between you & me

PART I: ANDI

as a disclaimer: I had this as a short-story a while ago under a different title. I took it down, reworked it in to a fanfiction that breathed a new life into this story. The original story was dear to me and having a new found direction for it, I wanted to bring it back to the original characters to tell here.

Character death, drug abuse, binge drinking, explicit language, and mentions of sex included. take caution as need.  This is a very heavy story, exploring loss and grief and the ways in which people deal with it. There is a happy, if not hopeful, ending. 

please enjoy and feel free to listen to this playlist I made for the story 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1lZcl4yaAgSC3eQLmQjqmV?si=7FYqIhxwS12LZLYI21biEw 

or

spotify:playlist:1lZcl4yaAgSC3eQLmQjqmV

ANDI 

Three years later and Andi still knew the distance between their front doors. Eleven blocks. Not even a mile away from each other; it felt too close. Maybe the time away at college would help lessen the memories, the pain. Maybe Andi could forget how she felt about the blonde girl before her life came crashing down around her. Both of their lives.

But she's home from college. Freshly graduated with an expensive piece of paper to prove it. And even though it's been three years, those wounds are still fresh too. Despite the time, despite the distance, despite the fact that she thought she was through the last of the pain she felt...nothing feels right at all, like her whole world is tilted sideways. It was easier in college when there were no reminders of Andi's brother or her. Three years Andi pushed them aside. She fell into a never-ending revolving door of drugs, hooks-ups, and alcohol to silence the thoughts, numb the pain, hide the guilt that kept building inside.

Andi thought she was okay, that she was dealing with it, that she could handle being this close to the blonde again, and this close to her brother too. He's like a ghost around here. Andi's parents don't talk about him, they don't open the door to the room that was once his. Instead, they look at Andi like she robbed them of him, like it was her fault. And, in a way, it was. He died in that car accident and took a part of Andi with him.

Her parents lost a son and barely recognized their daughter.

Three years ago, she was in her first year of college, trying her hardest to hide how much she was struggling. Her first time away from home and on her own. She didn't have her big brother, Noah, to help her when she needed it; to lighten the mood and cheer her up. And she didn't have her girlfriend, Olivia, either. Noah and Olivia were the same age, best friends since they were in diapers. For a while, growing up, Andi was the nuisance of a little sister. Always trying to hang out with them and begging their parents to force Noah to take her with them wherever they went.

Eventually, they became an unstoppable trio. Noah, Andi, and Olivia—there wasn't one without the other two. Days and nights spent together, laughing and talking and sharing ice cream on the hood of Noah's car. They'd get coffee after school at the local café and milkshakes after Andi's soccer games. Friday nights were spent dragging Olivia to parties, only to leave early. Noah and Andi could go for hours, but it wasn't for Olivia, and they wouldn't dream of breaking up the trio.

The three of them were inseparable. Unstoppable. Until the day Olivia and Noah left for college.

Andi hated it. She went from spending every day with the two of them, to feeling more alone than ever before. She didn't really have other friends, no one that understood her like the two of them. And then they were gone. Studying at the same college.