Chapter Text
Andi walked over to Jonah, sitting down in the cafeteria with him. “Hey, Jonah,” she greeted him, smiling. He smiled back, but it looked a little empty. Only one half of his face lit up, the other half looked too tired.
“Hey, Andiman…thanks for helping me with the card,” Jonah said, smiling faintly.
“Are you okay? You look a little…” Andi looked for the word. The word sad kept popping up, but Andi’s brain would have to melt and then regenerate before Jonah could be sad, or anything that wasn’t happy.
“A little what?” Jonah asked, concerned.
“N-no, nothing,” Andi quickly recovered.
“Wait, no what is it? Am I not smiling enough?” Jonah asked, panicking a little.
Andi laughed awkwardly. Who freaked out so much about smiling? “Calm down, Jonah,” she said.
Jonah nodded, putting on his signature smile. “There,” he said. “Is that better? Do I look okay?”
The girl nodded slowly, smiling. She’d never seen this side of Jonah before. “So…what do you think I should write on this card?”
“I…uh…I don’t really know,” Jonah said, trying to laugh.
“Um…do you have any clue at all?”
Jonah laughed, scratching his head nervously. “What do you think I should write?” he asked.
“Jonah…I don’t know Amber like you do,” Andi said, raising an eyebrow.
“Right…um…okay,” Jonah nodded, thinking really hard about it. A few seconds passed in silence as Jonah wracked his brain over what exactly would appease his girlfriend.
“I’m…coming up at a blank…” Jonah chuckled nervously. “If…if your boyfriend gave you a card then what do you think he should write?”
Andi opened her mouth and then closed. “I…I would be happy with whatever he wrote, Jonah,” she answered honestly.
“Even…Happy Birthday, Andiman?” Jonah asked, confused.
“I’d be happy that my boyfriend got me a card. At least he thought of me,” Andi shrugged nonchalantly, hoping Jonah would get the message she was trying to send.
“Wait, what? Really?” Jonah asked, genuinely surprised.
“Um…of course, Jonah,” Andi smiled.
“Oh. That’s nice of you, I guess,” Jonah said, his smile disappearing for a mini-second, before coming back with renewed vigour.
Nice of me? Andi thought. “Jonah, you shouldn’t live by Amber’s expectations of a good boyfriend…you know that, right?”
Jonah looked at Andi, confused. “I’m not doing that, am I?”
“I…I don’t know. I mean, this is a nice card, and that makeup you gave her was nice too. I think you gave her really sweet gifts and if she’s not happy with it…then that’s her problem,” she shrugged.
“Yeah, that’s not really how relationships work, at least not between me and Amber,” Jonah admitted in a small voice.
“You want to talk about it?” Andi asked gingerly.
“Can we get done with the card, first?” Jonah asked, looking around nervously.
“Oh. Um, sure, Jonah,” Andi nodded, picking up her glitter pen. “Hm…how about ‘Hope you keep lighting up my world, Amber!’?”
Jonah nodded. “That’s great, Andi, thanks so much!” Andi grinned happily, giving him the glitter pen so he could write it. Jonah wrote it and signed it off, putting a heart and smiley face next to it.
“I’m sure she’ll like this,” Jonah grinned, the huge smile coming back earnestly.
“Let’s hope so,” Andi smiled back.
“I owe you one, Andiman, how can I return the favour?” Jonah asked.
“You don’t owe me anything, yeah? Just tell me…are you happy?” she asked
“What?” Jonah’s smile left his face.
“I mean, with Amber, or like, in general,” Andi shrugged, trying to be nonchalant.
“What makes you think I’m not happy?” Jonah asked, a little irritation creeping into his voice.
“No… I mean, I don’t,” Andi scrambled for something to say.
“Did I do something that makes you think that? What makes me look sad? Is it the smile again?” Jonah asked, concerned.
“No. Wait. Why are you so concerned about how much you’re smiling?” Andi asked.
Jonah paused, pursing his lips. “That’s my job, isn’t it? To smile?”
“What?” Andi laughed out of confusion. “What gives you that idea?”
“That’s why everyone likes me. ‘Oh look at that guy, Jonah Beck. Look at how friendly he is and how’s he always smiling. Must be a nice person.’ Isn’t that what people think?” Jonah asked, a little harshly, not quite what she was expecting.
“I like you as a friend because you’re Jonah Beck!” Andi said, trying to cheer up.
“Yeah?” Jonah asked. “Well, what does being Jonah Beck mean, exactly?”
Andi thought about it, genuinely wanting to answer his question. “Let me tell you, Andi. It means being the next-door-friendly guy who’s constantly happy. That’s why people like me. So I need to keep that up, right?” he shrugged, smiling again.
“It’s not your job to be constantly happy for other people, Jonah,” Andi said, knitting her eyebrows together.
“Hm…” Jonah nodded absentmindedly, not quite believing her at all. He paused, and then put on the same smile that was starting to irritate him now.
“Listen, thanks so much for helping me with the card. I’ll see you around,” he said, and then walked away. He was walking normally, and then suddenly put a spring in his step. That irritated her too.