Walk of Shame...

Andrea arrived back at the research facility around 8:30AM, parked near the front and performed the good old walk of shame, arriving home after a night out in the clothes she'd been in the night before. She had been hoping not to be noticed so, of course, she runs right into Klaudia and Terry chatting in the lobby on Terry's way out for the day. Summoning up Andrew's old poker face, Andrea held her head high, smiled at them and marched right past them down the hall towards her room. As she entered the hall Terry Called out, "Andrea, your buttons are uneven." Andrea looked down to check and they were fine, but Terry saw her check and laughed a little. Andrea flipped her off and returned to her room, hearing Klaudia laugh as she walked away.

On entering her room, Andrea placed her phone onto the charger and changed into a more casual outfit for the day, choosing yoga pants and a tank top over a sports bra. She would have gone with just the sports bra, but she would be going to meet up with the family and the teenage boys didn't need any more of a show. Throwing on a pair of sneakers, Andrea swapped out her purse for an athletic phone case/wallet combo, grabbed her keys and headed back out to the car. It was a short drive to the hotel where the family was staying. On arrival she went straight up to Akiko's room and knocked on the door.

"Just a minute," came a groggy sounding voice through the door. Andrea heard some stumbling and what sounded like something being knocked over before the door was cracked open and a bleary-eyed Akiko peeked out, "Oh! Good morning, Andi," she said as she fully opened the door, "come on in."

"Thanks Kiko, good morning to you too," Andi replied as she watched Akiko cross back to her bed and fall into it. Andi looked around the room and spotted the empty bottles from the mini bar. "Rough Night?" she asked.

"Yeah," Akiko replied tersely.

Andrea knew that something was seriously bothering Akiko, so she crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed beside her. Andria placed her hand on the center of Kiko's back and began rubbing it in slow circles, comforting her like he used to do as Andrew when she was just a girl. Gently rubbing her back, Andi leaned over to whisper in Kiko's ear, "Whatever is bothering you, we can talk about it. I'm here for whatever you need." She sat up while continuing to run Kiko's back. Akiko grumbled something that couldn't be understood, let out an exasperated sigh and pulled the blanket over her head. Andi had seen her in this mode a time or two in the past. Instead of trying to argue with the brick wall that was Kiko, she started some basic clean-up by gathering up the empty bottles and trash from the food packaging. She got the room back in reasonable shape and then laid in the bed next to Akiko to wait for her to be ready to talk.

About a half hour to forty-five minutes later Kiko finally came out of her improvised turtle shell. Akiko slipped the blankets from over her head, rolling over to look Andrea in the eyes. Andrea could see that she had a whole mix of emotions and thoughts running through her mind and just continued to lay next to Kiko until she was ready to open up about them herself. "I'm sorry Andi," Kiko apologized.

"You have nothing to be sorry for Kiko," Andi replied. "We all have rough nights at some point. Whatever you feel is what you feel. It's not normal for anyone can control their emotions to that extent."

"Really?!" Kiko said, "Then why did you always act the way you did when I was growing up?" Akiko looked a little confused, "I know there were times when you were angry and others you were hurt but you never let it show through. I've always tried to live up to that example."

"First off, never be ashamed of your emotions or sharing them with me Kiko. As to how I was when you were growing up, I'd always had some temper and anger issues, I needed to learn that control when I was younger, but I never held back about my true feelings when we spoke on anything. Besides, I was an aging man set in my ways before. Since this change happened, I've been learning from you more about living than I knew before." Andrea took a deep breath, "I came by so early today because I needed to talk to you about last night," she said shyly while blushing. "However, that can wait until we get you sorted out and taken care of since I can't have my sister and best friend so down about life."

"Last night is part of the reason I'm so down on life at the moment, mostly confused about my own feelings," Akiko said as she watched Andrea's eyes widen." Akiko took a deep breath before explaining, "As we all left you to head back for the hotel, I saw you pull out the card Kelly gave you with her personal number on it. I noticed immediately that I was bothered by something about that. I came back here to the hotel and hung out for a bit with the older siblings but as you know since I am so much younger than most of them, I tend to get treated as one of the kids. By the way, thank you for treating me as an adult even before I was older than you. That being said, being treated as a kid left me a little frustrated so I cut the evening with them short and came back here. Once I got here, I decided I was going to have a drink. I thought of calling you to meet at a bar but didn't want to interrupt you evening so I raided the mini bar. The problem came after I finished my first drink and started thinking about you out with Kelly. I realized what bothered me was that I was jealous. Easy enough to understand, that is one gorgeous woman, at least that's what I told myself when I made my next drink." Akiko paused for a breath before the words continued to rush out of her like water from a fire hose, "I was thinking I was jealous of you over her, but as I thought more about it, I realized that I was jealous of her. I wanted to be the one out with you. I told you I was attracted to the new you, I just didn't realize how attracted and attached I become in our time here until I thought about you going out with her last night." Akiko to another short pause before speaking, "Now, don't get me wrong. I think you had and have every right to have a good time out and that we both need to work through what we've been feeling. While knowing that is all well and good on an intellectual level, it didn't help on an emotional level while I was drinking last night."

Andrea smiled at Akiko's rushed speech, "So you were jealous that I may have gone out with another woman last night? Would you have felt the same had I called Xander from the park?"

Akiko had a thoughtful expression on her face before she blushed and answered honestly, "In all honesty, yes. I'd have been jealous no matter who you called since it wasn't me."

Andrea leaned forward and placed a kiss on Akiko's forehead, "Never worry about hiding your feelings from me Kiko, I'll love you no matter what."

Akiko smiled at the kiss, "Why doesn't that make me feel like a kid when if any of the others did that, I'd want to beat some sense into them?"

"Two reasons," Andrea laughed. "One, you know I mean no condescension by it. Two, probably because your mind sees this new me as younger than you despite my years of life."

"Okay, so let's put my jealousy on the back burner for now. I need to think and sort out my head space." She took another breath and giggled a bit, "Now. tell me about last night, I want all the details."

"Okay, so...." Andrea went on to talk about her night out with Kelly. It was a surreal feeling for her. She'd spoken with Akiko in the past a little about the few women he would see, never in detail after all she was his kid sister. Now though, she was Andi's slightly older sister and more or less, best friend. Andrea spoke about the entire night in detail right up through breakfast and the walk of shame back at the research facility. They laughed and joked together, simply having a nice morning of girl talk when there was a knock on the door.