Chapter Two

(A/N: I'm adding a new character in here, who is named Alex; Alexandrite Hart, who is Andi's stepbrother, Rich's son. Andi's last name is still Gosselin, which by the way is her mother's maiden name. Also, there are a few inside jokes in this chapter just for Vi 3 Let's see if you catch them, sweetie.

"Andi, get up." Jared's voice drifted into my head. I groaned.

"Mhmhmhm…nooo." I mumbled, pulling the covers over my head again, trying to retain the warmth. He pulled the covers off but got onto the bed with me to keep me warm.

"Ugh...what if Rich sees...?" I said, my voice lazy with sleep. It was more to his chest, since that had become my pillow when I realized mine was on the floor again. I pulled the covers on us to trap in the heat.

"Andi, babe. It's eleven thirty in the morning. He's at work by now. I had to climb in your window. I got nervous when you didn't answer the door or any form of communication."

"That was you who called at like, nine this morning? I should kill you." I said, finally coming into the waking world fully. Damn him for waking me. I was having such a nice dream. Well, naughty, actually, but that was beside the point. I rolled over to look at my clock and groaned. I was supposed to hang out with my best friend today; Persephone. She would be pissed I missed it. I picked up my cell phone from the charger and I have seven missed calls; all from her. I sat up, fully making myself awake and speed dialed her back. I held the phone away from my ear as I heard her pick it up.

"Andromeda Rose! How dare you miss our ritual Saturday morning coffee and doughnuts! I am very upset with you." Persephone said as her anger radiated through the phone. Jared was tracing lines up and down my left arm as I held the phone to my ear with my right. I sighed and spoke, just trying to calm her down as best I could. Jared's presence really did not help with the situation.

"'Seph, please. I didn't mean to. I overslept. It was Jared's fault really." I said, looking over at him as his jaw dropped slightly. I smiled at him and blew him a small kiss. He just gave me narrowed eyes and sat up. I grabbed his hand and squeezed. He sighed and smiled at me. I turned my attention back to the phone in my hand as I caught very little of what Persephone had been saying.

"—And another thing, Andi! Don't blame Jared. I'm sure you stayed up late, as per usual and overslept. Did you even call into work and say you weren't coming in?" she asked, and I took in a large intake of breath. I had completely forgotten totally about work. I worked part time at Mike Newton's parents' store with Bella. I was supposed to be in work by nine thirty today; I guess that wasn't happening. I let out the breath in a huff, contemplating for a moment whether to just go in late, or call and explain what happened to me. Persephone, however, ruined my train of thought.

"Don't bother, Andi. I called Mrs. Newton and told her you were not feeling too well and wouldn't be in today. After you missed our meeting and all twenty billion of my calls, I figured something had to be up."

"You are a Goddess send, Persephone, you really are." I said, relieved that I had someone to keep me in that job. I wonder if Bella had gotten called in to work at my sudden illness and inability to show up for work on time. I talked a little while longer with 'Seph, then hung up and turned back to Jared who had returned to tracing lines up and down on my arm. His smile warmed his face, and in turn, made me smile. I snuggled back into the warmth of the covers and looked up at him.

"So, it seems I have been sprung free of work today. What do you want to do with this extra time?"

"We could…go visit Jake and the boys." Jared suggested, just as I knew he would. The thing was, we'd done that for the past two days. I wanted…well, just time for the two of us to be together. No more Jake. No more La Push boys. No more third wheels and group activities. It was time for us to go on a real date; something we had not done in a long time. Our relationship, though it seemed to be fine, felt to me like it was turning back into the close friendship we had before we began dating. I stretched my arms above my head, arching my back off the bed and making sure it cracked. I came back down and swung my legs off the bed and went to my dresser. I took out my specially made black t-shirt that I had made for Jared's amusement. It read, in big red, glittery letters; 'Back off, I bite.' with a wolf sitting underneath the lettering, leering. He and the rest of the boys had gotten quite the kick out of it. I grabbed a pair of jeans and my undergarments and headed towards the bathroom. I locked the door behind me; as per usual and got into the shower. After ten minutes of just standing with the hot water soothing the aches of my body, I washed up. I used the remains of my John Freida, all of the products I had, and then got dressed; blow dried my hair, and put on my make-up. I came back out to Jared on my floor, looking through the piles upon piles of books that were artistically placed around my room. He picked up a copy of Sweet Moon by Kathleen Fitzgerald. It was a werewolf novel, published only two years ago. It was a book I had written, using my alias name, of course, and no one else knew. He was reading the back. I went over to him and sat on the edge of my bed and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He didn't still his motions, but he did turn his face up to mine. He smiled at me and I gave him a sweet kiss.

"You know, we could go up to Port Angeles to see a movie. I think that action flick is still playing. "

"We could…" he said, giving me a look that asked my why I was suggesting that we do something. Then the dawn of realization came across his face. He stood up, and I did too, keeping my arms around his neck and he put his hands on my waist.

"We haven't really been spending time together, have we?" he said.

"No, well, I mean, not when it's just the two of us," I said, and then sighed. "Jare, look. I really do care about you; you are the only boy that I can honestly say that I never get bored with. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I know that sounds lovesick puppy like, and total Lifetime movie-esque, but still. I don't like the way we've been heading."

"What do you mean, Andi? The way we've been heading?" he asked, stepping back, making me drop my hands from his neck. I sighed and sat back on my bed. I didn't want to have an argument with him right now; which I was pretty sure was what was going to happen, but this was something I couldn't ignore for any longer. Jake had finally managed to get under my skin about my relationship with Jared. In the past week, we had had a conversation where he had asked me why I was even still with Jared. He hadn't seen us act like a couple, just like a couple of friends. That bothered me. It pissed me off that one; it was Jake that brought it up, but also that he was right.

"Jared." I said, not looking at him, and choosing my words as carefully as I could. "We haven't been acting like a couple. Just like friends. People noticed, Jare. I don't want to just be 'friends'. I want to be that girl. The girl everyone is jealous of because I've got the most wonderful boyfriend ever, and no one else can ever have him because they know I'd best the living shit out of them."

"Andromeda." He said, his voice stern, and even though he was using my full name, I didn't flinch at his tone. Kudos to me. "You've always been that girl. Don't you see that?"

"No, Jared, I don't. Look, you know how my love life has been before. With Jake it was so different—"

"I don't want to hear about your relationship with Jacob right now, Andi. We're discussing us right now." He said, and for the first time in a long while I heard a tone in his voice; jealousy. He was upset that I was still thinking about Jacob. It bothered him so much that I was still comparing relationships past to relationships presently.

"Jared, trust me. This is the best relationship I have ever had. With Jake, it was mostly based off of physical attraction. Basically, our whole relationship was based off nothing. And no, Jared, we never got physical like that, so you can stop making fists." I said, placing my hand over his fist, trying to calm him down. I didn't like where it was heading, but still, I marched on. This had to be done for better or worse.

"You…you and I started this on an intellectual level. You're with me, not for what I look like, but for how I think and who I am. And that's why…that is why I love being with you. You make me feel like I'm actually someone instead of an object or a trophy or something just to keep around for the hell of it."

"You aren't a prize, Andi, and you shouldn't be treated like one. You're a human being just like the rest of us."

"I know, Jare. That right there, is why I love you." I said, and then, stopped, looked up at him and stared. Those were the three words that either made or broke a relationship. They were also ones we had never spoken to each other before; but in everything that had been going on, it made me realize I wasn't going to rush to take them back. Why bother taking back the truth?

"Andi…" he said, and came to sit down beside me. He took my face in his hands and looked into my eyes with a softness I'd never seen in him before. He kissed my forehead and let a smile creep onto his face, which made me smile, which made him laugh because it scrunched up my face in his hands.

"You are so absurd, Andi. But that, right there, is why I love you."

"Hey—no fair. You stole my words." I said and leaned in to kiss him as I laughed. And just like that, our fight was over. He draped one arm around my neck and the other was holding my hand as I wrapped it around his waist. We walked to the door like that and got into my car, because it was so much nicer than his truck and I liked to drive. I drove us to Port Angeles, to see the movie, but, as always, I got sidetracked and parked in front of the bookstore. Jared rolled his eyes but got out with me and went into the store.

"Andi, you read way too much."

"Gasp! You lie!" I said in mock horror. I sat down in the back corner with a nice book in my hands as I started to read. Jared sat with me and leaned onto me, reading over my shoulder; which, he knew that I hated when people did that. It bothered me. A lot.

"Jared Mercier…"

"Yes, babe?" he asked, innocently. Yeah, sure; innocent my ass. Jared Mercier hadn't been innocent since the day he come home from the hospital.

"Do you want me to punch you in the face, because you know how much reading over my shoulder bothers me."

"No, I don't want you to. I don't feel like going to the hospital to fix your fractured or broken hand." He said, and I glowered at him. My voice dropped quite low, almost like it should have hurt me to talk like that, but years as an actress and singer had made my voice learn to adapt to different tones.

"I'm sure I can borrow somebody's golf club for a moment."

Jared smiled and pulled me to my feet in one swift moment. He put the book back on the shelf, pulled me from the store, got my keys from my back pocket and got into my car. Now, I don't let anyone drive Lilli, and yes I named my car. I am the only one allowed to drive her, and so I walked over to the driver's side and opened the door, crossing my arms over my chest and looking at Jared.

"Get. Out." I said, evenly, holding back the annoyance Jared was making me feel. Normally, I was never annoyed with him. The only one who really annoyed my nowadays was Jacob, but I wasn't going to tell Jared that. Not yet at least; I wasn't that angry…yet.

"Andi, come on."

"No. No one drives Lilli and you know it. I've only told you seven billion times. So, get out of the car and get into the passenger seat or you can run home." I said, and just then, my phone rang. I swore rather loudly and dug it out of my bag, which of course it was at the very bottom of. I looked at the caller ID, and it was Alex. Of course it was! He always knew exactly when to call; he was like, psychic for moments such as these. It was odd.

"What is it Alex?" I asked, rather flippant, but I was still trying to get Jared from out of the driving seat.

"Where are you? We were supposed to go to mall today; remember?"

"Yeah, but I thought we were going later. Didn't you tell me like, three?" I asked, and Jared finally got out of the car. I smiled and silently thanked him. He mouthed that I owed him big time and I rolled my eyes and got into the car. I shut my door, put on my seat belt and started the car. I headed back towards home; still talking to Alex.

"Look, I'm coming now. You better be ready, and Jared's coming with us."

"I'm okay with that. He's hot." Alex said, his voice low and suggestive. Alex was gay, and definitely had a thing for my boyfriends. Just as well, he'd slept with half of them. I think Jake, Jared, and one more of my past boyfriends hadn't slept with him, but who could blame them? I did turn guys gay when I broke up with them...not like, you know, I was conceited about that though, or anything.

"You even think about it and I will personally break your nose." I said.

"But that would ruin my pretty face." He said, quite cheerfully. He knew that I would never be violent towards him. I loved him too much. Plus, it couldn't be denied; his face was pretty. By the time we reached my house, Alex was sitting on the steps, involved in his newest comic strip. Alex was a fantastic artist, and writer as well. We were actually working on a novel together; we both wrote on it, and Alex illustrated. It was the sequel to Sweet Moon, and it was entitled Moonlit Sins. It was coming along beautifully. Alex looked up and walked over and got into the car. He batted his eyes a few times at Jared just to piss me off, but what I wasn't prepared for, was that Jared was actually flirting back with him. What the hell?

"Uhm, Jared? What the hell are you doing?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you I was having a secret affair with your brother?"

"Oh, you seemed to have forgotten to mention that." I said, and I looked at Alex in the mirror. He shrugged.

"I'm sorry, Andipants, but I'm just so goddamn adorable."

"Yeah, and that sorry little fact is the only reason I don't hurt you and that pretty face of yours." I said.

"Oh, you love me. I mean, you have to; it's the law."

"Well, that law sucks."

"Yeah, well so do you but I never hear Jared complaining." He said, and I let my mouth drop for a moment before I turned around and hit him hard on the leg. I turned back around and started the car and headed off, but with a smile on my face. I had the two best boys in my life in the car. What girl wouldn't be happy?

Once we got to the mall, Alex insisted I try on seven, count them, seven prom dresses. They were all beautiful and looked fantastic on me as Alex reminded me, but as usual, he picked out the most expensive things on the rack. Jared was entertaining himself by adding his own personal commentary such as; 'How easy does that one come off?' and nice wolf whistles, and that pun was very intended.

"It doesn't matter Jared. They're too expensive, and I'm not paying for them."

"Well, if I'm taking you to prom, I want you to be the best dressed there. I want every guy to wish he was me at prom. I'll pay for it; don't worry Andi."

"You're going to pay two hundred plus dollars for a dress for me to wear, simply so you can be the envy of every guy at my prom? You aren't conceited." I joked.

"Yup." He said grinning, and paid for my dress, which I wasn't exactly complaining about. Alex still, however, was not satisfied, so I had to let him chose my shoes, buy the make up he instructed me to, and take him to lunch. How he managed that I had no idea. After the mall, we all decided to go to La Push to hang with the guys. Today hadn't exactly been the one on one time with Jared I really wanted, but we had it out in the open, and we could fix it later. Fighting was hard; but the making up was always great.

"Andi, drive faster." Alex said. He was a very bad backseat driver. He didn't even have his license yet, and he was telling me how to drive.

"No backseat driving, Mr. I don't-even-have-my-own-license-yet."

"I would have had it by now—" he began, but I cut him off with a smile.

"No matter how you think the point system works, hitting the pedestrians on the course will not earn you fifty points."

"Lies." He said, and we laughed. Jared took my right hand in his over the gearshift and held it. I turned to him and he smiled, which made me smile, which made Alex give a gagging noise in the backseat.

"This car is so filled with love it's going to smother me to death!" he said, and very theatrically pretended to smother and die. Jared let out a breath of relief and spoke.

"Finally! I thought we were never going to get some peace and quite in here!"

"Jared!" Alex said, springing to life again, horrified. "It's over! I thought you loved me!"

"Nope, sorry. I've only got love for two people in this car, and that's myself and Andi."

"That's because I'm the girl." I said to Alex, sort of rubbing it in his face. He stuck out his tongue at me like a five year old, and I rolled my eyes as I pulled up in front of Sam and Emily's house and shut off the car. We walked inside, and as always, Emily was cooking as Paul, Embry, Quil, and Jake were sitting in the kitchen at the table, and Sam was leaning against the counter next to Emily. We got a warm greeting and Jared sat with the rest, hungry as always. I leaned on the opposite counter as Sam and Alex jumped on the counter next to me. I looked around the room and sighed, then spoke to Emily.

"Emily, we definitely need more estrogen in this room. I'm going to be killed someday; death by testosterone." I said, and she smiled. Everyone had always said it was horrible what had happened to her beautiful face, but what people didn't realize was, she was still beautiful. Just look at the way Sam looks at her and you can see into the beauty that lies within her. Sam gave me a smile, as he knew was I was thinking.

"How much longer, Emily? I'm starving!" Jared complained. I looked at him.

"We just ate."

"Psh, that was snack time. Are you kidding? That was no meal. I'm a growing boy, Andi."

"You werewolves! You eat like you have eighteen stomachs." I said, rolling my eyes. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jake looking at me. I could still see the care he had for me put into those eyes, but I forced myself to look away. I didn't love him anymore. Not like that, anyways. I don't think I was ever really in love with him to begin with. When a relationship goes in founded on nothingness, all you are bound to end up with is the same nothingness you began with.

End Chapter Two