Author's Note: So I wasn't going to do another part to this but I got a request for one and I thought I'd try it out. This one's in Adam's point of view—please tell me what you think! Also for those who did request a second part, I'm sorry it took so long—I had the worst writer's block with parts of this.
Disclaimer (since I forgot it on the first part): I, if anyone was really wondering, do not own Degrassi or any of its characters.
He promised he'd be there when she told her parents. After that night she showed up at his house, he thought for sure she would want it kept a secret. Right after their break-up that would have made him really angry but after awhile, it seemed more important that they were back together and less important that her parents understood (after all, wouldn't it be enough to have her back in his arms?).
The first night, they hadn't really discussed it. They'd kissed and eventually, he was thinking clearly enough to realize he hadn't actually answered her question (he said yes, of course, because how could he really say no? how could he deny both of them what they wanted so badly?). And then, even though he wanted her to stay forever, she'd had to return home (things were going to complicated enough without her getting caught sneaking out).
So he went to school the next day assuming they were a secret. His shock was obvious then when she'd walked up to him as soon as he'd arrived (she was always early), pecked him on the lips, and grabbed his hand, a huge smile on her face. It had faded instantly when she saw his.
"Wait, did I misunderstand last night?" she'd asked in a voice so small and vulnerable that he got a guilty feeling in his stomach like he'd kicked a small puppy.
He'd stopped their walk then, turning her to face him. With their bodies aligned, just barely touching, he'd shaken his head.
"Never, never, never Becky Baker. I just thought you'd want to keep us a secret with your parents and all."
She'd smiled then, somehow larger than before (and his heart twisted at that smile. He decided right then and there he'd do anything to make her smile like that more often—he'd noticed it was missing far too often the past few weeks).
"No. No more keeping secrets. I'm not doing anything wrong with you so long as I don't lie to my parents about it. There's nothing wrong with this, with us," she'd squeezed his hand then, lifting their intertwined fingers to face level, "And if they can't understand that, then they will have to learn to broaden their mindsets. I'm not sure if I can go any longer denying what I feel for you."
It was his turn to smile and they'd continued their walk down the hall, ready to face the day (together, like it was really supposed to be).
It was a few days later she'd asked him to join her when she told her parents.
"I keep trying to bring it up and every time I do, the words get caught in my throat. I keep picturing their disappointment and condemnation but then I think of you and I know I can't keep it a secret. But I'm not sure I can tell them if you're not there with me. I need someone who understands, especially since they won't."
He'd thought he might make it worse—that his presence would only upset them further. But she'd persisted, certain she would never tell them without his support and even more sure that she'd never feel completely okay about dating him if she was keeping it a secret (and she didn't want to feel any guilt, not with him—it was too important). So he'd relented (like there was really any question, he'd do anything for her as cliché as it was).
The problem was how to get her parents into a room with him. They didn't like him. They thought he was confused and the moment they saw him in their house, with Becky, they'd be suspicious (and completely unwilling to hear anything Becky and Adam had to say). So, they decided the meet would have to be done outside of her house.
She asked her parents to meet her after school at The Dot one day. She did it in the morning and she didn't warn him beforehand. He wanted to be angry, but he understood—she needed to do it now, before she over thought it, couldn't wait to warn him because otherwise it wouldn't happen. So he squashed down the feeling of anger and focused instead on what he would say (she promised she would do the talking and he was just there for moral support…but he knew how these things went and figured he'd probably have to step in if she froze up).
School was almost unbearable (how could he focus on trigonometry when he was going to be announcing his forbidden relationship to his Christian girlfriend's ultra-conservative parents after school? It just wasn't possible). He walked around like a zombie. Eli kept giving him strange looks and Clare stopped him more than once to make sure he was okay. It wasn't until last period that he finally gave her an answer.
"We're telling Becky's parents today after school."
"Ah," Clare immediately understood, nodding her head, "You know, it's going to be okay, right? Even if they don't accept your relationship?"
"But how can it be? After all, that's what broke us up the first time and there's no way they will be okay with it. They sent her to therapy! For dating me!"
"You're right. They probably won't be okay with it immediately. You just have to be willing to give them time…and space. But, if there's anything I've learned in the last year, it's that time has a powerful impact on opinions like that. They may be against it now, but they love their daughter. And Becky loves you and you make her happy. Eventually, they will just have to see how much that matters—and see how it matters much more than any other issue they have with your relationship."
Class had started then and they couldn't talk anymore. But Adam sent her a grateful smile for her help and he felt a little bit better (or at least, not like he was going to start vomiting as soon as the final bell rang).
Still, when the final bell rang, he could feel himself shaking. Adam immediately went to Becky's locker. She was there, waiting for him and she looked more anxious than he felt. He smiled at her, in a way he hoped was comforting. She smiled back and he instantly felt better. Surely he could face her parents if it meant she would continue smiling at him like that.
They were sitting at an outside table, having already bought their coffee. Becky's mother spotted us first, smiling and lifting her hand to wave when she noticed her daughter. The smile faded when she saw him and disappeared entirely as soon as she noticed their entwined hands. It was something he should have expected but left him reeling all the same.
"I'll go inside and get us something to eat. Why don't you go sit down and I'll be there to join you soon?" He looked at her for approval, hoping she would give him the few extra minutes to collect himself.
She nodded mutely. He wondered if she'd actually heard him. Her face was green and he decided against leaving her alone for those extra few minutes, even if it would have helped him. She didn't look like she could make it two seconds alone with her parents, let alone a few minutes.
"Never mind. Come on, we've got this far," he squeezed her hand and she looked up at him, smiling with relief and he was suddenly glad he'd changed his mind on going inside.
He led the way to the table, realizing that she was too frozen to actually move herself. Later, he would wonder how he'd found the strength to move. It wasn't like he was any less nervous than she. (He'd decide that it was because a second rejection by Becky's parents would never hurt as much as the rejection from Becky herself—and he'd already lived through that).
Her father and mother glared stonily at him as he sat down and he thought that if Becky could freeze up anymore, she would have at their treatment of him. Instead, she remained paralyzed by the fear of what they would do, now that they saw the two of them together.
They sat in silence for awhile, Becky staring at the table, her parents intermittently glaring at him and looking at her with a look in their eyes that seemed to say "I thought we'd taken care of this. I thought this was over with. What are you doing with her?" It hurt—more than he really thought it should. Sitting there, in front of her parents, with her so clearly embarrassed by his presence, it was like the reunion never happened.
His leg started to move of its own accord, reacting nervously to the adrenaline coursing through his body. He wanted to say something, he was going to say something, he didn't want to just sit here in silence being looked at like he was the scum of the earth. Why wasn't she speaking? Was she embarrassed? Had she changed her mind, now that they were here in front of her parents? Did she think they weren't worth it anymore?
"Mr. and Mrs. Baker, I'm sorry. This was a mis—"
"No, Adam. I'm sorry. I told you, I keep freezing. Please don't go." She finally said something, placing her hand on his arm as he started to get up to leave.
She took a deep breath, looking her parents in the eye. Adam, frozen in the awkward position between sitting and standing, recognized the look of determination in her eyes and smiled. Maybe she hadn't changed her mind after all. Maybe they were worth it. He sat down again, grabbing her hand once again (he hadn't even realized he'd dropped it) and squeezing it, trying to give her the strength to keep speaking.
"Mom, Dad. I love Adam. I never stopped, not even while I was at therapy. Being without him—I've never been so unhappy. I didn't realize how important he was to me until I decided to give him up and I don't really want to keep sacrificing him when all it does it hurt us both," she spoke quickly, as if she didn't really know how to say it but afraid that if she slowed down she would never say what she wanted.
"Becky, darling, you can't honestly expect us to just accept that you want to date this girl. You know God won't accept that. Now, if that therapy didn't work, I know some really great summer camps—"
"No, Dad. I'm not going back to therapy. I don't need therapy. I'm not gay. Adam is a boy, not a girl. He's a boy everywhere it matters," she smiled and lifted their hands and placed them on the table, "and I'm going to date HIM regardless of your approval. I love him. He loves me. I don't want to lie to you about it but I'm also not going to let you stop me. I don't know if you noticed but I was miserable the entire time I attempted to not date him. Nothing good came out of it and I can't believe God would allow me to feel this strongly for someone and expect me not to be with him. He's not that cruel."
"Darling, you can't expect to truly understand God's will—"
"Then why do you get to say you do?" Becky stood up in anger, holding my hand and glaring at her parents.
"Becky, calm. It's okay. We knew this would be tough," he attempted to control her anger, "We just need to be patient. It's okay."
"No, it isn't. They don't have the right to judge you like this. Or send me back to therapy because I love you. I don't need therapy."
Evidently, now that she was talking she had quite a bit to say. And most of it was angry—he thought she might be working herself up to yelling and, well, he can't say this was how he imagined the interaction going.
By that he means, he expected yelling (but not by Becky), he'd expected someone to want to angrily storm out of the cafe (once again, not Becky), and someone needing to be calmed down (still not Becky). However, even if he'd imagined himself doing all those things (with her parents joining in with the yelling bit), he found instead that he was the one comforting Becky and attempting to convince her to stay at the table just a bit longer.
"Becky, calm. Just sit down and let your parents speak. I agree with you wholeheartedly that it's frustrating but we both need to be patient. Yelling won't actually solve anything," he whispered this, the words for her ears only.
She looked at him, her eyes watering. He was instantly reminded of the night they'd reunited, the way her eyes had shone then with tears and he recognized in her face the same pain he'd been dealing with for weeks. He realized that was the real problem here. She was still in pain—she was hurt because they hadn't noticed the way the therapy had made her feel, the pain inflicted by the separation. It made him angry that they hadn't noticed. They should have noticed.
She sat down slowly, looking at her parents. They looked stricken by her behavior, as if they'd never seen her act this way. Now that he thought about it, she probably hadn't ever done this before.
"Mom, Dad, as much as I would appreciate your approval, I didn't ask you here to day to ask your permission to date Adam. I'm going to date him. I just didn't want to lie to you about it."
"Becky, you don't understand. You've read in the Bible. It commands that you shall not lie with mankind as with womankind and that applies to you as well. You cannot date someone who is a girl, even if said person is denying God's will in this situation."
He looked at her, wanting to say something but not trusting himself to speak.
She looked down at their intertwined hands, "I don't know what to say to convince you that Adam is a boy and that I love him and that I believe this part of God's path for me. I'm not sure the words exist. I'm sorry that you can't approve of this but I'm not going back to therapy. That made me miserable."
"Becky, honey, it was only so bad because you weren't fully committed to it. If you truly want to get better, they can and will help you. You just have to accept that this isn't right."
No. They couldn't send her back there. If he thought that the first rejection was bad, a second rejection from Becky just might destroy him. He couldn't take it. Suddenly, his resolve crumbled. He couldn't just sit there while they discussed sending her to therapy to get over him. It wasn't right. And he just couldn't stand it if they were successful.
"Mr. and Mrs. Baker, I love your daughter. I know that probably doesn't comfort you but I'm saying it anyways. I know you don't believe this but I am a boy. That's what I am between the ears and that's where it really counts. I don't know that I can convince of that but its true. Thank you for your time but I really need to be going."
He got up and walked away from the table, refusing to look back to see Becky's face. He didn't really want to know what she thought right now. Part of him felt terrible for just up and leaving her like that but he wasn't—he just couldn't handle it any longer. They wouldn't even listen, didn't care to understand. He was just a problem to be fixed.
Faintly, he heard Becky talking to her parents but he couldn't quite make out what she was saying. He hoped against hope that she was denying their request to send him to therapy, that she wouldn't give him up again. But part of him understood that he had just abandoned her and then, he desperately wanted to turn around. Surely he could take their rejection if it meant avoiding hers.
But, no. It would be worse to sit there and listen to them convince her he was wrong. He couldn't be there for that—it would be too much.
"Adam Torres."
He stopped in his tracks at the sound of her voice, turning around.
"Adam, I'm sorry. I should have never asked you to come. I knew they were going to be like that and you shouldn't have to listen to people say such things. Just know I don't agree with them, not anymore. I don't need therapy. I don't need to be fixed. I just need to have you in my life. Please don't leave me because of them."
He smiled and took three steps towards her, grabbing her hands once again, "Not if you'll still have me."
She smiled her eyes slightly watery, "Always, Adam Torres, always."