My phone buzzes and I check the text: i’ll pick you up at 6:00 for dinner. i got something to ask you. love ya.
“Who is it?” she asks. “Is it Andy?”
“It’s Andrew.” She knows Andrew is fundamentally opposed to nicknames. I straighten the framed picture of him and me that sits on my nightstand. He gave it to me for Christmas. The top edge of the frame is etched with the words: Friends Forever.
“What does he want?”
Andrew always ends his texts with love ya. It’s like he knows we’ll be together someday, even if he’s not ready to admit it yet.
“He’s taking me to dinner. He has something to ask me.” I read the text again and suck in my breath. “You don’t think…?”
Macie raises her eyebrows at me. “Girl, your optimism is inspiring.”
I resist the urge to punch her. A girl can dream, and I’ve read plenty of love stories that are more unlikely than ours.
Top Four Reasons to Tell Andrew How I Really Feel about Him
1. Mom would finally quit bugging me about it.
2. Macie would finally quit bugging me about it.
3. Enough is enough already.
4. I love a happy ending.
“I don’t know why you’d even want to date him,” she says. “Judging by all the skanks he dates, you’re not his type.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I say. “He may play the field, but I’m exactly his type when it comes to a long-term relationship. His parents would never approve of those girls. I’m in it for the long haul. And, by the way, his parents love me.”
It’s true. His mother even told me not to worry, that Andrew would come around in time. And besides me, who knows him better than his own mother?
“You make me so sad. Why would you want to wait around for him, or for anyone, for that matter?”
“I’m not waiting around. I’ve had boyfriends.”
“Two,” she says, rolling her eyes. “The first one lasted a week. The second only a month. You never even let him flick your bean.”
“Excuse me?” I say, jutting out one hip.
“You heard me.”
I shrug. I have nothing against sex, or flicking of any kind, so long as it’s with the right person. Mom thought she had the right guy, but look how that turned out. Forgive me for being cautious. When I give it up, it’ll be right. “Andrew’s worth waiting for.”
“He’s smokin’ hot. I’ll give you that. And word around campus is that he’s good with his hands, if you know what I mean.”
I cringe, and there’s no hiding it from Macie.
“But shit, girl, he treats you like you’re incapable of making your own decisions.”
“That’s not fair.”
I hate this argument. Andrew and I have only ever had each other’s best interests at heart. He was there for me senior year after my dad left and my life turned to shit. He was able to get me through that, even though it had been a fragile time for him, too.
His brother had died years earlier, and his parents refused to talk about it. They still pretend like it never happened.
They deal with their grief by micro-managing everything about Andrew’s life, but they do this without really taking care of him. I, on the other hand, take care of him. I care. I’m always there to listen, like that time back in high school when he tried to talk about his brother but broke down crying instead.
“Uh-huh,” Macie says, not buying it. She refuses to believe Andrew has a soft side, but that’s because he only shows it to me. “What are you majoring in again?” she asks.
“Shut up.”
“Exactly.”
I scowl at her. So what if Andrew convinced me to switch my major from English to Business sophomore year? It was a smart idea, and something I’m almost positive I would have done on my own, even if he hadn’t suggested it. My future will be a lot more financially secure now, and God knows I need that.
After we graduate college and then law school, Andrew has plans for us to do some charity work for impoverished families, then we’ll open up our own law firm. After we’re well-established, we’ll hire some associates. It’s practical. It’s orderly. I love it.
“You’ve let Andrew take the lead for too long.”
“Untrue.”
“Half this campus doesn’t even know your name. They only know you as Andrew Mason’s girlfriend, which would be bad enough if you actually were his girlfriend, but seeing as you’re not…”
She’s right. Andrew thinks people’s assumptions are funny,