r/AndyAndLeyley

[Chapter 1]

[Previous Chapter]

[The Road Ahead]

You are Andrew.

Andrew had been waiting for Ashley to show up at their usual meetup right by the school’s exit doors when he heard Principal White’s voice over the intercom, summoning him to his office.

He immediately felt his heart sink, Those fucking cops snitched on us after all, didn’t they?

Of course, he had absolutely no intention of going to the principal’s office, but given the fact that Ashley still hadn’t shown up yet, he soon realized that she was probably already there. Alone and unprotected ...

“Fuck me,” he muttered under his breath as he started race walking to White’s office.

He arrived shortly thereafter and knocked on the principal’s closed door several times before White opened it. Andrew felt a wave of relief; no cops in sight.

That relief immediately vanished, however, the moment his eyes landed on Ashley, her face flushed and eyes puffy from crying. Principal White nodded once and gestured for him to step in, but he didn’t even wait for the cue as he immediately kneeled in front of Ashley’s chair and took both of her hands into his own, resting them in her lap, “Hey, what happened? What’s wrong?”

She just shook her head, squeezing his hands tightly as her face crumpled further, and Andrew stood back up and turned his attention to Principal White, “Can we have a minute?”

White blinked, probably not expecting to be kicked out of his own office, but he simply nodded once more, “I’ll be outside whenever you’re ready.” With that, he closed the door behind himself, leaving the siblings alone in the principal’s office.

Andrew let go of Ashley’s hands just long enough to pull another chair directly in front of her, taking a seat himself and immediately reclaiming them once more. “Ashley,” he said softly but urgently, “I need to know what’s going on here.”

“I fucked up, Andy,” she muttered, her voice hoarse from sobbing. “I fucked up bad.”

Andrew swallowed hard, “What do you mean? What happened?”

“The principal wants to meet with Mom and Dad to talk about me,” she responded. “B-but they can’t! They’re gonna find out about you signing off on all my detention records. S-so I told him that … that Mom and Dad are abusive. I didn’t know what else to say!”

Andrew was speechless. How the hell was he going to get them out of this mess now?

Ashley looked up at him with watery eyes, “I’m rotten, Andy. I’m rotten to the core. But you can’t stop loving me. Please. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Andy. Please don’t hate me. Please please please!”

Andrew couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Ashley this broken, if ever. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Say something, Andrew. Fuck, think! Think!

Andrew gently placed a hand on the back of Ashley’s head, slowly pulling her closer until their foreheads touched. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before meeting her gaze once more, “I don’t hate you. I will never hate you. We’ll get through this just like everything else. I promise.”

Fresh tears began to fall down Ashley’s face as she leaned in and planted a single kiss on his lips, “I need you, Andrew. I need you so bad it hurts. I hate everyone and everything in this fucked up world, but I can’t stand being away from you. I … I’m nothing without you.”

Nothing without you. At the utterance of those three words, Andrew could feel everything else around them fade into obscurity. At that moment, he forgot all about their newfound problem. He forgot about Principal White waiting outside, about his unknowingly soon-to-be ex-girlfriend Julia, about their parents who had no idea of what was coming their way. He swore he even forgot his own name as his thumb slowly wiped away Ashley’s tears and his lips claimed hers.

The kiss was soft and delicate, but the sheer amount of love behind it was unquantifiable. He gently pulled away and rested his forehead against hers once again.

“Then let’s be something. Together.”

Andrew could hear Ashley’s breath catch in her throat, and he continued, “I wanna spend the rest of my life with you, Ashley. I’ve never been more sure of that than I am right here, right now. I can’t stand being away from you, either.” He brought up a hand to cup her cheek, “I don’t care if you’re nothing without me, because you’ll never be without me. Not for as long as I live.”

Ashley immediately clung to his hand with her own as she leaned into his touch, “Even though I’m the most vile girl on the planet?”

Andrew couldn’t help but smile at that, “No; because of it. You’re perfect for a freak like me.”

Ashley smiled back, and she kissed him one last time before pulling away fully and averting her gaze, “I still messed up really bad, though …”

Andrew sighed, “Yeah, I don’t think there’s any easy way outta this. We either tell White that you lied, in which case he’ll call Mom and Dad and all hell will break loose; not only will they find out you tried to frame them for child abuse, they’ll also know I’ve been forging Mom’s signature on all of your detention records.” He then bit the second knuckle of his index finger, something he often did subconsciously when he was stressed. “Or … we stick to the lie, and who knows what happens next.”

Ashley wiped away any remaining tears, “I mean, the school will call the police on them, right? They’ll probably take us away from them. I say they deserve it.”

Andrew couldn’t exactly deny that last part, but he shook his head, “No. We can’t. What’s gonna happen next? We’ll be put into foster care or something? What if we get separated in the process? I’ll be turning 18 soon enough, but … what if I can’t find you by then?”

Ashley stayed quiet, and Andrew looked away, “We need to face the consequences of our actions.”

After several moments of silence, she nodded, “Alright.”

Andrew’s eyes immediately flitted back up to her in shock. For as long as she had been alive, he had never once seen her take responsibility for anything she did.

Is she … is she actually growing up?

His expression must have been pretty readable, because Ashley’s cheeks turned pink, “We’ll be okay as long as we’re together … right?”

Andrew snapped out of it and nodded firmly, “Yes. We will.”

It was at that moment that there was a knock on the door. “Everything alright in there?” Principal White called out from the other side.

Andrew looked to his little sister, and she nodded solemnly. He cleared his throat and addressed their principal, “Yes. You can come back in.”

White opened the door and stepped back inside, a concerned look on his face.

Andrew looked him in the eyes, “We have something we need to tell you.”