Andy stepped out of her shower in a towel. She hummed as she applied nail polish on her toes, with extra attention on the big toe. She pulled out her hardly used straightener and managed to style her short hair in a fashionable bob. She hummed as she envisioned Leo's reaction as she stepped in today wearing the amazing little black dress that she had bought on the shopping expedition with Felicity.

It was Felicity's birthday and everyone on the diner had a well-deserved break. Felicity had booked Prescott Pizza Place for her birthday party and all Andy had to do was show up looking her best. She had a pretty little charm bracelet picked out for Felicity, of course. She owed a lot to her friend. She had been exceptionally nice to Andy when she had arrived in town, lending her a sympathetic ear and handling Andy with patience as she learnt the ropes of her job. She was excited to find out who Felicity's new guy was. She hadn't yet told Felicity about her flirtations, if she could call it that, with Leo. Maybe she was too scared to jinx it. But she couldn't deny that a major part of her was looking forward to see Leo. They had only met in passing the past few days. She missed him. And she missed the tingly feeling she got in her stomach whenever he was close.

Felicity would look gorgeous in the white silk number that she had chosen. And Andy would rock her little black- 

"No, no, Washington! Bad dog!"

Washington with his drooling mouth was parked on top of the dress Felicity had carefully laid out on the bed. 

"Get off!" After a lot of grunts and curses, she managed to kick Washington out of her room. And then stared in dismay at her carefully pressed dress. It was covered in dog hair and drool. Andy felt like putting her head in her hands and bawling. One lousy break, she admonished the Gods above.

In a hurried fumble of the measly contents of her cupboard, she finally hit jackpot. Her friend, Mia, had gifted her a gorgeous blue silk ensemble fashioned like a kimono. She had worn it once and forgotten about it, mainly because the cleaning bill on that thing was atrocious. But now it came to her rescue.

Half an hour later, Andy stepped out confidently with her head held high. She felt pretty. She went hunting for Mary. After yesterday, she had again retreated into her shell. She always stayed on the seat near the window, staring outside. Washington usually got bored there and hunted down Andy and hung out with her when she was home. Mary managed to feed the dog and herself at least, small wonders for a woman who seemed so out of sort. Otherwise, Andy had no idea how she would have taken care of them both.

"Mary, I'm going to Felicity's birthday party. Are you sure you don't wanna come with me? She's invited you, you know?"

Mary looked up from staring out of the window. She gave Andy a small smile. "I th-thank you, but no. We wo-would be most com-comfortable here."

Andy pursed her lips and let out a sigh. She knew that Mary would open up in her own time. She made sure that Mary knew there was chicken in the fridge that she could eat and went to the door. Drew had come to pick her up.

"A-Andy?"

She whirled around, seeing an odd gleam in Mary's eyes. "You look nice. L-Leo is gonna be floored."

Andy laughed, shared a conspiratorial wink and headed out with a smile.

The Pizzeria was decked with festive crepe streamers and paper and foil decorations. A big "Happy birthday, Felicity!" was festooned in a red heart on the top of the room. The room was decorated with paper lanterns hanging down from the ceiling. Andy got a lump in her throat. Her brothers had decorated the place for Felicity. It must be so amazing to have brothers, someone in charge of looking after you forever. Felicity hadn't arrived yet, but it didn't take a genius to know that she would love this all.

"Oh Drew, it's amazing! It's so sweet of you to take such good care of your sister." Impulsively, she rose up and bussed Drew's cheek with a quick kiss. Drew hugged her and she hugged him back. She really wished that she had had a brother like Drew in her life.

"Andy?" Andy pulled apart from Drew and gave a sweet smile to Leo. He looked.... so dashing! He was wearing a formal suit and charcoal colored pants. His hair was perfectly styled but for once Andy didn't feel inferior to him. She knew that she looked her best and tucked her hair behind her ear and gave him a shy smile.

But Leo wasn't looking at her, he was scowling at Drew. Funnily enough, Drew raised his palms and backed off.

"What was that about?" Leo looked at Andy and the appreciative gleam in his eyes was enough reward for taking her time with her appearance that night. He grabbed her elbow and pulled her in a corner.

"Are you trying to torture me?"

"Why?" Andy returned coyly.

"You turn up here in that short dress and those intricate ties on your shoulder, do you know what you're doing to me?"

Andy blinked innocently. "Really? I had no idea! Maybe you could show me?"

Andy had no idea where the coquette in her had surfaced from, but Leo shuddered. "Trust me, I will, soon."

With that cryptic threat, Leo walked away and Andy sighed and leaned on the wall for support. Thankfully, all were soon distracted by Felicity's arrival. Felicity arrived in style with one of her brothers, looking gorgeous in a one shoulder Grecian dress. She blew kisses to all like she was a homecoming queen, which she probably had been. She squealed and hugged and kissed everyone and thanked them for coming.

In this commotion, the lights suddenly went off leading to groans of despair. Suddenly a beam of light illuminated the makeshift stage. There was a lone figure on the stage with a guitar. He strummed the strings and beautiful music flowed through. Like everyone, Andy was mesmerized. The figure raised his head and it was Leo. Only it wasn't the smiling, joking Leo that everyone knew. This Leo was intense and full of passion. His eyes glittered as the music flew through his guitar. There were sighs and scattered applause.

"Sweet child of Mine" from Guns n Roses drifted in the air through his skilled fingers. Slowly, the other members of the quartet joined the stage and accompanied Leo, but Andy, like the rest of the crowd was too mesmerized by Leo to even notice them.

"She's got a smile and it seems to me, reminds me of childhood memories."

Leo crooned and the crowd jumped up on their feet. Felicity screamed and grabbed Andy's hand and dragged her near the stage. There was mass hysteria as everyone was charged up, oscillating with the beat. Leo managed the crowd skillfully and Andy had no doubt that she was in the presence of a seasoned performer. 

There was no way that this skilled, beautiful man was the slightly clumsy but sweet and lovable redneck that she had thought of him. She wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at this new information. Because Leo was a lot of things, but definitely too talented to be the spoiled little never-do-gooder rich kid persona that he had presented in front of her.

The crowd, his home crowd, hardly seemed surprised. They cheered him wildly with shouts of "Knightingale" egging him on. 

Oh jeez, she was a nut-case. They called him Knightingale because he had a strong set of vocals and was extremely talented on the guitar. Now, it made sense.

Many times, Leo looked at her when he was playing and she could only manage to look at him dumbly. The song ended but a chorus of encores kept Leo and his band going. 

Felicity screamed at the top of her lungs. "This is the best birthday party, ever!"

Well, someone was happy.

There was a lull in the music and a giant cake was lowered down from the top of the stage. Leo gestured to Felicity who jumped up on the stage, dragging an unfortunate Andy behind her. She squealed and hugged Leo and the other band members, though poor Ben only received a formal handshake.

Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" for Felicity and she squealed again and thanked everyone for coming. One by one, everyone gave their gifts to Felicity and she oohed and aahed over each of the gift. It was always something that she had always wanted or the "best gift she had received." 

Andy hid a smile. She was fond of Felicity but the girl was a tad dramatic.

As the guests settled down and started milling about, Andy stepped off the stage and went to get some punch. She observed Leo blatantly follow her to the refreshment table. She raised an eyebrow at him, "Construction business, huh?"

"Among other things." Leo looked at ease, his hands stuck in his pockets. He gave her a boyish grin. "When are you going to let me kiss you again, Red?"

Andy did her best impression of a goldfish. "Definitely not here!"

"I don't get to meet you. It's hard to get my paws on you when the big dog has his paws all over you first. He gives new meaning to the phrase, "Lucky dog"."

Andy shot him an incredulous look. Leo was looking at her intently, too intently. She really didn't know what to make of his advances. He was ridiculously good-looking and really talented. But she didn't know how casual affairs were conducted. Her last relationship had ended in disaster, and that had been eight years back! She should be forgiven if she was a tad rusty in the flirtation department.

"What are you guys talking about?" Felicity barged in their conversation and they both turned to her. She had no problems turning the flirt on. Maybe she should ask for tips.

"I was just mentioning to Leo that now it's no secret that his moniker is Knightingale. Are you a performer in LA?"

"Goodness no," Felicity cut in. "He has his own company, Knightingale Records. Everyone knows. And he's rich as Croesus."

Leo delicately coughed in his hand, a modest smile on his face. "I get by."

"No no, other artists get by thanks to you. He discovers and promotes talent." She grabbed his sleeve in a pincer grip and tugged him gently. "Come on, I need to talk to you."

Leo easily grabbed her fingers and held her hand. "I never say no to a pretty lady, but I would be honored if you dance with me first."

The gentle, unobtrusive music gave way to a peppy number as Leo pulled Felicity on the dance floor which basically consisted of a circle of restaurant floor cleared of chairs and tables. Everyone gathered around to clap as Leo twirled Felicity around. She laughed and pirouetted prettily and they looked really good together.

Andy turned away with a sigh, unsure why she felt a heavy weight in her chest. She didn't really know what she was upset about, though God knew there were enough reasons. First, she had treated Leo in a slightly contemptuous manner as she thought that he was rich only thanks to his family money. It was mortifying to discover that she wasn't as good a judge of people as she had thought.

No wonder her first boyfriend had been such a douche-bag.

Secondly, she had propositioned and basically browbeaten someone "rich as Croesus" to loan her money. How he must have laughed at her desperation for what would surely be, for him, an inconsequential sum of money. She hadn't even properly thanked him for the agreeing to her ridiculous terms. It was one thing to ask for loan from someone who was in the same social strata, asking from someone much poorer than you or else much richer than you was a strict faux-pas. Even she knew that.

Thirdly, she had accepted his interest in her to be something else. Something more. Something real. When evidently he sweet-talked all the ladies he knew as evidenced by his smooth handling of Felicity. She had babbled her life-story to him, her work at the home and he hadn't even told her what he did for a living. 

Really, would she never learn?

And worse of it all, today with her fancy silk dress she had thought that she had a shot in hell with Leo. That he would be interested in her above all the other women present.

She didn't have low self-esteem, but man, she was downright gullible. Taken in by smooth talk and charm.

Whatever, she didn't need this. She would quietly slink home to be in peace.

Resolved, Andy moved to the closet to retrieve her coat. Unfortunately, she was waylaid, first by Drew who wanted her to dance (she refused politely) and then by the old and crusty Mrs. Tucker who had refused to let her stay at her place. She talked Andy's ears off about attending the church and repenting for her "sins." She was very grave, as if she knew all Andy's sins and Andy was being deliberately obtuse about them. Andy only half-listened and tried not to yawn.

Who the hell had invited the crusty old geezer to the party anyways?

Finally, with a sigh, Andy stepped inside the huge walk-in closet to get her coat. The door closed behind her and she groped in the dark for the light switch. Unfortunately, her hand brushed against something or someone warm. She recoiled immediately and was about to scream when a hand clamped down on her mouth.

"Hush, Red. You don't want to get caught with me, do you? Not everyone is forgiving of trysts inside closets."