16I Guess We Never Grow Up…Not Really
Chapter 1
Summary: What if Woody couldn't get out of the box on time to write down Bonnie's address? Would the gang still be together, or would they be separated?
"Mom, I'll always be here," Andy said to his mom, putting his hand on her shoulder. She wiped her tears away and smiled.
"I guess. Well you better finish packing," she said, walking out of the room. Andy walked towards his desk to get the last box and tripped.
"What the…hey, where did this come from?" he asked no one in particular. He opened the box and smiled. There were his old toys: Buzz, Jessie, Rex, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Slinky, the whole gang. Those toys had been his best friends for years.
Actually, they had been his only friends. Andy was always different than other kids. Their town wasn't known for its high graduate's number. In fact, their graduation had consisted of about one hundred people, more than half of them being family members. Andy didn't want to live in that little town his entire life. He wanted to see the West, like Woody and Jessie and Bullseye, go into space, like Buzz, or study a dinosaur like Rex was. He didn't want to work at 7-11 or Joe's Fish Shop his entire life. He wanted to make something of himself, and kids made fun of him for it. At the end of the day, his only friends were his toys, and he liked it that way.
Up until his sophomore year anyway. He stopped playing with his toys around that time. He wasn't sure why, he just did. Then girls started showing up more and more and he was allowed a Facebook, so he talked to kids he had met at camps from years ago that were just like him. The toys went into his box and stayed there.
He had fond memories of these toys. He didn't want to throw them out or give them to some random kid who would destroy them but…he always though – although he never admitted it to anyone – that maybe his toys were special. He would remember putting Buzz right next to Woody and Jessie on the other side of his bed but when he got back, Buzz was next to Jessie, not Woody. And when he still had Bo Peep, she somehow wound up next to Woody all the time and Andy knew he had put her back on her shelf.
There it was again. Andy's mom had thrown out the toys. He had been so upset about it, so angry at his mom for being so careless, yet here they were, all packed up and ready to be put in the attic. He didn't want to put them in the attic. He had always had this feeling that Jessie didn't like crammed up spots. He had worked it into his playtime, like when Buzz had to rescue her one time and she had been put in a tiny box and was freaking out. Of course, in the end, Jessie got out and wound up having to save Buzz because Andy always imagined that if Jessie could talk, she wouldn't be the damsel in distress, not by a long shot.
What was he to do? He couldn't bring them to college with him. They could get stolen and how would he explain to people that he decided to bring all his toys along because they one of them was claustrophobic and he couldn't split her up from the space toy that he was pretty sure had a crush on her? No, that wouldn't work. He didn't trust his sister with them either. She treated her toys like junk. At least every once in a while Andy took his toys out and dusted them off. She threw hers around like nothing.
And Woody…what would it do to Woody to bring him with and give away all his friends?
Damn it. There he went, talking about the toys like they were real. They WEREN'T real. They were just plastic?
Right?
Right?
Andy got up and went to the other box, with Woody placed neatly inside, on the top. He held the old and tattered cowboy in his hands, loving the feel of it, feeling like a kid again. What could he do?
Andy sat on his bed, his head in his hands, with Woody laying right next to him. He thought.
His toys had been there for him. When Dad left, the comforting smile on Jessie's face made him feel better and although Mr. Potato Head was constantly annoyed by his alien children, he would never leave them, not like Andy's dad had. Mrs. Potato Head, ever the mother that she was, and Rex who had always been like the little brother of the group, were there to help him when Molly got sick with mono and his actual mother had to be at the hospital all the time. Even as he got older, the toys helped him. When Kennedy, his first girlfriend at age 15, cheated on him with whom he thought was his best friend, Jessie and Buzz comforted him, reminding him that he was only 15 and that Kennedy probably wouldn't have wanted to leave their town anyway and then the two smiled at each other and Andy knew all hope wasn't lost.
Who was he kidding? They were JUST toys! All those conversations were in his mind! It was him comforting himself! The toys couldn't talk, couldn't feel, and couldn't do anything because they weren't alive! And yet…
Ah, screw the status quo. And screw growing up. His mom still had that ratty looking Patty O'Green Rainbow Brite doll and its sprite Lucky that she got when she was a kid and that ugly yellow baby blanket. If she could keep those after all these years, why couldn't he keep his toys?
His decision made, Andy grabbed Woody and put him in the box with the other toys. He put the toy box on top of his other box, and walked out of his room, his head held high and his heart lighter.
After all, did people ever really grow up?
Woo-hoo! Okay, so I just got back from seeing Toy Story 3 and I LOVED it! That is one of the few movies where the sequels are just as good (sometimes better) than teh original. That and Shrek.
Quick question: Did anyone else cry when they were about to get burned up and they all just accepted it and held hands? Cuz I did. Like crazy. And again when Andy didn't want to give Bonnie Woody at first, and when they were playing? Because again, I did. I cried. Like the big baby that I am.
Anyway, when I was watching it, and they were talking about all the toys that Andy had given away over the years, and when they mentioned Bo and Woody looked like he was about to cry, I got an Inspiration. The moment we got home I started on this. It's going to be a three-shot. I'll be posting the second chapter in oh...one minute? If that? The third chapter will be up sometime later today (because it's not written yet and I gotta eat dinner) or early tomorrow.
Reviews = love!