"Adam?" I asked once again this time slightly louder. At a closer look I could see the blonde regrowth showing through the obviously dyed black hair. Though he looked quite different, looking into his eyes I could tell it was Adam.
"Jay!" Adam replied smiling before giving me a hug.
"What happened to uni? You know I asked your folks about you but they wouldn't give me a straight answer"
"I dropped out and decided to come and kick up a stink here" He replied.
"I take it you two already know each other then?" Stu asked knowing he had got it right in asking me to give Adam a room.
"Hey Stu, there's plenty of room with the guys" My opponent said not knowing that Stu had set this up,
"Shut up" Stu hissed,
"Hey Stu can I knock off early? Show Adam around and getting him settled in?" I asked turning towards Stu.
"Sure, but don't forget you've got to pick Dee up from work early" Stu said sighing as he mentioned Dee. He had come to accept that Dee and I were a couple but he still wished it was one of his sons dating her instead of me.
"I never forget, I'll see you tomorrow" I said before telling Adam I'd be back and heading towards the Staff room.
Adam followed me to my flat but as he went to get out of the car I tried to convince him to go down to the corner and get milk, because at that stage the place was a pigsty. Denise and I hadn't cleaned up for over a week due to the fact that we had both been so busy. Unfortunately my attempt to keep him out of the flat failed and the first sight of his new room was a mess. He just laughed and said he should have expected it; after all it was my place.
"Hey man, I got to go down the road to get some milk and bread, you can have a shower while I'm gone." I said once I had given Adam the grand tour of the flat.
"There's towels in the cupboard next to the bathroom" I finished as Adam just nodded. Once he had disappeared into his room I headed out the front door thinking of how tired Adam looked. It took me a couple of days to drive to the Dungeon from the Copeland's but the distance Adam had come was at least the Copeland's to the Dungeon doubled. I pushed open the front door close to ten minutes later to find Adam walking out of the bathroom.
"Hey I've got to pick up Dee in about half an hour feel free to come but make sure you ring your folks first"
"Thanks, yea I'll come. Hey what's too eat, I'm starving?"
"Thursday night is take out night, me and Dee pick something up on the way home. You can pick tonight, but since Thursday's are our longest days you can't have a home cooked meal" I explained,
"That's cool, so where would I find the phone in this mess?" Adam asked looking around the room with a look of disgusted expectation. I looked around for a moment before reaching over and grabbing the phone from underneath a pile of newspapers,
"I'm going to have a quick shower, if there is time once I'm finished I'd love to speak to your mom" I said handing the phone over before heading to the bathroom.
Once I was finished in the shower Adam said goodbye to his mom and handed over the phone for me to say hi. Once I hung up I looked at the microwave clock and saw that it was time to pick Dee up from work,
"Do you want to come and pick Dee up with me, or would you rather stay here and rest?" I asked feeling strange at the formality we had been using since arriving back at the flat,
"I'll come, so why am I yet to here about this girl?"
"You never rang and when you did ring you never asked. Don't worry you'll love her, I do" I replied honestly,
"Oh my goodness could I be hearing correctly? Has our young Jason fallen in love?"
"Yea, she's amazing Adam" I replied honestly getting the dazed look in my eye that the boys say I always get when thinking about her,
"What happened to the tough guy I used to know, who's motto was never show emotions?" Adam asked looking over from his seat beside me,
"You'll see when you meet Dee" I replied pulling into the car park outside Dee's work. As I climbed out the car I asked if Adam was going to get out as well, when he nodded I reminded him to lock the door before I headed towards my usual waiting place.
I was already leaning against the railing just near the staff exit of Denise's work when Adam joined me. It was then that we both totally relaxed and fell into the same pattern of behaviour we displayed during high school. But I was still shocked at the state of his hair. His hair, which he had been growing since the second to last year of high school, was usually a thick natural blonde colour. As it turns out he'd been at a party drinking and once he was drunk off his face his friends dared him to dye it black. Unknown to poor Adam the dye they had given him to use was permanent and the hairdresser he went to said that the only way to remove the colour prematurely was by cutting Adam's hair. Needless to say Adam was out of that salon faster than a dog on heat.
"So why'd you drop out?" I asked changing the subject,
"I missed my brother" He replied honestly,
"But you don't have a brother"
"Yea I do, you. You are my brother. Plus I was failing, I was unhappy, I just didn't want to be there"
"Failing? But you topped all your classes, they even wanted you to graduate early"
"Yea, but I never enjoyed school. In fact I hated it, my folks had to bribe me to go! I only did well because there was one person that needed me to do well. But when I was at college I didn't have to do well anymore the only person I needed to do well for was me and I just didn't care"
"Who did you have to do well for in high school?" I asked confused,
"You, if I didn't do well you didn't have an incentive to do well. My folks and I just wanted you to graduate, we knew you could do it; you've got an amazing brain in that head of yours. You just needed a reason to do well, do you really think I wanted to study that much? I got so angry at you as well, you never showed emotion and there I was working my butt off just so you would work yours off"
"Wow man, I never knew that" I replied shocked at his revelation,
"I love you like brother, I grew up with you I knew you were a good kid. But you'd just gotten the short straw one time too many." He said with passion in his voice and honesty in his eyes. I was overwhelmed by emotion then, I had never known how much the Copeland's had done just so I would finish high school,
"Thanks man, I love you too" I replied giving him a hug,
"But what about family tradition?" I asked remembering all the Copeland males had qualifications from that uni.
"Well one day when I was thinking about dropping out Mom asked me what I would do. I hadn't thought about it but I immediately said I would head to the dungeon. It was then my folks realised tradition only mattered if you were happy about it. Anyway bro, tell me about this girl of yours" He said looking slightly above my shoulder.
"She's amazing man, she's beautiful, smart, funny. I can't explain it; I just love her so much. Except sometimes I want to slap her one because she snores so loudly, she leaves the toilet seat down, thinks I'm her personal slave, she drives me crazy sometimes ok all the time…" I said gaining a shocked look from Adam,
"… And she's right behind me! I know how to tell when my girlfriend is about to walk up behind me." I replied spinning around to kiss Dee.
"Jay!" Adam replied smiling before giving me a hug.
"What happened to uni? You know I asked your folks about you but they wouldn't give me a straight answer"
"I dropped out and decided to come and kick up a stink here" He replied.
"I take it you two already know each other then?" Stu asked knowing he had got it right in asking me to give Adam a room.
"Hey Stu, there's plenty of room with the guys" My opponent said not knowing that Stu had set this up,
"Shut up" Stu hissed,
"Hey Stu can I knock off early? Show Adam around and getting him settled in?" I asked turning towards Stu.
"Sure, but don't forget you've got to pick Dee up from work early" Stu said sighing as he mentioned Dee. He had come to accept that Dee and I were a couple but he still wished it was one of his sons dating her instead of me.
"I never forget, I'll see you tomorrow" I said before telling Adam I'd be back and heading towards the Staff room.
Adam followed me to my flat but as he went to get out of the car I tried to convince him to go down to the corner and get milk, because at that stage the place was a pigsty. Denise and I hadn't cleaned up for over a week due to the fact that we had both been so busy. Unfortunately my attempt to keep him out of the flat failed and the first sight of his new room was a mess. He just laughed and said he should have expected it; after all it was my place.
"Hey man, I got to go down the road to get some milk and bread, you can have a shower while I'm gone." I said once I had given Adam the grand tour of the flat.
"There's towels in the cupboard next to the bathroom" I finished as Adam just nodded. Once he had disappeared into his room I headed out the front door thinking of how tired Adam looked. It took me a couple of days to drive to the Dungeon from the Copeland's but the distance Adam had come was at least the Copeland's to the Dungeon doubled. I pushed open the front door close to ten minutes later to find Adam walking out of the bathroom.
"Hey I've got to pick up Dee in about half an hour feel free to come but make sure you ring your folks first"
"Thanks, yea I'll come. Hey what's too eat, I'm starving?"
"Thursday night is take out night, me and Dee pick something up on the way home. You can pick tonight, but since Thursday's are our longest days you can't have a home cooked meal" I explained,
"That's cool, so where would I find the phone in this mess?" Adam asked looking around the room with a look of disgusted expectation. I looked around for a moment before reaching over and grabbing the phone from underneath a pile of newspapers,
"I'm going to have a quick shower, if there is time once I'm finished I'd love to speak to your mom" I said handing the phone over before heading to the bathroom.
Once I was finished in the shower Adam said goodbye to his mom and handed over the phone for me to say hi. Once I hung up I looked at the microwave clock and saw that it was time to pick Dee up from work,
"Do you want to come and pick Dee up with me, or would you rather stay here and rest?" I asked feeling strange at the formality we had been using since arriving back at the flat,
"I'll come, so why am I yet to here about this girl?"
"You never rang and when you did ring you never asked. Don't worry you'll love her, I do" I replied honestly,
"Oh my goodness could I be hearing correctly? Has our young Jason fallen in love?"
"Yea, she's amazing Adam" I replied honestly getting the dazed look in my eye that the boys say I always get when thinking about her,
"What happened to the tough guy I used to know, who's motto was never show emotions?" Adam asked looking over from his seat beside me,
"You'll see when you meet Dee" I replied pulling into the car park outside Dee's work. As I climbed out the car I asked if Adam was going to get out as well, when he nodded I reminded him to lock the door before I headed towards my usual waiting place.
I was already leaning against the railing just near the staff exit of Denise's work when Adam joined me. It was then that we both totally relaxed and fell into the same pattern of behaviour we displayed during high school. But I was still shocked at the state of his hair. His hair, which he had been growing since the second to last year of high school, was usually a thick natural blonde colour. As it turns out he'd been at a party drinking and once he was drunk off his face his friends dared him to dye it black. Unknown to poor Adam the dye they had given him to use was permanent and the hairdresser he went to said that the only way to remove the colour prematurely was by cutting Adam's hair. Needless to say Adam was out of that salon faster than a dog on heat.
"So why'd you drop out?" I asked changing the subject,
"I missed my brother" He replied honestly,
"But you don't have a brother"
"Yea I do, you. You are my brother. Plus I was failing, I was unhappy, I just didn't want to be there"
"Failing? But you topped all your classes, they even wanted you to graduate early"
"Yea, but I never enjoyed school. In fact I hated it, my folks had to bribe me to go! I only did well because there was one person that needed me to do well. But when I was at college I didn't have to do well anymore the only person I needed to do well for was me and I just didn't care"
"Who did you have to do well for in high school?" I asked confused,
"You, if I didn't do well you didn't have an incentive to do well. My folks and I just wanted you to graduate, we knew you could do it; you've got an amazing brain in that head of yours. You just needed a reason to do well, do you really think I wanted to study that much? I got so angry at you as well, you never showed emotion and there I was working my butt off just so you would work yours off"
"Wow man, I never knew that" I replied shocked at his revelation,
"I love you like brother, I grew up with you I knew you were a good kid. But you'd just gotten the short straw one time too many." He said with passion in his voice and honesty in his eyes. I was overwhelmed by emotion then, I had never known how much the Copeland's had done just so I would finish high school,
"Thanks man, I love you too" I replied giving him a hug,
"But what about family tradition?" I asked remembering all the Copeland males had qualifications from that uni.
"Well one day when I was thinking about dropping out Mom asked me what I would do. I hadn't thought about it but I immediately said I would head to the dungeon. It was then my folks realised tradition only mattered if you were happy about it. Anyway bro, tell me about this girl of yours" He said looking slightly above my shoulder.
"She's amazing man, she's beautiful, smart, funny. I can't explain it; I just love her so much. Except sometimes I want to slap her one because she snores so loudly, she leaves the toilet seat down, thinks I'm her personal slave, she drives me crazy sometimes ok all the time…" I said gaining a shocked look from Adam,
"… And she's right behind me! I know how to tell when my girlfriend is about to walk up behind me." I replied spinning around to kiss Dee.