There was a distinct energy attached to hospitals. Maybe it was the smell of injury masked with aroma, or having to sit in the place where both life and death are uncertain. Whatever it was, Andre just hated it and really didn't know why. It was more of a personal dislike, he didn't often express it and not many people knew of it.

But there he sat, waiting patiently on the doctor alongside Lauren and both of her parents. The clock read 9:47am, attesting to the fact that maybe the doctor requested them to come 17 minutes too early. Andre was fidgety. Between him rubbing his hands together, throwing them through his hair, and his tapping feet, the musician couldn't shake hands with peace.

As if he wasn't fearful enough, Lauren's father venomously glanced at him a few times during the wait, and insisted on sitting as far away from him as possible to avoid conflict. But even with the tension between them probing Andre's mind, he could tell that her dad was just as nervous as the rest of them.

"Umm, Lauren Ward?" the nurse said approaching them.

"Yes? That's me." Lauren looked up with eager eyes though they glistened with fear.

"The doctor is ready to see you and your party, follow me" she expressed waving the clipboard in a beckoning gesture.

-.-

"Hello Lauren" the doctor said smiling lightly. The brunette teen smiled faintly at him as a response.

He continued after noting the heavy tension in the room, "Well I'm not going to prolong this, but I do think that I should remind you of how risky it was doing this testing prenatal. It was successful, however we as doctors don't usually do it, and generally wouldn't recommend it."

"Yes, we understand doctor and we appreciate you agreeing to do this for us." expressed Mrs. Ward. She seemingly wanted to know the results more than Lauren did. The anxiety wore on her voice.

"Ok" Dr. Wright began while pulling out the sheet from the file. " The results propose that Andre is not the father without a shadow of a doubt. Of course other than the .1% chance that he is. I'm sorry." he revealed while handing the family the sheet of paper.

Andre released a huge sigh of relief immediately, almost as if he had stopped breathing since they stepped foot into the room. His head fell into his hands in attempts to regain touch with the reality he thought he had lost. Yet although he wanted to be happy, he couldn't be. Especially seeing the family's reaction beside him.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Ward were stunned with surprise, Mrs. Ward seemed to be impacted the most as her eyes began to well up. As Mr. Ward held onto Lauren and his wife in a comforting fashion while saying "it's ok, it's ok" he couldn't help but to think that he would've been happier if it were Andre than to get the results that they did. This meant for them that the search continued, and that Lauren had been experiencing quite a lot behind their backs.

"Mr. and Mrs. Ward, I'll need you to come with me to sign some billing information." Dr. Rivers informed cautiously. They both complied immediately regardless of the news, with Mr. Ward saying "Of course, of course."

This left Andre and Lauren in solitude and silence. He naturally felt the need to be the one to break it. "I'm sorry Lauren" he expressed honestly.

"Don't be." she responded fairly quickly " Truth be told, I knew it wasn't you. I knew that you weren't the father." she confessed, finally drawing her eyes away from the ground to look at Andre who was seated to the far right of her. His expression switched rapidly from sympathy and relief to confusion and more confusion.

Baffled, he chuckled before seriously asking "What? What do you mean that you knew?" he looked at her.

"I mean that I knew." she started before she stood up and said "Really, I should be the one apologizing here. We didn't have sex that night." She confessed. "You wouldn't know that because you passed out in the hallway before I even got you to the room. Your shirt was already off from way before then. You was partying like someone stepped on your heart, drunk out of your mind. And I guess I was going to take advantage of that because I felt the exact same way."

Andre stood up with mixed emotions painted on his face. He looked at her incredulously, trying to find words to say but remained speechless.

" I know, it's crazy. Maybe I'm crazy even, but I had to tell my parents a name. Someone to give them hope that maybe I'm not as much of a wreck as I really am. That name was yours. And after a while, I just began to lie to myself too. I just didn't want to believe that the father of my child was that monster of an ex-boyfriend I had. So in telling them that you may be the father, the lie, it became believable to me even if just for a second. I'm sorry." she honestly offered.

"Wow. You're sorry. You're sorry? I don't think you can even understand the amount of stress and problems this one thing plagued on my life! This didn't only affect me! I have friends and family that were disappointed. I have a girlfriend who's lost almost all faith and trust in me because of this! This was reckless of you." Andre expressed draped in bitterness and anger, which were obviously the colors of the minute.

Taken aback Lauren took a few steps closer to Andre and said "Woah, says the guy that got irresponsibly drunk at a party to the point where he had no recollection! Don't even go there, because really if I didn't tell you the truth you wouldn't have had a choice but to believe the lie! Maybe you can take a lesson from this instead of trying to put me down about what I did. It's not like I wanted to pin this on you! I felt guilty about it every day, literally. But I was more afraid than I felt guilty, and fear makes us do crazy things. I'm guessing you should know that."

He looked at her blue eyes and saw the honesty shine in them. Although he was still appalled and highly irritated, he couldn't really refute what she was saying. He shook his head and looked at the ceiling. "Well, thank you for telling me. You didn't have to but you did. I'm not gonna stand here and pretend to be friends with you, but I'm at least grateful for that. I wish you the best in dealing with everything surrounding the father of your child. As pissed as I am, I can say that I am relieved." he admitted.

"You're welcome I guess. And I wish you the best to you with your friends and your girlfriend, truly." Lauren responded as Andre made his way to leave.

"Thanks" he said semi sarcastically. "And by the way, you are crazy" he teased before walking out of the room.

As Andre approached his Corvette, he checked his watch and it read 10:29am.

He missed his first class and was about 20 minutes away from school.

His phone had 2 missed calls from Beck, none from Tori. He sighed and started the engine.

-.-

"Are they blue or purple?" asked Beck, staring intently at the blueberry between his fingers.

They were all at Nozu hanging out for the night.

Jade glanced over at the fruit in her boyfriend's hand before returning her focus to the girls performing, "Purple".

"I think there's a reason why they call them blueeeberries, they're definitely blue" said Robbie confidently, appalled that Jade would suggest otherwise.

As expected this turned into a debate.

"It's obviously a dark purple Robbie" she rolled her eyes.

"No it's a dark blue!" he countered.

After a futile attempt to get them to stop, Beck politely removed himself from the situation. He saw Tori and Cat by the new Claw Crane machine Mrs. Lee put in the back corner of the restaurant and decided to join them.

"Ughh!" Cat groaned in defeat and anger while Tori shared in her disappointment.

"You girls do know that this game is impossible right?" he said trying to at least pry them from the losing spree they were on.

Tori then turned to look at him knowingly in denial "Pftt, it's not impossible, just...nearly impossible."

"And nearly impossible is just another term for possible!" Cat exclaimed while putting more coins into the machine. This game was added onto her list of addictions .

"Wait, what are you doing? Its my turn." Tori questioned Cat in disbelief.

"Nooo, it's my turn" Cat lied quietly, with guilt written on her face.

"It's been your turn for the last 10 turns!" Tori said baffled.

Beck found their banter and obsession with the machine amusing. He began to laugh, while tossing his hair back.

"Fiinee, you can use MY turn." the animated red-head emphasized "I'm going to order something to drink, brb".

Both Tori and Beck chuckled at their friend.

"Sooo, you-" he started.

"Shh!" the singer interrupted, with eyes locked on the task before her. " I need complete silence to-"

"Eeenk!" Sounded the machine.

"Win." she finished deflated. "This machine is rigged." she added while gliding her right hand through her hair.

"It's what I've been trying to tell you" Beck smiled. As Tori went to give it another try, he looked back to see that Andre had just arrived. He then looked at Tori to catch a glimpse of her reaction, but she was too absorbed in the game to notice. However, she knew. She could hear him from a mile away.

He watched Jade, Robbie and Cat react with joyful surprise in response to whatever he was telling them. He guessed Andre wasn't the father after all. Eager to hear the news he went over to the group, not that Tori would've noticed.

"Andre for the win" laughed Robbie, as they were all pleasantly relieved that he wasn't the father.

"I think it's probably one of the most satisfying feelings that could come with not to having something. Though, if the kid was mine, I would've stepped up to the plate regardless." he admitted.

Andre didn't tell them that Lauren lied. He didn't want to, at least not yet. The only thing he wanted to do was talk to Tori.

He saw her in the distance by the Claw Crane, and automatically was drawn to her. In the middle of the group's talking, his feet guided him there.

When finally beside her, as her eyes were still locked on the game, he said softly "hey".

Tori didn't need to look up to know it was him. His voice always resonated with her, along with his scent.

" How did it go? " she asked still focused on the game intentionally. It was becoming a trend for her to avoid eye contact with him.

"Uhh, it went pretty good for me I guess. Not so good for her, I'm not the father." he expressed, anticipating some sort of reaction from the her.

She simply said "that's good".

Realizing that she wasn't afraid to make the tension between them more obvious, he added " And, turns out I didn't sleep with her ".

This made her pause, but realizing she was giving him what he wanted she returned her focus to the game. "What makes you so certain all of a sudden? "

"She told me." he answered bluntly.

This was enough to make her turn to look at him. "What ?" she asked trying to see if she heard him correctly.

"She told me. Apparently I was so drunk at the party that I didn't even remember whether or not I did. According to her I was passed out in a hallway, and that's where she left me" he explained, finally a little satisfied to have gained her undivided attention.

She looked down at the ground for a few seconds. This made Andre question what was going on in her head, that was until she began to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" he asked highly confused.

Her brown eyes looked up to meet his before answering, "You are. You're so pathetic" she teased, before turning around to give the machine another try.

"What? How am I pathetic? What did I say?" he asked now laughing a bit himself.

"This entire thing, it's sooo Andre Harris-like isn't it?" she responded.

"I guess so, it's tough being me you know? There's no joke in that" he continued to be entertained by his muse. "You really suck at this game don't you?" He added as he watched Tori fail at it for like the 6th time.

"It's not like you can do any better" she said pointedly.

"Let me try." he said accepting her challenge. He was naturally competitive, a Leo by nature.

She refused while swatting his hand away, not wanting to give up the post she waited so long to get from Cat. She finally knew how her friend felt.

He laughed at her, "C'mon Tori. Well at least let me help you".

"Nooo" she continued to refuse.

"Eeenk!" sounded the machine, signaling her loss once again.

He smiled and asked "How about now?"

She didn't answer, but he knew it was because she didn't want to admit that she wanted his help.

He then inched behind her and placed his right hand over hers on the joystick. His chest was against her back and his head hovering and looking over the right side of her shoulder.

She blushed at this, although she tried her best to fight it.

"You want that tiger cub right? Press start" he said to her.

And so she did. As he moved the joystick with her hand, she realized that he did it at a different pace. Although she moved it slowly with tons of focus, his motion was more slow and steady. It was almost like a slow dance for their hands, she got so caught up in the moment that she barely realized when they won.

The blaring sound of the machine went off, signaling their victory and Tori's eyes glowed with surprise and satisfaction. Yet, slowly her face fell back in awe and desire of the guy that didn't seem to want to let her hand go. His eyes met hers as she turned her head to meet his. Andre's heart sped up significantly, he could hear it pounding in his head, as did Tori's.

Catering to the sound, they both began to inch closer with the intent to kiss, but just as their lips grazed each other's Tori took a breath in and pulled away.

The brunette quickly replaced the passion running between them with joy for the fact that they had won.

"Yayy! We won!" she said giving him a quick hug and pulling the stuffed tiger from the machine.

He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw at this, but immediately went with the flow. "Yea, we did."

Cat quickly came over to celebrate with Tori. "Howw?" she squealed laughing.

"It was Andre, his hands are magical apparently" they laughed. "Thanks Dré" she added.

He sighed before saying with a forced smile "yea, it's no problem".

"Yeah good job Dré." implicitly mocked Beck, who had been watching him and Tori from where he sat the entire time.

Andre looked at him and shook his head before heading for the table where Jade and Robbie were seated.

"Looks like we caught an unhappy camper" the blue eyed girl said while sipping on her glass of green tea.

"The only thing unhappy about me is my stomach. Im starving." Andre steered the conversation elsewhere.

Jade allowed it and responded " For a guy who skipped school today, you really shouldn't be hungry. You've literally had access to food all day."

"Seriously. Why did you skip school anyway?" Robbie added, honestly curious. "The appointment couldn't have been that long."

" Nah, it wasn't. I was done sometime after 10. I just wasn't feeling it really, was kinda stressed about the results for a few days so I just used the time to rest and look into colleges." he explained while stealing sushi from Jade's plate.

"Beck and I agreed to go to UCLA for the first 2 years, maybe you should look into that too" Jade responded while going to take a bite of her sushi.

Andre and Robbie looked at each other with a strange and surprised expression. Jade didn't noticed and questioned it immediately. "What's that look about?" she questioned almost demandingly.

"Nothing" Andre brushed it off unbelievably nonchalant. However, Robbie didn't quite have the same skill to play off the situation.

Trying to follow suit, he chuckled nervously before saying "Yeah, nothing"

Jade immediately snapped at him seeing that he was the weaker link of the two, "Robbie!".

Andre quickly interceded in a warning tone "Rob.."

"Just because I don't take my scissors around with me anymore doesn't mean that I can't find them." she threatened.

Feeling pressured beyond sanity, his eyes shifted between his two friends before he finally broke his guard. "Beck may not be going to UCLA!"

Andre closed his eyes and sighed.

"What? He is going, it's what we agreed to." she said in disbelief.

"Well he may be, but he just seems to be really interested in NYU...he sorta applied and everything" Robbie said trying to defend his friend, but seemingly only made it worse.

"NYU? Wow." Jade's eyes then found Beck who was still by the Claw Crane talking with Tori and Cat. She then got up with her bag and went to approach him.

"Jade" Andre called following closely behind trying to stop her. To no avail, she continued.

"Hey babe, I was just saying that it's time to leave" he said before picking up on the rage in her eyes. "What's up?" he questioned confused.

"I want to go home." she said seriously, following which she headed for the door.

Beck looked at Andre and Robbie with a questioning look before shaking his head and following her. "Catch you guys tomorrow" he said to Cat and Tori while walking after his girlfriend who had just left the building.

-/

Hope you enjoyed the read, and please review. I read all of 'em ;) . More to come soon.

Super shoutout to LamarLaver and Dobby99 for the continual support and dedication, I appreciate it a ton. :) Also, a special thanks to Jhutch10, Kimlavina, RemzTrek, and Guest for the kind words of encouragement.

XxXx Much love.