Still only one reader... and for some reason, FF won't show her name when i type it :( anyway... enjoy! :)

DiscoHoney xx

-Chapter Four-

I awake the next morning at around midday. I pull my phone out from under my pillow and check for messages. Surprisingly, I have three. The first I received at about nine-thirty last night. It's from a friend at my last school asking how everything was going. I shoot them a reply that simply says 'fine' with a smiley face.

The next is from Matt. Got asked to work today while you were out. I'll be home in time for dinner, I'll bring somfe hot chips hey?

I frown slightly: Matt never takes Saturday shifts. We usually always spend Saturday together. Either way, there is nothing I can do about it, so I send back a reply saying I'll cook dinner. I know he's probably on the road so I don't expect an instant reply.

The third message I received from Bradie an hour ago. Hey, Mum wanted me to tell you we have pancakes if you're interested, or even awake! :) I smile and put the phone down.

I drag myself out of bed and put some jeans and a bra and my Good Charlotte shirt on before wandering out to the kitchen to make some toast and vegemite. I look through the cupboards while I wait for it to cook and can't really find anything we already have to use for dinner, so I consider making spaghetti bolognaise and make a mental note that I need to go shopping no matter what.

When my toast is ready I lather on the butter and then a bit of vegemite. Bored, I decide to walk over the road to the Webb's. When I knock, Bradie comes racing to the door and greets me with a bright smile.

"Hey Ally," he greets as I enter, taking a bite of my toast. "You're too late for pancakes, Andy walked in and scoffed half them before going straight back to bed."

I laugh and reply, "That's okay—I've got my toast." I pointed it out to him.

He smiles at me. "Come on, everyone's in the lounge room, except Andy—lazy bugger." I giggle as we enter the lounge room and everyone looks at me. Emily and Richard are sitting next to each other and Chris is on Emily's lap.

"Hi, Ally," Emily greets. "Would like anything to drink?"

I consider. "Yes, thank you. A coffee would be lovely."

Emily picks Chris up off her lap and stands to go to the kitchen. "How do you take it?" she asks as she walks past me. "White with one thanks."

"Back in a minute."

I feel slightly awkward for a moment, but then Bradie gestures for me to sit and I do on the other end of the couch to Richard so that Emily has enough room to sit down again. Chris is on the floor now and decides to busy himself with his toys and he looks so adorable I pay no attention to the TV and watch him play instead.

Emily returns a few minutes later with my coffee and I graciously accept. She's also made a tea for Bradie and a coffee for Richard. She also places a fourth cup on the coffee table but doesn't appear interested in it.

We all watch some old episode of Rosanne and not three minute after Emily sat down, Andy's bedroom door opens to reveal the bass player in nothing but his jocks.

He takes a breath. "Mm, coffee," he says with a smile as he grabs the coffee cup sitting directly in front of me. That's when he seems to notice me. His hand pauses on the cup as he stares up at me.

"Morning Andy," I say all chipper even though I still feel pretty crap.

"Uh, morning," he says, still clearly shocked by my presence. "How long you been here?"

"About five minutes."

"Ah," he says, letting go of the cup, "I might go get some clothes on then." He stands up straight and backs down the hallway to his bedroom.

"Good idea," Bradie says cheekily from his arm chair next to me.

Andy disappears and returns in a few minutes wearing some trackies and his 'Fuck Shit Up' singlet that he normally wears on stage.

"You could put something decent on," Emilyf chastises him.

"Be thankful I got dressed," he retorts.

I giggle and Andy grabs his coffee again and decides to squeeze in next to me on the end of the couch even though there really isn't enough room. Somehow, Andy manages to fit and everyone is only a little bit squished.

Coffee in his left hand, Andy puts his right arm across the back of lounge behind my head. A small smile escapes my lips—my inner fan-girl trying to come through.

"Sleep alright?" Andy asks me.

"Yeah, not too bad. Only woke up twenty minutes ago. Yourself?"

"Pretty decent. Would have been better if you'd come home with me like I asked."

My jaw drops and my cheeks flash bright red as everyone turns and stares at us. I elbow Andy and laugh it off. I can handle Andy being stupid when it was just the two of us, but in front of his parents was embarrassing.

"Only kidding," Andy says, lightening the mood but I am still embarrassed.

"So what have you got planned for today, Ally?" Bradie asks.

"Um, nothing really. I need to catch a bus into town to get something for dinner later, but that's about it."

"Don't be silly, I'll drive you down," Bradie offers. I smile in thanks.

"No, I'll take you, I actually need to go into town and get some things myself," Andy says.

"Oh, well, that will work then," I agree, looking at Andy.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Bradie admit defeat, like he wanted to go with me and isn't happy that Andy is taking me. I ignore it for now.

"Awesome, when do want to leave?" he asks.

"Um, whenever you're ready."

"How about I get into something more decent and we'll go now?"

"Sweet," I answer him. "I'll go get my wallet and phone and meet you back here in a few."

"Alright then," he says as we both get up from the couch together.

I run home and race into my room pulling my wallet out of my handbag and grabbing my phone from under my pillow. I see I have a message from Matt. Sounds good, see you later :)

I put my phone into my back pocket and go into the kitchen to grab my house keys. Before I get there, I realise I need to pee. I go to the bathroom and as I'm washing my hands I receive a text message. After drying my hands, I pull my phone out to see who it is. Andy.

I'm waiting... ;)

I shake my head and walk out the front door, locking it behind me. Andy is waiting by his car in his driveway and I wander over. He looks up at me and sighs, shaking his head. "Bloody women, always take forever."

"Eh, you'll learn to live with it or never have a girlfriend," I say as we get into the car.

"I guess I will have to live with your lateness," he says, starting the car while I do up my seatbelt.

I pause. "What?"

"Oh, um, I meant, if I can put up with your lateness then I can put up with any girl's."

"Um, okay. Hey," I say with realisation, "I'm pretty good at getting ready. Not my fault I had to pee." Andy laughs as he reverses out of the driveway and we head into town.

We pull into the Woolies car park and I make sure the list I made on my phone on the way over is completely right before getting out.

We wander around for a half hour while I grab the things I need and Andy places his items in the child seat of the trolley. Eventually, Andy asks me what it am I'm making for dinner.

"Spag Bol," I say as I put half a kilo of mince into the trolley.

"Sounds delicious," he says grabbing some green and orange cordial from the shelf. I raise an eyebrow at him. "I'm the only one that doesn't like the orange one, so I have green."

"Ah. Yeah, um, it's my mum's recipe, she always knew how to make it the best, but I still can't get it right though."

"Well, I will just have to come and try this Spag Bol recipe then, because it looks delicious."

I give him a sly smile and place another five-hundred grams of mince into the trolley. So then we had to go back and get double of all the other ingredients.

When we are finally finished, Andy puts his ten or so items up first and then I do mine. We head back out to the car, pack everything up and when I close the boot Andy gives me a look.

"What?" I ask.

"I don't want to go home yet, I'm quite enjoying spending my time with you," he says, looking around. "Wanna go out for a little bit?"

"Sure," I answer with a smile. "Wait, we have cold stuff that needs to be put away."

Andy groans. "Alright, we'll dump it all at my place and you can pick it up when we come back later."

I agree and we do exactly that. Everyone is still at home so we quickly dump everything in the kitchen together and bolt back out the door, yelling goodbye to the others over our shoulders.

Andy drives us to the cinemas and when we walk in we decide to see Just Go With It. I get a packet of Skittles and Andy gets some M&M's. We decide to get a large popcorn and share it.

When we find our seats, we realise the girl we bought the tickets from has given us a 'couples seat'. Talk about awkward. We decide to ignore it and sit there anyway. The popcorn sits comfortably between our legs and we devour it all in the first half hour of the movie. Andy places the empty box on the floor and shifts in his seat. At one particularly funny point in the movie, Andy and I end up in laughing fits and are leaning into each other for support.

When it's was over, we leave and Andy drives us home so I can start on dinner. We walk into the kitchen at Andy's and I immediately pull my cold items out of the fridge and freezer. Bradie wanders in with Chris on his hip and asks what we are doing.

"Just taking Ally's groceries back to hers so she can start on the dinner she's making for me tonight," Andy answers.

"You're welcome to come over too, Bradie, I'm sure there will be plenty for everyone, even Emily and Richard and Chris," I say.

"Mum and Dad went out for the night together. That's why it's just me a Chris," Bradie says, looking at Andy. "And you're supposed to be here to help me babysit."

"Well, Chris can come, I'm sure he'll love my Spag Bol. C'mon, I want to thank you guys for everything you've done in the last few days."

"Alright, what time would you like us?"

I look at the clock and see it is about five-thirty. Matt will be home in an hour or two, depending on how smooth his run was. "I'll send you a message when we're almost done, but it won't be for at least another hour and a half."

"Alright," Bradie says. "And what are you gonna do in the mean time?" he asks Andy.

"Probably hang out at Ally's if that's alright with you," Andy says.

The tension and testosterone is thick as I wait for Bradie's answer. "Fine by me."

Andy helps me carry everything home and when we get there I know I need to unlock the door, but I have three bags in each hand. Knowing Andy has two in one hand and one bag in the other, I ask him to reach into my back pocket for my house keys.

"Sure thing." He winks at me with a cheeky smile.

"Hey, just get the keys," I tell him.

I feel his fingers reach around into my pocket. He frowns and pulls his hand away. "Not in that one, how about the other one." He reaches around and tries my other pocket, but I think I've already realised. "No keys there either. You sure you weren't just saying they were there as an excuse to get me to touch your ass?"

"Ha ha, you're so funny," I say sarcastically. "They have to be there, they're not anywhere else . . ."

And it slaps me in the face. I never grabbed them off the bench because I had to pee. I put the bags I'm carrying on the step and walk around to the side of house. I press my nose against the glass to look through the lace curtains of the kitchen window, and sure enough, there are my keys sitting on the bench where they live.

"Damn it." I turn back to Andy and say, "The laundry window isn't locked, but it's too high for me to reach, give me a boost?" That's the annoying thing about this house. The laundry window is tiny and right up almost at the roof. But it's the one we leave unlocked in case of things like this happening.

"Yeah, okay." We jump the side gate which is only to my waist, and walk around to back window. Andy moves close to me and kneels over, clasping his hands together as a foothold. We work together and I grab the window sill to lighten my weight on Andy. I push the window up with a huge amount of effort and have to climb down again.

"Damn it, you look much lighter," Andy says, catching my breath.

My eyebrows go past my hairline. "Excuse me?"

"You're beautiful," he covers.

I stare at him for a minute and then smile at his terrible attempt to cover his mistake. He's staring at me intently and I get a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach that makes my smile grow a little bit. That look he's giving me is just to die for. "Ally, there's something I have to tell you," he says, leaning his face toward mine. "When I met you . . ." he trails off.

"Yes?" I prompt, paying more attention to his lips.

"The other day wasn't . . ." he can't finish his sentence.

He leans close and brushes his lips against mine. He pulls back a few millimetres and then kisses me again and I find myself kissing him back for only a moment before I push away.

"Okay, just launch me straight through the window," I tell Andy, looking anywhere but at him. He nods and bends over again.

I get about halfway through the window with ease, but then I have to wriggle the rest of the way. The washing machine is right under the window and I use it to stop myself from falling face-first flat on the concrete floor. I could tell I was flailing my legs about and I could only imagine what Andy must be thinking.

Eventually I make it the whole way through and stick my head back out the window to look at Andy who is pacing and muttering to himself. "Hey, head around the front and I'll open the door," I call to him. I see him make his way around at a light jog and I pull my head inside and go and unlock the front door.

Together we pick up the bags and carry them to the kitchen. I get started and Andy offers to help so I tell him to cut the onions.

Once the meat is browning I leave it for a few minutes and go and grab my laptop. I sit at the island in the kitchen, Andy sitting across from me. He's on his phone and not saying much. I get up and stir the mince every few minutes, waiting for it to brown.

I'm scrolling through Twitter, skipping over the ones I have no interest for—I think about how I should go and unfollow a lot of them eventually—when I come across one from Andy from earlier today.

Spending some time with the most amazing person in the world. If your reading this, you really are amazing 3

I smile and think about replying, but decide against it and continue going up to the top. I come across one from Bradie and stop to read it.

andyclemmensen aww I think you're amazing too :')

Cheeky bastard. At least people might not be so suspicious, although, Andy and Bradie being nice to each other? That would make any fan extra suspicious.

I get to the top and there are no more tweets waiting to be read, so I get up and check the mince. It's just about done so I grab the sauces and herbs that I need to add to it. I walk around the island to the fridge for a bit more garlic and see I have one new tweet. I click the blue box and a tweet from Andy pops up.

Well that probably ruined everything . . .

I frown slightly and look up at Andy, who is staring at me.

I don't know what to say to him, what to do, so I continue making dinner. Matt gets home at seven and I let him know about Bradie, Andy and Chris joining us for dinner. Matt says it's a brilliant idea and offers Andy a beer, which he accepts a little too quickly. Matt is only a few months older than Andy and I think he likes hanging out with him and the other boys from Short Stack.

I send Bradie a message saying he can come over now. Matt greets him and Chris at the door. Matt offers Bradie a beer, but he politely declines and asks for coke instead, I grab one for each of us.

Matt strikes conversation with Bradie but Andy and I remain very silent. I help Andy get Chris to eat some of his dinner, but we hardly look at each other, our full attention on the two year old.

Andy and Bradie sit out the back while I sit inside with Chris and watch some cartoons. He starts to yawn so I put him down in my room and he's out within seconds. I leave the lamp beside my mattress on but with a white pillow case over it so it's not as bright.

I close the door halfway and wander out the back. "Chris is sleeping in my room," I tell Bradie. "He can stay there until you guys home, there's no need to rush."

"Aw, thanks Ally," Bradie smiles at me. He elbows Andy who winces slightly and he mumbles a thank you as well.

"No problem," I tell them both.

"Al, you know you can sit with us out here? Don't be intimidated by the guys," Matt says.

I look at Andy quickly—he's looking anywhere but at me. "Nah, I think I'm just gonna go and read for a little while. You guys enjoy your bloke talk." I force a smile and wander back inside.

Being as quiet as possible so as not to wake Chris, I go into my bedroom and find a box with some of my books in it. The one on top is Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. I've read it a few times, but seeing it makes me want to read Uglies again. I dig through and find my box set of the series in the bottom. I pull out Uglies, check to make sure Chris is okay—he seems cold so I put a blanket over him—and go back out to the lounge room.

I turn the TV down so it's hardly audible and turn the reading lamp on. I open to the first page and get hooked into the first couple of chapters. When I reach the chapter 'Pretty Boring', I go into the kitchen for another can of coke. That's when Andy wanders in through the back door and straight into the kitchen.

By the way he's walking, I think he's drunk. I stay silent as he wanders in, looking a bit lost. "Can I help you with something?" I ask him.

"Chips," he slurs out at me. He's not ordering it of me, he just can't manage to string two words together.

I grab a packet of salt and vinegar from the pantry behind Andy then walk back across the kitchen to grab a bowl from a top cupboard. I place the bowl on the island and open the bag of chips, pouring them into a bowl. I hand it to Andy and he just manages a thanks. He leaves to go back outside and I go back to my book.

I must have fallen asleep on the lounge because at some point I feel a hand shaking my shoulder. I wake up and roll onto my back—I'm looking up to see Bradie smiling over me gently. "Hey it's after one, so I'm gonna head home and take Chris with me," he tells me. "Just thought I'd tell you that you can go to bed now."

I nod and walk with Bradie to my bedroom where Chris is still sound asleep. Bradie picks him up and he doesn't like that at all. He starts to whinge and Bradie does his best to calm him.

"Where's Andy?" I whisper.

"Still outside with Matt. They've both had a fair few drinks, but I think they've stopped and are just sitting out there talking." I think about Andy staggering through the kitchen earlier. What must he be like now?

"Okay, well, I'll see if I can round them up," I say, running a hand through my hair, fingering out the knots.

"Well, I'll see you later. Thanks for dinner by the way, it was fantastic." He awkwardly leans forward trying not wake Chris and kisses my cheek.

I smile and say, "You're welcome."

I walk them both to the front door and make sure Bradie is going to be right with Chris before they leave. I watch him until he gets inside for safe measure. I close the door and walk out the back where Matt and Andy are sitting and just chatting.

"You boys staying out here or coming inside?"

"We're right here," Matt answers me, his words are slurred.

Andy seems incapable of looking at me, let alone saying anything to me. "Okay, well I'm going to bed. See you in the morning, and try not to be too loud, alright?"

"Sure thing," Matt says.

I go to my room and lay on my mattress, my phone beside my pillow, sitting on top of Uglies. I decide to check twitter quickly. I scroll through all my tweets from the last few hours. I stop at one from Andy just after dinner.

When you really eff things up, drink some, and then try to fix it.

My anger boils a little bit and I shoot him a reply.

andyclemmensen if you effed up it only takes I'm sorry. Except now you're too drunk. Man up, do it sober and she might just forgive you.

I exit twitter and reach over to grab my charger. After plugging it in, I read a few more chapters before finding it really difficult to keep my eyes open. I put the book down and plunge into sleep, where I dream about Andy.

I wander out into the kitchen at about ten-thirty the next morning. I walk around the back way through the hallway, completely bypassing the lounge room because it is quicker.

I make a cup of tea and some Nutrigrain before walking into the lounge room. When I enter, Andy is sleeping on the lounge. I stand still for a moment, wandering what to do. I sigh, shrug my shoulders and walk over closer to the lounge. I kick Andy's feet to try and make him move them and he wakes up quickly.

"Morning," I say to him as he sits up. I sit down in the gap he has just made from moving his legs.

"Morning," he replies groggily, rubbing his eyes.

I put my tea on the coffee table and then rest my feet against the edge. I grab the remote and start flicking and eventually end up on Friends. I lean into the back of the lounge and begin eating my cereal. "What time did you guys end up coming inside?"

"I have no idea. I don't remember anything from last night," he tells me. He looks around, seeming to slowly realise where he is.

I keep my face completely neutral and try to ignore his comment as I say, "You can go make yourself a cuppa if you want."

He nods and walks into the kitchen. "Where are your cups?" he calls out.

"Top left cupboard. Everything else you need is sitting on the bench near the jug."

I hear the jug boil and Andy clang around making his coffee. He joins me in the middle of an ad. We sit in silence and watch as the Friends episode continues. I realise it's The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs and what is easily my favourite quote from the whole series is coming up.

Some of the friends are talking about Rachel making a move on her assistant who has just broken up with his girlfriend and Joey tells her she only has to wait a half hour. Then he goes on.

"If he doesn't like you, then this is all just a moo point," Joey says.

Rachel replies, "Huh? A moo point?"

"Yeah," Joey says, "it's like a cow's opinion, it just doesn't matter. It's 'moo'."

I quote the line and crack a smile. A smile that turns into a laugh. Andy is laughing too and soon we are in fits of laughter just like at the movies yesterday. I know the line isn't that funny, but I know I need a good laugh.

Once we recover, Andy has a sip of his coffee and I take another spoonful of Nutrigrain and it's like the previous moment never happened.

Andy grabs his phone from the coffee table and starts fiddling around with it. I wonder if he will see my tweet. I never believed he checked them all, or the other two—I'd been following them all for a few years and had only ever received one tweet from Bradie.

He scrolls through at a pace that tells me he wasn't really reading any of them—I do the same thing on my account—but suddenly he stops and reads one that must have caught his eye.

He stands up and looks like he wants to hit something. He makes a sort of grunt noise and throws his phone across the room. Wow, it must have been a pretty bad tweet.

I continue to sit where I am. I'm no longer watching the TV, my cereal is going soggy, and my tea cold. I'm staring at my toes when Andy comes back and sits down right next to me, facing me.

"Ally," he pleads. "Don't avoid me." I put my legs down and my cereal on the table then turn to face him. I'm still looking at my hands when he puts his palm on my cheek, gently making me look him in the eye. "I want you to look at me please." A long moment of silence passes between us before he finally comes out with it. "I am so incredibly sorry. I was a complete fuckwit and I know I seriously messed up. Please, please forgive me."

I continued to stare for a moment before answering him. "I do forgive you."