"Nicole! Where did you go? Are you all right?" Andy asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, ignoring the twinge of guilt that I felt at hearing his voice.
"One minute you're in the lunch room yelling at Derek about your car and then you both just vanish. By the time I got out there to see what had happened, you were already gone. Did he do that to your car?"
"No," I said. "I don't know who did it. Someone who hates me, I guess, so that narrows it down to... well, everyone but you and Steph."
"Derek hates you the most," Andy stated.
"It wasn't him.”
"How do you know?" Andy shot back. "Because he told you so?"
It was on the tip of my tongue to te
ll him that I knew Derek didn't do it because he was the one going out of his way to help me fix it, but I bit the words back, instead saying a little more sharply than I intended, "It just wasn't, okay?"
Andy didn't like when I got mad at him, so he backed off, asking instead, "What's your dad going to say?"
"I'm going to try to get it fixed before Alex finds out about it," I told him.
"Oh. Well, do you want me to come with you?"
"No, I can take care of it."
"But your tires are all flat, how are you going to get it to someone to fix it?" he asked logically.
"I'm not. A friend knows somebody," I answered vaguely.
"Who, Steph?"
"No," I answered, wishing he would just stop asking questions.
"What other friends do you have?"
I didn't mean to, as I usually wasn't sarcastic with Andy, but he offended me and it just slipped right out. "Oh, you know, all those imaginary ones that only I can hear."
The line went silent. I sighed heavily.
"Look, I'm sorry, Andy, I'm just not having a very good day, and I don't feel like talking about it right now."
"Okay. Well, why don't you call me later? Or if you want to talk," he added.
"Okay, I will," I said, knowing I really wouldn't.
"I love you," he said.
"Yeah, me too," I replied quickly. "Bye."
As I ended the call, I saw Derek smile derisively to himself and shake his head a little. “You too, huh?”
“Not now, Derek.”
Offering a little shrug, he said, “Hey, it’s not my business.”
We didn't talk very much as he changed my tires, but I anxiously watched the clock on my phone.
He finished the last tire at 6:15. Crawling out from under the car, a little greasier and dirtier than he had been before, he wiped his hands on his jeans and smiled.