Chapter Text
Making out in the backseat of a car was a terrible high school cliché straight out of a teen movie or a book by someone who graduated high school at least a decade before and therefore became out of touch with the times and used their writing as escapism and wish-fulfillment of a high school experience that they never got.
Andrew was extremely disappointed in himself for making out in the backseat of his car with that cute redhead sophomore from his pre-calc class.
“Uncle Stuart wants me home for dinner,” Neil said pulling away slightly.
“Can you not talk about your uncle when both our shirts are off?” Andrew attempted to glare at him but the effect was ruined by his flushed face and blown pupils.
Neil made a motion that might have been a shrug were they not in a confined space and still half-pressed together, “I thought it would be a good mood killer.”
Andrew managed a glare before carefully pulling away.
They both worked to get their shirts in a weird tangle of limbs barely dodged elbows and knees. The made it out of the back seat relatively unscathed. Neil ran a hand through his hair, which only made it messier. Andrew tried not to stare but still found himself sneaking glances at Neil as he checked his reflection in the visor mirror to look for any suspicious hickies. Andrew didn’t need to check his neck to know that Neil left a few small marks along his collarbone.
“Shit,” Neil paused with a hand tugging on the collar of his shirt, “they aren’t too obvious?”
“No.” Yes. He had a very clear hickey right under the curve of his jaw that would be near impossible to hide without a thick layer of concealer. Neil shut the visor in defeat. “Don’t break my car.”
“It’s a Toyota, not a sports car.”
“I wouldn’t let you in my sports car.”
Neil gave a noncommittal hum relaxed into the seat.
They drove in relative silence and before long, they’d arrived at Neil’s too-large house. The clock on the dashboard read 6:32 PM. Neil gave a slight wince. Neil’s uncle leaned a bit on the overprotective side though, according to Neil, he’d finally begun giving Neil a bit more freedom. He probably wouldn’t be too thrilled about Neil showing up late to dinner with hickies on his neck. It wouldn’t take too many brain cells to figure out that he’d spent the last hour making out in the backseat of a car with his ‘friend from pre-calc’. Uncle Stuart definitely wouldn’t be thrilled.
The porch lights flicked on.
Neil patted his pockets for his cell phone and grabbed his backpack. The porch lights flickered on and off again. Neil muttered a curse under his breath, fumbling the door handle and giving another quick scan of the car to make sure he had all his belongings.
“Text you later,” Neil leaned over the console to give Andrew a quick peck on the cheek.
Before Andrew could process the kiss, Neil had shut the door and made it halfway up his driveway.
Andrew drove home in a daze. His cheek almost burning from the chaste kiss. The kiss should not have shocked him nearly as much as it did considering they were more or less unofficial, mutually exclusive, friends with benefits. Except the benefits didn’t include actually having sex and more a lot of making out and doing homework/going to the movies/eating out together.
They were 100% not dating.
Andrew almost did a u-turn back to Neil’s house when he recognized the minivan parked in his driveway. He’d rather spend the evening staring at Neil’s uncle from across the dining room table than deal with Kevin’s nagging right now. Andrew barely had the front door closed when he was meet with Nicky’s haggard expression as he materialized out of seemingly nowhere.
“You’re late,” Nicky said in a panicked whisper.
“Am I?” Andrew raised an eyebrow. He neatly dodged his cousin. “Don’t you have an exam tomorrow?”
“I prioritize not being dead,” Nicky hissed.
Bee and Aaron gave Andrew near identical knowing looks when he entered the kitchen with Nicky at his heels. Kevin’s glare lacked heat with half a slice of pizza in his mouth.
“You’re late.”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full.”
Kevin chewed more aggressively. Andrew picked through the remaining food to see what was left. Most of the pizza was gone, but Bee had managed to save Andrew half a box of cheese pizza. Finally, the small group made its way down to the basement, Andrew’s box and pizza and half a liter of Mountain Dew in tow.
Official band practices were Sunday afternoon with occasional Wednesday after-school practices depending on everyone’s schedule. Unofficial band meetings were whenever Kevin felt like reaming everyone else out for not being musical protégés.
Or decided to sign up the band for a Battle of the Bands competition.
“Fuck no,” Aaron said eloquently once The Monsters had settled in the basement, “find another bassist, Kevin. I’m not doing that.”
“It would be a great opportunity—”
“Andrew tell him no.”
“No,” Andrew said taking a bite of his reheated pizza.
“It’s not a talent show, it’s a legitimate band showcase,” Kevin argued. “Are any of you going to hear me out instead of being difficult assholes?”
Aaron stared at the Instagram post in disgust. He shot a look at Andrew that very clearly said ‘if Kevin hadn’t pulled this up on my phone I would have chucked it at his head already.’ To which Andrew raised an eyebrow that also clearly said ‘if you’d thrown it at his head two minutes ago, we wouldn’t be in this mess.’ Nicky sent a silent prayer in hopes that if God were still listening to him, He’d keep certain murder from taking place in Bee’s basement.
“I’m not auditioning for any music programs nearby,” Kevin started. He picked at a hangnail before stopping suddenly and wiping his hands on his jeans. “I need to spend next summer and fall focusing on audition pieces and practicing. Then spring is going to be busy too with callbacks and more auditions. I don’t know how much time I’ll have to devote to all this.” He gestured expansively at the rest of the band.
“Do you have anything to say to your best friend, Andrew?” Aaron asked in a defeated tone.
“He’s your best friend on Wednesdays.” Aaron flipped him off but there was no heat in the action.
Kevin didn’t respond for a long tense moment, “if you don’t want to do it—”
“Of course we’re doing it,” Nicky exclaimed. “Kevin, it sounds like a great idea! Right?”
Kevin opened his mouth to say something else but Aaron was already rummaging around for his laptop. “Is might be your last hurrah before you run off to music school. But I’m not slacking on my AP classes.”
Andrew started on his third slice of pizza, and zoned in and out of the conversation as Aaron and Kevin hunched over Aaron’s laptop with the shared band Google Calendar open and Nicky flipped through his own calendar app. Andrew checked his phone to find a text from Neil.
Neil [7:20 pm] stuart still hates you btw
Neil [7:22 pm] cant meet up tmrw lunch ive band practice
“I don’t have spring break until the week of the 16th,” Nicky said scrolling through his own phone calendar. Andrew sent a quick text back and went back to staring idly into space. “You guys don’t have it until the week after.”
“When do your finals start?”
“May 4th. We can make that work. I’ve turned into quite the nerd. Aaron, you’d be proud!” Aaron hummed in agreement.
“You’ve only cried twice this semester.”
Nicky clapped his hands together and grinned wildly, “I was up to six this time last semester. Progress baby.”
Around 9:00 PM, Bee dropped in to check on everyone. Andrew’s lack of participation was near indistinguishable from his usual boredom during band meetings but Andrew’s social gas tank had long since run out. Bee had taken one look at Andrew’s face before carefully and politely telling everyone to fuck off— “good night boys, I think it’s getting too late for me. Make sure to drive home safely. Kevin you can stay the night if you’d like, I can call your dad and let him know now.”— which effectively got Kevin to leave and reminded Nicky how much he hated driving to campus when he slept over the night before his 8am class.
It wasn’t until after brushing his teeth and taking his nightly meds that Andrew remembered that he hadn’t finished his pre-calc homework because he’d spent half his afternoon with his tongue down Neil’s throat.
Neil [9:43 pm] dont forget the problem set :^)
Andrew slammed his phone down in a huff and stared at the offending object. Fuck.
Everything was going normally until two weeks later.
Neil’s uncle had an ‘open door policy’ which was strictly enforced whenever Andrew was at his house. Andrew wasn’t sure if Stuart Hatford knew exactly what his nephew was getting up to or if he was just naturally suspicious of Andrew— Andrew did have a well deserved reputation of being a bit of a loose cannon, which he could freely admit, but according to Neil, hypervigilance was a Hatford family trait.
Andrew and Neil managed to get a substantial amount of studying done for their test next Monday no thanks to Stuart strolling by every twenty minutes like clockwork to poke his head in Neil’s room to ask how they were doing. The third time it happened, Neil said something biting in French that had his uncle’s eyebrow twitching and responding tersely in the same language.
(“It’s a British thing,” Neil explained, “anything having to do with France or the French language is morally offensive.”
Andrew raised an eyebrow wondering if he should say something about Neil purposely adding fuel to the Andrew Minyard vs Stuart Hatford war of attrition. Neil shrugged and flicked a gummy bear at Andrew’s face. They went back to studying.)
“Hey did you hear about this band thing,” Neil asked. He tossed aside a stack of notecards that Andrew had been using to quiz him on the unit circle and hung off the side of his bed.
“I quit band,” Andrew replied from his spot on the floor. Neil being a band nerd was rather unfortunate but something had to offset the whole attractive face and general ‘Neil’ thing he had going on.
“Not the school band,” Neil clarified, “my friend Matt asked me to be part of his band for this battle of the bands thing. I got talked into it because they need a new guitarist.”
Andrew had been in one car accident when he was younger. He’d ended up staying in the hospital overnight with a fractured collarbone. Nicky had fussed over him restlessly and Aaron’s face was pale with anxiety every time Andrew held back a wince. Very traumatic. 10 out of 10 would not repeat the experience overall.
This was worse.
“You joined a band,” Andrew said slowly.
“Temporarily,” Neil corrected. “I’m not an official member or anything. I’m just doing Matt a favor.”
“By joining his band.”
Neil rolled his eyes and plucked the pencil out of Andrew’s hand. Andrew gave him a flat look but didn’t give Neil the satisfaction of fighting to grab his pencil back. Neil lost interest and tossed the pencil out of the way.
“Aren’t you in a band? It can’t be that bad.”
“It’s worse than symphonic band.”
Neil shrugged in understanding. Symphonic band was really that bad. Not nearly as bad as marching band but Andrew outright refused to walk around in the heat wearing a stupid outfit and lugging around a snare drum no matter how many times Kevin made him watch the movie Drumline to try to persuade him otherwise.
“I thought actual bands were supposed to be sexy. Like Mick Jagger and all that.” Andrew wondered if Neil actually thought Mick Jagger was hot or if it was another weird British thing.
Neil gave him a careful look rather than the more suggestive look that Andrew preferred. “So…would your band consider doing a battle of the bands thing?”
“We don’t need a guitarist.” Andrew wanted very desperately for Stuart to ‘check up’ on them. Of course even when Stuart wasn’t around he was screwing Andrew over.
“I’m already in a band, remember.” Andrew didn’t respond. “Besides, it’s a few practices and one show. How bad could it be?”
Very bad apparently.
“You need to stay away from Neil Hatford,” Kevin said slamming his lunch tray down across from Andrew not even two days later. Andrew took a vicious bite of his baby carrot stick.
“I heard from Aaron who heard from Katelyn who heard from Allison Reynolds that Matt Boyd saw you and Neil at Sweetie’s yesterday.”
“I’ve never heard of a Neil Hatford,” Andrew said blandly.
“Taller than you, red hair, sounds kind of British,” Kevin hissed over the buzz of the school cafeteria. Andrew gave him a flat look. “You guys have a class together.”
“I’ve never attended a single day of class in my life.”
Kevin sputtered for a second before composing himself and sitting down, “Jeremy told me last week that Neil joined Matt’s band. You can’t hang out with rival band members before the competition.”
“Isn’t Jeremy a ‘rival band member’? Or does he not count because you have a crush on him.”
Andrew left Kevin gaping in shock.
After Kevin’s revelation, Andrew knew to expect someone from Neil’s clique to confront him. Luckily, like Kevin, Andrew knew how to follow the grapevine.
(Andrew heard from Renee who heard from Laila Dermont who heard from Sierra Alvarez who’d been talking to Dan Wilds and Allison Reynolds that Allison planned on confronting him sometime Thursday afternoon. It was additionally confirmed again by Renee via text during 4th period after she spoke directly to Allison herself during gym.)
Allison Reynolds was planning on cornering before his 7th block English class. He knew and he’d changed his normal route in order to avoid her. This unfortunately put him directly in her path. She didn’t grab him, but she shouldered her way past a group of gabby freshmen and blocked his path like some comical bully out of a cheesy 80s movie.
“Andrew,” she said his name curtly.
“Wrong twi—”
“Nope,” she cut him off, “that won’t work on me. I can tell you little shits apart. Also Katelyn sneaks off to makeout with Aaron in the D wing staircase before chem right now.”
Andrew was deeply disappointed in his brother. The least he could do as a Minyard was to lockpick and hide somewhere less likely to get caught. He might as well be making out under the bleachers like an amateur.
“I told Kevin to fuck off already,” Andrew said moving around her. Somehow she managed to slither back around and block his path again.
The warning bell rang.
“Listen monster,” Allison flipped a few blonde strands over her shoulder, “as much I don’t like you, Bambi over there can make his own dumb choices. I need a favor.”
“No.”
“A deal,” she corrected herself, “I’ll let you borrow my car once a week until the rest of the semester in exchange for you keeping him distracted until this stupid band thing blows over.”
Andrew was not expecting that. He tried to keep the interest off his face but Allison Reynolds drove a hot pink Porsche courtesy of her rich as fuck family. Andrew wasn’t a fan of the color— which had nothing to do with a need to prove his masculinity or what Aaron referred to as his lifelong emo phase— and according to Renee, Allison has only picked Pepto Bismol Pink to piss off her parents (which worked) and now she was stuck with the color out of sheer stubbornness. Andrew thought it was ridiculous but he could still admire the dedication to pettiness. In another life, they could have even been friends.
But now, he was more interested in why she wanted him to distract one of her best friends from helping out her other best friend’s boyfriend’s band.
(Honestly high school relationships were far too tangled and Andrew more than hated how the various tangential friendships lead him to actually knowing these things about his classmates.)
“That can’t be it.”
“Fine. Matt thinks Dan is going to forget about him when she goes to college and this is some last ditch effort to bring them a little closer together or impress her or whatever. He’s having a whole crisis about it. But with the whole schedule he has planned, they’re going to spend no time together. And Dan thinks he’s trying to avoid her because he found out she’s going to PSU but she hasn’t told him yet and she’s freaking out. And they’re both idiots. And I don’t who why you give a shit because you get a sports car on loan until the end of the year and a reason to be a chaotic asshole with your boyfriend or whatever.”
She was right, he didn’t give a shit.
“You’re a terrible friend.”
“I’ve been telling them both to talk to each other about it for weeks, they need a quick kick in the butt.” She gave a casual shrug. “Plus they love Neil too much to get mad at him.”
It was like making a deal with the devil, though in this case he wasn’t sure which one of them was the devil. So he gave her a curt nod which returned with a sharp smile. This was going to be a clusterfuck anyway, might as well get something good out of it.
“This might have been our most pleasant interaction.”
“Why are you two not in class?”
One of the math teachers snapped at them from down the hall. Andrew couldn’t afford another detention this late in the year so he took off in the vague direction of his English class. Allison called out a quick, “DM me,” before turning to the teacher to toot her senior privilege and create a distraction.
Andrew made it through the rest of the school day without incident. He didn’t particularly feel like sticking around but he’d driven him and Aaron to school that morning. The twins made their way to the junior parking lot— inconveniently shittier and further away than the senior parking lot— in relative silence with Aaron quickly typing way at his phone. Andrew reached the car first and got in quickly.
He locked the car before Aaron could get into the passenger seat. Aaron jingled the door handle a few times before giving up and shooting Andrew a flat look. Andrew cracked the passenger side window down a few inches and leaned over the center console.
“Tell your girlfriend to stop gossiping about me,” Andrew said in a low voice. Aaron blinked in confusion before rolling his eyes and jerking on the door handle again in agitation.
“Seriously, can we at least argue on the way home? I have shit to do.”
Shit to do apparently meant getting ready to meet his girlfriend’s parents for the first time which Andrew realized as he’s sat in Aaron’s spinny chair as Aaron anxiously tore through half his closet looking for something parent approved to wear.
“You took her bribe?” Aaron asked as he read the directions for the steamer. He squinted at the directions. “The car is ugly.”
“It drives fast,” Andrew replied, “it’s a Porsche.”
“Good luck explaining that to Bee.”
Andrew has definitely not thought about what to tell their mom when she would undoubtedly spot her son driving someone else’s sports car around town.
“Mom won’t care,” he said with false calmness which Aaron returned with an expression that very clearly said ‘no fucking way mom won’t care, she’ll be disappointed and sad and do you really think it’s worth it’.
“Bee will care,” Andrew amended, “but I’ll let you ride in it if you help me with Neil.” Aaron put the instruction manual down and studied his twin.
“You two are already...a thing,” Aaron said carefully.
They hadn’t really discussed the whole ‘Andrew Being Gay Thing’ because Andrew hadn’t exactly come out in so many words and he didn’t date or openly voice his attraction to people aside from the time last year when he was hooking up with a senior named Roland who, after Andrew spent a solid week avoiding, mistakenly cornered Aaron rather than Andrew after school to break things off because he found a guy he was seriously interested in actually dating and wasn’t comfortable hooking up with Andrew anymore. Aaron was understandably confused and played along with being Andrew long enough to make it through the interaction without giving himself away. (It probably would have been more surprising if Andrew hadn’t almost lodged a drumstick in Kevin’s side several months before while saying something biting about Kevin being attractive until he opened his mouth to speak and probably something about biting his dick off but Aaron wasn’t paying too much attention because he was trying to figure out how long he’d have to stay up to finish his English paper due in two days. That and Aaron spent middle school worried that Andrew’s aggressive form of flirting might be a genetic trait.)
“We’re not dating.”
“You know being defensive doesn’t make it any better.” Andrew ignored him and snatched the instructions out of Aaron’s hands.
“It’s sabotage. If we win the competition, Kevin will be happy and will have warm fuzzy feelings to carry on with him after graduation.”
“One,” Aaron counted off on a finger, “that’s only if Neil agrees with it. Two, we both know Kevin won’t be satisfied if the performance isn’t perfect. Three, if he finds out we tried to rig it, he’ll be even more pissed. Four, Bee. And five, I need those instructions back if you’re not going to help, you asshole.”
Andrew crumpled the instructions into a tiny ball and lobbed them across the room. Aaron let out a pained noise as his last hope at unwrinkled pants sailed across the room. He shot a murderous glare at his twin, looking half a second away from either lunging at Andrew (unlikely) or crying (also unlikely).
“You put water in it, turn it on, use the hose and you’re fine,” Andrew refrained from rolling his eyes. “It’s a steamer not a death trap.”
(Bee had not been amused. He’d looked at her. She’d looked at him.
“Andrew,” she’d said calmly, “her heart might be in the right place. I’m not saying that I agree with Allison’s method of...bringing the issue up between her friends. And I know that you might not be friends with either Dan or Matt, but have you thought about how this might affect your relationships with Kevin and Neil. I’m not sure that either of them would appreciate unknowingly being dragged into a situation like this.”)
Andrew, of course, told Neil everything. And Neil, of course, simply blinked at him and shrugged his shoulders as if the whole plan made perfect sense. He had nothing else more exciting going on, he’d said far too casually and immediately Andrew felt his fingertips tingle and something close to excitement buzz under his skin. It had nothing to do with getting to see Neil more often during the week when he’d normally be stuck at practice with The Monsters and everything to do with the prospect of driving a fast car down fast winding roads with a beautiful boy next to him.
And so Neil skipped practice for the next two weeks and sat in the background of The Monsters’ sessions. Nicky stared openly. Aaron pretended he didn’t exist. And Kevin, Kevin fumed.
Somewhere in the middle of his plotting with Allison and heart-to-heart with Aaron, he’d forgotten to factor in a few obstacles. Primarily Kevin’s single mindedness and Neil’s predilection for being a contrary asshole.
“Join our band,” Kevin said.
Andrew dropped his drumsticks and look between Neil and Kevin in surprise.
“Join our band,” Kevin repeated, “either join our band or I’ll report The Foxes for sabotage.”
Neil blinked a few times in confusion before his face slipped into a careful mask, “what makes you think I’m trying to sabotage you. I could be a groupie.”
“You and Andrew can’t be that good of friends,” Aaron snorted but Kevin continued undeterred, “so you must be using him for access to our sessions. What are you telling the others about our band? Are you trying to steal our songs?”
“I’m not stealing songs from your shitty band,” Neil snapped back, “I just have a difficult home life so I’ve latched on to the few friends that I have in order to feel the love and affection that I’ve lacked throughout my childhood because of my lack of socialization.”
“You actually made it to therapy?” Andrew cut in.
“I made it through one session before making the guy cry,” Neil corrected. Andrew nodded. That sounded more like Neil. “So unless you want to traumatize me more by rejecting my cry for help, I should stay.”
“That’s pretty manipulative,” Aaron said.
“I have, like, three friends and they’re all graduating,” Neil shrugged.
(Neil stayed. Aaron fumed. Kevin snapped. Nicky panicked. And Andrew found the whole situation as amusing as he did annoying.)
Neil had the sense to call his uncle to pick him up early which meant he missed the Kevin’s post practice freak out. Kevin paced back and forth, seemingly having a conversation with himself before suddenly turning to Andrew with an almost crazed look in his eyes.
“You were driving Allison’s car,” Kevin said, voice getting higher. “Jeremy saw you last week but I said it couldn’t be you. How did you get her car?”
“We’re BFFs,” Andrew replied.
“Holy shit,” Nicky gasped, “holy shit. Is that the pink Porsche? She gave you her car? Wait, can I drive it? Would she care?”
“She’s sabotaging us,” Kevin cried hysterically.
“What’s with you and sabotage?” Aaron said mostly to himself.
“Wait, hold on,” Nicky furrowed his eyebrows and examined Andrew critically, “Neil’s at our practice and you’re driving Allison’s car. So you’re sabotaging us?”
“Will you stop saying sabotage?” Aaron gritted out. “Do you guys not know any other words?”
“Sabotage.” Kevin and Nicky said at the same time with different inflections. Aaron let out a frustrated noise.
“Andrew this is your fault, fix it.”
“That’s not the point,” Kevin barked, “if Neil’s here and not at practice with them and Allison gave you her car then the three of you are in on something.”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Kevin.” Nicky said nodding his head. “You have to admit that it sounds fishy.”
“That’s it. No more groupies or guests or non-band members at band practice. We have to stay focused.”
“Neil’s joining the band,” Andrew lied. By now, Andrew could almost sense Aaron’s incredulous expression from across the room. But the whole thing had gotten wildly out of hand and Andrew wasn’t about to admit that he’d gotten himself in too deep. Damn Allison Reynolds and her stupid sports car.
“What?” Kevin’s eyes grew wide. “Is he leaving their band? He hasn’t even asked to audition for our band?”
“He’s auditioning our band for himself,” Andrew continued to lie. Why? Because he was an idiot. “He wanted to see if we’re worth his talent.”
For a second Kevin looked offended before his expression shifted into careful consideration.
“Neil is terrible. He hasn’t been utilizing his skills to their full potential. They’re being wasted and if he doesn’t cultivate them then they’re going to shrivel up and die like yours.”
If Andrew had actually cared about ‘cultivating his musical talents’ or hadn’t known Kevin’s absolute lack of tact for years, he might have been offended. Trust Kevin to give endless backhanded compliments without meaning to.
“We don’t need anyone else with half assed dedication or barely passing skills in this band. We’re serious, focused, driven. We need to show that and we need to work harder now more than ever. But we definitely don’t need ...a turncoat that’s going to bandhop instead of putting in the work to make his own band better. He can’t play with us. Ever.”
By the time Kevin dismissed the band meeting, Nicky was bouncing around in excitement and Aaron looked ready to disown his entire family. His usual surly mood seemed exclusive reserved for his twin which Andrew pointedly ignored.
If Kevin’s demotivational speech after their most disastrous band practice to date wasn’t bad enough, apparently Neil’s turncoat status had made its way to Boyd and Wilds. After the third time Neil bailed out on hanging out with Andrew for their regularly scheduled study dates and not-date dates, Andrew contemplating inflicting bodily harm to Boyd’s pickup truck.
Kevin and Matthew Boyd hadn’t spoken in years after some long forgotten incident in middle school when Andrew had been a year too young and definitely too unbothered to care enough to pay attention to. He’d just punched Boyd in the face in Kevin’s defence and not asked any questions. He’d gotten Kevin’s undying loyalty and Boyd’s ire as a reward for his heroics.
Allison’s sports car was seeming less and less of a reward and more of a curse. She’d played him like a fiddle and Andrew was stuck regretting most of his life choices up until that point. Even Neil started finding the situation less and less amusing.
Neil [3:12pm] its like he just knows when we hang out
Neil [3:12pm] are we that predictable??
Neil [3:13pm] when did i get predictable ?
Even Wilds had stopped by Andrew’s locker in a blaze of fury and judgment. Neither of them said a word to each other. Wilds stared at him in silent fury and he’d stared back at her blankly. She’d finally narrowed her eyes at him then stormed off without a single word. When confronted, Neil said that he’d asked her not to say anything to him. Andrew supposed that she’d stuck to her word even if her intimidation tactic meant only towering over Andrew in silence. It might have worked better had it been her boyfriend.
It took all of a week and a half canceled plans that before Andrew finally snapped and texted Neil to meet him in the band room during his free period.
“These are the consequences of hubris and greed,” Neil said without amusement. “I could have told you how badly this would go if you’d given me a heads up before taking Allison up on her offer.”
“You were doing donuts in her car last week.”
“It was fun,” Neil shrugged, “she’d never let me do them. And I’m pretty sure she played you.”
“Fuck,” like he didn’t know that by now, “we have to get her back..”
“We?” Neil asked taking a seat at the piano bench. “You mean you and me.”
“Yes.”
“I’m pretty sure plotting is what got you into this mess to begin with.” Neil shook his head and fought back a grin. He looked kind of beautiful. Andrew flipped through his memory to remember if the student handbook said anything about students getting caught making out in closed classrooms they weren’t supposed to be in. “This is going to be a shitshow.”
Andrew was very, very, aware that things could and would go terribly wrong. But to be young and reckless was nothing if not reason enough. He shrugged nonchalantly but couldn’t hide the slight upturn of his lips. “So, are you in or are you out?”