Andrew's chaperoning of Madison (and Alex's) date turned into stopping by a party, as soon as he had picked Remy up. It wasn't the tame dinner and a movie that was planned. But as soon as Remy had buckled up, she had gotten a call on her cell, which lead to the question of 'do you mind if we stop…' and then he was outnumbered. Madison and Alex may be younger than him, but they were old enough to know that dinner and a movie made for a pretty lame date. But she was his younger sister, and lame was all he was willing to go for.

And it was what they would have gotten if it weren't for Remy. What would Remy do if he said no every once and awhile. Would she even care? And why didn't he ever bother to find out? It was him that was getting pathetic, not the date.

And it really was no one's fault but his own.

Unless he wanted to blame Remy, since she should know better than to bring up the idea of a party in front of his sister. But, that would be unfair, because she probably didn't see the problem with it. She didn't have any siblings to be responsible for.

So he'd spend the night making sure Madison didn't get into any messes (especially those involving alcohol or any other drug. Because he really didn't need his father to kill him) at the party. Since when did having fun turn into something so exhausting?

Maybe his older brother was right, and that Andrew didn't have a sense of fun.

Then again, Hayden was so full of shit when it came to his younger (half) siblings.

Sitting on the couch, watching after someone was boring. Andrew knew this. Remy had gotten bored less than five minutes in and had disappeared. She came by every fifteen minutes or so and encouraged him to have fun.

He declined each time. She left afterwards (each time).

Andrew was so ready to go.

So, why didn't he go (he was, after all, driving all of them)?

He really should take initiative.

So he did.

Then came the problem.

The problem wasn't finding his sister.

The problem came with who she was when he found her.

Mason fucking Makon.

The guy was a disease (and probably twice as evil). There was no way he was letting Madison get infected. And yeah, he really needed to stop with that comparison.

It was over now.

Madison looked about as happy to see him as he was to see who she was. Andrew just hoped she knew better than to make a scene at a party. Probably.

Maybe.

"Madison," the eye roll began. "Come on, we're cutting out early."

His sister was a bigger brat than he realized, because instead of going for a scene, she went with, "Where's Remy?"

Remy wasn't the one driving them all. "By the door." And he desperately hoped that she wasn't anywhere visible to show him for the liar he just was. "Where's Alex?"

His sister looked like she wanted to say 'by the door' just to mock him. But that would have been a dumb reply. "Getting a drink." Which meant she had no clue.

"Well you go find him." Another eye roll. "And I'll meet you by the door." Meaning he had to find Remy first.

Madison looked like she wanted to protest, but instead she noticed that Makon had slipped away sometime during their conversation. So she just glared at him and walked away.

Last favor he ever did for his little sister.

Andrew meant it this time.


There came a horrible realization in people's lives when you noticed something awful was happening. The thing you feared most during adolescence. The fear of growing up. With becoming grown up, there came responsibility. And sacrifices. That was the worst. It meant you could no longer be selfish because of what was going on could affect others around you. This had always been true, but when you were younger you didn't care much.

Any way, this (horrible) realization had come to Andrew sometime after he had returned home after the party. It then proceeded to reinforce (and reinforce and reinforce) itself through the form of his sister. His (younger) sister talking about Mason Makon. And asking questions.

It then got him thinking about other things.

Namely, Remy.

Him and Remy had a pretty selfish relationship. Was it wrong? In theory, no. It wasn't. They were two teenagers, messing around.

But then why did he keep it from his parents?

Why was it becoming such a chore?

But most importantly:

Why did they bother pretending it was anything more than it was (a fling)?

Maybe Andrew had been raised to treat relationships better. He hadn't really thought of the way he was brought up until now.

But then again, the explained his continued participation in their relationship.

Remy hadn't been raised like him.

Remy had been raised to not even think twice about slipping into a near-strangers lap and make out with them.

Andrew didn't even feel comfortable asking her the most basic of questions. So he couldn't even ask her why she was still with him.

He had known it at the beginning, but somewhere between then and now he had forgotten it. That being, he was way way way out of his league.

And sometimes it was better to just let things go.

Sometimes, Andrew had a difficult time letting things go. Maybe it was because he made things out to be a bigger deal than they actually were.

He had to let this go.

Maybe it wouldn't be as difficult as he thought it would be.

But, maybe that was the problem.

Remy wouldn't care.

That was a terrifyingly (real) possibility.

And that would hurt.

Andrew just wasn't sure how much.


Andrew hadn't thought about how awkward it would be to make a date to break up. Public always seemed like a weird place to do it, because there were all these other people (strangers) around. Private seemed equally weird because the journey was made all the way out just to dump or be dumped. And over the phone or any other technology just seemed to be too much like an asshole move.

Not that he thought Remy would care much.

But he wasn't the type of guy to break up with a girl over the phone or email.

However, luck (he guessed) seemed to step in because he ran into her outside of the academy.

Andrew was willing to call it fate, considering how many times Remy skipped piano lessons. Or the meetings to discuss how many times she had skipped piano lessons.

There was a strange, thick silence that hung over both of them.

It was just…time.

They both knew it. Andrew just wanted to be the first one to acknowledge it.

"Hey," Remy stopped on the stairs, leaning against the rail. She looked up at him as she greeted him.

Fucking gorgeous blue eyes.

"Hi." It was practically a replay of their first conversation. Except, this time Andrew didn't feel so lame.

He supposed he owed that to her.

Or maybe he didn't feel so lame because he knew what he had to say. And what was going to happen.

When Andrew had first met her, he didn't know what to say. Or how to work his mouth to force words to come out. Or what the hell was going to happen.

Remy shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

He had to say it soon, before she took over.

Andrew was surprised she hadn't yet. Maybe she was letting him do this thing himself.

Or maybe she was just as at a lost of what to say as he was.

It was difficult to remember that Remy was, after all, merely human.

She didn't have all the right words, or all the right actions all the time. It was ridiculous even to think that after some of the messes he had helped her out of.

But that idea still stuck.

"I don't think we should see each other any more."

And now it was out in the open.

Remy didn't look the least bit surprised. "Okay."

One word. Two syllables.

That was it?

Why was Andrew even surprised?

"Okay." He repeated.

Now he really didn't know what to say.

Remy shrugged. He wondered why she hadn't walked away yet.

"I'm sorry." Is what finally came out of her mouth.

"For what?" Not that she didn't have things to be sorry for. But, in her defense, if Andrew wanted to be fair, she had tried to make it up for him.

He didn't really want to be fair anymore.

She thought about it for a short moment. It was almost like she didn't know. Maybe she didn't. "Anything that may have hurt you." A pause. "I didn't mean it."

That was the thing about doing selfish things.

You didn't mean to do anything except please yourself.

It was only when you could step back and look at the wreckage around you could you see how many people had gotten hurt.

His first instinct to say it was okay. But it wasn't. But he was getting over it.

So he settled on shrugging. "I'll see you around."

Good bye sounded way too melodramatic.

"See you around," Remy agreed, before she walked away.

But Andrew knew it was lie.

Sometimes lies were better off being told to ease the finality of what had just happened.

Or, maybe, it was like what Remy had said to him before.

Who cares about the truth?

The End.

(except not, because there is always a sequel in the works. And if anyone's not reading Okay This Is War On Crack, I suggest you do because its about to become pretty important to the plot)