We settled into bed sometime around two. After our Italian dinner, and then a round of our first "couple" sex, I was completely beat. We were snuggled under the sheet, and I could feel my eyes getting droopy until I heard his voice faintly say my name.
"Hmm?" I responded, jerking back awake.
"Were you asleep?" He asked. "Nope," I replied back quickly. "Wow, only been official a few hours and already telling lies." He joked, making me chuckle. He took a breath before continuing, "What did you watch that made you so upset?"
"Oh, um…" "Kate, please tell me." "Well, I was a bit shocked when you punched a wall." I could feel him tense up a bit, so I squeezed him closer, if it were possible. "Have you ever felt that angry since then?"
I heard him take a breath, and I could tell he was thinking. "Yes, I have felt that angry. But I've never hit anything. I hope you don't feel like I'd ever hit you. Please don't ever think that, sweetheart." His embrace tightened slightly.
"I don't." I replied. I meant it.
"What else?"
"When you were selling the boat and went on your trip."
"Why did that upset you?" He asked curiously. "Because Andy, you were already dealing with such a monumental ordeal, and you were giving up something that you had dreamed about having for so long…plus it was right before Erin dumped you, before the singing show…"
"You know what though? The nice thing about dreams is that when you think one isn't coming true, life hands you a dream you didn't realize you wanted, but deep down feels like you've always needed."
"You mean working for Cornell?"
"No silly, you,"
My heart skipped a beat at his words.
"I don't think I've ever been called someone's 'dream' before." "Good." He replied, kissing the top of my head. "I don't want to scare you off, but I feel so deeply for you already…I can't describe it. Don't take this wrong, but being with you just seems so…"
"Easy?" I offered. "Exactly!"
"I feel it too. I know it won't always feel that way, but it's just nice."
"Sometimes the heart doesn't know what it wants until it finds what it wants."
"That's really nice, Andy."
He chuckled, "Yeah Pam told me that once. There's one problem, though."
"What's that?"
"What are we going to do about the distance?" He asked.
"Well, I don't have developmental meetings until the end of July. Then I usually start focusing on school after that. I could stay with you for a while if you'd like- I've never been up there before. We can worry about everything else later." I kissed his chest lovingly.
"Okay, I won't worry then." "Good. Besides, we're not officially official yet."
"Why's that?" He wondered.
"It's not on Facebook." I joked, to which I heard him mumble a swear word before chuckling. "Well, we can fix that." I felt him reach over for his phone on the nightstand and unlocking it. The brightness of the screen glared out in the dark, temporarily blinding me. I saw that his wallpaper was the Cornell logo and knew we would have to fix that.
He got on Facebook and searched for me, then sent a friend request. My phone dinged from my side of the bed. I reached for my phone and accepted it. Part of me was anxiously awaiting the next part like a love-struck teenager. Then the notification popped up- someone wanted to actually claim that they were dating me. I quickly accepted it before he had a chance to change his mind, then stared at the post on my timeline:
Andy Bernard is now in a Relationship with Kate Fletcher
"Better?" He teased, locking his phone screen. I did the same, setting it back down on the side table to charge. "Much." I kissed his cheek and we were both asleep within ten minutes.
The next morning, Andy was helping me clean up my classroom and get everything off the floor for the summer deep cleaning. I sat at the kidney shaped table that was my desk and small groups area throwing away papers and worksheets. He sat across from me with his chin resting in his hand. I looked up at him and blushed, seeing him look at me intently.
My boyfriend Andy.
"Why are you blushing?" He asked cutely, grinning. I think my blush got deeper, and I turned to my Mac and checked my email even though I hadn't gotten any new ones.
"I'm not, just having a hot flash." I replied, not looking up at him. "Gross," he teased. I tossed a balled up scrap of paper at him, and it cleaning ricochet off his forehead.
I saw a body walk past my door and then track back before walking in. I glanced up and saw Deidra and grinned, "Hey friend what you up to?"
"Just cleaning and wanted a soda. Is this the famous Andy who stole my best friend's heart?" She looked at Andy and stuck out her hand, smiling warmly, "Hi I'm Deidra."
He stood up politely and shook her hand, "I'm Andy, pleasure to meet you."
They sat down and we visited for a while before she went back to her room to clean. I checked everything off of my list that we had accomplished- which was most of it. All we had left was to put the chairs in my closet and the chapter was closed on the school year.
"Let's go to lunch." Andy suggested as I locked the closet door.
"Okay bossy," I teased, placing a hand on his chest and kissing him lightly. We embraced quickly and he bit my ear playfully. "Ow!" I giggled.
"Thanks for helping me. I would've been here all day."
"What are boyfriends for?" He replied as he handed me my purse and laced his fingers through mine.
"Wouldn't know they all sucked,"
"Well, I'll only suck a little…if you know what I mean." He winked and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. I shook my head but didn't look at him.
Out in the parking lot, the air was starting to feel a little humid.
We slipped into my Explorer and I drove from the lot. "Where would you like to go eat?" I asked him as we sat at a stop light.
"Hmm, how about Backyard Ale House?" Andy suggested.
"That sounds good. I could use a beer." I replied as I headed for Linden Ave.
"Yeah I worked hard today." He put his hand on my thigh and squeezed playfully. I squealed slightly and jumped in my seat.
"I'm in the mood to listen to show tunes, do you mind?" I asked looking over at him. He scoffed, "Please! Show tunes are in my wheelhouse." I opened the center console and slipped the movie soundtrack from Sweeney Todd into the CD player.
"This is freaky." Andy declared as the ominous organ music filled the car.
"It's just a play, calm down." I teased.
He shook his head, "No- I was in Sweeney Todd a few years ago!"
I furrowed my eyebrows, "Wait. You mean at the Loose Screw Playhouse? I went to that play!" The light turned green and I pressed the gas when it suddenly came to me, "Ho-ly shit! You were the sailor whose phone rang in the middle of the production!" I cried out and then began to laugh at the coincidence.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see him shake his head at the memory.
I sighed, "You were really good though. I wanted to come up and introduce myself afterwards but I chickened out. You seemed like you were looking for someone."
He nodded, "Yeah I was trying to get Erin to go out with me. That's crazy, to think that our paths almost crossed back then." I glanced over to see him looking out the window as we headed downtown.
"Tell me what you're thinking, Andy." I said softly, turning the music down a touch. He shook his head, almost like he was shaking himself from a fog. "I'm just imagining what it would have been like to know you back then. Maybe I could have avoided a lot of fuck ups."
"Better now than never I guess. Things happen for a reason." I squeezed his hand in encouragement before pulling up to the restaurant. Shutting the car off, we sat in the quiet for a moment. I looked to him, and he smiled back warmly.
"I don't want to think about that never." He reached up to stroke my cheek before getting out of the car. Running around to my side, he opened my door and helped me out. Looping his arm through mine, he escorted me inside the restaurant, "Come on, you owe me a beer."
Fifteen minutes later, we sat in a cozy corner table in the restaurant sharing a plate of chips and dip. We sat beside one another, our shoulders barely touching. The window to our right gave us a view of downtown Scranton buzzing at lunchtime.
I watched as he sent a text to his brother Walter- who was going by Walt these days since their father took off a year ago. Walt was asking about me from what I could briefly see. Andy's long, dexterous fingers held his phone delicately as he typed with his thumbs.
It was then I remembered from the night before that I wanted to get a picture with him.
I opened my "selfie" camera and held my phone out at arm's length. Through the camera I could see Andy look up and shyly grin, putting his face against mine. I quickly snapped the photo and checked it out.
"You make me look good." I commented, setting it as my phone wallpaper.
"On the contrary, m'lady. You are all the looks in this relationship." He replied, kissing my cheek briefly.
I quickly took another picture while his lips pressed against my face, pretending to be shocked. The bubble of giggles I held inside came busting out. "What? Let me see that." He demanded, ripping the phone out of my hand before studying the screen and grinning.
"Oh yeah, that one's coming with me." He stated, forwarding the picture in a text. I watched him save the photo before switching the Cornell logo on his wallpaper.
I grinned wildly with happiness.
The screen suddenly popped up with a text message from Erin Hannon:
Is it the girl you brought to the panel and the wedding? You're dating now?
The waitress dropped off our lunches, which delayed my reaction for about ten seconds.
My green eyed monster was about to go full-on bitch. I wiped my sweating hands on my denim shorts. My salad was so interesting at that moment I couldn't look away.
"This is…so awkward." Andy mumbled, sighing slightly. "I don't know why she sent that. I haven't talked to her since the wedding, I swear."
"Oh Andy," I replied as I put my head on his shoulder. "She was a big part of your life up until last year. There's bound to be some kind of…response." I tried to be as gentle as I could. I picked at some of the toppings on my salad as he typed out some kind of reply.
He pushed his phone on the tabletop to where it was under my line of sight. I saw his reply immediately underneath what she said:
Yes, Erin. Her name is Kate. She's absolutely wonderful and everything I never knew I needed.
"Ouch," I smiled and handed the phone back to him. His response gave me a sense of comfort that brought my appetite back.
