Chapter 7: Greetings
Adrian's POV:
She is breath taking. Her hair was the exact same shade as Sydney's and it was long. She was wearing a dark purple one shoulder dress. The dress showed off her curves yet in a classy way. The fabric flowed just right about the knee and on the skirt you could see faint sparkles. But her most striking feature would have to be her eyes. They where emerald green framed by her thick eye lashes. Those eyes could see right into people's soul and know every dark hidden secret. But I had seen those eyes before. Actually all the time. I had seen those eyes on my grandfather, father, and myself. I swear I almost fell pass out from the light bulb that went off in my head. I wasn't the only one captivated by her beauty. Luke was staring at her like she God had put every good, amazing thing into the world into one person. I suppressed the erg to sock him the face. Rose had also noticed this "Baby brother take a picture it lasts longer."
Right after we all had to go to Palm Springs Abe and Jeannie announced that they were going to have a second kid. I don't know how they could be able to have a kid in their old age. Looking back at Kat's best friend I got an erry feeling that I subconsciously did they same thing.
"Hey Adrian!" Kat calls as she and her friend walk up to talk to me "Hey Kitty Kat!" I say forcing a smile and giving her a hug. "Who's your friend?" That was a natural question to ask right?
She sighs as if she was getting to that but I jumped the gun. "Adrian this is Adriana, Adriana this is Adrian." Looking right at her, it is nearly impossible to think anything other than ' why does she have my eyes?'
"Hello," I say as politely as possible "You look a lot like a woman I used to know." Good way to start making conversation with this weird girl. "Who is your mother?" I don't know what to feel at this time. Fear, regret, excitement, is all coursing through my body.
"Sydney Sage." She says formally but looking at her aura she is sad and slightly depressed at the thought of her mother. Does she miss her? I mean of course she misses her, that's her mother. "Wait." She says as if the lights just went on in that pretty little head.
"Christian said you were really close to my mom." Oh no. Christian hearing his name looks over, seeing the situation, he gives me a sad smile as to say sorry I didn't think it through all the way.
"I don't think you could say that we where that close." This is the one subject I avoid. God damnit.
"But you where like her friend right?" She is smart and has a good memory. I want to glare at her but she is really cute.
"Yeah." What is the best way to get out of this conversation? It's not that I don't want to Mini Sage. Mini Sage I like it. It fits her; she is so much like her mother. Thankfully before she could respond Luke comes up behind her, tickling her and making her spaz out. Everyone - including mini sage - starts to laugh. I don't. How dare he tough her. I could kill him. Why am I thinking these things? I barely know her and just because she is Sage's daughter that doesn't mean I get to be protective of her.
"Hey that's not fair." She pouts at that. IS she flirting? She cannot be interested in mini Abe can she? Luke might seem like his sister - super dedicated and stuff - but he is also always blackmailing everyone to get what he wants. He is a zemy in training. Last year he was almost thrown in jail for 'allegedly' kidnapping a high ranking official in the moroi government to get information about a company that 'may or may not' owed him over a million dollars for covering up a murder of another - less important - moroi. No charges were ever filed. There is no way that mini sage will hang out with him. Her mother would shoot me if I didn't step in. Yeah that's the reason I am going to step in. It has nothing to do with you at all.
"How did you two meet?" I inquire as I glare at him.
"Well I couldn't fight hand to hand for shit two weeks ago. I walked into the gym to find Luke and he said he would help me train. Now I can kick ass." She says, glowing as she looks up at Luke. I want to punch him. Stay away from her. I mentally scream at him.
"Like you couldn't already." God where they sharing a moment? My fists start to clench and slowly was getting ready to make contact with his face. Luckily Jill stepped in.
"Hey Adrian!" Jill says. She is smiling but her eyes lock with mine and say calm down now. "Can I talk to you in private for a second?" Before I can answer I am being pulled away from mini sage and Luke.
"Calm down!" She screams in a hushed whisper to me "She isn't Sydney. I know she looks like her but she isn't!" Really Jill?
"I am doing it for Sydney!" I protest "She wouldn't want her daughter to be flirting with a mini Abe." Jill crosses her arms and levels with me. She knows for a fact that that isn't the only reason that I am, acting like this.
"Look," She says giving a thoughtful expression "Just enjoy your time with her. There is a lot of crazy things going on right now and as soon as it passes then go be the over - acting on Sydney's behalf- being the over bearing parent but not now. Just act like you did when you where twenty and where mostly crazy instead of mostly sane." She gives me a small smile but in her eyes I can tell she is hiding something from me. Before I can question her on it she goes back inside to rejoin the others. I decide to take Jill's advice and decide to become a teenager again. I mean what can possibly happen?
Dinner went as well as expected. Christian sat at the head of the table with Jill on his left and Lissa on the right. Next to Lissa were Kat, Amy, Nick, and Eric. Adriana sat across from Kat and next to Abe, Luke and Jeannie. Rose sat across from her mother and Dimitri sat next to her. I sat next to Dimitri.
We all talked about the general things like the weather, school, jobs, and families. No talked about Sydney even though mini sage tried to bring up the topic. The adults either ignored her or just switched the subject. As the night when on her aura got darker and darker. Maybe it was because everyone seemed to hate her mom or at the very least not talk about her. Partly it was for me. Everyone to some extent knows we had feeling for each other and she left; which rushed me and sent me into a deeper depression than anyone ever before. My depression made me work. I graduated college - art major - got a job at the academy teaching spirit, made a name for myself politically, but I was distant. I never talked to people outside the monitory times, I never went out, and I lost the light in my eyes. But I wasn't the only one. Jill lost her sister. After the law was changed, she finished high school at Amberwood and then went MIA. Her depression wasn't influenced by me; she was heartbroken all on her own. When she left she wasn't herself.
"Jill you can't leave!" I plead with her
"Yes I can!" She was packing her bag after graduation. She was hell meant on leaving and probably never coming back.
"You're a prin-" She cuts me off.
"I might be a princess and the Queens sister." She was standing right in front of me to make sure I understood her."But Lissa doesn't act like my sister. My sister - Sydney left! She could be dead right now and I wouldn't even know. I know you are in love with her but SHE IS MY SISTER. And I will do whatever I damn well please." She was serious. So I let her walk away.
Jill and Lissa's relationship is millions time better now but I know Jill still misses Sydney and probably always will. I know I will.
Dinner ended early because Jill, Rose, and Dimitri all had to get ready for school to start in like a day. Eddie, Mia, Abe, Luke and Jeannie all decide to leave right after that. All that is left is me, Kitty Kat, Mini Sage, Lissa, and Christian.
"Hey Adrian?" Kat looks at me with puppy dog eyes. What does she want? "Want to come with us to get some air?" In us she is rehearing to Adriana and herself. I agree because I want to know what she is planning, probably something illegal and fun.
It is cold outside but walking makes the three of us kind of warm up. We get to my apartment at the school and what I find is shocking. Eric, Nick, both Belikov twins, and Luke are all sitting on my living room floor chatting about something.
"It's a tradition!" Kat says to me, pleading with her eyes. The day before the two sets of twins started high school I brought them to my room and made them all play cheesy old party games to loosen the mood and to make them less nervous for high school. I sigh while walking over to my 'secret' liquor cabinet.
"What are we doing?" mini sage asks Kat?
"I never!" They all exclaim! I get the Russian vodka hoping they will be too drunk to play anything after. Mini sage just laughs to herself and takes a seat in the circle.
"Do you know how to play?" I hear Brittney ask her while I am in the kitchen preparing all the shots.
"I'm sure it won't be that hard." The tone of her voice implies something much worse than what she is saying. Oh dear. Sage isn't one for drinking games so I can only imagine that her daughter would be about the same.
I bring in all of the shots and set up 10 shots per person. After being seated in the only open shot - across from mini sage- the boys start to bicker on who will go first.
"Why don't we let Riana go fist since she is the newest" Kat says, always the peace maker.
"Okay" everyone agrees.
"I've never stopped drinking before the 6th round." She declares and everyone looks at her in surprise. "Drink up." She says with a wicked smile forming on her face. Everyone drinks expect me. It is me we are talking about after all.
"I've never sad sex." Kat says. God why does she always start with that. Then she says something interesting "Drink up best friend." mini sage has had sex? Sydney's daughter has had sex? Again, everyone stares at her.
"What! I have dated before." Then turning to Kat "It is so on."
"Bring it"
My turn" Brittany says "I've never kissed someone of the same sex." Eric, Nick, myself, and Kim all drink. No one asks for stories but at some time or another this group has played spin the bottle.
"Okay, well I have never ..." Kim says "showered with someone of the same sex before." Thankfully I haven't done that. But mini sage has. Kim noticing that "Story!"
Mini Sage, I am learning I can't keep calling her that. She may look like her mother but she defiantly does not have personality. Her personality is free and wild. Kind of like mine. She shrugs before telling the story "My family used to visit the east coast all the time in the winter, my brother's girlfriend and I were home alone and we were snowed in. There was only enough hot water for one shower. "She states that as if it the simplest thing in the entire world. Natural survival and stuff.
We go on and on like that till all shots are gone. I have played this game so many times that I didn't learn anything new about any of them, expect Adriana of course. Adriana broke into a building once, has eaten something off of another person - opposite and same sex person, has never been outside the world, is extremely flexible, has streaked before, only shops at Victoria secret for underwear, has drank a lot in her short life, and is certainly not wasted. She is a wild child alright. How she can be a wild child and live with Sydney I have no idea but it is funny to think about. I laid down on the rub zoning out as all the other kids decided on the next game. Some said truth or dare other's said Kiss the killer and only Kat said spin the bottle. All three of those where rejected. I wasn't really thinking after that. I could have possibly been in my own little world. All that kept running through my mind was Adriana and how different she is. When you first meet her, she is this polite, proper, quiet girl. Very much like her mother but when you get to know her she is wild and dangerous. She wants to explore everything and argue her point until everyone knows she is right. She has a fire cracker spirit that I love. She is the coolest kid ever.
"So do you know your dad?" That is when I snap back into the conversation. Apparently they have all been talking about their families and relaying most of the funny stories back to each other and to Adriana. Nick realized that Adriana wasn't saying much expect for laughing and agreeing with the story teller. She didn't have a story to tell. Then somehow he got from that conclusion to asking her out right about her father. I glance over to look at Adriana's face and that question sobered her up. Her expression was a mix of hurt, pain, anger, and shock. She hadn't been ready for that and from the tears threatening to escape from her eyes; it was a subject she didn't like to talk about. Thankfully the little one decided to wake up and Adriana excuses herself to help out with the baby. She practically sprints out of the room. My heart was breaking for her.
"Why would you say that?" Kat yells at her stupid brother in a hushed voice so Adriana won't know they are talking about her.
"What?" Obvious he thinks he did nothing wrong. "She wasn't talking, not really, and every time we would bring up dad she would get really sad. It was just a question. Don't take things so seriously." She tells her back in not as hushed voice. Kat rolls her eyes at him and starts to make her way to fins Adriana when I stop her. She gives me an approving nod as I walk toward the hall. As I make my way to Thomas' room I hear him giggling and clapping. Subconsciously a smile starts to come across my face. She was really good with him. Better than any of the other kids - including Kat.
"So are you going to keep crying?" She coos to him.
"No ma'am!" He declares as only a two year old can.
"Good." She says smiling at the little boy who is on her lap. I am standing in the door way, amused that Thomas has only met her for a few minutes and already loved her so much.
"Are you going to leave now?" His bottom lip starts to quiver as if the thought of his new best friend leaving meant the end of his world.
"Not right now." She says soothing all of his fears and worries "I am talking to you." She notices me then and I walk completely into the room shutting the door behind me.
"You're amazing with me you know that?" She seems to genuinely appreciate the complement.
"Thanks." She says quietly. Silence fell between us at the moment. "I am sure you want an answer to the question Nick asked." She stated; breaking the silence. Yes of course I wanted to know the answer. I think we all did. But did I want to see her cry. Not a chance in hell.
"Only if you want me to know." She laughs a dry almost forced laugh.
"You sound like a parent."
"Well I am." I tell her; pointing to the smiling toddler she was holding.
"Yeah, barely!" She says. I am only slightly offended by that.
"That's not fair!"
"Okay you are a parent. But not like Lissa and Christian, or even Rose and Dimitri. They would never encourage under age drinking. In fact you would probably get a major lecture from all four of them on parenting and the law." At least she was right about that one. On more than one occasion I had gotten a lecture on both those things when their kids had wandered back home drunk.
"Maybe you are right about that." I concede to her. She gives me a weak smile and another silence falls. I start to count the seconds just to pass the time. I don't know if I should stay in here with her. Or maybe I should leave. She probably didn't even want me in the room. There was no doubt in my mind that she was thinking 'Why is he still here?' Before I could leave she starts Talking again.
"I don't know him." She states flatly "I don't know who my dad is. My mother don't tell me anything about him expect that he is a great man and that he a moroi." Wow. She didn't have to tell me any of that. Why did she trust me so much? "I don't even know my mother that well. You guys are all her friends - or were her friends- but that still doesn't change the fact that no one talks about her. I am alone in this world." She must have been talking to herself. She would never open up this much to a person she barely knows. I grab Thomas and place him in his bed. He is good about not talking others are talking. Such a smart kid. I take Adriana in my arms as she starts to weep. It takes all my will power not to cry with her. This girl would be the end of me.
After awhile she stops crying and I pull away from her enough so she can see my eyes "You are not alone. Do you hear me?" Something came over me. I couldn't take having her cry. Not when there was something - anything - I could do to fix it. "You are not alone." I state again "You have me." There was a second of stillness before my words registered with her. She threw her arms around me and started sobbing. Crap what did I do wrong?
"I miss my mom" She says through the sobs. I felt bittersweet about that. Happy that I didn't upset her but extremely sad that her mom wasn't here to comfort her. "I know sweetheart. I miss your mom too." The last part slips out and I want to take it back; however, that comment had her stop crying. She pulls away from me to see my face "Really? You really miss her?" Of course silly girl. "Of course!" She gives me a stiff nod before re hugging me. "The way no one talks about her made me think she did something awful. That she was an awful person." She says on the brink of crying for the third time tonight.
"Listen to me." I say with authority. "Your mother is the most amazing person I have ever met. Without her I don't know where I would be today. We don't talk about her because we miss her. We all love your mother so much. Sydney is an amazing person." Now I was on the brink of tears. She pulls away from me and nodding as she processes the information I have given her.
"We should go back out there." She was right. It would look bad if we didn't come out of Thomas' room soon. The kids are not nice drunks.
"Yeah." I agree "Just go to the bathroom across the hall to clean up so it doesn't look like Nick got to you." It came out cold and I was about to rephrase it when she nods and says "Thanks Adrian you seem to know what to say."
Giving her my most real smile I say "Well, I am glad that I could help. But I was serious, if you need anyone to talk to or anything in general come and sees me." She was very special to me. It could be that I saw a young me in her, or the fact she was the love of my life's daughter but I would do anything to protect her.
She nods at that too "Thanks and I will." Giving me a quick hug as she goes into the bathroom and I rejoin the others.
A/N: Here is too all those who reviewed! Thanks so much. The more you review, the more I get excited about the story and the quicker I update! So if you want faster updates then just review. Also spread the word. If you read the story and you like review and follow. Super long chapter for my all of you.
Also I was thinking of making a blog for my story. When I am writing there is all these things I want to tell all of you guys but I can't so let me know if you want to know all the secret thoughts about the story or if you don't care. Thanks either way. Love you guys. You make writing more fun than it already is.
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