Page 72 of Some Things Never Change

“And now?” My voice was squeaky and constricted with emotions.

His usual megawatt grin stretched across his lips. He kissed the back of my hand again. “I’ll never wait to tell you how much I love you ever again. I love you, Tink.”

“I love you, too, Andy.”

Chapter

Thirty

I noticed Cindy’s ears unusually perked up the moment she saw Andy and me by the elevator on Monday morning. Even from meters away, I could tell there was a certain glint in her eyes as she watched us. Was it obvious the air between the two of us had changed? I tried not to think too much as I smiled and gave Cindy a small wave. Her heels echoed loudly as she power-walked straight towards us.

“Good morning, you two,” she said. I immediately noticed the way her eyes quickly darted between Andy and I. We were standing close to one another, but not holding hands or anything obvious.

“Good morning,” said Andy with a nod.

“Morning,” I said. “Your hair looks amazing, by the way.”

Cindy’s fresh haircut and the newly dyed and toned golden locks looked like she walked straight out of a hair modeling gig. Her hand immediately ran through her perfectly glossy locks.

“Doesn’t it? My hairdresser always gets the job done right. You should go to her some time,” she smiled. “Maybe you should try going back to blonde for the spring or summer, Julie. It’ll be cute!”

“No way. You look prettier with black hair,” interjected Andy before I could tell her I’d rather opt for a blonde wig than bleach my naturally black hair.

His comment caused the two of us to turn to him. From the corner of my eye, I could see Cindy raise a curious brow at him. Her smile cocked into a smirk.

“Didn’t you bleach your hair once, Julie? You looked good in it, but I think you’re prettier with black hair,” he continued, giving me a long glance.

“Hmm,” nodded Cindy. “I see. Why don’t you tell me more about how pretty Julie is with black hair?”

Andy’s words started to fumble as the heat of his blush rose up his neck to his cheeks comically. From that alone, Cindy turned to me with her knowing smirk as one of the six elevator doors dinged open.

“There’s a lot of people around. Maybe we should wait for the next ride up,” she suggested loudly, without sparing the elevator a glance.

The other people waiting around climbed on and didn’t hesitate to not wait for us. Once we were alone, Cindy’s eyes slowly scanned our faces.

“I’m glad to see you two are finally together,” she said in a low whisper as she hit the up button for the elevators.

My heart started to race as I looked at Andy, unsure of how to respond. We had just admitted our feelings to each other, but we weren’t official. We still had yet to even go on our first date.

“Well, we’re not exactly official yet,” said Andy, his eyes flicking to me. He grinned. I couldn’t help but smile back. “But we will be soon.”

Cindy let out a tiny squeal of excitement. “Julie! I’ve been wanting to talk to you about the way you two keep looking at each other, but you kept saying that you two are just friends. Thank God you came around to it, girl. It was so obvious!”

Andy laughed with an amused look on his face. “Not surprised,” he said. “The only one who never seemed to catch on was her.”

“Was it that obvious?” I asked, also laughing.

“Yeah,” said Cindy. “I knew it immediately when I first saw you two together when you first started. But, now… There’s a different aura coming from you both.” Then she wiggled her brows at us. “I’m assuming something really good happened during your quick trip?”

Was she implying we slept together? I felt my cheeks flush at her words. “NO! W-Well, not like that.”

A new elevator dinged open in the nick of time. As we stepped in, Andy immediately reached out to grab my hand. Cindy caught sight of it and the biggest smile crossed her lips again. She looked at us with bright eyes as she hit the buttons for the floors we worked on.

“Okay! Clearly, something really good happened back at home,” she stated, and my cheeks burned hotter.

Andy scoffed with a light laugh. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Cindy. It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“Calm down. I was just yanking both your chains,” she laughed. “I’m happy for you both, though.”

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