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"What's wrong dad?" Andrea asked, concern filled her voice at the sound his tone, "Is everything okay?"
"The better question is: are you okay?" Her father responded, "my number was the only one that could get through to you."
Andie froze in the middle of the room. Joe had just left, done with his practice for the day, "That's strange, I texted Cameron last night." Andie shook her head, biting at her lip. She figured her phone must be glitching out.
"Andie," John said in a voice that sent shivers down her spine, "No one has heard from you in months."
Her hearts stopped as her mouth hung open in shock, "That's impossible, I have texts-" she put her father on speaker phone as she began to go through her messages. Something itched at the back of her brain. The urge to check her blocked numbers jumped out at her, so she went to her settings.
Seeing how many numbers there were made her heart sink to her stomach. She recognized every single one of them as members of her family, and a few of her friends that had stopped talking to her. No wonder.
John broke the silence, "The only way we've been hearing about you was through Jefferson. Funny, he said you had changed your number. I called this one as a last resort."
She scrolled through her contacts, clicking her mother's name and finding a completely different number. Cameron's? Different. Laura's? Different. She checked each number, panicking more and more with each tap of her finger.
They weren't her family's numbers, all of them were different.
She she realized she was shaking and it felt as if the world somehow swallowed her whole, "Andrea? Are you still there, sweetheart? We're all really worried about you."
"Dad-" she choked out, her voice straining as she began to sob into her hands, "I think I know what's happening," she managed to say.
"Are you alright, dear? Andrea?" She heard her mother's panicked voice and she choked out another sob.
"I'm not, I'm really not," she cried, her hand shaking as she grabbed at her hair and tried to keep her breathing calm. She was on the floor now, clutching the phone with one hand as the other held her mouth to prevent the shaky sobs from spilling out.
"I think she's having one of her panic attacks," She heard her mother tell her dad, "Try to calm her down."
It was quiet on the line before she heard her dad clear his throat and a soft melody float out of her phone's speaker. "Ooh, you make me live."
Andie couldn't help but smile through the tears, a single lyric bringing her a wave of nostalgia, "Whatever this world can give to me, it's you, you're all I see," Even if his voice wasn't the best, she loved it, it calmed her down.
She lay on her apartment floor, listening to her father sing as she calmed down. She wiped her tears as he finished, holding the phone to her chest before speaking, "Thank you, dad. I'll explain everything later. I really have to make another call right now."
"Okay, dear. I'll be here, I always will."
Andie smiled sadly, "Love you," she told him before hanging up.
She composed herself, unblocking all of her family's numbers and blocking the ones that replaced them. She took a deep breath, putting on a serious face as she pressed Jefferson's number to call him. He picked up after the third ring, "Hey, babe! I'm at work, what's up?"
"I've blocked all you're numbers and after this call I'm blocking this one too, you fucking creep." She spat.
"Andie, I have no idea what you're talking about," Jefferson was shocked, but Andie saw through it. She knew what kind of person he was now.
"Don't lie to me! We're through Jefferson," there was silence on his end of the line as Andie continued, "I want all of your things out of my house by the time I get back."
"But-" Jefferson began but she cut him off.
"No!" She huffed, "I want you gone. And you can take this stupid ring and shove it!" She shouted, hearing the clanging of pots and pans before hanging up the phone.
-
Joe sat on his couch, mindlessly flipping through tv channels and trying not to fall asleep. He'd long lost his shirt and jeans and now he donned a pair of flannel pajama pants and a white tee.
He jumped as his phone buzzed, it bringing him out of his daze. He furrowed his brows, it was a text from Andie, maybe he had left something at her apartment.
I need you. The text read.
Joe's face filled with concern, in an instant he grabbed his keys and threw on a jacket. He was out the door in a minute, walking down a floor to where Andie was staying. He knocked on the door and got no answer. So he turned the handle, bracing himself for the worst as the door slowly opened.
The main room of the apartment was dark. Stepping inside, Joe noticed multiple things piled in the trash. Upon closer inspection, he realized that most of them were Jeff's things, hoodies and shirts that Andie had wore from time to time.
He was confused for a moment, but when he heard a weak voice call out his name he knew what was happening. He followed the voice to Andie's bedroom, and his heart broke when he looked inside.
Andie was lying in bed, one of her many photo albums was next to her, and so were many ripped up photos, "Andie, what happened?" He gaped as he approached.
She wasn't looking at him, only at the ceiling, and her cheeks were puffy and stained with tears, "I called of the engagement," She told him, and a wave of relief washed over Joe.
"Oh, thank god," he breathed out, sitting down on the side of the bed and bringing the woman in for a hug. Andie stared at him quizzically as he pulled away, "He was sending me death threats."
Andie's eyes widened, "Why didn't you tell me?"
Joe sighed, "I didn't know how to say it, but believe me, I wanted to tell you."
Andie shook her head, tears forming in the corners of her eyes, "Why didn't I see all this sooner?" She put her head against Joe's shoulder, "I'm such an idiot."
"No, hey," he wrapped his arms around her once more, consoling the now crying woman, "You're not an idiot, he was a manipulative creep."
"I think he was pretending to be my family," She explained, "Joe, I'm scared."
Joe moved the photo album onto the bedside table so he could lay beside her on the bed. Holding her in his arms, he felt her own arms wrapping around his waist, "Don't worry, we won't let anything happen to you," Joe told her, "I won't let anything happen to you."
There was a comfortable pause as the two lied in silence, the only sound coming from Andie's sniffles, "Joe?"
"Yeah?" He asked, pulling away so he could see her face.
"You're my best friend."
- Y'all I've been foreshadowing how insane Jefferson was since chapter one, go back and read it, really read it, if you don't believe me...
