Chapter 9

Bianca DeSousa was someone Adam often tried to avoid. She was a mean hearted bitch in his opinion. She had outed him his sophomore year and tried very hard to make him remember how much of a freak he was. He hated sometimes working at the Dot. He would have to be polite to a lot of people he hated, but she was a different story.

"What do you want?" he said in a harsh tone. He wasn't about to let her see any sign of weakness on his part.

"What do you think? A small macchiato"

He quickly made her a macchiato so he wouldn't have to see her anymore. "Here you go" he said, almost throwing the drink at her. "That'll be 3.75"

"Hey watch it!" Bianca responded before handing him a five. He handed her change to her and turned around so he could further avoid her.

"What's wrong with you?" he heard from behind him. He was surprised she was trying to start a conversation with him. Usually the only thing she told him was a quick remark now and again before walking away.

"Huh?" he said with a confused look on his face.

"Did I stutter?" Bianca replied.

"Why are you trying to talk to me? "

"Jeez I can't ask you a simple question?" she said. Adam just stood there staring at her before she picked up her cup and started to walk away "Suit yourself. I was just trying to help you out."

"With what?" he said as she turned to walk away. "What do you know about my problems?"

She turned to face him with a smirk on her face. "I know its not all smiles and sunshine with your girl"

He looked at her with a bit of resentment. What does she know? He thought. As if she was reading his mind she answered his question. "Jenna told me"

It's seemed weird to him that her and Jenna would even be talking let alone be friends. He wanted to know exactly what Jenna had said. "Jenna told you what?"

"I was there when you're little girlfriend was getting her make over. I was mostly just chillin with Jenna when she got this call from your girl telling her to meet her at the mall. I tagged along."

"What else?" he asked her. He felt as though there was more to the story that Angie had told him. "She started to ramble on and on about you and that chick…"

"Fiona?"

"Yep. Her. Angie just kept saying that she wasn't letting anyone come between you and her and she just kept saying that you were hers and no girl was gonna get in her way and shit like that. It's pretty pathetic if you ask me."

Adam stood there. His mind was in a complete shock. He didn't see why everyone around him was telling him he had to end up with Fiona. Even his own girlfriend thought that. His brother and his best friends seemed to encourage it. The only problem from this whole situation was him. He didn't want to be with Fiona. He didn't want to cause her anymore pain by playing with her emotions back and forth. He knew better than to open that wound again. The door flew open, making him exit from his current state.

Eli stood there rubbing his hands together and blowing into them as the door closed behind him. He took off his black leather jacket and hung it on the coat rack before grabbing his apron and walking behind the counter where Adam stood.

"Hey dude…What's up with you?" he asked, confused on why Adam seemed out of it. Adam looked around to see where Bianca had gone. She was sitting in the corner table, texting away on her cell.

"Huh?" he responded as Eli looked to see what Adam was staring at.

"Why are you looking at Bianca?"

"She knows something"

"Ok…and that matters why?"

"She told me that Angie kinda went all Fatal Attraction about Fiona being here"

"So that explains the Technicolor mess she's calling hair."

"You saw it?"

"No but Clare told me about it when I stooped by her place"

"So that's why you were late, huh" Adam said with a grin on his face. He wanted more than anything to be distracted by something other than his thoughts.

"It's nothing like that. I was dropping off my cousin Josh so that he could hang out with her for a while."

"Your cousin Josh? Duke Josh?"

"Yeah. He came for a visit. He's gonna spend New Years with us."

"That's nice." Adam responded, not caring to hear about Josh at all. From what Eli had told him, he was a stuck up prick that only came to his family when he was in trouble. Other than that, he seemed to ignore them completely.

A few hours of serving people coffee and Adam was ready to take a break. He had been on his feet since 1 in the afternoon and it was now 8 and he hadn't taken a single break. He quickly took off his apron before telling Eli to cover for him while he went to go grab some food. As he exited the Café, he took out his phone and scrolled down the list of restaurant that where near by. He found some Italian place close and called in to order. He ordered two orders of Gnocchi and Chicken with Roasted Garlic and Gorgonzola Cream for him and Eli. He knew his friend might be hungry too so he thought it would be best to bring him something as well.

As he came up to the restaurant, he went up to the pick up service window. His order wasn't out yet so he took a seat on the bench in front of the window and waited. He hadn't notice the person seating right next to him. He was startled as he felt a hand touch his shoulder.

"Hey" Fiona said as she retreated her hand from his shoulder "what are you doing here?"

"I'm just picking up an order for me and Eli. You?"

"Picking up something to take back to the Clare's. She's busy playing host to Eli's cousin."

"Eli told me he was in town." Adam said before looking at her. Her blue eyes met his and for a moment, no one spoke. He could feel his body react to his attraction towards her. He was happy that she hadn't notice him blush. He cleared his throat and looked away before seeing a smile come to her face.

"Number 6 and 7." he raised his hand and walked over to his order.

"Number 5" the waitress said. Fiona came over and picked up her order as well. He looked at her as she started to leave.

"Wait" he said as he exited the restaurant, the bags in his hand. She turned to look at him as a puff of smoke from the cold exited from her mouth.

"If you're not busy..." he began to whisper. He was looking down at the floor. He heard a laugh from her direction and looked up. She was looking at him and smiling. He smiled back and composed himself. "What I was saying was if you're not doing anything, you can head back with me and we can eat at the Dot…if you want"

"I'd love to" she said rather quickly. He smiled as they both headed in the direction of the Dot. As they came up to the Dot's front door, he stopped and turned to face her.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Nothing it's just that…lets go here" he said, pointing to the back of the building. She followed him as he led them up the stairs of Above the Dot. He quickly took out a set of keys and opened the door. He turned the lights and sat the food down on the table next to the lounge couch.

As he took a seat, he saw her look around the place. He remembered the last time they were here; it was at his birthday party a year ago.

"It's changed quite a bit" she replied looking at the pool table and bar before taking a seat next to him. She sat her food down next to his. He quickly got up and headed for a small fridge on the other side of the room. He place one of the Styrofoam containers in the fridge and took out two water bottles before answering her.

"Yeah it has. Now that business is booming, we mostly just open it when someone reserves it or on a special occasion." He said, taking his seat back next to hers and handing her a bottle. They sat there for about 10 minutes eating before any of them spoke.

"Why?" Fiona said playing with her food with her fork.

"Why what?" Adam asked as he gulped down a piece of chicken before realizing what she was talking about. He sat his container down on the table, wiped his mouth and took a sip of water before speaking. "I…I didn't want you to throw away a great opportunity because of me. I overheard you and your mom arguing about you not going to Milan.

"Yeah and?" Fiona answered.

"And I didn't want you to waste your chance to go there because of me."

"Who said I was going to go anyways? Is this why you broke up with me? Because you thought I was wasting my time here?"

Adam looked down at the floor.

"You know what?" Fiona said before getting up and heading for the door. "You could have just told me what you were feeling before heading to the conclusion of breaking up with me."

Adam wanted to say something, but the lump on his throat wouldn't let him.

"Bye Adam" Fiona said before heading down the stairs.

"Fiona wait" he said as he headed after her. She made her way down the corner before he caught up with her. He grabbed her arm as she tried to get away from him.

"I'm sorry" he said as he saw tears running down her eyes.

"Let me go" she said as she tried her best to get away from his grip.

"I really am. I will regret what I did to you for the rest of my life. You don't know how badly I didn't mean to hurt your feelings" he let go of her hand as she stood there in front of him. He looked into her eyes. "I do not deserve your forgiveness, but I just want you to know that you are the best thing that ever happened to me and I'm sorry for causing you so much pain."

They stood there watching each other for a few minutes. Neither on of them moved.

"I love you" he said as he wiped the tears away from her eyes. Fiona felt a bit taking back.

She knew he still had feelings for her, but she never expected him to still love her, but Adam had never stopped loving her. She loved him too, but she didn't want to say it, mostly because of not wanting to get rejected. As she put her hand to his cheek, a thought came to her head out of nowhere.

"What about Angie?" she asked him. It has totally slipped his mind that he had a girlfriend. His thoughts went back to her as he stood there with Fiona's hand on his cheek.

"I can't be with you if you're with her, Adam. I'm not that kind of girl" Fiona said as Adam stared at her in confusion. She leaned in and gave him a kiss on his cheek before walking away. Adam stood there for a moment watching her leave, touching his cheek before heading back to the Dot.

"Hey took you long enough." Eli told him at he headed back in.

"Where's my food? And here I thought you where gonna get your best friend something too." He said grinning at Adam. Adam didn't smile back.

"What's wrong? You looked like you just got punched in the face"

"I wish"

"Huh?...you know what, never mind. I'm going on my break." Eli said as he handed Adam his apron. "And now I have to go get food since someone…"

"It's upstairs in the fridge" Adam let out before turning around to face the coffee maker.

"Oookk..." Eli said a bit confused as he walked away.

Adam tried his best to keep himself focus on his job, but it was too late. He retraced every moment that he had spent with Fiona and all he could feel was pain. As he cleaned out the coffee pots, he felt tears run down his face. The only thought he had right now was her and no one else.

End of Chapter 9