she expected the world , schuyler

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[style=padding: 5px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9px; font-family: verdana; line-height: 100%;] Andrea's life had gone from good to bad and eventually worse in less than twenty-four hours. The aftershock of everything continued to violently shake her world, too. She was handling the situation better than anyone could expect giving everything she'd gone through. There were theories as to why. Some of them were better than others. Regardless of excuses, Andrea's life had come to resemble a brokenhearted scene in a cheesy romantic comedy. Sweats were her clothes of choice and the food in the pantry never grew tasteless. The only thing she was missing now was the chick flicks, but she didn't think she could handle them at the moment. Being a movie star and falling helplessly for another movie star drastically dethroned the relief any normal teenager might experience from splurging on romantic films.

Any normal person might even speak to their friends about what she was going through. Drea loathed burdening her amigos with her petty sob stories. Nash and Tabitha only heard what they had because Drea's fuse was short as of late. Their constant, persistent interrogation had broken her out of annoyance. Tabitha reacted as Andrea thought she would. Violence was always the answer for her and males, and Andrea didn't understand the reason why. Physical harm only made the situation worse. Then again, Andrea was a sheltered, naive, innocent, gentle soul who gave too many chances. What did she know about life and its way of functioning? She was nothing more than one of God's pawns. He moved her forward and diagonal on occasion but not before he moved her three steps back.

Out of habit, Andrea toyed with the chastity ring on her left ring finger. Worthless now, the ring meant nothing more than a broken promise to her mother and the Lord they worshiped. She hadn't thought breaking her promise to remain pure would be an issue two months back. Under her mother's watchful eye and the pressure of a barely-making-ends-meet sort of lifestyle, Andrea had little time to consider men, much less actions between a man and a woman. She was staring at the wall in the living room while she waited for her friend to arrive from the airport. Andrea had grown close to Schuyler. She was probably one of her greatest friends. Her drinking habit was beginning to take its toll on their friendship on Andrea's end, but there was no one else she wanted to confide in more than Schuyler Preston.

Drea rose with zombie-like grace when the door sounded around ten o'clock in the night. Hunter wasn't around. He left sometime during Andrea's morning snooze. She'd fallen asleep talking to Datty, Dom's "good" friend after a night without slumber. The guilt of what she'd committed combined with the scene she'd witnessed in Chicago had made silencing her troubled thoughts insurmountable. She was anxious for Schuyler to arrive. The truth was snipping Andrea into insanity. The bag of Lays chips she'd been snacking on all afternoon was long gone. The yellow bag remained stationary on the arm of the couch, though the air of the fan threatened to whip it away. Andrea grabbed the garbage for something to do, and by the time she was making her way back to the couch, she heard the door. Schuyler! Drea began her trek to the door, swinging it open after first checking that it was her friend. "Hey," Drea greeted with a weak smile.

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chicago had been a weird experience for schuyler preston. she'd initially gone to see danny, but when she'd arrived, things had turned out to be... complicated. she'd ended up not seeing danny at all, much to her dismay. and there had been a lot of secrets. secrets that she evidently wasn't allowed to know. in the end, that meant that she'd spent a lot of time in her hotel room. usually alone. usually drunk. but she'd sobered up for lunch with andrea, if only because drea hated her drinking so much. and lunch had been fun. she'd had a good time, and had loved seeing one of her best friends, because lord knows she hadn't seen many other people that she'd intended to on the trip. but then drea had left. and then ryland, who had also been there sharing a hotel room with sky, had also left. she'd felt really lonely. which meant she'd drank more. and one day, when she'd been in the chat room (where she was spending more and more time these days) drea told her that she wasn't okay, said that when sky got back to LA, they needed to talk. she couldn't have her drea being upset, so she'd booked the first flight over. no one was left for her in chicago, anyways.

at first she'd been worried that she wouldn't be sober by the time she got to drea's place. she'd been day drunk- not something that she was proud of, but there was nothing else to do and there was no one there to stop her. she'd stopped drinking the moment she booked her ticket, and decided to just hope for the best as she packed her things. but the flight was three and a half hours long, and by the time she got to los angeles, the only thing to remind her of her maybe-mistake of booze in the morning was a small headache and a dry throat. a bottle of water and some aspirin pretty much took care of both of those. she left the airport, found her car (exactly where she'd left it when she left LA, thank heavens), and threw her things in the trunk. firing up the engine, she pulled out and headed towards the house drea shared with a few of her friends. sky wasn't really all that close with them.

truth be told, she was worried. she cared about and loved drea with all the fierceness that she would a little sister. schuyler had never had a sibling, but she imagined that the intensity of all the emotions she had about drea, the protectiveness over her- all of those were things that she would feel if andrea actually had been her little sister, and not her best friend. she didn't know what was going on with her, what was wrong, or who was involved, but she intended to find out. and she would do everything she could to make it better, whether that was being there for her, or knocking some heads together. she didn't normally resort to violence, but if someone had hurt drea... they were in trouble. there would be hell to pay. that's how much she loved drea. pulling into the girl's driveway, she put the car in park and went up to the door, knocking.

she waited for a minute, feeling terribly impatient. she wanted to know what was going on, she wanted to know now, and she wanted to make it better. pulling a stray thread from her shorts, she looked up and smiled at andrea when she saw her checking to see who it was. maybe it was all in her head, but the girl didn't even look happy. it was killing schuyler not to know what was eating her. when she opened the door and smiled at her like... that, sky was pretty sure that her heart broke into millions of little pieces. immediately, she pulled her friend forwards and wrapped her in a huge bear hug, all of the emotions from the drive over pouring out. she would find out what was wrong, and she would fix it. that was the goal for tonight. letting go, she held drea at arm's length, looking her over. she even looked sad. "i've missed you! but you really don't look so well, honey." she pressed her lips together, trying to look sympathetic, which was hard, considering she didn't know what the problem was. "once we get inside, it's time to spill it, chickadee. i'm here for you."

wearing this!
tagged for char as drea <3

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[style=padding: 5px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9px; font-family: verdana; line-height: 100%;] Drea didn't have a lot of time to do much else before Schuyler was pulling her into a reassuring hug. She felt a flicker of hope in her friend's arms. Unfortunately, the spark went out as soon as it caught fire. She was floating between two lines she was unfamiliar with. The faintest trace of alcohol caught in Drea's nose, but she was too upset over her own drama to chide Schuyler for her own wrongdoings. She felt lost in Schuyler's arms despite being having an inch over her. Schuyler had more body mass than Drea had, surprisingly enough. She was a petite female with ironic eating habits. Food hadn't been all that appetizing for the past couple days. Sure, she ate, but she didn't eat very much. Her usual diet of ice cream, marshmallows, chips, and other sugary goodies had been replaced with a couple crackers at most.

"I've missed you, too," Drea murmured. She disregarded the second portion of her statement. Drea knew how bad she looked. A quick once-over in the mirror clearly depicted the lack of beauty supplies on her glamorous face. She was beautiful without the mascara, eye shadow, and blush, but that wasn't the most noticeable thing about her. The usual light in her eyes had packed their bags and taken a vacation to who knew where. Andrea pulled away from her friend and nodded at her strict instructions. She'd tell Schuyler everything she needed to know. If someone didn't help her through the mistakes swarming in her mind, she might do something more reckless than she already had. The last thing Andrea Maria Guadalupe Nolan-Melendez needed was another mistake to regret.

She allowed her friend through the door then. No one was home but herself. Hunter had moved out, and Tabitha remained in Chicago for filming. Drea was lonely in the house. Spartacus kept her company, but he was much fonder of Tabby than Drea. She couldn't blame him. The small pup was Tabby's dog, after all. He was lounging on the floor next to the couch. He didn't move much more than his head when Drea returned to her spot on the couch. She breathed in a deep breath because she knew Schuyler had come for answers. Drea promised to deliver them, and she would. Eventually. "Um," Drea sighed, scratching her wrist. "Can I get you anything to drink?" she managed to say. She'd stall for as long as she could manage. Relaying her worries onto others wasn't something she was comfortable with. “I’m sure you’re thirsty after all that flying,” she continued, stalling further. Yes, she desperately wanted to tell someone about her mind's mischief, but not yet.

Besides, Andrea had no idea where to begin. She supposed that day on the chat was a good place to start. Too early? Maybe. She could talk about how her insecurities led her to book a flight to Chicago, but even those started with that day. Should she start slow and work her way to the climax or should she jump right into the nitty gritty details? The contemplation made her head spin. She clasped her head in between her hands. An impending headache was beginning to make itself known. How could someone begin a conversation when the topics needing discussion were so personal and intimate? These were details she wasn't even comfortable sharing with her mother.

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the difference in how andrea felt to her was not lost on schuyler. she'd lost weight, she thought. which wasn't good. drea was a healthy young woman, the right weight for her height. she looke good. but now... had she not been eating? the thought worried sky, and a look of concern clouded her face. or maybe it wasn't that she hadn't been eating, maybe she hadn't lost weight. maybe she was just noticeably more fragile. delicate. like if she squeezed her friend much tighter, the poor girl would break in half and fall to pieces. she was really starting to worry. something was not right. as she followed her inside and into the living room, she decided that whatever it was, whoever had done this to her- she'd kill them. if she couldn't do that, she'd destroy them in every other way that she possibly could. no one was going to mess with a girl as sweet as drea and get away with it. they'd hopefully get what they had coming to them.

looking at the dog on the floor, she gave it a small smile, just acknowledging it before she sat down on the couch. looking at her friend, it was all she could do to not shake her head in disbelief. if there was one person she never expected to see in this state, it would have been drea. but surely enough, here she was, looking sad and broken. as the girl asked about water, she shook her head, almost rolling her eyes. "no, i had plenty of water on the flight." she'd needed to, to combat all the alcohol she'd had earlier in the day. water was her best tool to sober up, and she'd done a good job. the only thing that was left of her earlier day drunk phase was the faint smell, which she hadn't been able to get rid of. she'd tried, but nothing had seemed to work. thankfully, drea seemed like she wasn't going to mention it, which was good. this wasn't about schuyler. it was about andrea.

then it hit her. she knew what her friend was doing. she was stalling for time, making it so that she wouldn't have to tell sky everything, wouldn't have to tell her anything. she knew that eventually, she'd hear what was eating her, but she was impatient. something was obviously killing her, and she was going to hold out? schuyler knew better than anyone that talking about your problems was the best way to get over them, that it would help you figure out your true feelings and then, from there, you could decide what to do about them. but why didn't drea want that? she should have known by now that if sky was willing to fly from chicago to LA on a moment's notice for her, she would be willing to listen to what was causing her to be... like this. scooting over, she put herself right beside andrea, pulling her into her arms once again. they were around the same size, but she felt so much bigger, and she hated it. hated that she was upset. hated whoever had done this to her.

"don't play this game with me," she said quietly, still hugging her. "i know better than anyone out there that you don't like to burden people with your problems, or whatever you think it is that talking about bad things does," she took in a deep breath. she did know, and all too well. andrea was a ball of sunshine, and she made sure that she never put clouds on other peoples' days by talking about the bad things that happened to her. "but just this once, tonight is all about you. it's killing me to see you like this, and things aren't going to get any better with you bottling them up." she paused and took in a deep breath, the words just flowing, unedited, uncensored. "i love you, okay? you aren't going to scare me away or make me uncomfortable or whatever you think is going to happen. i'm going to be here for you no matter what. now, what's wrong?" she held her at an arms length and looked her in the eye, waiting for her response.

wearing this!
tagged for char as drea <3

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[style=padding: 5px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9px; font-family: verdana; line-height: 100%;] "No, I had plenty of water on the flight," Schuyler recalled, shutting Andrea's grand scheme down. She planned on stalling their conversation for as long as possible. Her mind was buzzing with the truth, but that didn't mean she was necessarily ready to pour her her heart out into the open. Andrea's problems had always been better left unspoken. The amount of betrayal in her life hinted towards a lacking amount of trust in others, yet that wasn't her problem in the least. Really, her refusal was based on moral beliefs. Part of Andrea always believed she'd done wrong in the world, and in doing so, God had decided to march her down a trail of hardships. As her selfless acts accumulated, the sunshine slowly seeped into her life; therefore, forgiveness had been redeemed and happiness was plentiful.

Unfortunately, she'd done wrong once more and the spirits surrounding her were angry. She'd never been a huge fan of superstitions until some unlikely coincidences. Nowadays, karma was her go-to explanation for everything. Whether that was a mechanism of coping or an excuse to avoid combating her issues from the roots, Andrea wasn't sure. All she knew for sure was that she understood very little about her present-day lifestyle. Who was she now? Her trademark characteristics were dissolving faster than sugar in water. There was only so much time she'd have before the person she used to know disappeared once and for all. Above all, the possibility of losing herself to a foreign being scared her the most. Moving away from her mother uplifted the ever-constant reminders of who she was supposed to be. Right then, she wanted nothing more than to high-tail to her mother's side, cuddle in her arms, and ask for her guidance.

Anna was miles away. She was probably comfortable speaking rapid Spanish into the receiver of her home phone. Long distance calling had been platinum silver the moment Andrea found a way to afford it. All of Anna's relatives were back in Mexico, so being able to speak with the people she missed the most helped her cope with the living conditions she despised. If Andrea wasn't adamant about remaining in America, Anna would have rushed back to Mexico without a backwards glance. That prompted another fear from Andrea's pot of woes. What if she lost people because of her actions? What if they began to see changes in her that they couldn't stand? Would they segregate her from their life as her horrors perceived? And lastly, how would she feel about herself if such a change did occur? All theoretical, she had dozens more to share. Now wasn't the time to panic, however. As inevitable as change seemed, permanence wasn't guaranteed. She had every moment fast-forward to correct her wrongs.

The battle of thoughts inside her mind turned to mush. A special brand of fire retardant quenched the fire blazing through her sensibility. Maybe Schuyler's pep talk had been more comforting than she'd let on. Andrea knew that her gentle embrace was exactly what she needed. "Now, what's wrong?" Schuyler demanded. Andrea sucked in a long, wispy breath. Her fitful gaze fell on her friend once again as if willing herself to speak. Finally, the intensity of Schuyler's gaze degraded her defenses. Andrea had no choice but to surrender the truth. "I..." Hesitation. "After lunch, I went to see Danny... After lunch on... Um... Sunday..." Or Saturday? "I... I wanted to surprise Danny and..." Tears began forming in her saddened eyes. "He... he was kissing Jade, so I, um... I decided to leave... and, and..." She shook her head, ashamed. "So, I called T-ta-tavin when I landed because I didn't know who else to call..." Saying everything, admitting it out loud shot senseless misery throughout her. "And I invited him inside... and... it just all kind of happened..."

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