily. He lazily traced patterns on my back with his finger.
I was in Heaven.
"I want you to do something for me," He murmured. My questioning look urged him to continue.
"I need you to watch the doc."
My questioning look switched to confusion. "What?"
Andy slipped off the couch in all his glory before picking up his pants off the floor and slipping them on. His weekender bag sat at the foot of the stairs and he reached inside it, pulling out a DVD with a basic case labeled The Office: An American Workplace.
I sighed and sat up, holding the blanket against me.
He popped the disc into the player and switched the TV over to its proper settings.
"Andy why are you making me watch it?"
He slipped his dress shirt back on before grabbing his shoes and sitting beside me on the couch to put it on.
"Because I want you to see everything before anything with us goes further."
He leaned over and kissed me and then grabbed his car keys.
"Where are you going?" I asked, feeling like my head was spinning from his sudden change in behavior.
"I'm going to get us some dinner. Watch episodes 6 and 15."
He was out the door without another word. I looked at the TV and studied the home screen with the episode listing. I quickly changed upstairs before returning to the couch. I wrapped the blanket were sharing around me- it smelled faintly like him. Grabbing the remote, I arrowed down to the sixth line. I took a deep breath before hitting play.
It started off with Dwight looking for a new job. Apparently he had left Dunder Mifflin for a while and got a job at Staples. The next scene was in the office, and a younger looking Andy showing off the ringtone he had made to Jim. There was something different in Andy's mannerisms. He seemed like…a douche. I felt like he was overcompensating for a lack in confidence. Like he was trying too hard. But I had to admit, he looked good in pink.
The episode continued with the group throwing a welcome back party for Oscar and dealing with Dwight being gone. Also, Creed was a really weird guy. No wonder he got arrested. On the screen, Andy was searching for Michael, who was hiding behind his office door.
"I don't understand how someone can have so little self-awareness."
That comment threw me off a little bit. Obviously it was a funny line because Michael himself had no self-awareness.
The end of the episode came along, with Michael confronting Andy for following him around all day. Andy's cell phone was ringing from the ceiling for the umpteenth time thanks to Jim's prank. It was funny up until now, and it was clear Andy was imploding at that moment. He suddenly turned around and punched the wall behind him. I gasped, putting a hand over my mouth. My stomach went into my throat and for a moment I felt ill.
I was shocked that he was so angry that he acted that way. One thing was for sure, it was clear that Dwight and Angela loved one another, even then.
Andy was nowhere to be seen for the rest of the episode until the last scene when he was driving to anger management.
Holy shit, he was in anger management.
He used sales tactics on one of the workers, introducing himself before the episode cut off. The screen returned to the menu and I took a few minutes to absorb what I had just watched.
This isn't the Andy I know. That I've only known for four days. Does he still get this angry? Has he hit anything since? Did management really help?
I took a breath and tried to clear my head and think rationally. Looking at the filming date, it happened in 2006- that was 7 years ago. I certainly wasn't the same person I was 7 years ago. Obviously, he wasn't either. I grabbed the remote and pressed the button until episode 15 was highlighted. It was called "The Boat". It was dated last year.
It started with a more familiar looking Andy being surrounded by a team of attorneys. Pam's voice over narrated that Andy's dad had completely destroyed the family and run away to Argentina. Andy was the manager at this time, and part of me swelled with pride. Of course, I knew what happened afterward in vague details so that proud feeling didn't last long.
"Are the 'nards hurting? Yeah you bet. Got kicked pretty hard. Family shattered, super sad. But, I'm kind of crushing it in the damage control department, so…that's cool. Wish my dad could see me now. Course he caused this whole mess so…fuck him."
"Bravo!" I cried out loud with a bit of a giggle. My proud feeling came back. He continued to deal with financial issues, and he was trying to find money for his mother somewhere, worrying about the family boat. I knew from talking with him that the boat was gone, and part of me wished I could have ridden it with him. Erin was rambling on about ramen and Darryl not wanting to sell a Jiffy Lube.
"My God that girl is dumb, what did he see in her?" I asked myself. I then felt a little guilty, she didn't have parents growing up, so the girl had a slight handicap. She tried to cheer him up with watermelon teeth, but he wasn't having it. I made a note that apparently fake teeth did not work to cheer him up.
I didn't want to watch them go on a date, so I fast forwarded it to the end of the episode. He was sailing off on the boat with his brother. He looked so proud.
Before I realized it, tears were streaming down my face. I felt so bad for him. He was obviously desperate for some kind of semblance of normalcy and family. His relationship with Erin was starting to fade without him realizing. There was still the singing show debacle in his future…he had really come a long way since a year ago.
The current Andy- my Andy- came inside the house with bags from Cugino's. He noticed that I was upset and sighed, his face falling. Setting the bags on the coffee table, he threw down his keys and sat down next to me.
"You don't want to be with me, do you?" He asked. He hung his head and sighed before standing up and grabbing his keys.
"Where are you going Andy?" I asked, standing up and grabbing his hand. He turned around, looking confused for a moment. I reached up and grabbed his face, getting on my tip-toes to kiss him deeply. His arms went around me immediately, holding me tightly.
We pulled back after a minute. "Kate…" My name passed through his lips and it was then I knew he had my heart.
"Andy I'm all in. Are you?"
He grinned, resting his forehead against mine.
"Sweetheart I was in pretty much the moment we met."
