Chapter Five:
Adam and Joe
Disclaimer: i don't own it and I'm not claiming to.
A/N: Wow, 60 reviews! It really means a lot to me. I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated this and I can't promise it'll be better but we'll see. Thanks to TD Master who pointed out my mess up with France and the American Revolution. I got my dates messed up and to answer a question I got about when Xander is going to join in the conversation: next Chapter is a whole long talk between him and Adam. Sorry about that. It's fixed now. Enjoy and don't forget to review!
The drive from the dojo to the bar named Joe's was a short one. I spent most of it thinking. I didn't get much done. But something was gnawing away at me. Weather it was the guilt of leaving Anya at the alter or the pain of running from it, I don't know but it still hurt. Like a physical weight on my chest. Richie was kind enough to let me be.
We walked into the shadowy place and I took a moment to let my eyes adjust. A man playing his guitar on the small stage gave us a friendly nod as he continued his set and Amanda led our group over to the bar. "Are you even old enough to drink?" Richie asked with a twinkle in his eyes.
I smirked at the younger looking man. "I am. Are you?" He laughed.
"I don't look it do I? What do you want?"
"Coke's fine," I told him. I really wasn't in the mood. He smiled and ordered the drinks. As I sipped mine, I looked around the room at the other patrons. It was a very mixed crowd.
The place was filled with people of all shapes and sizes. A group of teenagers dressed in "theater black" sat in a shadowed corner drinking cokes and coffee while an old man sat in front of the stage rocking in time with the music. A group of business type folk sat at a table with drinks winding down and talking about days filled with layoffs and lawsuits. It was the cam before the dinnertime storm.
The man on stage set the instrument down to applause and requests for more but he waved them off and came over to our little party. After saying hello he asked. "So, Mac, who's this?" He seemed genuinely curious. I became suddenly aware that i saw the center of attention and that Amanda had slipped off to someplace.
"Joe, This is Alex. Alex this is Joe. Amanda picked him up." Joe raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Thank God Amanda chose that moment to make her appearance. "Amanda! I thought I saw you come in. how long are you staying?"
She smiled as she gave him a hug. "Hi, Joe." Every one looked at her.
"Yeah, Amanda. How long are you staying this time?" Richie seemed to lack any tack in this matter. A fact made apparent by Duncan's swatting him playfully in the arm. "
"I don't know. I kind of wanted to go to Italy at some point in the near future." For some reason that made me feel suddenly drained. She was going to leave? When I had only just found a place where I might belong again after my big screw up back in Sunnydale? I think she saw the look on my face because she added quickly, "Of corse, I want to find Alex a place to stay first. Maybe with you, Duncan." She turned to him with a sweet smile.
He laughed. "I'd love to but there's no room. Maybe Adam has some pace for him." I felt like some toy or puppy dog they were trying to find a home for. Maybe I could do my snoopy dance and they'd want me more...
"Are you kidding? Adam?" Richie couldn't seem to control his laughter at the thought.
"It was just a thought," the other man said with a grin. Why did I feel like I was missing something.
Thankfully that ended the conversation. They went on to talk about one thing and another which somehow led to an argument over weather or not the Dutch was really who inspired America to break away from Britain. Something about taxes and such.
"I'm telling you, that's not where they got the idea!" Duncan said.
"Then where?" asked Joe.
"From Rome!"
"Rome?" Richie asked.
"Yeah," chimed in Amanda. "Rome was the big mighty conquers that came from nothing."
"Are you telling me that America was founded so they could take over the world?"
"Nope. They just wanted Europe." Amanda looked around very happy that she had made her point. I felt compleatly lost. As if they had had the conversation in Latin. It was that haze of trying not to remember that I'd been in for the past few days... weeks... I didn't know any more.
***
It had been a while since I'd seen Amanda and I'd forgotten what it was like having her around. Crazy with dash of wacky-ness and a pinch of the very odd. It was draining just listening to them fight. They were trying to help Richie out with his term paper for U.S. History 101 but proceeded in getting the young man even more confused.
But if Richie was confused, Alex was compleatly perplexed and bewildered. The boy was a puzzle to me. I knew he wasn't immortal. I could tell by they way the others acted around him. Never saying "I was there!" or anything else to that affect. Although, if they had, I don't think the boy would have known. He was just barely following the conversation and not really caring. When Duncan suggested his staying with Adam, I thought it was just what the boy needed to snap him out of what ever funk he was in.
Speak of the devil... The old guy himself chose that moment to slump in and mutter something about beer before turning to Alex with one eyebrow quirked and inquiring: "And you are...?" Introductions were made and a few jokes were swapped about Duncan's ever being the boy-scout once more which cause Alex to break a smile.
It looked good on him. Like it was what he was used to doing. Smiling in an awkward situation. Adam, I think, took a liking to the kid and spent time talking to him about things in general. The boy didn't seem to be well read which almost bored the older man but when Adam mentioned Bram Stoker's Dracula, Alex seemed to both perk up and slump down in his chair at the same time. I almost laughed out loud.
"You've read it?" Adam asked.
"Uh... Yeah, something like that. Didn't like it much. Never was one for bugs eaters and all..."
Adam gave me a look that made me want to laugh. He didn't know what to make of the kid either which was something of a comfort to me. And so the rest of the evening progressed.
***
Dracula. I don't even know how the conversation came up but the two of them went at the for a good fifteen minutes before moving on to another book. And I couldn't tell you anything about that one if you asked so don't.
I still find it hard to believe that after the events of the past two weeks I was coherent (somewhat) much less functioning at all. It's a wonder that no one asked me what I was on. I think I sat there with a glazed look on my face. They had just accepted me. As if they known me their entire life. I wasn't sure how I felt about it yet.
I liked Joe. He watched everything with a reporter's eye. Remembering everything as if he had to write a report about it alter but was just enjoying himself for the time being. He seemed to know just when to fade into the background and when to jump out and make his presence known. He seemed to act like a father to the others at times and yet they seemed to treat him almost like a child himself. Kinda like Giles.
Amanda was great. She had a sharp wit and wild ideas but he could be very sympathetic. I knew I held no feelings for her other than friend but I think that if circumstances had been better, I might have loved her.
Richie was fun. He reminded me a lot of Oz. A great sense of humor mix with a bunch of other unexplainable things that made up his personality. That undeniable something that made you want him as a brother or something.
Duncan was like Angel. Broody with that I-can-save-the-world-but-it's- already-too-late attitude. He could make you smile though, when it came right down to it, and I didn't know if I was smiling at him or how much he reminded me of dead-boy.
And then there was Adam who was like no one I'd ever met. He was cynicism and cruelty as well as that tiny spark of him that was like a bad little boy who wanted to be good... but he was already in way over his head.
And as the evening wound to a close at about ten, I began to wonder where I was supposed to go. Would I go with Amanda? I doubted it. She and Duncan seemed to be flirting like there was no tomorrow over in the corner while Joe and Richie looked on with barely concealed smiles. Adam was lost in his beer but a far cry from drunk. Suddenly the very happy twosome stood up and went for the door calling good-byes over their shoulders. Every one looked slightly perplexed and Joe began to wipe up the bar asking Richie if he had a place for the night.
"Yep. I got an apartment over on Elm. Hey, Alex, you need a place to stay seeing as how Amanda skipped out on you?" I was about to answer but Adam cut in.
"He's staying with me." Joe raised his eyebrows at this as did Richie. But neither said anything.
Rich just smiled and said, "Whatever you say, Yoda."
"I'm not Yoda!" Adam called after him as the other man left. With a shake of his head and a wary smile he turned to me. "It's all Duncan's fault." And with that he went back to his beer.
Joe laughed and leaned over the bar towards me. "If he gives you any trouble, you just call me all right?" And he kept laughing as people slowly left for the night. Adam got up to leave at ten thirty and I followed him out to his car. Little did I know it then, but I was going home with Death. Yeah, I'd always had been the lucky one.
Read? Review! You KNOW you want to... *hint*hint*
Disclaimer: i don't own it and I'm not claiming to.
A/N: Wow, 60 reviews! It really means a lot to me. I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated this and I can't promise it'll be better but we'll see. Thanks to TD Master who pointed out my mess up with France and the American Revolution. I got my dates messed up and to answer a question I got about when Xander is going to join in the conversation: next Chapter is a whole long talk between him and Adam. Sorry about that. It's fixed now. Enjoy and don't forget to review!
The drive from the dojo to the bar named Joe's was a short one. I spent most of it thinking. I didn't get much done. But something was gnawing away at me. Weather it was the guilt of leaving Anya at the alter or the pain of running from it, I don't know but it still hurt. Like a physical weight on my chest. Richie was kind enough to let me be.
We walked into the shadowy place and I took a moment to let my eyes adjust. A man playing his guitar on the small stage gave us a friendly nod as he continued his set and Amanda led our group over to the bar. "Are you even old enough to drink?" Richie asked with a twinkle in his eyes.
I smirked at the younger looking man. "I am. Are you?" He laughed.
"I don't look it do I? What do you want?"
"Coke's fine," I told him. I really wasn't in the mood. He smiled and ordered the drinks. As I sipped mine, I looked around the room at the other patrons. It was a very mixed crowd.
The place was filled with people of all shapes and sizes. A group of teenagers dressed in "theater black" sat in a shadowed corner drinking cokes and coffee while an old man sat in front of the stage rocking in time with the music. A group of business type folk sat at a table with drinks winding down and talking about days filled with layoffs and lawsuits. It was the cam before the dinnertime storm.
The man on stage set the instrument down to applause and requests for more but he waved them off and came over to our little party. After saying hello he asked. "So, Mac, who's this?" He seemed genuinely curious. I became suddenly aware that i saw the center of attention and that Amanda had slipped off to someplace.
"Joe, This is Alex. Alex this is Joe. Amanda picked him up." Joe raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Thank God Amanda chose that moment to make her appearance. "Amanda! I thought I saw you come in. how long are you staying?"
She smiled as she gave him a hug. "Hi, Joe." Every one looked at her.
"Yeah, Amanda. How long are you staying this time?" Richie seemed to lack any tack in this matter. A fact made apparent by Duncan's swatting him playfully in the arm. "
"I don't know. I kind of wanted to go to Italy at some point in the near future." For some reason that made me feel suddenly drained. She was going to leave? When I had only just found a place where I might belong again after my big screw up back in Sunnydale? I think she saw the look on my face because she added quickly, "Of corse, I want to find Alex a place to stay first. Maybe with you, Duncan." She turned to him with a sweet smile.
He laughed. "I'd love to but there's no room. Maybe Adam has some pace for him." I felt like some toy or puppy dog they were trying to find a home for. Maybe I could do my snoopy dance and they'd want me more...
"Are you kidding? Adam?" Richie couldn't seem to control his laughter at the thought.
"It was just a thought," the other man said with a grin. Why did I feel like I was missing something.
Thankfully that ended the conversation. They went on to talk about one thing and another which somehow led to an argument over weather or not the Dutch was really who inspired America to break away from Britain. Something about taxes and such.
"I'm telling you, that's not where they got the idea!" Duncan said.
"Then where?" asked Joe.
"From Rome!"
"Rome?" Richie asked.
"Yeah," chimed in Amanda. "Rome was the big mighty conquers that came from nothing."
"Are you telling me that America was founded so they could take over the world?"
"Nope. They just wanted Europe." Amanda looked around very happy that she had made her point. I felt compleatly lost. As if they had had the conversation in Latin. It was that haze of trying not to remember that I'd been in for the past few days... weeks... I didn't know any more.
***
It had been a while since I'd seen Amanda and I'd forgotten what it was like having her around. Crazy with dash of wacky-ness and a pinch of the very odd. It was draining just listening to them fight. They were trying to help Richie out with his term paper for U.S. History 101 but proceeded in getting the young man even more confused.
But if Richie was confused, Alex was compleatly perplexed and bewildered. The boy was a puzzle to me. I knew he wasn't immortal. I could tell by they way the others acted around him. Never saying "I was there!" or anything else to that affect. Although, if they had, I don't think the boy would have known. He was just barely following the conversation and not really caring. When Duncan suggested his staying with Adam, I thought it was just what the boy needed to snap him out of what ever funk he was in.
Speak of the devil... The old guy himself chose that moment to slump in and mutter something about beer before turning to Alex with one eyebrow quirked and inquiring: "And you are...?" Introductions were made and a few jokes were swapped about Duncan's ever being the boy-scout once more which cause Alex to break a smile.
It looked good on him. Like it was what he was used to doing. Smiling in an awkward situation. Adam, I think, took a liking to the kid and spent time talking to him about things in general. The boy didn't seem to be well read which almost bored the older man but when Adam mentioned Bram Stoker's Dracula, Alex seemed to both perk up and slump down in his chair at the same time. I almost laughed out loud.
"You've read it?" Adam asked.
"Uh... Yeah, something like that. Didn't like it much. Never was one for bugs eaters and all..."
Adam gave me a look that made me want to laugh. He didn't know what to make of the kid either which was something of a comfort to me. And so the rest of the evening progressed.
***
Dracula. I don't even know how the conversation came up but the two of them went at the for a good fifteen minutes before moving on to another book. And I couldn't tell you anything about that one if you asked so don't.
I still find it hard to believe that after the events of the past two weeks I was coherent (somewhat) much less functioning at all. It's a wonder that no one asked me what I was on. I think I sat there with a glazed look on my face. They had just accepted me. As if they known me their entire life. I wasn't sure how I felt about it yet.
I liked Joe. He watched everything with a reporter's eye. Remembering everything as if he had to write a report about it alter but was just enjoying himself for the time being. He seemed to know just when to fade into the background and when to jump out and make his presence known. He seemed to act like a father to the others at times and yet they seemed to treat him almost like a child himself. Kinda like Giles.
Amanda was great. She had a sharp wit and wild ideas but he could be very sympathetic. I knew I held no feelings for her other than friend but I think that if circumstances had been better, I might have loved her.
Richie was fun. He reminded me a lot of Oz. A great sense of humor mix with a bunch of other unexplainable things that made up his personality. That undeniable something that made you want him as a brother or something.
Duncan was like Angel. Broody with that I-can-save-the-world-but-it's- already-too-late attitude. He could make you smile though, when it came right down to it, and I didn't know if I was smiling at him or how much he reminded me of dead-boy.
And then there was Adam who was like no one I'd ever met. He was cynicism and cruelty as well as that tiny spark of him that was like a bad little boy who wanted to be good... but he was already in way over his head.
And as the evening wound to a close at about ten, I began to wonder where I was supposed to go. Would I go with Amanda? I doubted it. She and Duncan seemed to be flirting like there was no tomorrow over in the corner while Joe and Richie looked on with barely concealed smiles. Adam was lost in his beer but a far cry from drunk. Suddenly the very happy twosome stood up and went for the door calling good-byes over their shoulders. Every one looked slightly perplexed and Joe began to wipe up the bar asking Richie if he had a place for the night.
"Yep. I got an apartment over on Elm. Hey, Alex, you need a place to stay seeing as how Amanda skipped out on you?" I was about to answer but Adam cut in.
"He's staying with me." Joe raised his eyebrows at this as did Richie. But neither said anything.
Rich just smiled and said, "Whatever you say, Yoda."
"I'm not Yoda!" Adam called after him as the other man left. With a shake of his head and a wary smile he turned to me. "It's all Duncan's fault." And with that he went back to his beer.
Joe laughed and leaned over the bar towards me. "If he gives you any trouble, you just call me all right?" And he kept laughing as people slowly left for the night. Adam got up to leave at ten thirty and I followed him out to his car. Little did I know it then, but I was going home with Death. Yeah, I'd always had been the lucky one.
Read? Review! You KNOW you want to... *hint*hint*