Until June

Chapter 2

Clare nodded as Eli rambled on about a new comic book. He opened the door of The Dot for her, never missing a beat as they stepped into the diner. She tried her best to keep her face neutral as they sat down at their normal table, wondering where Adam was. Normally he would be talking about comic books with Eli.

Adam disappeared shortly after the final bell rang. She and Eli checked the weight room and his favorite study nook, but couldn't find him. Two calls from Eli and one from Clare went unanswered.

She had begun to get concerned, but Eli stopped her train of phone calls before she reached Adam's mother. "He's a big boy," he'd told her. "Wherever he's hiding, I'm sure he's fine."

"Alright, I'll have that ready for you in a minute," Clare heard a familiar voice say at a nearby table.

She turned and saw Adam as he walked to the counter, wearing a t-shirt and apron from The Dot. He handed an order to Peter. He turned around and his eyes locked with Clare's. He froze for a moment then slowly walked to the table.

"Hey," he said softly.

Eli looked up at his friend, confused. "What are you doing?"

"Working."

"Why? Did your sugar mama cut you off?"

Adam rolled his eyes. "Really?" he demanded. Eli had hit a nerve. His mother constantly accused Fiona of throwing her money around by offering to pay for his surgery. Her family would also be paying for their wedding and they had offered to help him pay for university.

He didn't see the issue with the Coyne's helping him out financially. It was traditional for the bride's family to pay for the wedding and they would be married by the time he started university and it made no sense to have loans when they could easily pay for tuition.

"Sorry."

"Why are you working though?" Clare wondered. "I didn't think your mom would let you."

Adam shrugged. "She probably wouldn't if she knew. Fiona's gonna be back Valentine's weekend."

Eli blinked as he looked up at his friend, clearly lost.

Clare, however, understood. "Aww," she gushed. "What are you saving up for?"

"I haven't decided yet, but it's gonna be big. Like, huge. Our anniversary is a couple weeks after Valentine's Day, so I need to kind of combine the two since she won't be in town for our anniversary."

"Technically, your anniversary isn't until November," Eli said.

Clare smacked him in the arm while Adam rolled his eyes.

"What?" Eli asked. "You guys broke up like three times."

"Twice," Adam corrected. "And we're not counting our… down time. We're counting from the day we became official." He frowned. "At least, I think so."

Eli shrugged. "Hey, ignore me. A year's a year. Mazel tov, dude."

Adam smiled and touched his knuckles to Eli's. "Thanks, man."

"Adam!" Peter yelled from the counter. "Table nine."

Adam glanced at Peter and nodded. "I gotta go," he said quickly before he walked to another table.

Eli frowned as he watched Adam clear dirty plates from a table on the other side of the restaurant. "Well, that was rude," he murmured.

"Eli, he's just doing his job."

He shook his head. "No, not that. He didn't take our order."

0o-0o-0o-0o

Adam groaned as his cell phone rang when he flopped into bed after a long shift at The Dot. He grabbed it off his table and put it to his ear. "Hello?" he asked without looking at the name on the display.

"Well, hi," Fiona said. "Did you forget about me?"

He rubbed his eyes. "Of course not. I said I'd call you Wednesday night."

"You did," she agreed. "It's Thursday."

"Really?" He groaned. "Shit! I'm sorry. I've been busy."

"It's ok. Just don't do it again."

He sighed. At least she didn't sound mad. "I won't."

"Are you ok? You sound… out of it."

"Yeah. No. I'm fine. Just tired."

"Maybe it's a good idea if you cut back on the workouts a little."

"Right," he murmured. She had no idea he'd gotten a job and had dramatically cut back on the amount of time he spent working out. He wanted Valentine's Day to be a surprise.

"It's just… you sound horrible."

"Thanks."

"Adam, I'm serious. You're gonna burn yourself out."

He glanced at the picture of her on his bedside table. "It'll be worth it."

To be continued…

AN: this story will be jumping back and forth between NYC and Degrassi and will be formatted the same was as The Way Back to You was. IE: the (FFN approved) dashes and Os for two scenes within one chapter that have the same setting and the line break when the scenes switch locations.