Hey Guys,

As promised here is the next installment of CITR. I hope you had time to review and if not, you still have a week to if you wish. This will be the final installment for this week and next week you'll get chapters four and five.

And so it's the morning after… oh wait, why am I telling you, when you can just read for yourselves? Lol. Enjoy

A/N: I do not own nor am I affiliated with 'Morning Mood' or Sergio Rossi.

Cold in the Rain.

CHAPTER THREE – Thanks for the tip.

As Andy awoke the next morning the sound of 'morning mood' filled his head. Opting to sleep with the curtains drawn back and the window open, the fresh morning sun filled the room and a subtle breeze flowed nicely.

Andy sprawled out of bed and turned on his PC, playing the tune and allowing the music to fill his home. Unlike the previous day the morning's temperature was absolutely perfect and Andy couldn't wait to have his morning coffee.

After pouring his favorite mug with the hot liquid, Andy took his coffee outside and sat down to drink in the morning sun.

OK sun Andy thought to himself. Let's make a deal, become a reflection of my mood today and tomorrow you can sleep in all day!

Andy chuckled to himself as he realized things might actually look better today. There was, after all, nothing like sitting at home in the sun with coffee to start one's day.

Once his coffee was finished Andy walked back inside and was greeted by a red flashing of light. Upon further inspection Andy realized this was his answering machine and whoa Andy thought as he saw the number '5' displayed.

"You have five new messages… beep." Andy sat at the kitchen table, note pad and pen conveniently next to him. He took another sip of coffee and listened to the first one

"Andy! It's Lauren." The sound of a bang could be heard, most likely the slamming of a door. "Where's my coffee young man? You promised….!"

Oh Crap, Andy thought to himself. He had totally spaced on his promise to get Lauren and Rein's coffee and nearly fell out of his chair when he realized the time.

"Three pm?!" Andy screamed! "How the hell did I sleep THAT late?"

"Beep!"

Clearly the answering machine was not done, so Andy quickly jotted down the coffee for Lauren and Rein and paused the machine. Racing to his bedroom, Andy couldn't believe how quickly his day had gone from peaceful-lullaby to Jerry Springer-Stress. He flung some clothes onto his bed and in one scoop swept up his shoes and everything else, before flying back into the kitchen to dress, pressing play on the machine once more.

"Message Two- Andy! It's Lauren! It's midday! Where are you?...Beep. Message Three- Hi Andy, it's Rein here. I hope you're ok. Sorry about Mom's messages, you know how she is without coffee in the morning and today she actually chose to wait for you to bring some in. I'm not pushing, but, well… you know mom and…Beep!"

Andy couldn't help but laugh. Lauren was exactly like him when it came to coffee in the morning. If she hadn't had any by now, he wasn't surprised that Rein had phoned.

"Message Four- Hi, ah, Andy"

Just as Andy reached for his keys, his heart sank.

It was Jay.

"Ah, so… I know you must think I acted like a total jerk yesterday and I'm really sorry about that, um…"

Andy heard what sounded like Lauren in the background saying 'Oh hey Jay' and clearly heard Jay say 'Hey' back before he continued.

"Ah, so just call me, bye."

Andy paused the machine. He wasn't ready for that 5th message. He picked up his keys and raced for the door.

Meanwhile at the Dètendez-Vouz, Jay was sitting in the dining room coffee in hand, with the newspaper. Jay hated reading the paper; it always made him feel low. But on a day like this and with no one to talk to he had to do something to make himself look busy. Even if he was just trying to make it look that way.

Suddenly and without warning, Lauren had pulled back the chair opposite and sat herself down.

I guess it's her hotel, Jay thought to himself.

"Hi there." Lauren said, clearly trying to get Jay's attention.

"Ah…hi?" Jay responded, not know why in the world the hotel manager was sitting with him.

"Did my friend's card decline?" he finally asked.

"Friend's card?" Lauren asked, before realizing he must have been referring to Andy.

"Oh no, no, no! Andy's card always goes through. As a matter of fact we've never had a problem with him here."

The instant the statement had come out of her mouth Lauren wishes it hadn't.

Idiot. She thought to herself.

"You know Andy?" Jay naturally asked.

Oh well, cat's out of the bag now. Lauren thought.

"You mean Mr. I'll bring you coffee and then never shows up?" she spat and then seeing the look on Jay's face quickly softened.

"I'm sorry, I just don't do well without it," she quickly finished.

"You own an entire hotel," Jay replied lifting his cup "with coffee".

"Yeah, I do. But Andy promised to bring some by today and he goes to a nicer coffee shop. Shhhhh!" she pressed her fingers to her lips as the rich lady from the night before walked past.

"Who's that?" Jay enquired softly?

"Ms Van Uppity?" Lauren asked. "New to the hotel, total cow last night. Come to think of it, I thought she cancelled her reservation!"

Just then Taylor walked past and Lauren stopped him.

"Ah, Taylor, what is Ms Van Uppity doing here? I thought she cancelled," Lauren said out of the corner of her mouth, while smiling in the woman's direction.

"She did," Taylor said. "But then called back this morning and said, and I quote, that horrible woman at the desk aside, we still need our reservation!"

"Horrible woman?" Jay asked, recalling just how charming Lauren was last night.

"You were nothing but nice to me."

Taylor left and not wanting to keep talking to Lauren, Jay buried his head back into the newspaper.

"Um, hello!" Lauren started, pulling the paper down to see Jay's face.

"We weren't done here!"

Jay looked up annoyed. He was finally starting to see Ms Van Uppity's point of view on Lauren. Not exactly that she was horrible, but she was becoming quite annoying and he had a lot to think about.

"Yes we are, you spoke, told me you knew Andy, Van Uppity walks by, we had a banter, the end." He finished.

"Now I see why he likes you so much!" Lauren said and then instantly found herself regretting it for the second time that day.

Two for two Lauren, way to go!

"Who likes me?" Jay asked.

Lauren, who was always a quick thinker, saw Taylor come back with a wash cloth to wipe the tables. Perfect. She thought.

"Taylor." She finally said.

"Taylor couldn't be straighter if Brad Pitt and George Clooney made out here!" Jay retorted clearly noting the natural masculinity of Taylor.

Lauren jumped up, fearing her mouth would betray her for a third time in five minutes.

"Ah, I have to go!" she said lamely. "I'll send chef-Ramon out with one of his famous pot-pies on the house."

And without waiting for an answer, Lauren scooted out of the place in such a rush she nearly knocked over a Ming Vase on her way out. Fortunately as she rounded the corner to the front desk, she saw Andy, thankfully holding 2 cups of coffee.

"Well it's about time!" Lauren said.

"I'm sorry," Andy conceded.

"You Mr. would make for a terrible date," Lauren pointed out "I was under the impression you would meet me at home with this."

And as though anymore time without the liquid inside of her would be a waste of air, Lauren stood there draining the cup.

"Can you believe I slept in?" Andy asked.

"I could," said Rein, who popped up from under the desk.

"Oh my god! What did I tell you about jiffy popping your head before coffee?!" Lauren demanded.

But Andy didn't care, by now not only was he so wide awake but he was thrilled to see his good friend.

"Rein!" he squealed, running behind the desk to hug her.

"Hey Andy," Rein quietly replied. "Ah, you may want to whisper."

"Why?" asked Andy.

Rein pointed towards the dining room.

"He's in there… and coming out." She suddenly said as she noticed Jay heading towards the exit.

Andy darted to the floor, thanking all the gods that he was behind the desk.

"I'm not here," he mouthed.

"Noted." Rein replied as though that were already obvious.

Moments later J's voice could be heard.

"So, you done with your stuff?" he asked.

"My stuff?" Lauren replied.

"Yeah, you said you had to go, I took a shot."

"Oh," Lauren said, racing to try and find something to say when her mind continued to taunt her with expressions like why didn't I duck back there also?

"Yes, she's got her coffee." Rein thankfully answered.

"Mom's it's ok, caffeine addiction; while not healthy is apparently normal and the most acceptable drug for public consumption."

Jay smiled.

"You saw me drinking it in there." He replied. "Truth be known, I need 3 cups in the morning just to stay awake!"

Liar. Andy thought under the desk. When I knew you, you were strictly a water or juice guy only!

"I guess it's just sad you know. I mean you're still young and I'm…" Lauren started.

"Not old, that's for sure," Jay replied.

Under the table Andy couldn't help but mock the blonde-haired boy 'Not old, that's for sure'.

Suddenly he felt Rein's rather solid shoe kick him. Andy quickly put his hand over his mouth so as not to yell. She had elected to wear some Sergio Rossi boots and those shoes hurt!

"Oh well, I better get going," Andy heard Jay tell Lauren.

"Ok, well, feel free to stop by and say hi anytime," Lauren replied. "Remember at the Dètendez-Vouz we're not happy, unless you are!"

God Lauren can put it on thick, Andy thought to himself, waiting for the right moment to come out.

"Thanks Lauren," Jay laughed walking away.

But just as he was about to exit, he called back out.

"Oh and by the way, thanks for the tip!"

"What tip?" Lauren yelled back.

"I would never have known Andy liked me if you didn't tell me, thanks for the heads-up!" and with that Jay left the hotel.

Andy waited, knowing for sure it was too soon to get up. But Rein fixed that.

"He's gone! You can get up now." she informed him quite timidly as though she knew what was to come the moment he did.

And true to her prediction as Andy got up, he just fixed Lauren a very hard stare.

So Andy likes me. Jay thought as he slipped into a cab and gave the driver Andy's address.

It seemed like only yesterday, though it was a good three years ago, when Andy first came down to Pittsburg. Jay had met him one morning in the diner where he worked, hanging out with his cousin and Jay's friends, Micah and Ben. As the cab drove along to Andy's house, Jay couldn't help but replay the memories in his mind.

It hadn't taken the pair long to get acquainted and after only the second time of seeing each other, the pair had made frequent plans to catch-up, with B's place clearly being more comfortable for Andy then his cousins.

Micah, though one of the nicest guys in the world, was one of those guys that you had to choose your words around. Though Jay didn't care so much, he knew that Andy, as Micah's cousin always felt he had to toe-the-line.

Jay recalled so well, all the times Andy would come over and just flop onto one of his many beanbags venting about how restricted he had felt at Micah's and had the place not been B's, Jay would have invited him to stay there many times already.

The cab pulled up at Andy's house and Jay got out, this time purposefully sending the cab away. If I have to sit on his porch step all night, I'll do it. He thought.

This time I'm not leaving!

As Jay slowly walked up the path to Andy's front door, he realized the many subtle signs there were that Andy liked him. There was the time when Andy had come over with hot chocolates one night, all because B was out of town and Jay was lonely. The time when Andy had held Jay's hand at the cinemas, though admittedly he had thought that was because Andy knew he was scared. And of course that time that he was so willing to take B up on his dare to kiss Jay, even though back then he thought Andy had just really gotten into the game.

The more J thought about it, the more obvious it was and he couldn't believe how stupid he had been not to notice it. It was then and there that Jay decided that he could definitely see himself with someone like Andy and vowed, at the very least to give him a chance.

Coming out of that train of thought, Jay realized he had actually been standing at Andy's front door for a good few minutes and wondered how silly he looked just standing there. He was just about to knock on the door when he noticed how sweaty his palms had become.

Why am I so nervous? He wondered. This is Andy! A! It's not like it was with B. This guy is easy to talk to.

But try as he might, to wipe the sweat away from his palms, he then noticed how sweaty his brow had become.

This is ridiculous Jay! Just knock on the door! He screamed at himself.

Finally plucking up the courage, Jay held his hand out and knocked.

OMG can you believe Lauren just told Jay how Andy felt? Clearly a slip of the tongue but how will Andy deal with it? How do you like the characters so far? I've tried to highlight Lauren, Andy and Jay so we can get to know them all more. There will be more characters for you to meet soon.

Please review if you get the chance between now and my next upload which will be the same time next week.

I wonder how things will go between the two now that Jay knows that Andy likes him. I wonder how Andy will react to Lauren after her 'loose lips' incident. Can she be trusted around Jay after this? What else will she spill? I hope you enjoyed Rein having some more book-time in this chapter. She will again have some more in the next.

Ok so that's it for this upload session. I will indeed upload the next two chapters this same time next week, love and light to you all!