Weekend at Adam's
Timeline: This story takes place in March 2003, when Adam is 15 years old. Sam's been gone for over a year, Adam is still on the road with Dad and Dean, although Dean is going on more solo hunts and Dad is getting deep into something he won't explain.
-/-/-/-
THURSDAY
"Hey," Dean called over the creaking of the motel room door as Adam walked in.
"Hey," Adam replied, his guard rising when he saw his brother sitting at the small table by the window, newspapers and scribbles of notes surrounding him.
"Detention again huh?" Dean questioned, as Adam closed the door and threw his backpack onto the bed, giving his brother a disinterested shrug in response.
"So much for flying under the radar…" Dean teased, watching as Adam slumped into the seat across from him at the table.
"Whatever…" Adam said giving another shrug.
Adam knew getting detention was dumb, but at least Dean wouldn't lecture him about it like Sam used to, telling Adam how detention would "ruin his credibility" making it harder for him to get away with stuff when he really needed to. Sam might have been right (and Adam knew he was) but it was a pain in the ass to hear it.
"Just don't let the old man find out," Dean warned seriously from across the table, leaning his forearms on his research notes.
Adam shook his head in agreement, "Yeah...I know".
Having Dad find out about his daily detentions was a much bigger concern for Adam then ruining any credibility he might or might not need. Adam knew he was walking the razor's edge when it came to his non-hunting activities. He liked getting into a little trouble. It was fun and kinda dangerous, but not dangerous in the terrifying life or death way that that hunting was, more like a taste of trouble that made him feel like a normal dumb kid, having normal dumb kid problems. His main goal was to find enough trouble to satisfy himself without finding enough that Dad ever had to get involved. He'd learned the hard way what having Dad pick him up from the police station felt like on his backside.
"So…" Adam started, changing the subject, "What are you working on?"
Dean paused, just a slight hesitation, and with it confirmed what Adam had suspected from the minute he walked into the room.
"Dad called today," Dean replied, looking back down at his work avoiding watching the disappointment slow creep across his little brother's face.
"Yeah?" Adam questioned lightly, playing along, following his role in the little charade they had started over the past few months since Dean started hunting alone most of the time.
"Got a case," Dean said, shuffling the papers on the table and picking one up to examine.
"Yeah…" Adam replied again, hearing the defeat in his own voice and hating himself for it.
"Not too far from here. Ghost. Should be easy," Dean explained briefly as if his brevity would lessen the pain he knew he was causing.
"Hmmm." Adam mumbled, fiddling with the corner of one of the papers on the table, "You want help?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"Nah, I got it," Dean replied staying casual, as if he wasn't acutely aware of how much his brother wanted to hunt, how much Adam hated behind left behind, alone.
"And anyway Dad wants you to stay here, focus on school. You know…" Dean continued, finally looking up at his younger brother.
Yeah, Adam knew. Knew that he wasn't allowed to hunt just with Dean. Knew that Dad considered him to be a "liability" for his brother. A phrase that made Adam's blood boil not just for its hurt but also its accuracy.
"Yeah, ok..." Adam nodded, looking away from his brother and out the motel room window, trying not to look as pathetic as he felt.
"It'll only be a few days," Dean said quietly, watching Adam stare out the window into the nearly empty parking lot.
Adam took a breath and nodded hard, sitting up a little straighter in his chair, rallying himself to get back into character and play the game for his brother's sake. Act Fine, Be Fine. It was the Winchester Way. Just keep it in check, keep it surface and save your family the pain of letting them know how you really feel (even though you both know).
"Yeah, ok. Cool man," Adam forced out trying to keep his tone light, "You leaving tonight? Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow," Dean replied, the hint of regret now hidden from his voice, "Figure I'll drop you at school and then head out,"
"You don't have to do that. I can get myself to school," Adam protested, a little annoyed that Dean was gonna baby him right before abandoning him.
"Yeah man, I know. It's fine. I'll drop you and go," Dean said, a thread of force bleeding into his voice letting Adam know that he wasn't gonna give up on the issue.
Adam didn't bother to fight him anymore. Dean could be just a stubborn as Dad when he wanted to and Dean wasn't above wrestling Adam into a sleeper hold to get his brother to give up an argument.
Worse though, Adam understood why Dean wanted to drop him off. It was the same reason Adam didn't want him to.
They all knew. They knew without saying it that each hunt could be their last. That each time one of them walked out the door to do battle and make the world a better place they could be giving up their life in the process. They knew it. Never said it out loud, but they knew. It made for longer looks before doors closed, tighter hugs before goodbyes and for Adam- a feeling of wanting to run away and hide.
"Yeah ok," Adam conceded, trying to shake the dread building in his bones about the upcoming time alone, "What's for dinner?"
Dean smiled at him, clearly happy he didn't have to fight about the hunt, "I don't know. Whaddya want?"
"My buddy Mike said there's a corndog place next to the Kmart that's good. They've got that nacho cheese from the pump and they put it on the corndog with chili sauce,"
Dean's eyes went wide, "Hell yeah! Sold! Let's go!" he said standing up.
Adam chuckled at his brother as Dean grabbed his coat and keys. Man, he was gonna miss the big dork this weekend.
-/-/-/
FRIDAY
"Shit this town is so boring," Josh complained, as he kicked at the weeds growing up through the concrete parking lot outside the Kmart.
"There's nothing to do," Ryan seconded, plopping himself down next to Adam on the curb.
Adam had to agree. This little town was a boring shit hole. The only major store was the Kmart that he and his friends were currently hanging out at. There was no mall, no restaurants, no nothing. The town was basically three streets that intersected at one stoplight. Dad loved to ditch them in little "safe" towns like this. Adam hated it.
He'd at least been lucky enough to fall in with a group of friends in this town though. He wasn't always so lucky. Lots of these little places considered anyone who wasn't born there three generations ago to be an outsider, dangerous and weird. Adam could deal with being an outsider, being dangerous and even he could admit he was weird, but damn if he just wanted some friends so he didn't feel so alone.
"This town sucks," Mike said, "At least if we lived in Lincoln we could see Korn. I heard they're playing there tonight."
"How far is it?" Adam asked.
"What? Lincoln" Josh replied, "Like 2 hours,"
"Not that far…" Adam shrugged.
"He's right," Mike said nodding to Adam, "It's not that far, we should go."
"Are you serious?" Ryan asked, which made Adam roll his eyes. Ryan was the kid Adam liked the least out of the group, always jumpy and whiney, but as the new kid, Adam couldn't really complain about him to the group.
"Why the hell not?" Josh replied, "What the fuck else are we doing? We should go!"
This was why Adam liked Josh most out of his new friends. The guy was like Dean in a lot of ways: tough, fearless, charismatic and capable of being scary as hell.
"I'm down," Adam replied, grinning at his friend.
"Ok yeah. But we need money….you know for tickets? Do any of us have money?" Ryan countered, making Adam sneer at his wussy attitude.
Adam looked around at his new friends, knowing just as well as they did that none of them had any cash. That was the other thing about these little 'safe' towns Adam had figured out, everyone was generally as poor as Adam was without Dad's fake credit cards.
As the guys all shook their heads, looking about a pitiful and pathetic as Adam knew he looked most of the time, Adam was struck with an idea.
"I can get money," he offered offhandedly.
"How? You get an allowance or something?" Mike teased, shoving him playfully.
"No." Adam replied brazenly, "But I can get money,"
Adam actually did have money. He'd worked out a hundred different hustles since Sam taught him out to run a scam a few years ago and last time they were at Bobby's he'd snuck off and opened a bank account. But he needed that money for himself, for just in case, for the worst-case scenario and maybe for the future. No matter how bad he felt for his friends or how much he wanted to hang with them he wasn't gonna touch that money. But that didn't mean he couldn't get more money for them tonight. He hadn't learned all Dad's tricks for nothing.
"How the hell are you gonna 'get money' ?" Ryan taunted him.
"Don't worry about it," Adam replied glaring at the kid, "Josh, come with me. The rest of you just sit your pretty asses out here and wait. We'll be back,"
-/-/-
They walked into the Kmart nonchalantly, Adam leading the way and Josh beside him, glancing around suspiciously.
"Dude, chill out or I'm gonna make you go outside," Adam snapped, realizing belatedly that Dean had yelled those words at him way too many times before.
"Yeah...sorry dude," Josh said straightening up and relaxing, "What's the plan?"
"Don't worry about it, " Adam replied, scanning the store, "Just do what I tell you,"
A quick loop of the store and Adam had his plan set. The only cameras he'd seen were trained on the front doors and there were no other people in the automotive section where he'd found his mark.
The guy was an older man, older than Dad for sure, but not so old that Adam would have too much guilt about ripping him off. He and Josh stood in an aisle diagonal from the man, watching him browse the small selection of windshield wipers next to the oil.
"Josh, go ask that guy what oil you should put in a Chevy," Adam whispered, nodding to their mark.
Josh shook his head in agreement and didn't ask any questions, confirming that Adam had picked the right guy for the job. Adam gave his friend a quick nod and then quickly turned and walked away.
He walked around the next aisle coming around the backside just as Josh was making his way up to the man. Adam approached the pair from behind quickly and quietly, standing behind the mark pretending to examine the display of windshield wipers. As Josh started talking, focusing the man's attention, Adam started moving. In a single smooth motion, Adam bent over, pretending to look at the lowest shelf, while he reached into the man's back pocket, pulling out his wallet. Quickly pulling out the cash, he stuffed it into the front pocket of his sweatshirt just as the man was finishing his answer to Josh's question about oil. Adam quickly folded the wallet back up and placed it on the floor beside the man's right foot. Standing up Adam took several steps back and away, still pretending to examine the products on the shelf.
"Sir?" Adam asked, drawing the man's attention from Josh, "Is that your wallet?" he said pointing to the abandoned wallet on the floor.
The man automatically patted his back pocket, "Oh! I guess it is!" he said in surprise, bending down to retrieve it giving Adam enough time to grin conspiratorially at Josh.
"Thank you." the man replied sincerely.
Adam smiled in return, turning back to look at the shelves for a moment before slinking away, watching as their mark tucked the now empty wallet back into his pants, never noticing the new lightness of it.
Adam walked away, taking a slow lap through the next few aisles waiting for Josh.
"Dude!" Josh said, sounding a little awestruck as he walked up to Adam, following him through the store.
Adam couldn't help but smile, reveling in the feeling badass-ness.
"How much did you get?" Josh whispered.
"Don't worry about it," Adam replied, resisting the urge to pull out the wad of cash and count it, "Just get outside, back of the parking lot. I'll meet you there,"
Josh nodded in unmasked excitement and walked away a little too quickly, losing his normally cool demeanor in the rush of adrenaline. Adam should have reminded his friend about acting normal and not drawing attention. Sam would have reminded him, Adam thought.
Adam shook his head to dislodge the unwelcome thought of his wayward brother and felt the cash in the pocket of his sweatshirt. He'd only gotten about 60 bucks from their mark. He'd need more if he and his friends were gonna get anywhere tonight.
He couldn't risk bringing Josh or one of the other guys in to pickpocket again. Josh did ok, but Adam had noticed a trepidation in their mark's voice when he replied to Josh's oil question and Adam realized a little too late that Josh (cool as he was) did have the look that screamed to adults 'SUSPICIOUS YOUNGSTER'.
Had Adam been smart he wouldn't have risked pulling off the pickpocket scam when he'd heard the man's hesitation. But he didn't wanna give up. He wanted to show off and impress his friend. He was damn lucky the guy didn't feel the wrongness of the situation and turn around to catch him.
He'd have to work solo to get the rest of the cash he wanted for his friends. Luckily solo was his specialty lately. Adam ran his fingers across the cash in his pocket once more and then began to wander around the store looking for his next mark.
It didn't take very long to make the $200 he wanted. All he had to do was grab women's purses from their shopping carts while they were looking elsewhere and do a quick dig for cash. He was fast and efficient and except for a few babies giving him questionable stares, no one noticed and he was able to make it out of the store without causing a scene or getting caught.
'Not bad', Adam thought proudly, excited to show his friends the cash and bask in how impressed they were with him.
-/-/-
"Are you serious with this?" Mike asked him, as he stared down at the wad of cash Adam had placed in his hands.
Adam shrugged, keeping cool and composed, even though he wanted to grin like an idiot.
"Damn man…" Ryan said, watching as Mike and Josh counted the money between them, "but we still need a car to get there,"
"I can get a car," Adam replied nonchalantly, still high on impressing his friends.
"Really?" Mike asked, looking up at him curiously.
Adam nodded, "Yeah. Wait here." He said walking away from the group and beginning to scan the store parking lot.
"Hey dude, wait up," Josh called out, running up beside him.
"Are you about to do what I think you're about to do?" his friend asked, watching Adam's face as he surveyed the cars in the back of the lot.
"I don't know…" Adam replied vaguely, enjoying the badass respect he could feel himself earning.
"Shit dude," Josh said laughing, "Let's do it."
Adam let Josh follow him around the parking lot until they came to a car that Adam figured would work for them. An older model, parked toward the back, the sedan was blue and ordinary. It reminded Adam of the one Dad had stolen that time he took Adam out on interviews and they ended up tracking a shapeshifter, which Adam ended up killing.
'My first kill...", Adam thought, the moment flashing through his mind involuntarily as he fiddled with and popped the lock on the driver's side door.
Hitting the unlock button for the passenger door he slid in the driver's seat, distantly aware that Josh was sliding into the car as well. Adam felt his body going into autopilot as he grabbed for wires under the steering wheel, his mind reliving the red moments of stabbing that woman.
'No. Not woman', Adam reminded himself. 'Monster.'
The car was silent as Adam did his work, pulling at wires and finally grabbing two and rubbing them together roughly, causing the little sedan to crackle to life. The sound shook Adam from his terrible memories and he looked up, turning to glance at his friend, Josh's mouth open mouth agape.
"Look I know I'm a delinquent, but I can't even do that…" he said.
Adam shrugged, "You wanted a car…" he replied, throwing the vehicle into reverse.
Adam could feel Josh's eyes on him and knew his friend wanted to ask more about this new kid and his unusual skills.
They pulled around to the other side of the parking lot, pausing only long enough for Ryan and Mike to pile into the backseat.
"Fuck dude!" Mike called out laughing, grabbing Adam around the neck and yanking on him playfully as they pulled out of the Kmart parking lot, "Who is this kid?!"
They all laughed and yelled, whooping with excitement and cranking the radio. Adam sped up and hit the interstate out of town, not one of them noticing or caring that Adam was still only 15 and legally didn't have a license to drive.
-/-/
It was almost 4 in the morning before they made it back to the one-horse town the boys called home, dumping the stolen car in a random field on the way. The car was short on gas, smelled like weed and booze, but otherwise wasn't much worse for the wear, so Adam felt pretty good about it. The little part of him that was still his mother's son hated to think of the poor Kmart employee it belonged to having to try to come up with the money to fix a car he'd stolen. At least this way, the police would eventually find it and return it, basically, no harm done.
"That was a fucking night man…" Josh said dreamily after he and Adam had parted ways with Ryan and Mike.
"Yeah," Adam agreed, unable to hide the goofy grin on his face.
"You going back home?" Josh asked.
Adam shrugged. Dad was gone, Dean was gone. No real reason to go back to the motel.
"You wanna come to my place?" his friend offered, sensing Adam's uncertainty, "My mom is probably passed out by now so it's cool,"
Adam nodded, grateful, "Yeah cool."
They didn't say much as they walked to Josh's house- didn't really have much to say. The concert was fun, the adventure of getting there was a memory Josh and his friends would never forget.
"So you gonna tell me where you learned to hotwire a car?" Josh asked quietly, finally breaking the silence between them as they slowly plodded along the desolate street.
Adam kicked at the loose gravel along the cracking sidewalk. "Saw it on tv. My brother watches a lot of those spy shows and shit,"
Josh nodded but Adam knew he wasn't buying it. The kid knew enough of the bad crap in the world to know better.
"…and the wallet thing?" Josh questioned, prodding just a little.
Adam shrugged. "It's not that hard," he offered vaguely.
"Ok man. Whatever you say," Josh replied, shaking his head. Adam shrugged again and watched as Josh reached into the pocket of his jacket to pull out a blunt.
"Want?" he offered.
"Hell yeah," Adam said, cracking a smile.
They walked and smoked in silence on the way to Josh's house, feeling the underlying tension Josh's questioned had caused melt away by the time they arrived.
"Go around the back would ya?" Josh asked, "I'll let you in my window,"
Adam wanted to crack a joke about Josh sneaking in girls, but something in his friend's tone stopped him.
"My mom... I just don't... you know..." he started, stumbling over his words.
"Yeah man its cool," Adam said interrupting his friend's awkward explanation.
Although they had never traded stories, Adam had the impression that he and Josh were kindred spirits, each trying to stay afloat amidst the sinking ship of their family's dysfunction.
Adam made his way to the back of the house, stepping over abandoned car parts, household trash and other crap he couldn't identify in the dark. One small window on the back slid open and Josh poked his head out waving Adam towards him.
Adam jumped up and grabbed the windowsill, thankful Josh lived in a tiny one-story house, unsure if his THC-slowed movements would have let him make it to a second-story bedroom.
Josh was moving around stuff on his bed, throwing clothes on the floor and trash in a corner.
"Floor's ok dude," Adam said, noticing that Josh only had one blanket on the naked twin-sized mattress in his room.
"You sure?" Josh asked.
"Yeah man," Adam replied, sitting down and pulling off his shoes. He pulled the hood of his sweatshirt up to cover his head and laid down on his side, tucking an arm up to use as a pillow.
"Ok dude," Josh said uncertainly, sitting down on the bed and pulling off his own shoes before pulling the blanket up over himself.
Adam didn't mind the hard floor in Josh's room. He'd slept in far more awkward and uncomfortable places. But at least here, in this tiny room, he could find comfort with his friend and the fact that, at least for a little while, he wasn't alone.
-/-/
Author's Note: I'm back to writing again! Hope you liked this chapter, I'm working on the rest of the weekend :) I'd love to know your thoughts on Adam's antics and what the rest of the family might think about them as well! I have an idea of where the story might go, but I'd love to hear what you think too! As always thank you to everyone who reads and leaves a review! I SO appreciate the feedback and encouragement!