Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay! Looks like Adam's secret's out @_@ but it's all good, everyone in the story doesn't know it (makes them seem kind of slow, doesn't it?) Thanks to everyone who reviewed my other fic, the one-shot Not Coming Home. Just wanted to say that here because I wouldn't have a chance to say it anywhere else I guess.
~*On Love, In Sadness*~
~*Chapter Three*~
/Charlie's POV/
I sat on Adam's bed, bouncing my foot against the bed, trying to pick my words carefully. Adam was looking through his meticulously organized closet, surprisingly the only thing in the room that was actually clean. Even though everyone thinks Adam would be a neat freak, he was pretty messy. He was pawing through polo shirts of every hue.
"Guess who I saw today," I finally said. Adam leaned back to look at me.
"Who?"
"Riley." I examined Adam's face carefully but it stayed very carefully neutral.
"What did he want?" he asked. His voice was about as bland as mayonnaise.
"Oh just checking up on his rivals I guess," I said with an impish grin. I don't know why I didn't just tell the truth, that Riley wanted to see him, but something told me I shouldn't.
"Don't take any crap from Riley, Charlie," he said, his voice completely serious. "He can be a lot of talk."
"And very little action?" I asked hopefully. His face started to cloud over but the determined neutral won over.
"No, he's big on both parts." We looked at each other for a couple seconds, and then Adam went back to picking through his shirts. He finally came up with a pale blue polo and took it into the bathroom to change.
"Come on, Banksie, we're all men here," I teased. He flushed and hesitated. I could tell he was calculating whether or not to still go ahead and change in the bathroom for his own comfort or to do so in front of me to prove he wasn't prude. With a fiercely pissed off expression on his face, he pulled the shirt over his head and put on the new shirt. I didn't pretend not to stare just to embarrass him.
"Stop it," he muttered, and tried to hide his stomach.
"Don't be such a girl, Banks," I said, laughing. "It's not like you're fat or anything." Actually he was the exact opposite. He was a lot thinner than I had expected and it was kind of shocking but kind of intriguing too. His skin was so pale it was almost blue.
"I said stop staring," he said, louder. He took a pillow and hit it over my head.
"Hey, don't flatter yourself, I was not staring," I protested. I studied his face.
"Hah, see? You were disappointed," I crowed, triumphantly. Adam blushed even more and turned away.
"So you were looking," he said.
"Maybe." Then he surprised me by pulling something that was totally un-Adam.
"Ah I would be too. Don't be jealous, perfection like my body is hard to come by." I stood there speechless while Adam grinned, no smirked was more like it.
"You are so cocky."
"Only because I have reason to be." I laughed. It was about time Adam snapped out of his teenage angst mode. I like him in all ways that he's innocent and nice and also hurt in a way that no one really knows but sometimes it's a drag because I get all worried about him.
"What do you want to do tonight?" I asked. Adam shrugged slightly; I could feel him drifting back into his listless shell. "Come on, you decide." I wouldn't let him slink back into his sad, anguished state without a fight.
"I don't know," he said.
"Come on, what would be fun?" Adam appeared to be thinking hard but then again, he always looks like he's pondering the meaning of life.
"It's fun to hang out with the Ducks and stuff," he finally said. "And talk or watch a movie…?" Adam had started to develop the habit of being an up-talker so declarative statements started to sound like questions. I made a mental note to tell him to stop.
"Sure." I neglected to mention the fact that I wasn't quite sure if the rest of the Ducks were going to be quite as forgiving as I was being for his rejoining the team. "We can tell them all to come here and watch a movie with us or something." Of course the TV was courtesy of Adam's loaded parents who thought fancy electronics could make up for bad parenting skills. Well in my book bring on the computers and TV's and skip insightful talks with parents.
"Okay cool."
~*~
/Adam's POV/
I wasn't stupid; I knew the other players on the team weren't quite as ecstatic as Charlie was to have me back. Some still held the idea that I was a traitor and a sell-out for joining Varsity (like it was my idea to even be on that stupid team!). Julie, for instance, was in all the same classes as me (honors, being the school nerds we are) and she still wouldn't sit next to me. Lately though, she was brave enough to send a couple of smiles my way. I couldn't help thinking she felt more betrayed than others because of hurt feelings that started since right after the Goodwill games.
/"Hey Adam I was thinking about some stuff," said Julie. Coach Bombay had finally put out the campfire and said it was about time we all went to sleep. I knew no one would though; we were all too buzzed from our winning the Goodwill games. I forced myself to concentrate not on the high points of the game, but to what Julie was saying.
"Yeah?" I waited patiently as Julie did something completely out of character by playing with her long hair as she thought. Finally, she looked to Charlie who was impatiently hovering over us, tugging on my arm every couple of seconds, grumbling to himself that we should go to our tent like Bombay said or something.
"Charlie, could you leave us alone?" she finally said, in that direct way that was trademark Julie. He scowled. I didn't know why he was making such a big deal about it but at the same time, I didn't want to read too deeply in it.
"Fine, but don't be too long." Charlie skulked off and I couldn't help realizing how possessive Charlie had gotten. Maybe he didn't like sharing best friends. When Charlie had gone a considerable distance away, Julie still led a me a little ways off into the forest, keeping the clearing where the campsite was still in site.
I waited for Julie to speak. But she surprised me by doing something else with her mouth. Somehow, I found myself attached to Julie by the lips. I couldn't help impulsively shoving her away.
"What?" she said.
"No-nothing, I was surprised."
"Pleasantly surprised?" she asked. I bit my lip but I knew I wouldn't be able to lead anyone on.
"Not really," I admitted. I was glad that the darkness prevented me from seeing Julie's slightly hurt, slightly mad expression more clearly.
"I thought you liked me," she finally said. "You acted like you did."
"I…did…?" I was completely baffled and Julie seemed to think I was acting.
"Yes," she hissed. "Remember when Portman first joined the team and was a big jerk? Well he still is but that's not the point."
"And I stood up for you," I said softly, vaguely starting to remember the incident. Jesus, can't a guy do something nice like, say standing up for a teammate, without having it lead to crazy conclusions?
"And we have a lot in common, I thought you always thought we were on a similar level." Her voice had slightly changed to hold a pleading note. "We were good study buddies." We were. When we were being tutored during preparation for the Goodwill games, we would study together and edit each other's papers. I thought we just fell into that pattern mainly because no one else bothered to study or do the homework.
"Julie, I'm sorry, but I just like you, as a friend." I don't know why I did but I added, "There's someone else for me." Julie scowled.
"Fine, go out with some rich prep bimbo, see if I care."
"I said I'm sorry." God I hate arguments.
"Whatever, forget all about this, Cake Eater, because as far as I'm concerned, it never happened."
"That makes the two of us," I said to myself. She was already gone. I was standing there slightly dazed, trying to comprehend what happened.
"Three guesses that she's PMSing," said a new voice. I jumped.
"You almost gave me a heart attack."
"Not like I could tell from your deadpan voice," scoffed Charlie. "Why didn't you accept her love confession with open arms? Even I though maybe you were harboring secret affections for the Cat Lady."
"Really?" Did everyone think I was madly in love with Julie?
"Nah, I was joking." Oh. Obviously the joke was lost on me. "Someone else for you, huh?"
"Yeah," I said, starting to feel kind of sick and nervous.
"Who is it? Don't tell me it's Connie, that would make this whole mess into an even bigger soap opera and despite the entertaining points, it'd be ugly."
"No." My voice somehow lost all it's power and had turned into a whisper. '
"Then who is it?"
"I don't want to say." Charlie accepted that.
"Alright. Let's go back then, I've got the best story to tell you." Somehow we found common ground on our undying interest in all that was morbid and Charlie was always coming up with the darkest, gruesome stories to tell me. I followed him back to the campsite. /
That had been a while ago but Julie carried it around with her like a security blanket. No one knew about the rift explicitly but all knew in their own way that we weren't exactly the best of friends. Now with Scooter in the picture, we had grown close once more, even restarting our study sessions, but after the Varsity mess…well it's not beyond repair. I have oceans of respect for Julie and she's been getting over the Varsity thing.
I wondered if she'd come tonight to Charlie and my dorm and hang out. Somehow, after wrangling and pulling some strings, Charlie had managed to move me back into his dorm room after I rejoined the team.
I wished I hadn't said anything but Charlie latched onto my express of interest in hanging out with the rest of the team and also saw that as an opportunity to cement and rejoin the bonds in our group. Bombay was right; Charlie would make a better coach than a player. He was the glue that held all of us misfits with nothing in common together. I was pretty sure without Charlie things would get ugly fast.
"Hey I'm gonna go find everyone else and tell them about tonight," said Charlie. I snapped out of my thoughts.
"I'll get…snacks." Charlie left the room first while I deliberated whether or not I should take a jacket or not. The sun was already setting and it was growing dark. Finally, I walked out of the room with change in my pockets, wearing just the shirt. I padded around until I came across the vending machines.
Everything was in snack size so to feed the Ducks would take a lot of change. I was kneeling on the ground, pulling out the eighth bad of Cheez-Its when I heard footsteps behind me.
"Hey there Banksie. That's not very healthy for an athlete, now, is it?" I put all the bags of junk food on the ground and carefully stood up and turned around.
"Hi Riley," I said, hoping I sounded as calm as I wanted to. "What are you doing here?"
"Same reason you are, Banksie." I really wished he'd stop calling me that. With a superior expression on his face, he put in several coins into the soda machine and came up with a bottle of water.
"You've only been back on the JV team for a couple weeks and you're already learning bad habits?"
"It's not for me," I said. "It's for…everyone else." Riley stepped closer to me and it took twice the effort to stay calm.
"Everyone…else? Who's this everyone else?"
"Charlie and I decided to ask some people to hang out," I said. Riley's eyes narrowed significantly.
"And I'm guessing this Charlie character didn't pass on a message?" I frowned and my silence was all the answer Riley needed.
"It's too bad for you little friends because you won't make it tonight."
"What?" Riley stepped closer and I felt the wall at my back.
"You're not going anywhere." I cursed
my bad luck. It was Friday night;
everyone here at Eden Hall would probably be out partying or getting laid in
their dorms. It was more than possible
that no one would come down to the vending machines.
Riley stepped closer again and surveyed the blank expression on my face.
"Can't you even pretend like you're happy to see me?" he asked, pissed. I stayed defiantly silent. He leaned in close, his mouth near my neck. I didn't stop my shudder.
"I guess not," he said. I could feel his breath on my neck. I closed my eyes and tried to move away.
"You're a sick bastard, Riley."
"And what are you going to do about it? You know you can't or else the world will know what you are. That would be quite a scandal here at Eden Hall, wouldn't it be? You'd be kicked out of the school and the team. Now where would you go from there? No school or team in their right minds would take you in after that and you'd be left going to some backwater community college and being a telemarketer for the rest of your days. So tell me, Banksie, what are you going to do about it?" I bit my lip and fell back against the wall in defeat. I couldn't do anything about it.
"So what do you say, Banksie?" When I kept quiet. "That's right, Banks, you don't say anything and I won't."
~*~
A/n: For you Julie fans out there, I like Julie too, really, but I always thought it was weird that a lot of writers always put Julie as Adam's only friend during his stint on Varsity when she was part of the trio that shot nitrogen on the Varsity's team. Not only that, it was clear that one of the others expressed some hesitation and said something like, "Should we spray Banks too?" And Julie immediately goes, "Yeah, he's one of them now." Now I didn't think she was that sort of person who'd be all bent out of shape for a friend to join another team (without his opinion heard either) so I figured I might add a little history to that to sort of explain her feelings.
Next chapter is already in the works!
Thanks to: meggiebaby81 (you do get a cookie for reviewing ^^), darkdestiny2000 (I have no guarantees on Adam not getting hurt!), Horisont (more from the "bad guy's" point of view next chapter), nebula2 (glad you're still reading!), Eternity (you're basically right on target), Cards, AngelMerryElve, Angel Spirit (I love Charlie/Adam interactions!), crazy4nc128 (I'm still in shock cause I love your stories so much and you're telling me that you like mine!), and anne918 (I'm so glad you updated your Portman/Adam story!)
