Chapter 9:

                "Baby."

                Andi ignored the warning note in Ryan's voice and pulled her ankle up further toward her head.

                "Baby...!"

                Just a little further. The tendons in the back of her thighs were straining, and aching, but they weren't seriously hurting yet…

                "OOWWW!!"

                "I tried to warn you!" Ryan cried in distress as he left the barre where he had been watching her stretch and running over to where Andi was sitting, rubbing the thick muscle behind her thigh. He moved her hands aside, gently flipped her over and pulled off her rubber warm-up pants, and rubbed at the sore spot with gentle fingers. Andi groaned.

                "Don't push it, Andi," Ryan said gently. "It's only been two weeks since you came back. Your body won't be able to do all the stuff it did before this soon." He sighed, and sat back. Andi rolled over on her back and sat up, hugging him.

                "I know," she said. "But the show is tonight, and I'm really feeling left out. I know," she held up a hand to stop him from saying anything, "I know it was my decision to drop out, and I know it was for the best, but I can't help but feel a little bit upset."

                Ryan smiled and pulled her into his arms in a hug. "It's okay," he said quietly. "I understand." They sat that way for a long minute, then Ryan disengaged himself from her and went to his backpack. "Here," he said when he returned. "I know Uncle Jason gave you a ticket, and then you gave it to Rose to give to her friend. But I'd really like for you to come, Baby, really I would. So here's an extra ticket."

                Andi stared at the scrap of paper. "I really don't want to, Ryan," she said quietly.

                "Well, Baby, you really don't have a choice, because my Mom is going to make sure you get there. Since you've got the seat next to hers, she'll pick you up at your place, and drive you to the theater. You are going to watch the performance, and then you'll be coming with Rose and Devon and me out to a celebratory dinner afterward. And then I'll give you my surprise."

                "A…a what?" Andi wasn't sure she'd heard right.

                Ryan grinned, his eyes dancing in humor. "A surprise. I have a surprise for you. I'll give it to you over dinner. No, I'm not telling you what it is." He smiled and turned smugly back to his barre, ignoring Andi's shameless begging. "You have to wait," he said finally, grabbing her shoulders and planting a kiss on her cheek. Then he grabbed his dance bag and left the loft.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Linda looked up as her oldest son walked into the kitchen. "Hey," she said. "Was it ready?"

                Ryan nodded and tossed her the small box across the kitchen. "Just came in today. I hope she likes it. I mean, it's nothing really big, or fancy, but then, Andi's not the kind of girl to like big fancy things. She was so uncomfortable at Emma's penthouse. All those luxuries." He grinned. "See what you think."

                Linda opened the box and surveyed what was inside thoughtfully. "I'm sure she'll like it," she said. "I saw her at the school once; this just sort of looks like her. So is she coming tonight?"

                Ryan grinned. "I didn't give her a choice. I told her you'd be picking her up at her place and driving her to the theater. You don't mind, do you Mom?"

                Linda ruffled her son's hair. "'Course not. I want everything to go perfectly this evening, for both of you." As Ryan rushed off toward the stairs, she called to him. "Did you make the reservations?"

                "Oh, rats!" Ryan exclaimed, smacking his forehead with his hand. "I totally forgot! Oh, jeez, I gotta dress--"

                "I'll do it," Linda said. "What restaurant were you going to take her to?"

                "I was thinking about the Pisces, or Sascha's," Ryan called back from the top of the stairs. "Devon wanted to go to Blue Skye or Caesar's, but he said he'd leave it up to me, since we're pretty much eating dinner out for Andi's benefit."

                Linda wrinkled her nose. "Shouldn't you find somewhere maybe a little more romantic? How about Whispers?"

                "Because I'd have to dress for Whispers, and if Baby saw me all dressed up she'd know something was up," Ryan said.

                Linda tried to think of any other restaurant where you could wear street clothes but would still be romantic. "What about Woodfire?" she called to Ryan.

                "Too much smoke!" Ryan called back.

                Linda sighed. "Well, your father and I really liked The Kiss Café," she said after some thought.

                Ryan's face popped over the banisters. "Mom, you're a genius. That'll be perfect. Is it going to be open that late?"

                Linda rolled her eyes. "The show will end at nine, at the latest," she said. "Kiss will be open until eleven. Should be enough time to eat dinner."

                Ryan jumped down the rest of the steps and planted a kiss on his mother's cheek. "It will. Love you, Mom."

                "Love you too, Rye," Linda went back to the kitchen to call the restaurant.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Andi sighed as she shimmied out of her dress again. She wasn't sure what would be appropriate; she wasn't dancing, she was watching, so why was she so nervous? She yanked open her closet and scanned her clothes again as she carefully hung her dress back on its hangar.

                She finally decided on her long black button-up skirt with yellow sunflowers on it, and the matching button-up short-sleeved yellow sweater. She tugged her thick brown hair back in a single braid down her back, again vowing she was going to get it cut, then tied it off with a yellow scrunchie. Dusting some makeup lightly over her face, she grabbed her little black dress purse, shoved her lipstick and her cell phone in it, and headed out the door.

                Linda Harper was waiting for her in a pretty beige Camry. Andi slid into the front passenger seat, buckled her seatbelt, and sighed as Linda drove away. "I don't know why Ryan insisted that I come," she said. "I'm not dancing."

                "But he wanted you to see him dance," Linda said gently, hearing the note of regret in Andi's voice and understanding it. She'd heard the whole story from Ryan. "And your friend Rose and your classmate Devon are also dancing, so you should be there to support them as well, even if you can't dance." She looked out the front windshield with a tiny smile hovering on her lips. "Besides, Ryan does have that surprise he's going to give you over dinner, too, so you have to be there for that."

                "I'm dying to know what it is!" Andi cried, turning to Linda. "Please, what is it? Please, please tell me!" Linda refused to answer, fending off Andi's inquiries with tantalizingly vague descriptions. "It's small," she said, "And it's something you wear. Oh, no, I'm not giving you any more hints!" And she remained silent as Andi wheedled, coaxed, and finally resorted to downright begging. She was still asking some time later as they found their seats, but quieted as the curtain rose.

                The show was a spectacular display of the best talent Julliard had to offer. Andi watched as Agnes, the prima ballerina of the senior class, leaped, spun, and pirouetted through the allegro movement of 'Carmen'. Ryan had changed his music to Romeo's solo in 'Romeo and Juliet', rather than the pas de deux from 'Swan Lake', and Andi found herself holding her breath. Ryan was so perfect, she couldn't believe she had been chosen to dance with him! And she was glad she had chosen to drop out; in her current condition, she would only have dragged him down with her clumsy, unpracticed, stiff efforts. She was in a much better mood as the curtain fell for the last time, and she ran backstage to congratulate Rose and Devon, and kiss Ryan privately and at length in the small, drafty dressing room backstage.

                They emerged from the theater out into the warm spring night, and Ryan took a surreptitious glance at his watch as he unlocked his trunk and tossed his dance bag inside. His mother had been right; they'd get there at nine thirty, just as she had predicted. He shook his head, amused, and got behind the wheel of his little blue Malibu. Andi sat in the passenger side, and Rose and Devon sat in the back.

                "So where are we going, and what's the surprise?" she asked as he started to drive. Ryan refused to answer that, instead talking about the performance as he drove the few blocks downtown to the Kiss Café.

                Andi was surprised as they went in, and the hostess confirmed their reservation and showed them to a small table. The outside of the café didn't look like much, but inside the atmosphere was  cozy, the wait staff was friendly, and the music a subdued but romantic violin concerto. Andi forgot about Ryan's promised surprise while she surveyed the menu and tried to decide what she wanted, and so was pleasantly surprised when a covered dish appeared in front of her from the kitchen. "For me?" she said, mystified, and lifted the lid. For a moment she stared, stupefied, her mind frozen by what lay under that polished silver cover.

                A small black velvet box lay open under the cover, and inside, winking back at her, was a gold ring. A large central diamond, surrounded by six smaller diamonds, nestled in its cushion of black velvet, and Andi sat gawking. Ryan got up, taking up the box and pulling out the ring, then went down on one knee in the middle of the restaurant there and said, clearly, "Alexandra Munroe, will you marry me?"

                Andi stared, hands clamped over her mouth. "What?" she gasped.

                Ryan repeated it. "Andi, will you marry me?"

                She sat, frozen, eyes wide. The patrons at the surrounding tables started laughing, and one lady said, "Girl, love him or leave him, but don't let him hang!" Rose nudged  Andi. "Andi, say something!"

                Andi stared, opened her mouth, and tried to say something, but nothing came out but a croak. She tried again. "Yes," she said, her voice a whisper that could nevertheless be heard in the restaurant. "Yes, I'll marry you." And she extended her shaking hand, watched as Ryan slid the diamond ring on her left ring finger, then grabbed him and planted a kiss on his mouth that went on for quite some time.

                Andi finally sat back down at her place as the waitress brought another covered dish, this time with her dinner on it. She ate mechanically, barely able to take her eyes off the winking diamond on her finger. "Do you like it?" Ryan asked her.

                "It's beautiful, I love it," Andi said fervently. "But oh, Ryan…if you're married, and we get tapped by different companies, how will we…" She trailed off, because he was smiling.

                "Uncle Jason said the ABT called today, they want me. They're based here in New York City, so I won't have to make that decision for a few more years. Four, to be exact. You'll be at Julliards as a student for at least three more years, and after that, well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. But I won't go anywhere without you."

                "Why? Why would you make that kind of a sacrifice for me?" Andi was awed.

                Ryan kissed her forehead. "Because I love you, Baby. And because, after all you've been through, you deserve to have someone at your side who loves you unconditionally, like I do."

                They ate their dinner, and then their waitress brought out a small cake that read, 'Happy engagement!' Her eyes twinkled as she set it down. "Compliments of the house," she said, and departed. Rose and Devon both laughed, and the cake was shared between the four of them.

                "Oh, God, I'm stuffed," Andi said as they left the restaurant. Ryan grinned and led their little group out to his car. It wasn't till they were in the car that Rose said hesitantly, 'I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but I do have a question. If you're engaged now, are you going to want to move in together? 'Cause if you are, I have to find another apartment."

                "I honestly don't know," Andi said, surprised. "Oh, Rose, I'm sorry. I don't know. Yes, I do want to move in with Ryan, but I don't know what to do with our apartment. Let me think about it, let me see what I can do."

                "I have an idea," Ryan said, reaching down to the console to turn the radio down so they could all hear him. "Andi, why don't you move in with me, and my little brother can move in with Rose? He's been trying to find a roommate for a while now--"

                "LOOK OUT!" Andi screamed suddenly, but it was too late.

                Another car, a black SUV, had been driving erratically up the other side of the road. Andi had been watching the weaving, bobbing headlights coming up the road, thanking God that the drunk behind the wheel was going slow enough to give anyone in the way time to get out. But as the car came within a hundred yards, the drunk driver behind the wheel floored the gas pedal, and the car leaped forward. It went straight over the centerline, and although Ryan twisted the wheel frantically, trying to aim the small blue Chevy toward the other lane, the other car came on too fast.

                The black Jeep crashed into the Chevy's body just behind the rear drivers' side door. Metal screamed as it sheared inward, and Devon died almost instantly as the twisted metal pierced his body and ripped him apart. Rose died as the impact smashed the Chevy's back passenger side into a telephone pole at the side of the road, and the car spun over into a ditch. The driver of the Jeep, with a blood alcohol level almost two points over the legal limit, died as his SUV, tangled with the blue Chevy, rolled forward into the ditch.

                Twisted metal pushed inward, ripping into Ryan's body, and he barely had time for a scream of agony as the aluminum bars in front of his door pierced his stomach, kidneys, and liver. He heard Andi scream beside him, but he was already unconscious when the telephone pole they had collided with broke from the impact of two heavy vehicles hitting it, and fell, almost in slow motion, down toward the untouched portion of the car' the front passenger side. It fell with a crash onto the front right quarter panel, caving the metal of the car there and driving jagged shards of twisted metal and wooden splinters into the legs of the girl trapped there. Andi felt the incredible pain as her legs broke like matchsticks, and then, as she reached out to her unconscious beloved, in the front seat beside her with metal buried in his abdomen, agony overwhelmed her and she spiraled down into darkness.