34 - Learning How to Be Alone & Devastated

Numb. That's how Marty felt right now. In fact he'd spent almost the last two weeks feeling numb, pretty much running on auto-pilot since Andy had left him standing at the altar. Dan had stayed for the first four or five of those days until his job demanded that the older Harrison brother return to California. This led to Dan asking if he wanted to head out to the west coast with him. While his initial response was to graciously refuse, Marty decided that maybe a temporary change of scenery would do him some good and accepted his brother's offer. Besides Marty already had those days scheduled off (for his now cancelled honeymoon), so why not use them?

California had proven to be a decent enough distraction for the first couple of days, but the knowledge that he'd eventually have to come home to an empty townhouse put a damper on whatever fun Marty could've fully experienced.

Well, at least I got to see the Pacific Ocean, he thought with a soft snort. His lazy brown eyed gaze watched the familiar streets of Chicago blur by through the taxi window. Soon enough the yellow cab pulled up in front of his townhouse. My townhouse. Not mine and Andy's anymore. Just mine. What a depressing thought.

"Hey, buddy, you gonna get out any time soon?"

"What? Oh, right, sorry," he apologized.

After he removed his luggage from the space beside him and then paying the cabbie, Marty entered his empty home to find that it was surprisingly devoid of dust. He frowned in confusion for a brief moment before remembering that Rory had offered to keep an eye on the place while he was out of town. He would have to call her up later to thank her for doing that, but first and foremost Marty needed to take a shower.

When he was getting dressed following his shower, Marty wasn't very surprised to find that the majority of Andy's clothes had gone missing, not to mention quite a few of the framed pictures that his former fiance kept around the bedroom. Either she or Lexie must have returned for the items during his west coast trip he realized. It was obvious that Andy was avoiding him and that alone in itself stirred some bitterness towards the woman who Marty had been planning to spend the rest of his life with.

"Damn it," Marty muttered in frustration, leaving the room with the hamper of dirty clothes under his arm. He stalked into the laundry room and tossed the contents of his burden into the washing machine, then leaned against the cool metal frame as it began its cycle. His glance drifted to where the detergent was usually placed, only to have his gaze fall on a familiar orange concert t-shirt instead. When the fabric came in contact with his fingers, Marty couldn't help but remember the first time he'd seen it. He closed his eyes as the memory washed over him.

Marty had just returned to his small apartment following a rather good day at work to discover that he desperately needed to do laundry, which was a chore that the rookie architect was not fond of doing because it meant that he had to go down several floors to the ground floor where the washing machines were stored. He also had to pray that there would be a free machine, which was a rare occurence in itself. More often than not they were being used by one of the several tenants and that usually forced Marty to wait awhile for his turn.

Luckily for him though Marty arrived to discover that there was a free machine and immediately began shoving his clothes into the vacant appliance with a little more vigor than necessary. He paused a moment when a soft chuckle caught his attention, his gaze meeting those belonging to a green eyed blonde who was smirking at him in amusement. He shrugged at the gorgeous girl sheepishly before returning to his task, then let out an annoyed sigh at the realization that he'd forgotten to bring change along.

"Damn," he muttered.

"No change, huh?"

"Afraid not," he said, turning to face the orange t-shirt clad girl who had spoken. "Guess I have to run back upstairs. Could you watch my stuff until I get back?"

"Well, I could do that," the curly haired blonde said, still smirking at him. "But wouldn't it be better if I just lent you the money?"

"You'd do that?" Marty asked in surprise.

"Sure," she shrugged. "But I do have one condition."

He quirked an eyebrow at her, definitely intrigued. "And that would be?"

Her confident smirk when they began their conversation faltered, replaced by a slightly nervous smile. "Join me for coffee later?"

After recovering from a brief moment of disbelief that such a gorgeous girl was obviously nervous about asking him out, Marty nodded in response. "Sure."

Her emerald eyes lit up. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he nodded again, then added. "But I do have a condition of my own."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," he repeated, his hand now held out towards her. "I'm Marty. And you are?"

"Nice to meet you, Marty," the blonde grinned, her hand slipping into Marty's own. "I'm Andrea, but everybody calls me Andy."

He returned from his reverie and continued to stare at the t-shirt for another minute or so, then opened the washing machine and tossed it inside along with some detergent. After closing the lid with a shaky hand, Marty exitted the laundry room towards the kitchen.

With a beer in his hand Marty leaned back against the breakfast nook, his gaze drawn to a certain drawer. Though he wondered if the contents of said drawer were still there, Marty couldn't bring himself to make sure. He didn't really know what to think if the letters and notes that he and Andy left there were still inside. And he didn't want to think on what it could mean if they weren't there either. Instead he finished his beer and placed the empty on top of the counter, then grabbed himself another from the fridge before heading into the living room.

Immediately upon entering the living room though, Marty noticed something was missing. It took him another moment to discover what exactly that was. He shook his head at the empty space where Andy's prized Yamaha P-200 once presided over the room.

Well, I guess that definitively answers the question on if she's ever coming back, he thought glumly while sitting down on the couch. He leaned back into the cushions to look up at the ceiling and allowed his mind to wander, the memories of his entire relationship with Andrea Marie Walker cascading over him in a relentless assault of images.

"I'm going to love you forever, Martin Harrison," Andy promised breathlessly in his ear.

The memory of the exact moment when she had said that forced Marty to shut his eyes tightly against the tears that threatened to escape.

"I guess forever isn't what it used to be," Marty whispered back, the numbness he'd been plagued with for the last two weeks now replaced by grief.

Next chapter will be titled 'the Mathematics of Regret', and it'll have some long overdue Nudist interaction. See you then!