"The Middle"

Summary: Fiona discusses her most embarrassing moment with friends. – One-shot; Fiona/Adam pairing; Eli/Clare/Alli friendship; Set during "Blood On The Ground".

Author's Note: This is a cut scene from "Blood On The Ground". It occurs right after chapters 2 & 3 (it's still Friday). References made to events the story "That's All!"

Categories: Humor/Angst/Friendship

Rating: T

-oOo-

"So what's the story with Adam going off on Owen?" Eli asked before taking a bite of his meatloaf. He knew the older boy got under Adam's skin, but he usually let it go.

Fiona fidgeted. "You didn't speak to Adam yesterday?" she questioned.

He shook his head.

"At all?" she pressed.

Eli paused mid-chew. Something in her tone was a little disconcerting. There was more to this story than he knew. He glanced at Clare. She seemed equally curious. "Why?" he asked.

Fiona looked away. She didn't want to be the one to tell them. It was really embarrassing.

Clare looked at her concerned. "What happened?"

Fiona paused. Eli and Alli shared a look.

"No judgments," Alli said encouragingly.

"Yeah," Fiona said with a wry laugh. She was certain that Mrs. Torres had made an assortment of judgments from finding them yesterday. She looked up to see all three friends looking at her with worried expressions. She sighed. "Well, Adam was a little on edge because yesterday didn't go as planned."

Eli furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"Well... You know, that I'm heading back to New York this afternoon?" Fiona started.

They all nodded.

"My mom's in town. Adam and I wanted to hang out one more time before I left, so we went back to his house."

Eli smirked. Clare smacked his shoulder. "Ouch!"

Alli giggled, but the smile slid off her face when she noticed Fiona wasn't laughing with them. She glared at Eli and Clare. They took on sheepish expressions. "Continue," Alli told Fiona.

Again Fiona was hesitant. She was surprised Adam didn't discuss this with Eli yet. "Um, so no one was supposed to be home. No one was when we got there..."

Eli raised his eyebrows with understanding. He had a hunch where this story was going. "Don't tell me..."

Fiona nodded, her face red. Clare and Alli's eyes went wide.

"Crap!" Alli muttered.

"So, who walked in on you guys?" Eli asked. As long as it wasn't Mrs. Torres he figured it wouldn't be too bad.

"His mom."

"Whoa!"

"What?"

"Ouch!"

Despite herself Fiona chuckled at their responses. It was the first time she laughed all day.

"Oh my gosh! What did she say?" Alli asked concerned.

"Fiona, I'm so sorry," Clare sympathized. She could only imagine how terrible that must have been.

"Why didn't you lock the door?" Eli inquired.

All three girls glared at him.

"Sorry!" he quickly apologized. "Hey, I have a combination lock on my door. I'm just hyper-vigilant about privacy," he explained.

Fiona shrugged. "I don't know. We weren't paying attention, I guess."

"Yeah, you were busy," Eli smirked. "Anyway, I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I mean, it's Adam's house! Really he should have–"

"Eli. Not helping," Clare interrupted his rambling.

"Right," he acknowledged. He looked down at his plate.

"So, what did she do?" Alli asked. Mrs. Torres scared her. She felt for both of them, she really did.

Fiona bit her lip as she thought about it. "She just stood there shocked for a few moments... Then she told Adam she was going downstairs in a shaky voice."

No one said anything. It wasn't the reaction they were expecting. Mrs. Torres had a domineering personality. They expected her to yell at them or order Fiona out of the house. None of them could imagine Mrs. Torres speechless.

"Anyway, it was thoroughly horrible. After she left I starting crying and Adam was trying to comfort me," Fiona continued. "Really, it was the most embarrassing moment of my life."

Elli snuck a look at Alli. He didn't want to be the one to ask the million dollar question. Alli frowned at him. She didn't want to be the bad guy either. Luckily Clare spoke up, saving them the trouble.

"So, um… how bad was it?" she asked vaguely.

Fiona looked at her and sighed. "We were in the middle of hooking up. Clothes were off."

Eli's eyebrows shot up. "Shit!"

"Whoa," Alli remarked. No wonder Mrs. Torres was rendered speechless.

Clare found herself at a loss for words. She simply gave Fiona a sympathetic look.

"Anyway, so we quickly got dressed and avoided her on the way out. Adam was joking and trying to cheer me up but it wasn't working. It was pretty terrible," Fiona cringed. "She saw like everything because I was on top–"

She stopped herself, realizing that might have been an overshare. "Um, forget I said that…" she blushed.

Eli's expression was mixture of amusement and surprise. "Okay, I'll try?" he stated as a question. Once again Clare hit his shoulder.

Alli laughed at them, but she wasn't sure if she could easily erase the mental picture of a naked Fiona on top of Adam either.

Fiona rested her head on the table, embarrassed all over again. "This isn't awkward at all," she said sarcastically.

"No, not in the slightest!" Eli grinned.

Clare cleared her throat. "So what happened after that? Did Adam get grounded?"

"No."

"No?" Alli questioned surprised.

Fiona sat up. "He told me that he had a long discussion with his mom and stepdad. He didn't get punished."

"Wow, how did he pull that off?" Eli smirked. It sounded like how his parents would handle it, except for the 'long discussion' part.

"He left out the reason why. Drew filled me in after Adam left with Principal Simpson," Fiona told him. They had a long chat after Adam had been suspended for the day. "So, after I left Adam went back inside to face the music with his mom. He found her in the kitchen… crying."

"Crying?" Eli said incredulously. Alli and Clare shared the sentiment.

Fiona nodded. "Yeah, uncontrollably crying for over an hour."

"WHAT?" Now Eli was truly puzzled.

"I can't believe that," Alli said in disbelief. It seemed so out of character for Mrs. Torres that she didn't know what to make of it.

Clare looked at Fiona. "How did this affect Adam?"

Fiona sighed. The younger girl was perceptive and could tell that Adam had been hurt by this. "Drew said he took it hard. Neither of them had ever seen their mother speechless, let alone reduced to tears. He felt… rejected. Like she was so horrified by what she saw that she couldn't deal– "

"That's not true!" Clare protested. Any parent would be stunned to walk in on their kid in a compromising position. But there was nothing horrifying about what Adam and Fiona were doing. The love between them was beautiful. Adam had to know to that!

"I'm just conveying how he felt," Fiona clarified. "I get why he's upset. Do you think she would have reacted the same way if she caught Drew with a girl?"

The silence highlighted the truth.

"I get it. She still sees Gracie," Eli said quietly. "And I don't think she pictured her doing that," he added with a smirk.

Fiona snorted. "I think you're right on that one!"

The two of them laughed. Clare shook her head in amusement.

"Anyway, I think we were all scarred by yesterday. Owen made a stupid comment and it just set him off," Fiona told them.

"What did Owen say?" Alli inquired.

Fiona shook her head. "It doesn't merit repeating."

"Right," Alli said softly. She decided not to press any further. Whatever the bully said, it was bad enough for the boys to come to blows.

Eli sighed. "And now Adam's suspended for the day."

Fiona nodded. "Yep."

"Owen's a prick," Eli started. "But Adam's a hothead." There were times when his friend had trouble reigning in his anger.

Fiona nodded. "He can be," she agreed. She wasn't happy that he ignored her pleas to let Owen's comment slide.

"The two don't mix well," Eli concluded.

"Not at all," Clare nodded.

The bell rang signifying the change of classes. The teens reluctantly rose from the table and migrated to the garbage to dump their trays. As they exited the cafeteria Clare turned to Fiona.

"Everything will smooth over soon," she assured her friend.

Fiona sighed. "I guess. This is not how I saw today going," she said disappointed.

"I'm sure Adam didn't either. You guys should talk," Clare advised.

Fiona nodded. "Yeah, I know. But, I'm going to let him sweat for a little while."

The two girls laughed as they continued walking to class.

.

-FIN-

A/N: One of the readers of "Blood On The Ground" pointed out there wasn't much fluff in that story. I would have loved to include this reaction scene, but the tone of it didn't fit the dark mood of the overall story.

I'd thought I'd share it separately instead :D