ੈ✩‧₊˚ 𝐄𝐗-𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 ༊*·˚ ┊͙ 𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘴

✫ chapter twenty four

『 ↝ reunions and serious talks ↜ 』

~ ✫ ~

WHEN ANDIE ORIGINALLY AGREED TO ELLIE'S PROPOSAL to go back home with her, she knew she would have a lot of thinking to do. First of all, everyone knew that her auntie 'lived somewhere in Wyoming, alone' which was just total bullshit, because she was in Jackson waiting for her to come back.

Next up, what about all the people (which there weren't a lot) that knew Andie from before she left? Would she have to take each one aside and explain the pathetic situation she was in? No way, definitely not. She'd worry about that one later.

And coming back to the first point, how will her auntie react? Will she cause a public scene upon hearing that Lance went after her and died? Or will she just never speak to her again and act the same way as Andie acted towards Abby? Or what if she became so depressed that she ran away from Jackson before Andie even returned?

Where would she even live? She obviously couldn't tell Ellie that all of her stuff was back at her original home, so what would it look like?

And what about Dina? She's had her baby now, everything's going to change! Ellie won't have time for Andie anymore and it'll just leave her feeling lonely again or what?

And how will she be 'welcomed' into the Jackson community? Surely warmly, right? Since Jesse has been deeply injured, but Andie's lacking knowledge with a bit if improvisation and guessing helped to keep him alive and in one piece to arrive back home, they wouldn't treat her cruelly, surely.

That was definitely way too much to think about. Andie's head was just clouded with 'what if's' and at times like these, she hoped she told Ellie the truth from the very beginning. What if upon finding it all out Ellie drops her and never speaks to her again, basically pulling an Andie like on Abby-

No! Stop! Enough! Enough is enough. Andie was getting into her head so much that she didn't even notice that they were rapidly approaching the main gates to Jackson.

The sentimental view made Andie feel a but nostalgic, reminiscing all the times she had fun there with Lance...

The group didn't even have to speak, in order for the main gates to open widely, inviting them inside. Despite her predictions, Andie noticed that not much has changed. For some reason, she expected Jackson to grow in size at least twice, although now looking back, it was a but foolish.

She gripped Ellie's waist from behind hugging onto her from the back of the horse, afraid of what was to come. Clearly, Ellie felt the tug and looked a bit back to her friend.

"Hey, its gonna be fine." She whispered reassuringly. Andie only nodded into the crook of her neck and waited for would happen next. She slowly lifted her head, upon entering the town. A small crowd of people gathered around to welcome their returning citizens in, as well as to see what was going on, for the newcomers.

Andie felt stared at. She knew everyone was aware of who Ellie was. But when they saw a strange girl hugged tightly to her back on the same horse, they could only wonder who that was. In the farther distance, she spotted a familiar face. From behind the small crowd, a kindly structured, wrinkly face of Mr.Whitlock popped up.

He was looking directly at her. He smiled warmly, switching his gaze between Ellie and Andie. She knew exactly what he was trying to say. She immediately pulled her hands back from the hug and blushed at the man but didn't say anything. She looked at him once more, to see him laughing and rising his eyebrow.

Soon at the scene arrived Maria. She looked angry, but relieved at the same time. Ellie dismounted the horse and reached her hand out to help Andie with doing the same thing. When she was finally down, she looked at Maria, who was hugging Tommy tightly, but scolding him at the same time.

Now was a time of reunions. But to Andie, everything was blurry. She watched as Maria came up to Ellie and hugged her, as Jesse joked around with his worried parents, yet she was there, alone, looking for auntie in the crowd. She was nowhere to be found.

"Hey." A voice pulled her out of her train of thoughts. She looked aside to see Maria standing directly in front of her. Ellie walked off somewhere to greet Dina. Andie looked back at the middle aged woman, who was facing her directly. "We need to talk later in my office. I understand right now is not the best time." She stated indifferently.

Andie simply nodded, without saying another word. She looked around to see Ellie and Dina hugging, and Ellie looking down to Dina's arms, holding a newborn. A sharp sting in her heart reminded her of her painful feelings for the auburn-haired girl that were supposed to go away by now, which they annoyingly didn't.

~ ✫ ~

The open window in the small room was letting a lot of fresh air in. So much, in fact, that the curtains were freely flowing and Andie's skin was getting chilly. She was sitting at the other end of the bureau.

The doors behind her swiftly opened and closed, not generating too much sound. A middle aged, blonde-haired woman entered the room, and gracefully made her way parallel to Andie. She sat down heavily on her black chair on wheels and let out a half-deep sigh. She clasped her hands together and raised her head to look at the girl sat before her and took a few seconds before finally speaking up.

"So... Andie..." she started unsure, yet still sternly. The girl looked at her a bit confused. "How do you know my name?" She asked visibly concerned. Surely a citizen told her or something right? She really hoped

"I am not stupid, kid. I keep record of all Jackson citizens, that's firstly. Second of all, you think I don't know your mother?" She stated and then followed with a rhetorical question, like it was obvious.

"I don't remember auntie Charlotte talking to you that much..." Andie started getting more and more confused about what was happening.

"No, not Charlotte. Your mother Julia. I knew her." She looked off looking a tad bit sentimental.

"Anyways-" she pulled herself out of her thoughts, "I mean it in the nicest way possible, you're not being as sleek as you think- coming here and pretending like you're new, when in reality you've been here longer than most, and that's including Ellie." She put weight on that last word.

"I know you came here because of her." Maria said, practically reading Andie's mind.

"But that's not why I wanted to talk to you." She said sternly, yet softly. Andie bit the inside of her lower lip and looked at her with uncertainty.

"You need to talk to Charlotte." She stated with a soft gaze in her look. Andie knew she meant well, but she also knew she wasn't ready for that conversation yet. Although, now more than ever, she knew she had to no other choice.

~ ✫ ~

rosary thinks...

Short one and literally no plot, but what did you expect amigos 😻

Anyways, this is mostly a filler cause idk..........

Also this book is slowly nearing the end, and I honestly just wanna get over with this, because ima riding two other stories and also I have exams coming up and I don't wanna be too burdened you know? So instead of act four I think ill just do an epilogue chapter...........