The Other Woman
Chapter Seven: We've got a Big Mess On Our Hands
It was movie night and the Juergens women were huddled up on the couch, watching a romance with an impossibly far fetch plot. It was a moment of rarity in the household as John was over at his grandfather's house with Ricky. Anne and Amy eagerly watched, immersed with the story and Ashley scoffed with a shake of her head, pointing out certain discrepancies that made her laugh.
"You know," Ashley drawled. "That girl is cheating on her fiancée with her ex."
"Shhh," Amy whispered and ate a popcorn kernel.
"And how could someone write three hundred and sixty five letters everyday? Well, three hundred and sixty six if it was a leap year…"
"Mom," Amy whined.
"Hush, Ash," Anne murmured as she also stuck a few kernels in her mouth. They helped settle her weakened stomach.
Ashley smiled and stared at her mother and sister who were completely in love with the storyline despite seeing it so many times before. It was nearing the end of the film and the older versions of the lovers were dancing by twilight. Anne sat up to go to the bathroom and Amy urged her to hurry, telling her that the movie was almost over.
Anne closed the bathroom door with a click and locked the door. She took out the pregnancy test she had hidden in her bedroom and let out a wary sigh.
"Is it me, or did he neglect to tell her that along the way, he became an author?" Ashley asked with a smirk.
Amy glared, "If you say one more thing about this movie…"
"What're you going to do?" Ashley inquired with a false innocence, "Take me to band camp?"
Amy threw fistfuls of popcorn at Ashley, who retaliated with the couch pillows. They laughed at the mess they made of themselves and Amy looked back to the screen, "Mom, hurry! The movie's almost done!"
"In a minute!" Anne called back and she looked down at the rod anxiously.
The last scene faded and the screen went to black as the passionate music began to crescendo. Before the movie could be considered done, the words 'The End' went scripted beautifully across the screen. Amy and Ashley hummed the last notes of the dramatic music before collapsing in laughter.
At that moment, the end of the rod became blue and Anne knew that it was the end of her reign as a mother of two teenaged girls.
There would soon be three.
"I want you to be perfectly honest with me," She said from behind the closed door.
He smiled, "I'm always honest with you."
She smiled, knowing he was telling the truth. Still, she couldn't resist teasing him. "Are you sure?" She playfully asked, "You're going to have to be brutally honest and answer any question I ask, regardless of whether or not you think I'll get mad."
He shook his head from his position on her bed, knowing that someway or another he was in for a world of hurt. Still, she was worth it. "Answer any question you have," He repeated for her to hear. "Got it."
Adrian opened her bedroom door and sashayed into the room, resting a hand on her hip and giving her body a slow twirl for him to drink in her appearance. She smirked at his stunned face and with the straightest face she could muster, she asked, "Does this dress make my butt look too big?"
Ben still hadn't recovered from the sight of her in the skin fitted thigh length dress and it took him a moment for his mouth to even move. Since the prominent school colors were red and white and since she was a majorette –one of the leads especially- it was almost an unspoken rule that all athletes were required to wear the school colors to the homecoming dance to better show school spirit. This year at Ulysses Grant, they decided to take homecoming night to another level by assigning semi formal wear for the dance instead of last year's semi casual.
Adrian's bright claret dress complemented her lightly bronzed skin tone and to better highlight her figure, it was a back open, leaving her back's valley completely exposed. She batted her captivating eyes, leaving her long lashes to brush her cheeks lightly and she arranged for her dark tousled locks to fall over her shoulder. She crossed her arms, becoming impatient, "Well? And remember, you have to answer honestly," She reiterated.
His mouth was still left ajar and she sauntered towards him, leaning over and closing his jaw with her hand. "You know," She began with a small smile, "If you keep your mouth open like that long enough, you're going to attract flies."
Ben spluttered, but gaped with a light blush dusting his cheeks. "You look…wow," He said with fascination. She grinned and gave him another sultry spin, just for his appreciation.
"Are you sure?" She inquired. "I mean, I like this one, but if you think it's too much…"
"It's perfect, Adrian," He reassured, easing her worries. "Really, everyone there will be looking at you."
Her grin dimmed. "Yeah, they will, among other reasons."
Ben gave her a more considerate look after her demeanor change and he stood in front of her. "Whatever it is that you're worried about, it'll be alright."
"Will you, Ben?" She asked him, looking into his concerned eyes, "Are you alright with this? Because I am. I just don't want to look stupid, going to the dance alone if you plan on taking…her back."
He knew how Amy and Adrian had always clashed, but it was only now that it truly occurred to him that he was more concerned for Adrian's well being, not Amy's. He held her close and said into her hair, "I wouldn't do that to you, ever."
"But-"
"No buts, Adrian. I mean it." He reinforced.
She sighed against his chest, "You're the type of guy who wouldn't go back on his word, but I don't want you to be with me just because you don't want to lie." She stared up at him with deep almond eyes, "Do you love Amy enough to even consider it?"
After looking down at her glazed amber eyes, Ben made his decision, "No, not enough to want her back."
She leaned back into his chest and smiled, even though he couldn't see it, and wrapped her arms around his midsection contently.
"I was hoping you would say that," Adrian murmured.
She succumbed to his embrace for a moment and a disconcerting furrow formed over Ben's brow. In most situations, Adrian seemed so confident and sure of her intentions and what she wanted. He sighed into her hair, "Why the worry?"
She breathed into his navy blue button down shirt, "I'm just the other woman, always have been."
Before he could ask her to elaborate on that, he heard a brief knock followed by the click of her bedroom door opening. "I thought you were trying on dresses," Said the formidable man who was Adrian's father by her doorway and every hair on the back of Ben's neck stood on end.
Adrian turned to him and smiled, "I was, and I've found a winner." Releasing herself from Ben's grasp, she twirled around to showcase her choice and Rueben shook his head at his daughter's antics before nodding in approval and sizing up the young man his daughter decided to see.
Tall, a bit lanky, but dressed conservatively as a young man his age should be. Automatically, something seemed wrong about this picture because most of the guys his daughter preferred happened to have the same build and style as Ricky.
Regardless of how seemingly harmless Ben looked, he still received Rueben's lecture, which earned a few snickers from Adrian near his side at how red he grew. Then she berated her father on giving him a hard time and headed to her room with Ben in tow. Adrian's mother, Cindy, laughed and told Rueben to relax despite the fact that his initial reaction as a parent was to suspect that something was amiss.
Rueben stood causally by the doorway, somewhat appreciating the fact that Ben showed a semblance of fear around him. Ever since he reentered Adrian's life, he was undermined more than once and was only now gaining his daughter's respect. He looked Ben up and down, and then honed onto an interesting looking bruise on his neck, "Where'd you that from?" He asked, nodding to it.
Ben touched the questioned area and a blush seemed to creep up to his cheeks. Adrian uncovered his hand and she chuckled languidly, "That may be my fault, Dad."
Ben blushed even brighter, hearing Adrian speaking about this so freely with her father. Rueben rubbed his temple, "Why'd I even ask?" He sighed and straightened, "Dinner's going to be done soon; you staying Ben?"
After a glance at Adrian, Ben nodded and Rueben left the doorway.
Ben released the breath he was holding and Adrian laughed outright at her boyfriend. "Sure you know what you're getting into?" She asked as she playfully jabbed her finger into his side, prompting a grin from him.
"No," Ben answered honestly. "But I definitely don't mind trying."
"Are you sure you want to go ahead and do this?" He said from behind the steering wheel.
She sighed and looked over at him from the passenger side, "I'm as sure as I'm ever going to be."
After deciding what their next move would be, Amy set to securing John in his booster seat as Ricky went on into the kitchen to make breakfast. Amy quickly fed John, making sure to be careful of spilling anything on his clothes and smiled when the heavenly aroma of eggs and discount bacon from the butcher shop wafted into the bedroom and throughout the small apartment. They ate quickly and then made their way downstairs with John in hand.
Now they sat outside of the Juergens residence in Ricky's silver Volvo with their stomachs full and John half asleep in the backseat. Amy traced invisible patterns on the window with her finger, delaying her time for when she would actually go back to her house, or decide to.
Ricky's eyes flitted down and he grasped her hand. "It's now or never, Amy. What's it going to be?"
Amy's gaze still lay on her house door in the distance, "I wonder what he did after last night…"
"Who?" Ricky asked, puzzled.
"Ben," Amy whispered, loud enough for Ricky to hear.
Ricky still kept his hand on hers as he muttered, "Why?"
After a moment or two when he thought she would ignore the question, Amy shrugged. "I don't know, just wondering," She gave him a weak smile and he gave her hand a reaffirming squeeze. "Wish me luck."
She got out of the car and made her way across the small sidewalk leading up to her front door. With a sigh, she inserted the key she still had and entered the house.
Everything was silent when she stepped in. For some reason, she had been expecting there to have been a brigade consisting of her mother, father, and sister, interrogating her about where she had been and why. Before she could sigh in relief, Ashley walked in through the back door and into the immediate hallway.
The fourteen year old halted and called behind her, "She's here!"
George and Anne followed in tow, with Anne cradling her rotund belly and George's nostrils flaring. Anne rushed and hugged Amy tightly as Amy kept her arms by her side and George grunted, getting straight to the point, "Where were you, Amy? We've been up half the night and you just disappeared!"
Anne released her and Amy looked from her mother's soft honey brown eyes to her father's stern irises, "I'm moving out."
Anne's jaw slacked and she echoed her daughter, "Moving out?"
George flared, "Nuh-uh, no way, not gonna happen." He loomed over her petite figure, "That's out of the question, Ames! And what makes you think we'd let you? You can't just leave the house in the middle of the night and then come back and say you're moving out like you're an adult. Adults don't do that anyways!" He argued.
Amy leaned her chin up to him defiantly, "I can't stay here anymore; at least not in this house. I need to get away from here. I'll probably go crazy if I don't!" She defended and went in the other direction up the stairs.
She was halfway up when she heard her mother yell: "Amy, think about this before you do it!"
George looked at Anne with accusing eyes and hissed, "Is that all you're going to say? Your teenage daughter has just told you she's moving out and that's all you can say?"
Anne sighed and covered her face with her hands; "I really can't deal with this right now…"
Amy rushed into her bedroom and grabbed a duffle bag, as well as the one holding her French horn. She quickly stuffed some clothes, hers and John's, as well as the diapers underneath the bed, some toys left precariously around the room and a few personal trinkets. When she looked at the doorway, Ashley was leaning against it, glaring at her wholeheartedly. "How could you?"
Amy zipped the bag closed and slung it over her shoulder, "What do you mean?"
Ashley gave her an incredulous look and blocked the doorway, "How could you just leave us, all of us? Are you just that selfish or deranged?"
Amy didn't answer and stood in front of her little sister, "Ashley, move out of the way."
"No, I'm not going to move out of the way," Ashley said scathingly. "Are you crazy? How could you just leave? How could you ever leave? This is your home, Amy, for better or worse. You can't just run off every time things get hard!" Ashley yelled, her bravado getting the best of her.
Amy narrowed her eyes, "Just watch me."
She sidestepped her sister and approached the staircase. Ashley gritted her teeth, "Fine! Go kidnap my nephew and mom and dad's grandson! Go, Amy. We don't need you. As a matter of fact, we never needed you because you caused a lot of stress on your own, so just go!"
Amy paused and Ashley thought her ruse had worked, at least enough to anger Amy and keep her around longer. Amy moved down the first few steps after a moment and Ashley shoved her.
Amy rounded on Ashley, glaring as she moved back up, "Don't you ever push me."
"Why?" Ashley questioned in resentment, "Is it because you felt pushed into having sex with Ricky? Huh? Because you just don't know how to say 'No'? Face it, Amy, you didn't know how to say it then and you don't know how to say it now!"
Ashley's head recoiled as the sting of Amy's slap hit her full force. She could hear the blood rushing through her ears and Amy turned around and continued to the bottom of the steps. Ashley screamed from the top, "I'll never forgive you for this. You were supposed to be the good daughter!"
Amy stopped at the bottom, unshed tears making her olive eyes glassy and she blinked them away furiously.
"I was supposed to be a lot of things, Ash…"
With that, she left the house into the distressingly bright morning light.
"Wait, what brought this on?"
Grace almost instinctually grew closer after a look of hurt crossed Jack's features, but she forced herself to stay where she was. She swept a few strands of hair away from her face and titled it, "A lot of things. I think I just want some space right now, which is the main thing."
Jack nodded; his brows furrowed indicating that something was troubling him. "Right. So, was this before or after you started flirting with Jason Treacy?"
Grace's jaw dropped and she appeared as if he had just bad talked her father, "I've never flirted with Jason. We were at Med Camp together, that's all we really talk about."
"Yeah, right." Jack said tersely, "You know, I really should've seen this coming. I mean, it's okay if you get to talk to Jason, but heaven forbid I even bring up Madison."
Grace looked scandalized, "How could you even say that?" She blurted out, "I tried to be friends with her!"
"Yeah because you don't trust me, Grace!" Jack said with accusing eyes, "It's not fair when I'm there for you and you pull stunts like this."
"I want you to be there for me," Grace said warily. "I just…I don't know, maybe I just need some space right now. If we are going to get married and be together for the rest of our lives –like I want us to be- then I don't see why this time apart should hinder that. We're just in high school; maybe we should have some time apart." She sighed and looked up at him pleadingly, "I don't want to break up, especially now. What if we don't get into the same college? We'll really be away from each other then."
"So, what you're trying to say is that," Jack began with a harsh skepticism as he crossed his arms. "You don't want to break up, but you don't want to be together either because you're afraid that if we do stay together, we won't make it." He said with narrowed eyes, "You can't have it both ways, Grace."
Grace looked defeated and struggled for her voice not to break, "I know." She said quietly.
"So what do you want? To break up?" Jack asked, looking at her intently.
Grace looked away, anywhere, but at his intense stare. "I don't know, Jack. I really don't. It's like…I already see my life the way I want it to be, with you in it, but I just need some time on my own, to make sure it's what I want because what if we both get our careers and we get married and then decide that it wasn't what we wanted? Then what?" Her crystal blue eyes were brimming with tears and she kept her gaze down, "I couldn't do that to you or me."
Jack uncrossed his arms and truly looked at Grace. Over the past two years, they went through so much and they still could find a way to be together. "We were already away from each other for the summer, Grace. Just because you're scared, doesn't mean that we should walk away from this, from us." He sighed, bringing himself a step closer to her, "What if…we meet someone else while we're taking a break?"
Grace looked up at him then, giving him a small smile despite how weak she felt at that moment, "Then you should go for it, see where things go. Just know that I'll still be waiting to be Mrs. Jack Pappas." She sniffled, trying hard for her voice not to break, "If we're really meant to be together, then it won't matter."
"But why?" Jack had to know, "Isn't this…gambling our future together?"
Grace shook her head, "No, it's called 'faith'. I just found out what that word really means." She whispered contemplatively, "Maybe if I can trust myself first, I'll be able to trust you. I just want to know that by the time we decide that we really do want to be together that we will be. That's all I can hope for." She said with a smile, the same one she gave him after a rough practice.
Jack held her close and breathed into her hair, "I'll always be there for you." He looked down at her unsure gaze, "Even if we decide we don't want to be together anymore, that won't change."
Grace nodded against him and they parted. Jack brushed away her bangs from her face tenderly and Grace had to remind herself that she promised not to cry. Looking into her crystalline blue eyes, Jack murmured, "I love you, Grace."
She smiled and her voice cracked. "I love you too."
He left and she crossed her arms, still trying to hold herself together. Even though she had been the one to technically end it, it still hurt all the same, even possibly worse.
She entered the house and Tom appeared from the kitchen. "So…how did it go?"
Grace nodded, "Fine. We're going to be fine, I mean. Even if it doesn't feel that way right now, we'll be just fine."
Tom looked skeptical and crossed his arms, "Are you sure? People aren't 'just fine' when they break up."
Grace sighed, "I suppose we they aren't, but Jack and I are different. We're just taking a break and maybe, one day, we'll get back together again."
"Yeah," Her adoptive little brother drawled. "If you get back together again."
Grace narrowed her eyes questionably, "What do you mean, 'if'? I'm sure that once we've had some time apart, we'll realize that we really are meant for each other." She finished with confidence.
"Or you'll realize that you want someone else," Tom said afterward.
Grace crossed her arms, "Really? Like who?"
Tom shrugged, "How am I supposed to know? You could like Ben, or that other guy Jason."
"I do not like Jason!" Grace snapped and did all, but screech, "Why do people automatically think that just because we went to Med Camp?"
Tom rolled his eyes, "Because." He began with an exasperated tone, "You guys are always flirting and smiling and joking."
"Yeah because we're friends," Grace defended as she headed towards the staircase. "And I do not flirt with him, or any other guy for that matter."
Tom huffed with a drawl, "Sure you don't. You just happen to be friends with all of them."
Grace scoffed and headed up to her room, unwilling to argue with Tom any longer.
"So, I heard you were talking to Adrian yesterday," Amy said cautiously and calmly, making Ben all the more nervous. Though the statement was nonchalant, it still held a question within it.
"Yeah, I was," He amended and cleared his throat. "I was just asking her not to antagonize you anymore."
After a moment, Amy held up her hands to prompt him, "And?"
"And she said that she wouldn't do it anymore, more or less," Ben said with a less than convincing glance at him short-tempered girlfriend. He almost began to wonder when she became like that only to be reminded at the arrival of Ricky that it was because she was so fatigued with John ever since she came back to school.
"Hey," Ricky inclined his head in acknowledgement. "How was John this morning?"
"How do you think?" Amy sarcastically asked. "The usual crying, fussing, and wanting his bottle."
Ben gave a small smile, content in knowing that he wasn't the only one she snapped at.
Ricky rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I figured." He sighed, "Maybe I should drop by in the mornings and-"
"No," Amy interjected firmly. "I can handle him by myself."
Ricky crossed his arms and cocked his head. "Yeah, I'm sure you can," He said less than convinced. "But you don't have to. You're not a single mother Amy."
Amy scoffed with narrowed eyes, but didn't say anything else. Ben spoke up, "Maybe I can come in the mornings and help out."
"That's not happening either," Ricky stated. "You've barely even held him."
"Don't tell my boyfriend what to do," Amy interceded. "In case you forgot, he's my son too and if Ben wants to help out he can."
At that moment, Adrian walked down the hall, heading to her History class. "Well, well, if it isn't America's sweethearts," She said with a smirk despite how uneasy Ben and Amy grew to her arrival. "Trouble in Pleasantville?"
Ricky's lips titled upward, "Something like that."
"Well, we wouldn't want any drama surrounding Amy," Adrian said almost innocently. "Right, Ben?"
Amy turned to her boyfriend questionably and Ben's mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish before he nodded dumbly in agreement. She shook her head in bemusement at him and left their side, heading onto her next class.
Amy still continued to look at Ben, wanting an explanation. "I thought you said she wouldn't bother us anymore."
Ben blanched and he nervously chuckled, "Actually, I said she wouldn't antagonize you anymore, as much."
Amy's arms flew up by her sides, "What does that mean?"
Ricky cocked his head, displaying the same amused expression as his ex-lover, "It means that your boyfriend couldn't get Adrian to do anything because she's smart enough to figure out a loophole to whatever he made her agree to, isn't that right, Ben?"
Ben looked around, in search of a clock and then looked to his wrist, "Well, would you look at the time? I'm going to be late for second period." He leaned over and gave Amy a swift kiss on the cheek before heading down the large expanse of hallway in the other direction.
Ricky called with an all-knowing smirk, "Yeah, I'm sure you are!"
At that same moment, Amy shook her head with a sigh and slapped her forehead with her palm at her boyfriend's weak attempt at peace with Adrian and his escape.
So much for making her life easier.
So, with school next week and an "End of Summer" party this week, this is as good as this update's gonna get. Really. I may end up doing "Rumor Has It", but I'll keep you posted on that.
Many thanks to hollowmeadow, hiddensunshine (Yes, I'm a very slow updater, but I admit to this on my profile, promise!), and Dance Alice Dance for the encouraging reviews as always. They really keep me going. Thanks to those who've read, alerted, and faved as well.
Next Chapter: I Know You Want Me
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