Fragments
1. Love: When they asked he told them; he told them how much he used to love her and sometimes even how much he missed her - and he wondered if for one second she missed him too.
2. Aborting: "Adrian Lee's not aborting her baby, she's having the baby." - he didn't like hearing it, but people said it anyway; people all over the hallways asked her how she was doing and felt her stomach that was barely even there anyway.
3. Feel: The word feel crossed her mind all the time - "These pancakes make me feel sick," "I can feel the baby kicking, Ben, feel it!" - he heard the words repeatedly, but for one second he wondered if the word feel would be there because of him - "I still feel for Ricky."
4. Over: "I'm over her, completely over her." - but him and Amy both knew that wasn't the case; he still wasn't over Adrian Lee - the more her stomach grew, the more his feelings grew.
5. Phone: He picked up the phone, hands shaking - he was dialing her number - "Hi, it's Adrian, you know what to do." - she still had the same voicemail and that made him smile.
6. Kisses: Ben never kisses her, only her tummy; Ben hugged her too, but not like he did - Ricky's hugs were the special kind.
7. Relationship: "So do you want a relationship or not, Ricky?" - he didn't even want Amy; Amy probably didn't want him either - but they settled - and he watched Ben and Adrian settling quite nicely, too.
8. Girl: "So, I hear it's a girl." - Madison approached Amy while she was with Ricky in the hallway one day and blabbed on and on about the sex of Adrian and Ben's baby - "A girl, cute, huh?" - and Amy nodded her head, but didn't look back to see Ricky's reaction - he wasn't nodding at all.
9. Clothes: Of course he'd bump into them in the mall; of course they'd be shopping for baby clothes - and he thought it was cute the way she'd hold the little dress up to her tummy like the baby was right there trying it on - he didn't even know they were keeping her.
10. Supposed: She was supposed to belong to him, to Ricky; she never imagined a life with Ben - she wasn't even in love with Ben - at least not the kind of 'in love' she was in when she was with Ricky.
11. Happen: "Things happen, baby." Cindy said hugging her daughter - they'd done this a lot lately - Adrian thought it was supposed to be called Postpartum depression, not Prepartum depression.
12. Two: "She's having the baby in two months, I think." Ashley and Amy gossiped all night about her and that baby that would be here soon - the baby that should've been his and not Ben's; the baby he'd probably be a better father to anyway.
13. Touch: He thought it was awkward the way Ben would touch her stomach; he'd rub it up and down like he was giving Adrian and the baby a massage - only an awkward massage - and Ricky watched and thought "I'd give her a better one."
14. Work: Work was lonely the weeks before the baby arrived; Ben was always taking off to be with her - Ricky didn't mind the quiet much - he could cry without anyone watching or questioning him.
15. Hospital: "They went to the hospital, her water broke." Amy hesitantly ran throughout the kitchen, handing John to him - "Watch him, me and Grace and Ashley are going to be there with them." - and he wondered when the hell Amy and Grace became friends anyway.
16. Push: "Push, Adrian, push!" He was holding her hand, but she wasn't paying attention to that - not when her legs were open wide and the whole room was looking down there.
17. Newborn: "Uh, where's the newborn section anyway? Where do they keep them?" Grace ran up to the closest nurse she could find with Amy and Ashley behind her; she got no response from the nurse so she pushed her way past and found the nursery herself.
18. Window: They stood at the window outside the nursery for what had seemed like the whole afternoon; the baby had no idea they were there, but they stayed there anyway - "She's pretty, huh?" Ben rubbed the small of Adrian's back as he watched the tears roll from her eyes.
19. Book: He had bought her a baby name book, but he figured she didn't even open it anyway - "We need a name, a name!" Adrian cradled her daughter in the hospital bed, admiring her huge eyes and tiny fingers and toes - "Relax," Ben looked down at his daughter, "It's been three hours."
20. Visitors: No visitors past ten, said the sign outside in the hall - but Grace stayed anyway - "She's beautiful, you two." - and Adrian looked down at her baby girl and back up at her best friend and realized at that moment that was all she wanted - but not all she needed.
21. Cute: "She's cute," he was in the doorway of the hospital room and she started crying but he didn't want her to cry, that wasn't his intention at all - "Congratulations." was all he said to her - Ricky then spoke some words to Ben but she didn't bother to listen because she just had a baby and she was too tired to even care.
22. Papers: It was four days after, and her and Ben sat in the adoption agency together, hand in hand - "I can't do this, I can't." - and Adrian fled to the door and left Ben with a bunch of unsigned papers in his hand.
23. Daddy: Ben was a good daddy to Ava - the first week was a good one - "I love you, Ava." - he'd speak to her at night when he thought Adrian was asleep, but she heard everything.
24. Together: "Do you think you and Ben will ever be together?" She was always asked the same question, and she didn't doubt it, because the guy she would wait her whole life for probably didn't want her now anyway; he wouldn't want her now that she kept Ava.
25. Grandma: "Abuela or Grandma?" Cindy held a sleeping baby Ava and rocked her gently - "Grandma, mom, Grandma." Adrian would laugh at the thought at her mother even being called grandma, later questioning if keeping the baby was the right choice in the first place.
26. School: Managing school and taking care of Ava was hard, but she did it - not before she was sleep deprived, but she did it - and Ben helped - she was grateful for that- but she wished that Ricky was the one she was doing this all with instead; not for a second did he leave her mind - or her heart.
27. Hand: "I'll be there holding your hand." Ben comforted her as she sat in the waiting room of the doctors' office with two-month old Ava in her car seat - her legs were shaking so he held her closer to him and shushed her - "It'll be okay, shots are no big deal."
28. Date: He had a date tonight, so Ava would stay home alone with her mommy tonight, which Adrian really enjoyed - being a mother at seventeen going on eighteen was not easy, but she loved her little Ava - "Who are you going out with, anyway?" She wasn't jealous, just lonely - "Grace." And he kissed Ava, who was sitting in her little rocker, on the head, pat Adrian on the shoulder and took off.
29. Like: "I really like him!" Grace squealed while Adrian held up the phone with her shoulder, attempting to breastfeed Ava - "Yeah, well, enjoy." Adrian hung up the phone, buttoned up her shirt and handed off Ava to Ben who walked in the room with a smile.
30. Stay: "She's going to stay with my dad tonight, I'm going out with Grace." Adrian told Ben, who seemed a little ticked off at the thought of Adrian going out and leaving Ava. "Relax, she'll be fine, she's stayed with him before Ben." She was annoyed as she clicked the phone and opened her closet - the baby weight came off easy with her, so sexy clothes were back in.
31. Run: "You came here to run into her, didn't you?" Jack and Ricky pulled up to the restaurant - "I didn't know-" Ricky was interrupted - "Bullshit!" Jack got out of his car and looked at Ricky who pretended to be confused - "Grace told me she was coming here with Adrian tonight, I wanted to run into Grace - who's now dating friggin' Ben, by the way - and you suddenly ask me to come?" Ricky looked down, "So?" - And Ricky and Jack both knew why he'd suddenly ask Jack to 'hang out' on a Friday night.
32. Order: "Order whatever, it's on me." Grace picked up a menu and handed it to her overly-tired best friend, who still managed to look pretty - "Seriously, whatever you want, it's on-" Adrian tapped on Grace, and both of the girls looked up to their ex-boyfriends above them.
33. Double: "Even though we're all not together anymore, it's kind of like, a double date, y'know?" Grace said way too giddily leaving Adrian, Jack and Ricky in the same pissed-off expression - "How is-" Jack started, "The baby, Ava?" Ricky ended - She didn't know how he knew Ava's name, and wasn't exactly sure she wanted to know.
34. Fork: She didn't even drop it on purpose, the fork just fell. "I-I'll get it," and he pulled out his chair and reached under the table to get her fork, Adrian's fork, "There you go, missy." She smiled because when they were dating, he'd always call her 'missy' and as corny as it sounded then, for him to say it was pretty adorable.
35. Call: "Just call her," Ricky knew he'd end up listening to Jack, his suddenly new 'best friend', so he picked up the phone - "H-hello?" Hearing her even pick up made him smile, so he walked into the other room and closed the door behind him, leaving Jack smiling too.
36. Miss: "I miss you more, actually." - two months passed and they've talked every day since, even when she wasn't in the mood because of 'those mood swings' as Ricky called them - he even made her laugh, which was a big deal for her, because after having a baby, nothing's really funny to you anymore.
37. Watch: "Mom, can you watch her please?" - but Cindy was going to the store to pick up some things to decorate Ava's room with and Ruben was out golfing with Leo and Ben was out with Grace again so she was desperate - picking up the phone and dialing his number wasn't hard for her anymore, so she just called, "Can you watch her, I'll even pay you."
38. Sitter: She'd never really baby-sat anyone before besides John when he was with Ricky and her, but she trusted him, he was always so good with John - "Don't pay me a thing, Adrian." - and Ricky grabbed Ava from her mom's arms, told Adrian to relax and have a good time at the nail salon, and was ready to prove he would be the best sitter she'd ever have to hire.
39. Close: Senior year was drawing a close, baby Ava almost six months old now; she was already looking more and more like Adrian each day - "I don't have to sign your yearbook, do I?" Ricky grinned as Adrian handed him a Sharpie marker - "You do." - she had her flirty face on and he liked it because it reminded him of the old Adrian, the one he missed - and the one he was slowly bringing back without realizing it.
40. Signed: "I signed right there." - he capped the Sharpie and tapped it on the spot where he had signed, gave her a hug and walked away from her locker as he noticed Ben approaching with Grace - she wasn't paying any attention to either of them tapping on her, she was too busy reading the section Ricky signed - "I don't really need to write 'I'll miss you' or 'have a good Summer vacation' because I'll be the one giving you a good Summer anyway ;) -Ricky
41. Cry: "MOM!" Adrian shouted from the top of the staircase, Ava in one arm and a bottle in the other - "She doesn't stop, all she does is cry!" - but Cindy told her daughter it was normal, babies cry and cry and cry and she told her that even if she called Ben to come over she probably wouldn't stop - after that Adrian sat down and started to cry too.
42. Graduation: She's valedictorian and he's playing the drums in the band's final song, but they don't take their eyes off each other the whole time - Grace, the class president, is making a speech, but they're not listening - all she can hear is, "Graduation is just the beginning chapter of the rest of our lives-" and then the rest fades out, because she's too busy looking at her drummer and he's busy looking right back at his girl with the gold sash on.
43. Hugs: Ben hugs her tightly in celebration of surviving the past year together taking care of their baby girl - she was genuinely happy that Ben, now a senior himself, came to her graduation to see her, Ava in her stroller next to him - she enjoyed his hugs more and more lately, but she really only wanted a hug from one person in particular, and she wouldn't leave that auditorium until she got it.
44. Studying: It was their first day of Summer vacation, and he sat with her all day in the backyard alongside Ben, Grace and Ava, too - Ben and Grace kissed and giggled and played with baby Ava's hair, toes and fingers - Grace 'aww-ing' at every move Ava made - "So," he said picking up a pitcher of lemonade and pouring it into four cups, "Studying family law, huh?" - and she nodded, sipping the lemonade closely to her mouth, letting the ice melt on her lips.
45. Fall: She wasn't too worried about it, she'd go to college during the day and come home to see Ava in the afternoon - the baby would stay in daycare during the day, and after school Ben would go pick her up, they had made that plan already - everything was bound to fall into place.
46. This: She missed it, she missed this - after two weeks of an already-amazing Summer vacation, Ricky and Adrian got along better than average, him coming over everyday to hang out with her and Ava and even Grace and Ben - she knew they'd do it again, something in her knew it would happen, but she didn't know it would happen like this, and she liked it - Ricky told her she had never lost her game, even with a crying Ava in the background of it all.
47. Food: "Can you bring me food?" She spoke into the phone as she called her boyfriend to come over and bring her some dinner - "You're always hungry." She laughed, "I have a baby!" - and he laughed, too.
48. Happy: "I'm happy for you, Adrian." Ben grabbed her hand one night while they were giving Ava a bath, which left both of them soaked - "Why?" She knew exactly why, but she liked hearing it anyway, "I'm happy you and Ricky are together again, I knew you guys would end up together." She didn't know he thought that at all, but hearing it made her mood rise even more than it already had.
49. Nice: "But he's a nice guy, and a good dad, right?" Adrian nodded and quickly tried to escape this conversation with Cindy but knew she wouldn't be able to - "Yes, but I don't love him. And besides, I have a boyfriend, and he's got a girlfriend." Cindy looked up at her daughter and tried to still speak, "B-but, you both have Ava, and Ava can bring you two together." - Adrian tried to ignore her mother, but fighting back seemed better, "Look, we both love her, we love Ava unconditionally. She's our baby, but we're not an 'us', mom. Final." - and she rose from the table, grabbed a coffee quickly from the fridge and ran to her room to go find her cell phone so that she could call her boyfriend and complain about this to him.
50. Moon: "Goodnight, moon." Ben and Adrian spoke together as they read the last words of the story to Ava, who was fast asleep at the beginning of the story, but they continued to read anyway - Adrian looked up because she heard a knock at the front door, and Ben told her to stay there and that he'd get it - "It's Ricky," Ben said coming up the stairs two minutes later, "I'll stay in here with Ava, go." - and he smiled, leading his hand to the door, signalling that she should go be with her boyfriend - "Don't worry about Ava, she'll be fine with her daddy." - and Adrian felt her eyes tear up a little bit - as much as she'd love creating a family with Ricky, she couldn't ask for a better dad to Ava.
A/N: Keep in mind, this is a Ricky/Adrian story, it will get there, I promise! I am a huge shipper of Ricky/Adrian, I just felt like I should include the whole pregnancy scenario with Ben in there first, but I do hope I'm including the both of their feelings well, I just need Ben as a main character to do so for now. I don't know about Ava, I wanted Adrian to keep her if she didn't get an abortion, the name Ava just popped into my head because I have a future name picked out that goes along with Ava for a future character in my story. Each chapter will be fifty words and fifty fragments, I don't know how long this story will be TBH, but I'd like to continue it. If I get 3+ reviews for the first chapter I will definitely continue this story! Thank you so much!
