Chapter Seventeen: A Really Long Day

His head was throbbing beyond reason.

Slowly picking himself off of the floor, Andre realized that he had fallen out of his bed... again.

What a klutz!

The bright sunlight was peeking through the closed blinds, filling the room with a fuzzy blue glow of light as it was filtered through the purple curtains.

His mind was completely hazy of what had happened the previous night.

Nothing came to his mind.

He was drawing nothing but a blank.

As he continued to get off the floor, he began to feel his muscles ache.

"Ow! What the hell?"

His body ached so much that he had to sit down by the bedside table.

Rubbing his head, he wished that the throbbing would stop.

Ugh... my head is banging! My body is aching! What exactly happened last ni-

Before he could finish his thought, Andre caught sight of something that immediately clarified what was going on.

On the table beside him was a glass container. About the size of a small can of soda. The container was filled with a watery liquid and what strangely looked like a huge wad of fat.

I've seen that before... It's the... that belong to... which means that I'm not in my-

Looking over at the bed, Andre could distinctly make out what looked like someone sleeping.

With a blanket covering most of them, gentle breathing could be heard.

Fighting through the aches of his muscles, Andre inched over to the bed and carefully pulled the sheet from over the person.

Once he saw their face, he immediately began smiling.

Soundly sleeping with her hair draped over her face was Jade West... in all of her nakedness.

Placing the blanket back over her, Andre sat back down on the floor.

Looking down at himself, he noticed that he too wasn't wearing much; he had only the covers that were loosely wrapped below his waist.

Leaning back against the dresser, Andre began to remember what happened yesterday.

To start off things, let's just say that it was a REALLY long day.

Almost a month after their long-awaited kiss, Andre Harris found himself spending his Friday afternoon with his... wait for it...

GIRLFRIEND!

I know, right?! It's exciting to finally read that.

The couple didn't necessarily get the right opportunity to tell the others of their new relationship.

Even though he was eager to tell the others, Andre was still a bit worried about how Tori and Beck would react; while Jade... well, Jade really couldn't care less what anyone thought.

She was just happy to finally be with Andre.

After officially considering themselves boyfriend/girlfriend, just two days ago; the two spent the day unsuccessfully trying to tell the rest of the gang about the news.

They decided to tell their friends on the last day of school, which was earlier today... the only problem was that Beck had unexpectedly left the previous night to spend his summer vacation in Australia with his cousins, and Tori missed the rest of the school day to prepare to leave for her family vacation in Miami.

That left only Robbie and Cat, and the two of them were barely paying attention to anything. You know, considering that it was the last day of school.

The couple then agreed to just put off the announcement until all of their friends were together... which wouldn't be until near the start of their senior year.

It sucks, I know.

But they thought it would be best to tell such hard-hitting news to each of them, face to face.

Seemed better that way, I guess.

Anyway, it was 3:48 and after the two got out of school early; they found themselves laying back on the couch in Jade's den.

They were just finishing watching Shaun of the Dead when Andre questioned the ending.

"So, he actually kept his friend in his shed?"

"Mmhmm," mumbled Jade, as she cozied up against him.

"Even though he's now a zombie?"

"Yup, and look, now they're playing video games."

"So pretty much things have gone back to normal."

"Why do you sound so surprised?" asked Jade, turning to look back at Andre, "If you were turned into a zombie, I would keep you in my closet."

Hmm, how sweet.

Looking past the strangeness of what she said, Andre smiled, "You would really do that?"

"Yeah, you are my boyfriend after all." answered Jade, with a tiny smile, "But if you try to bite me, I would have no choice but to cut off your head."

Well... that escalated quickly.

"Would you at least keep my head?"

"Of course! I would keep it on my dresser as a reminder of the love we held so dear."

The two burst into laughter as their conversation led to how their relationship would work after a zombie apocalypse.

I guess the idea of love could be thought of in even the strangest of topics.

As the movie credits ended, Andre got up to grab the remote.

"I have the perfect idea for what we should look at next." he spoke, clicking the "Search for Movies" icon on the TV menu.

"What is it?" asked Jade, sitting up, "Is it an action flick? Or sci-fi? Please no romance. Anything but romance."

"It's not romance." Andre replied as he continued to quickly flip through the numerous movies in alphabetical order, "Trust me, you'll love it."

Something about his tone made Jade even more curious about what the movie was.

After passing through the A's, B's, C's, D's, and E's, Andre began slowing down around the F's.

"So the movie begins with F?" asked Jade, trying to think of any movie she loved that began with "F".

But something stopped Jade from guessing what the movie was.

Closer and closer, Andre slowly reached the movie he was looking for...

...and Jade was absolutely horrified by the choice.

This movie was an atrocity to mankind!

It was absolutely the worst thing ever created.

And to think that they made a squeal to this movie.

Sick!

Can you guess what movie Jade was so fearful of?

…

Still can't guess?

Oh, okay. I'll just tell you.

The movie that Jade West hated among all others was...

Flipper

Yep, that's right.

The movie about that dolphin was the one movie that made her skin crawl.

Looking over at a beaming Andre, Jade noticed that he was standing behind the armchair.

If he thinks that that is gonna protect him, he's got another thing coming!

"Flipper?! Flipper?!" she shouted, running after a fleeing Andre, "Yeah, you better run!"

Trying to keep away from his hot girlfriend, Andre ran round and round the house.

And by hot, I mean, angry that her boyfriend would play a joke like this.

"Come on, Jade! The movie's not that bad." he joked, dodging Jade's grasp by jumping over the couch, "It's just an innocent little dolphin!"

"I'll show you innocent!"

One thing that surprised Andre was how fast Jade moved. If it wasn't for his spinning and dodging, Jade would have caught him.

It was almost as if the two were playing some form of tag throughout the house.

After a good minute of running and dodging, Andre lost sight of Jade.

She wasn't in the kitchen.

She wasn't in the living room.

She wasn't even in the basement.

Soon he began to wonder exactly where she was.

Hmm, maybe she's somewhere upstairs.

Slowly walking up the staircase, Andre heard a noise coming from the room across from the upstairs bathroom.

Peering into the empty room, he immediately took in that this had to have been Ms. West's room.

It was particularly light in color. The drapes that hung over the sides of the windows were a light shade of yellow.

The bed looked to be a fairly old queen sized covered with a bunch of frilled patterned blankets.

Even the dresser and bedside table had frilled sheets laying on them.

Too much frill, if you ask me. thought Andre, as he walked over to the dresser where several picture frames were placed.

They were photos of Jade with her family. Some were of her when she was very little and others were of her as she got older.

The pics of Jade when she was a little girl showed that she was really different back then.

She looked really cheerful.

There was even one photo that stunned Andre.

It was Jade with her dad... and both of them were smiling!

Not a forced smile, but actually smiling.

Jade looked to be at least seven years old in the picture and her father was carrying her on his shoulders.

Both of them looked pretty close at the time. It almost made Andre wonder what happened between them.

Looking at several of the other photos, he could see that adorable smile slowly disappearing. It eventually got to where Jade wasn't smiling at all and neither was her father.

Andre couldn't help but feel sorry for her, but with that it made him begin thinking about his own father.

It'd been several years since he saw his dad. In fact, he didn't even know where he lived or if he was even alive.

Andre never even had a full conversation with the guy, let alone develop a relationship with him.

This in turn made him even more depressed over Jade.

Her father was always nearby. He may not have still been married to Jade's mom anymore or lived in the same house or even been supportive of many of his daughter's choices, but he was there.

Yet, the father and daughter now had a strained relationship and didn't particularly care for one another.

It was sad.

Really, really sad.

All of this melancholic thinking was getting to Andre, he quickly looked away from the pictures and decided to leave the room.

But before he could leave, he heard a voice call out to him.

"Gotcha."

Taking Andre by surprise, a pair of hands reached out from under the bed and yanked him onto the floor.

Looking to see who the hands belonged to, Andre immediately saw that mischievous smile belonging to Jade West.

"Jade!" he yelled, as she began to crawl up on him, eventually to the point where she had a firm hold on him.

Finally catching her boyfriend, Jade held down Andre and asked, "You thought you were slick, huh? Thought you could play a trick on me and get away with it?"

Andre was about to utter something, but Jade quickly cut him off.

"Well, I like to have fun, too." she smiled, making Andre feel a little uneasy.

Dammit! What was she about to do?! What was she about to do?! What was she about to do?!

For a moment, all Jade did was laugh, but it was what she did next that caught Andre off guard.

Within a split second, Jade began fiercely tickling her boyfriend's sides.

No! NO! Anything b-but that! S-she's gonna k-kill me!

Immediately, Andre found himself in a laughing fit. He had absolutely no control over himself.

His body wiggled uncontrollably as Jade giggled at her boyfriend's helplessness.

Being tickled was one of his weaknesses and having Jade relentlessly tickle him... well, it was really good.

Like, really good.

Yet, he also wished that it would stop or else he would die of laughter.

Which is really something that can happen.

I'm serious. You can die of too much laughter.

Don't believe me? Google it.

Struggling to break out of his girlfriend's grasp, Andre somehow broke out of it and crawled away from Jade.

Tumbling out of the bedroom, Andre rushed downstairs.

Immediately giving chase, Jade yelled, "Don't run away! I was having so much fun!"

Once he reached the den, Andre stopped to catch his breath but was tackled onto the couch by Jade.

Preparing to be tickled some more, Andre was surprised when Jade started kissing him.

Not that he didn't mind being kissed by her; it was just spur of the moment.

"Thought you were going to tickle me to death." he sighed, as Jade straddled herself on him, "But this... this is much better-"

Jade cut him off by crashing her lips onto his.

She was relentless when it came to making out with him, but Andre was just as fierce.

There was so much sexual tension that was bottled up between the two.

Both of them were just dying to release it.

As Andre's hands rested on Jade's thighs, he slowly moved towards her plump backside.

He really couldn't help but get a really good grip on it.

Damn, she got it where it counts!

Jade chuckled at his expression and asked, "You like that, huh?"

"I wouldn't be squeezing it if I didn't, now would I?" laughed Andre.

"Well, if you like that, then I know you'll love these."

As Jade moved up on him, Andre was treated to a very nice view of her cleavage.

He quickly bit his lip, trying to keep from saying what was really on his mind.

Which probably would have been along the lines of...

Boy, those are some nice puppies!

Ha ha... 'puppies'...

But really, in all honesty, they were just so ample!

And insanely round.

It was even more unbearable to resist considering that Jade was wearing a very low-cut, blue shirt.

"Don't act like you don't like them." smiled Jade, "I've seen the way you've tried to sneak a glance every now and then... pervert."

Chuckling, Andre responded with, "I'm no pervert."

"Yes, you are, but that's okay. If you were any other guy, you would have had a cracked skull by now, but... you're not."

"The privileges of being the boyfriend. Sweet!"

"But you know what else is sweet?"

Taking a second to think, Andre asked, "What?"

"This."

Moving back down, Jade once again started kissing Andre.

Only this time, she started placing her hands under his shirt.

Feeling across his hard abs, she gradually went down to his belt.

Only one guess where this was going.

Slowly getting caught up in the moment, Andre began remembering something.

This is definitely the perfect way to spend the start of summer break... although, I never thought that it would get to this point this quickly... wait... I'm forgetting something... what is it?

With his belt completely off, Jade was eagerly unfastening his jeans when...

...what am I forgetting?! What is so import- wait, I remember... I know what's so important... crap!... *sighs* we're not alone...

As Jade gently crept her hand into Andre's boxers, a loud bang was heard near the back of the house.

Startled, Jade quickly got off of Andre and went to go check on the noise.

Right when things were getting freakin' good... such perfect timing!

Andre, rolling off of the couch and grabbing his belt, stumbled after Jade while fastening his jeans.

The couple had two good guesses on whom it was that caused that loud noise.

"I swear! When I get my hands on them!" yelled Jade, as she rushed into the kitchen.

The sheer sight of what was going on in there furthered Jade's rage.

"What the fuck are you two doing?!"

In the corner of the room, covered in dirt, grass, and dog kibble were Andre's little sister, Aubrey; Jade's little brother, Trent; and Jade's Husky, Buckles.

Both at the age of 12, Aubrey and Trent went to the same middle school and were actually really close friends.

By close friends, I mean, mischief buddies.

Forgetting that the two were spending most of the afternoon outside, Jade and Andre were furious to see the messy sight.

"Bree, can't I go a day without having to clean up one of your messes?" asked Andre, walking into the messed-up kitchen, "What exactly were you guys doing to cause all this?!"

"And what were you doing to Buckles?!" Jade questioned, ruffling the dog's cluttered red fur, "He's all filthy and you know how difficult it is to clean him when he's like this."

"We were just playing around outside... and he got excited," explained Trent, brushing off the excess dirt that was caked in his short brown hair.

Noticing that Trent was trying to hide something in his pocket, Andre asked, "What's that?"

"What's what?" replied Trent, nonchalantly.

"That thing that you're trying to hide. What is it?"

Tired of her brother playing games, Jade reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked to be a dog whistle.

Fuming, Jade asked, "A dog whistle?! You used a dog whistle on him?!"

"Well, Buckles got a little out of hand because of some squirrels; so Trent tried to use the whistle to calm him down." responded Aubrey, trying to stay calm in Jade's piercing gaze, "But that only made things worse; we had to chase him through the bushes, the garden; we even had to jump in the pool to get him out."

"We then chased him into the house and that's how we all crashed into the cabinet with dog food." added Trent, pulling a twig from out of Aubrey's ponytail, "So you see, it's not entirely my fault that this happened."

Jade just stood there; with her arms crossed and her eyes closed, she was practically shaking with anger.

Andre had never seen her look so furious. He almost began to think that she would breathe fire.

Both Trent and Aubrey looked too scared to even move an inch.

Finally, after the most frightening twenty seconds ever, Jade spoke.

Her voice was calm, yet you could tell that she was anything but.

"You used a dog whistle on Buckles? Do you even remember what happened the last time one was used on him?"

Trent just shrugged his shoulders.

"God, you can be so dense sometimes. Buckles is not like most dogs! Dog whistles really frighten him." Jade ranted, slamming the whistle on the kitchen counter, "I swear, I- you know what? Never mind. Just get cleaned up and clean up this mess before Mom gets home."

"What?! I can't clean all this by-"

"I really don't care. Now do what I say. NOW!"

The fury in Jade's voice was enough to send a shiver down everyone's back.

Andre could distinctly tell that she was really upset about this. He'd only hoped that Trent was wise enough to just do what she said.

As Trent walked past her, Jade could have sworn that she heard him mutter something that wasn't age-appropriate.

"Excuse me, what was that? 'Fuck who?'" she asked, putting her hand out to stop him.

Huffing, Trent responded, "Nothing... I said, nothing."

"That's what I thought," Jade replied, lowering her hand.

While Jade went over to check on Buckles, Andre turned his attention to his sister, "Mom won't be happy to see your clothes like that."

"You're not gonna snitch, are you?" Aubrey asked, pulling bits of grass from her hair.

"Nope... not this time. I wouldn't want to have to deal with you being grounded during summer break. I have more important things to do than watch over you."

Sighing with relief and rushing to hug her big brother, Aubrey rejoiced, "Thank God! She would kill me if she found out."

Taking out his car keys and handing them to Aubrey, Andre spoke, "Get in the car and wait for me, okay?"

"Sure." Aubrey responded, walking past Andre and Jade, "But could you please not get into another make-out sess? You just seem to drag those on and on and..."

"Just get in the car." muttered Andre, as Aubrey left the couple alone, "And please, don't mess up my seats!"

"I can't make that promise!"

Brushing some of the dirt that Aubrey left on him, Andre walked over to Jade and asked, "Hey, are you alright? You had me worried back there."

Slowly calming down from earlier, Jade replied, "Yeah... sorry about that, I just- Trent can be an ass sometimes, especially to Buckles."

Looking down at the panting dog and patting his head, Andre stated, "You really care for him, I can just tell by how furious you got when you heard that Trent used a dog whistle on your dog. So you shouldn't be sorry for showing how much you care for Buckles. I personally think it's sweet that you care so much for him. He's really lucky to have you."

Jade loved it when Andre would try to comfort her whenever she was really upset about something.

He was practically one of the few people who could actually calm her down.

"You're right. You're absolutely right." sighed Jade, holding Andre's hand, "But I must say, you're much kinder to your sister than I am with my brother."

"I wouldn't exactly say that. Sometimes I can be a little hard on Bree, but that's only when she's being a real pain... which is basically all the time." Andre responded, "Besides, I saw what you did back there."

"What?"

"You held back. Near the end, you held back from unleashing hell on Trent."

Playing dumb, Jade scoffed, "Please, I didn't hold back on him."

"Yeah, right. You could have ripped him to shreds for what happened... but you didn't."

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm saying that as much as they may annoy us, we'll always have a soft spot for our siblings. Even someone like you, Jade." insisted Andre, slowly pulling her in and kissing her behind her left ear.

Damn, he had to go for my weak spot.

Giggling from Andre's subtle kisses, Jade replied, "Okay, okay! Maybe you're right. Maybe."

"See? Now was that so hard for you to admit?" beamed Andre, as he pulled away from her, "Aww, you're so cute when you blush like that."

Embarrassed that she was blushing, Jade quickly tried to change the subject, "Don't you have to take your sister home?"

"Yeah..." uttered Andre, rolling his eyes.

"Really wish that you didn't have to leave so soon. Things were just getting exciting."

Not wanting to leave either, Andre replied, "Don't worry, once I get Aubrey settled, check on my grandma, and change out of these clothes; I'll come back and help you clean Buckles, okay? Then after that, we can do anything that you want."

Grabbing his hands, Jade asked, "Really? Anything? Anything at all?"

"Anything."

With a very intriguing expression, Jade smiled, "I think I can come up with some stuff for us to do... and since I'm such a fool for you, we might continue what we started earlier."

Remembering how far they went back in the den, Andre couldn't help but get a little excited.

Before he could even respond, the sharp sound of a car horn could be heard.

Andre sighed, "I should get going. She's crazy enough to drive off in my car."

Giving him one last kiss, Jade spoke, "Don't take so long. You know how I feel about waiting."

"Trust me, I know."

For a couple of seconds, they just stared at each other.

Both of them wanted to say something to the other... but for some reason, they felt like they shouldn't do it at the moment.

It had to be a really heartfelt moment to finally say those words for the first time.

But now wasn't the right time.

"Bye..."

"Bye."

After Andre left, Jade gazed around the cluttered kitchen. There were splotches of dirt on the fridge, oven, cabinets, and countertops.

Scattered all over the floor was dog kibble; and unlike everyone else, Buckles really loved this mess.

"Of course, you would enjoy this." Jade said, crouching down and ruffling his red fur, "You're a dog."

Looking up at Jade, Buckles made a small whimper.

"Kidding! I'm kidding. You're much more than that." she laughed, as Buckles licked her face, "Down boy, down! Too much loving."

Calming down, Buckles placed his head on Jade's lap.

Fondling his ears, Jade casually asked, "What do you think of Andre? Hmm? C'mon, I won't get mad."

All Buckles did was pant lightly and brushed his muzzle with his paw.

"I'll take that as you haven't had enough time to form an opinion of him." Jade stated, not caring that she was now sitting on the filthy floor, "Wanna know what I think of him? Well, he's incredible, like really incredible. And when I say that I mean, he stood out so much. He's smooth and charming and all, but that's not what I like about him. It's how he's not quick to judge. You've seen how I am sometimes with other people. I'm mean. I'm can be a mean girl. But Andre... he saw past that."

"I was really bitchy to him when we first met, but... he didn't let that first impression bother him. I mean, any guy that can overlook that and still forgive you for the crap that you've put him through... they can't be that bad, right?"

All Buckles did was lick his nose and looked up at Jade.

"Guess that means that I should already know the answer, huh? But I just... I just hope that I don't mess this up. 'Cause I honestly do... love him." she sighed, gently caressing Buckles' ears, "You know, you're a really great listener."

Immediately, Buckles' ears perked up.

"But I still gotta give you a bath."

And just like that, they started sagging.

"C'mon, it'll be fun. You'll love it." she insisted, leading the dirty Husky outside, "And no splashing today. Last time, you got way out of hand, mister."