Walking home with a girl wasn't normal for Jack. Jack was about as experienced as Andi in this regard. In his head, they're just friends. He had no reason to go elsewhere and making some friends wouldn't be a bad idea.
Andi turns into her house. "So. This is where you live." Jack says as he looks around. It's a nice house. From the outside, it looks like a typical house. The neighbourhood wasn't like the local area around the school with a nicer outlook, detached houses and an all-around cleaner outlook. She opens the door and replies. "Yeah. Just me and my two mums. Viv's doing her radio show."
As she mentions the mums, the other mum walks through. "Hello. You must be Jack. I'm Carys." She says with a welcoming smile. She has a soft, Welsh accent. Easy to listen to like Viv's was yesterday. "Yes. I didn't have anything else to do so I had no reason to turn it down." He says in an awkward attempt at a joke.
In an attempt to divert away from the awkwardness of the joke, Carys smiles. "Make yourself at home." She says with a smile. "Do you want to come upstairs?" Andi says to want to bring her friend away from the conversation with one of her mums. Heading up a few steps of the stairs to turn it into a request more than a question as Jack follows.
Heading into Andi's bedroom, 'Manga Girl' wasn't far off being the right description for her. It wasn't covering the walls so it's not like she's completely obsessed. It was more like the typical football-themed boy's bedroom. "Interesting," Jack says, not understanding what any of this means but wanting to break the silence. He looks around, pretending he understands what any of this is. All he notices is that some have similar covers and names. "You seem to like collecting a series," Jack says as he looks around the bookshelf.
Seeing his apparent interest, Andi smiles slightly as she sits on her bed. Unsure if he's saying it because he means it or just to be nice. Jack turns away from the books. "There's a lot here. It's interesting." Jack says with a warm smile as he takes a seat on the edge of the bed. "They're originals from the 1980s. You can take one if you want." She says, slowly moving across the bed as Jack shakes his head. "No, that's fine. I don't want to ruin it." Says Jack, wanting to refuse in the nicest way he can think of. "They're yours and they're valuable." He continues as Andi continues to edge towards him.
Jack doesn't think anything of Andi moving across the bed towards him before she pushes herself into him. Moving her lips to his to kiss him. It takes a brief moment for Jack to process what's happening. He pulls away, lightly pushing her off him. "Woah. W-what are you doing?" Jack says frantically as he tries to process what's happened. "But I like you…and you like me, don't you?" Andi says with clear embarrassment and fear on her face. "I've known you for two days. You're the nicest person I've met here but I've been here two days." He says as Andi seems disheartened. "Did I mess something up?" Andi replies feeling guilty she's done the same thing again.
In an attempt to comfort her, Jack wraps his arm around her. "No. I've been here for two days. I don't know you enough right now." He says softly as he knows he's not leaving but not sure she thinks that.
"Is this how it went with that guy?" Jack asks, badly deciding to ask about yesterday. "Oh, him?" Andi replies with a long pause. "A little," she continues as she's continuing to be embarrassed and bringing up yesterday's story. Attempting to defuse the situation he created, Jack continues. "At least my girlfriend won't tell you off." With a light laugh, her confusion and curiosity come through. "How would you know?"
In a slight panic, thinking he shouldn't have said that, takes a slight pause. "I was on my way to the toilet. It was about the time when I realised there weren't any doors." Jack says before taking another pause. "That and Scout told me when you went somewhere this morning."
The voice from downstairs is the same as the one from yesterday so it must be Viv. "I think it's dinner," Jack says as he heads downstairs and speaks to Viv as Carys serves dinner. "She's still pretty embarrassed by yesterday," Jack says to Viv. Unable to continue the conversation as Andi comes downstairs and takes the plate of lasagne into the dining room and takes a seat at the far end of the 6-person table.
Both Viv and Carys take their seats at the end two seats of the table. The seats on the other side are blocked by the wall leaving one seat open next to Jack for Andi who reluctantly takes a seat. Being parents in their family situation, Viv asks Jack if he wants to know anything. Not wanting to embarrass Andi more in her own home, Jack shakes his head.
"Are you sure?" Carys asks. Knowing she's a more welcoming voice, less known from the Rochdale FM incident yesterday, asks to press the issue. "I know it's different being the only male in the house with a friend with gay parents." Not wanting to push the issue, Jack continues to shake his head. "No. It's fine."
With a soft nudge from Viv, Carys stops pursuing the conversation. Noticing this at a glance, Jack speaks again knowing there are many possibilities. "How does that…work?" Jack asks, speaking slowly as he thinks through his question.
Jack didn't expect Viv to be the one to speak but her candid nature is out of the room here. Unsure how much detail to go into. "No. It's fine. I'm surprised it took so long to ask." Viv replies, glancing over at a silent Andi to ensure she's not uncomfortable and Jack hadn't already asked. Slowly continuing, Viv takes a few pauses. "Biologically. She's neither of ours. We can't say why exactly because we don't know. We took Andi in when she was 5 from a house she had lived in."
"She had lived in a house, not with her parents?" Jack asks with curiosity. Unsure how deep he wants to go in this story, Viv nods. Her radio personality completely contrasts her mood here. "Do you know why she was there?" Jack asks, purposefully asking smaller questions to show he understands the tone and seriousness of the situation.
"It's complex." Carys, taking over from Viv. Her soft, Welsh voice helps keep the tone of the situation. "What we were told is an incident involving a car happened and they passed." Carys continues, slowly. Choosing her words intentionally because of what they know about the situation. "As I said, it's complex. We tried finding out more but that's all we've gotten too. We were told she stayed with a relative she was with when the incident happened and they weren't suitable."
Taking the discussion in, whilst finishing his lasagne, Jack keeps quiet. Unsure what to say to the situation he's been presented with. Not wanting to be rude and seeing the difficulty in telling the story. "I'm sorry," Jack says softly, intending it to be taken as a mark of respect than an apology. "Thank you for the dinner," Jack says, wanting to change the tone of the conversation and end the difficulty. Taking his plate into the kitchen with his stomach in knots before heading back upstairs to Andi's room.
The minutes felt like hours as Jack wondered if he should say anything or just move on. Caught by surprise as he watches the door open. "Hello," Jack says almost more awkward than the conversation turned out to be. "I'm sorry if that got a bit awkward. I'm not going to tell anybody." He continues as he's sat on the bed and she sits next to him.
Akin to earlier, he wraps his arms around Andi. Rubbing her back slowly intending to comfort her. He thought she seemed distressed but she knew the situation. Her only fear was a repeat of yesterday with the whole school's focus on her. "It's difficult for me to understand but you're still great." After a while between his arms, Andi sits up again. "I should probably tell you something." She says as Jack looks confused. The story still whirring around in his head, Jack replies acceptingly, "Tell me what?"
"We all planned this. All three of us." Andi says with a pause. "Emily and Scout at lunch. This was the idea. That's why they backed out." Throughout this, Jack looks more confused with a slight smile. "You could have just asked…and she could have just replied with your dad, too." He says with a slight laugh to change the tone.
"I like you," Jack says as he moves towards Andi. "I think I know you a little more now," Jack says softly as he goes to kiss Andi. Unlike earlier, Andi wraps her arm around Jack.