The Prophet And The Redeemer

Just Out of Reach

Things had been somehow even worse between Andy and Lonny since the trailer incident. They acted the same and never acknowledged it, but the tension was so much worse now. Every touch felt electric, every glance left the guitarist breathless. He didn't know what to do or how to fix this. Was there anything to fix? Maybe Lonny was reading into things. Maybe he only felt these things and Andy was fine.

He sat on the hotel bed, scrolling through his iPad for a show to watch. It was late at night, and he was exhausted from a long day of traveling. Lonny and Andy were sharing a room... again.

Lonny tried to keep busy and ignore the older man. Maybe not ignore him, just the feelings Lonny had whenever he looked at him or thought about him for too long. Tour would be ending in a few weeks so Lonny just needed to hold out until then.

'Just get through Warped tour.' He thought to himself.

"Damnit!" Andy yelled in frustration as he searched his bag for that damn medicated eczema cream. He was having the worst flare up he has had in a while and it was driving him insane. It was all over his left hand and creeping up the inside of his arm. The telltale sting was also on his chest and back, but he hadnt taken his shirt off to check though he already knew there were flare ups there as well. It was burning and itching so much it was pissing Andy off.

"Everything okay, Andy?" Lonny asked carefully, unsure if he should do anything to help whatever was going on. On one hand he wanted to be a good friend, but on the other...

"Yep, fantastic." He said, not looking up as he dumped everything in his duffle bag out onto his bed. 'I lost my lotion.' Sounded so painfully whiny.

"You seem stressed. What are you looking for?" Lonny asked, completely missing the sarcasm. Lonny was never great at picking stuff like that up, and he was still getting used to Andy's dry humor.

Andy paused, weighing his options. He really didn't want to have to explain this to Lonny. "Nothing important." He said, digging through his things. He could feel Lonny's eyes on him, but ignored them. Andy knew if he met his gaze he wouldn't be able to keep it from him. 'Stupid fucking puppy eyes.' Andy thought to himself.

Lonny gave him an unimpressed look, cocking his head to the side. "Do you want to try that again?" He asked. Andy looked up and sighed in defeat. There was no way he was getting out of this at this point.

"Have you seen a lotion bottle? I can't find it." Andy asked with a sigh. Lonny's brows furrowed and he stood. "What does it look like?" The guitarist asked, wanting to help. He was a little confused why Andy was so worked up over lotion, but decided not to press.

"White with green letters." Andy replied, the cuff of his sleeve gripped in his fist, hiding the inflamed skin. He never really mentioned his eczema to people. It was just a thing that he dealt with and he didn't see why anyone else needed to know about it outside of whoever was buying the soaps and laundry detergent. Yanni knew because of course Yanni knew, and Frank knew because he was the TM and needed to know that sort of thing. Jesse knew about it as well, but that's just because he's known Andy for so long.

"Did you check your toiletry bag?" Lonny went into the bathroom to look. The bag in question was sitting on the sink, so he opened it up, waiting for Andy to respond before he started looking through it.

Andy hummed in reply to indicate that he had not. It hadn't been in there the last time he used it, but it could've ended up in there somehow. All he was really focused on was his damn hand.

Lonny rifled through the small black bag on the sink. Andy seemed very upset about something and seemed to be taking it out on his missing lotion. It seemed like a bit of an overreaction so there had to be something else going on. Maybe the band? Andy had opened up to Lonny about all of that.