"Let's Go to the Mall!"
Summary: After Fiona is a no-show at Adam's party, Drew tries his best to cheer his brother up. Takes place after "Halo" part 2 – Torres Brothers fic!; One-shot.
Author's Note: This was inspired by Adam's new hair style in the promos!
Categories: Family/Angst/Humor
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: Do NOT own Degrassi! (I'm not even Canadian… though I name drop places I visited in Toronto)
-oOo-
Drew frowned. He hated seeing his little brother mope around the house. Adam was lounging on the couch listlessly clicking through the channels. Either nothing was on or nothing could hold his interest. Drew had an idea why.
Last night Adam and his friends threw an amazing party at an abandoned church. Drew had been impressed. Everything from the lighting, the music, and light party food had been great. He had a fun time dancing the night away with his date, Jess. About a half hour in he realized he didn't see his younger brother around. Adam should have been on top of the world at his success but he wasn't. The girl he threw the party for, his crush Fiona Coyne, was a no-show. Drew later learned that Adam left to go find her but she hadn't returned his calls. Adam had been in this melancholy, sad mood every since.
"Ok, it's time to get dressed," Drew ordered. Adam looked up startled.
"Oh, when did you get here?" he asked disinterested and returned his eyes to the TV. He then clicked to another channel.
"Enough!" Drew said and grabbed the remote. "You're getting up and we're going to the mall."
Adam sighed. "No thanks, Andrew. I'd rather stay in today."
Drew was undeterred. "That wasn't a request." He grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him up.
Adam glared at him. "Let go."
Mrs. Torres walked in to the room and furrowed her brows at the commotion.
"What's going on here?" she demanded.
Drew smiled innocently at her. "Nothing. Adam and I are going to the mall."
She studied the two boys. It was already two in the afternoon and Adam was still in his pajamas while Drew was fully dressed. "Really?" she questioned.
"I don't want to go," Adam protested.
"Oh come on, are you just going to sit here all day?" Drew countered. Adam nodded.
"Adam, get dressed and go with your brother," Mrs. Torres told him.
Drew shot him a victorious smile. Adam glared at him.
"Why are you taking his side?" he complained.
"You've been mopey all morning," she answered and turned towards the kitchen. "Get out and get some sun."
"Well, you heard her," Drew gloated after she left.
"Whatever," Adam retorted and headed upstairs.
Drew watched him leave and then went to the kitchen. Inside his mother was sitting at the counter sorting bills. He went to the fridge and grabbed some orange juice.
"What's going on with him?"
Drew placed a cup on the counter and he thought about what to tell her. "He's disappointed."
His mother looked at him exasperated. "What happened now?"
Drew grimaced as he recognized his mother was bracing for the worst. "It's nothing serious," he assured her. "There's this girl he likes–"
"Another girl?" Mrs. Torres interrupted.
Drew nodded. "Yeah. Not the same one as last time."
"Given what happened last time I thought he learned his lesson," she said annoyed.
Drew bristled. He didn't like her judgmental tone. "It's just a crush. It's harmless."
His mother shrugged, not quite convinced.
"This girl is out of his league but she's sweet. Will you go easy on him?" Drew pleaded.
"Fine," his mother agreed.
"Thanks for siding with me earlier. I just want to cheer him up," Drew told her.
Mrs. Torres sighed. "I want him to be happy too. Sometimes I doubt if he can."
Drew clinched his jaw. "Despite everything he's been through, Adam is usually the first one trying to make everyone smile. I wished you could acknowledge that."
"I do," she said defensively. "I also know his dark moods come just as quickly."
Drew stood up. "I wonder why." He walked back to the fridge and put the carton away.
"Drew," his mother called after a moment of silence. She took out some money from her purse. "For the mall."
-oOo-
"We're here," Drew announced as he roughly shook his brother's shoulders.
"Okay, okay," Adam said annoyed as he stood up from his seat. Drew's cheeriness was grating. All Adam wanted to do was sit in his room. Instead he took a streetcar with his brother to Dundas and Yonge. He was in the heart of downtown Toronto with eager shoppers and tourists. He sighed.
After exiting the streetcar, he followed his older brother through the hordes people. A few minutes later they entered the Eaton Centre shopping mall.
"Did we really have to go so far?" Adam questioned.
Drew laughed. "It's the weekend! Why not travel a bit?"
"Maybe because I didn't want to travel at all," he quipped.
"Let's have a good time," Drew told him. He was starting to lose his patience. Perhaps it would have been kinder to nip his fixation with Fiona in the bud at the start. Instead now he had to deal with snippy, heartbroken Adam. It wasn't pretty.
They walked around for several minutes before heading into H&M. Drew made a bee line for new line of men's shirts. Adam stood back and looked at the mannequins. They did not reflect his style at all. Sure occasionally he and Drew would share shirts, but Drew dressed like slightly stylish preppy. Adam's wardrobe consisted of vests, plaid shirts, and dark jeans. However, he wasn't opposed to wearing suits if the occasion called for it.
He spent nearly half of his savings on the suit he wore yesterday at the party. He had taken Eli and Clare along with him to get a second opinion before buying it. They both agreed purple was his color.
Adam looked away. He had been so excited yesterday. He worked hard to impress Fiona and was looking forward to spending time with her. All of his high hopes came crashing down yesterday. She had completely blown him off. She didn't return any of his calls or texts. He still hadn't heard from her and it was the following day!
After a lot of back and forth he decided to call her again this morning, just to make sure she was okay. However, he made the fatal decision to check twitter first. He saw that Holly J tweeted Fiona, and she had messaged back thirty minutes later. He was crushed. It was official, her phone wasn't broken and she was indeed alright – she just didn't want to talk to him.
"Adam!" Drew called.
He snapped out of his reverie and looked at his brother.
"Which is better? The red or the blue?" Drew held up two shirts. They were solid color short sleeve shirts with buttons down the middle.
Adam dispassionately pointed to the red.
"Thanks bro!" Drew laughed. He put the blue one back on the rack. "Hey, why aren't you looking for anything?"
"What's the point?" Adam sighed. "Fiona's not interested. I don't think any girl will be. I could wear a burlap sack for all it matters."
Drew looked at him. He hated the defeated look on his younger brother's face. Right now he really disliked Fiona Coyne. He thought she would let Adam down easy, but bailing on the party and ignoring him was downright cruel. "Screw her."
Adam's eyes snapped up. "What?" he said defensively.
Drew held back a smirk. He could tell that despite it all, his brother still liked her. "If she can't see how great you are, then she's not worth it."
Adam rolled his eyes. He had heard variations of this line many times. It was meant to make him feel better, but all it did was make him feel worse. Like he was this sad charity case who everyone wanted to coddle. He knew his brother was trying to help but right now he felt really low and this trip was only aggravating him.
"I don't want anything. Keep shopping if you must," he said dryly.
Drew frowned. This wasn't going as planned, but then again Adam was as stubborn as a mule. If he wanted to wallow in his misery then he was determined to do just that. Still, Drew wasn't one to give up easily either.
"Let me ring this up. There's another place we're going to after this," he told his younger brother.
Adam nodded, resigned to his fate.
Twenty minutes later they exited the store. Drew purchased three shirts, new slacks, and a new jacket. True to form, Adam hadn't bought anything.
"What are you looking for now? New shoes? Oh, let me guess... more product for your hair," Adam teased. His curiosity was peaked. Drew had walked past many stores he usually frequented.
"Nope," Drew grinned. "Follow me," he instructed. Adam frowned.
"Didn't you just get a haircut?" he asked they walked into a hair salon. It was trendy one that cut both men and women's hair. It had black leather couches and the walls were adorned with modern art.
"I did, last week," Drew said over his shoulder as he approached the front desk. "Hi. I have a 4:45 appointment. The name is Torres."
The woman behind the desk smiled at him. She had a black asymmetrical cut. "Yes. Your stylist, Jean, will be right out."
"Thanks," he told her.
Adam looked at him. "So, why are you cutting your hair again?"
"I'm not," Drew answered. His brother threw him a quizzical look. "You are."
Adam snorted. "My hair is already short." His mother made him cut quite a bit right before they returned to school. It took him awhile to adjust to shorter hair, but he liked the style now.
"It's time for a new look," Drew argued. "Introduce the ladies to the new and improved Adam Torres."
Adam laughed. "No haircut takes away from the freak factor."
Drew narrowed his eyes. "Don't say that. You are not a freak."
"Down boy," Adam teased. "I'm allowed to joke about myself from time to time." Sometimes Drew could be a little too overprotective.
"Well, it's not funny," Drew argued.
"Okay, which one of you are getting styled today?" a chipper voice asked them.
They turned towards the speaker. Jean was a thin guy in his late twenties. He was highly animated and seemed like he lived on coffee. On his head he was rocking a mixture of blonde, brown, and bright red curls. Drew gave Adam a look.
"He is," he said and nudged Adam towards him. His brother sighed and followed the stylist to his station.
"Okay, you can sit right here," the man told him with a smile. Adam got into the seat, facing the large vanity mirror. "So, what style would you like?"
"He wants to go shorter and sophisticated," Drew answered, appearing out of nowhere. Adam glared at him.
The older man nodded. "I've got some ideas. It's a good idea to use product with short styles. It makes the hair more manageable. How does that sound?"
Adam shrugged. He really didn't want to be here. "Whatever."
"What he means is that he's thrilled," Drew interjected.
Jean laughed. "Okay. Does he speak?" he teased.
-oOo-
Drew checked his phone for the time. The stylist began working on Adam's hair thirty minutes ago. Twenty-five minutes ago Adam banished him to the waiting room. He had already flipped through two issues of Sports Illustrated. He was starting to get bored.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure my brother knows all about it," he heard Adam say. He looked up to see Adam and Jean laughing. "Thanks again, man."
"Anytime," Jean smiled before walking away.
Adam turned towards Drew. "So, what do you think?"
He studied his brother's new hair cut. It was shorter in the front and swept to side. "I approve!" he grinned.
"Cool," Adam grinned.
"So, what do you want to do now?" Drew asked as they left the salon. He was happy that his brother seemed to be in better spirits. Finally, something had gone right today.
Adam thought about it. He could use a distraction from checking his phone and twitter for new messages. "How about getting some ice cream?"
Drew shook his head. "It's 5 degrees Celsius outside and you want ice cream?"
Adam walked ahead. "Are you in or out?"
Drew laughed. "Alright, I'm game."
.
-FIN-
A/N: I heart the Torres brothers!
I kept editing this during my breaks at work, lol. Am so glad Thanksgiving vacation is here! Well, it's already here for me. I'm taking tomorrow off because it my birthday :D
BTW, 5 degrees Celsius = 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Had to look that up because as an American I use Fahrenheit, but that wasn't the case when I visited Toronto, lol.