So, when I went to bed, I started having great ideas for this first part of this. But when I woke up, it was all gone. Like, my mind was blank (nothing new there). So this is what happened. But I do really like the second half.
Hope you guys liked the last chapter and enjoy this one!
I just could not decide on a name for this chapter...but if you guys have an idea, let me know. My brain just isn't working today.
Words: 3,281
Her ceiling is blank. Ada stares up at all the blankness at three a.m, her alarm clock reads. She misses the glow in the dark stars that hung above her bed at home. She misses her home. And her dad...
Rolling her eyes at herself, Ada turns over, and shivers run down her spine at the shadows she sees. It's almost like they're moving. Like something, someone, is lurking in the dark corners of her room. She turns onto her other side.
The clock read six O'clock before she finally falls asleep. She wakes up at eight-thirty. Breakfast is fast, mostly because she skips it. Ada cleans her room and wonders around the apartment until lunch and she heads out to MJ's house.
She passes the coffee shop on the way. As always. She doesn't even know the name of the place nor does she bother to look. Jamie is inside. She feels like a stalker watching him. He's not wearing his apron so she can see his jeans and blue T-shirt more clearly. His hair is mussed and he's on the opposite side of the counter, laughing at something.
Her lips turn up at the sight but she shakes her head with a sigh and continues on her way.
When she arrives at MJ's, the girls head into her room. "I like this one," Ada pulls a shirt from MJ's closet and tosses it towards the girl. "Wear it."
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing now?"
"Nothing," Ada shrugs. "I just think that shirt will be...I don't know, just wear it." Holding her hands up in surrender, MJ changes into the new shirt.
"Happy?"
"Very." Smiling, Ada closes the door to the small room and falls onto her friend's bed. "I think I met someone." She admits before she can stop herself and feels MJ's eyes snap to her more than sees it.
"What?"
"Yeah," She sighs slowly. "I don't know. This boy at a coffee shop-"
"Original."
"Anyway," Ada says a little louder after MJ's cut off. "He's nice, I guess. And sweet and adorable, but..."
Shaking her head, MJ rolls her desk chair closer to her bed and hovers over her friend's face. "I don't see the problem."
"Eh," Ada mumbles when no energy comes to her. "Not sure why I'm asking you for advice, you and Peter have been dancing around each other for I don't even know how long."
"There's been no dancing," MJ shakes her head in denial but deflates further into her chair when Ada turns her head, raising a single brow at the girl. "Fine."
"I'm jumping up and down inside at your admission. Even if I already knew," Ada says and turns her eyes back to MJ's blank ceiling. "But I really don't want to get up and actually do that. So, instead, I'll do you a favor. When we go meet with Peter later, I'll find an excuse to leave you guys together."
"Peter doesn-"
"If you say that Peter doesn't feel the same, I will slap you...or something," Ada shakes her head and sits up. "He likes you, he's told me. In more or less words." She shrugs. "And you like him. I'm using the bathroom then we're leaving."
MJ silently watches her friend leave her bedroom and blinks at the empty doorway. When Ada comes back, she all but drags her outside and towards the normal cafe they always meet at. Peter meets them there and slides into the booth next to MJ.
Ada smirks and looks between them. She's not hungry but she does want to hang out with them. But she's been trying to get them together forever now. Probably could've just done the same thing she's doing now sooner but...she hasn't. But she's doing it now, so.
As her two friends talk, Ada pulls out her phone when she receives a notification. Or when she pretends to receive a notification. "Crap," She mumbles just loud enough for Peter to hear.
"What?" He questions, moving his gaze from MJ to her.
Sighing in disappointment, Ada looks at her phone for a few more seconds before putting it away. "I gotta go," She grabs her bag and throws the strap over her shoulder. "Mr. Stark wants me back. Raincheck?"
"Oh, okay, yeah," Peter nods and also stands. Ada accepts her friends hug and sends MJ a smirk over his shoulder. MJ rolls her eyes but can't stop her lips from turning up into a smile. "Text us when you get home, yeah?"
"Yeah, of course," Ada nods. "I'll see you guys later." Waving, Ada winks when she's sure Peter won't see. When the doors to the cafe close behind her, her smile falls.
The train ride back to Manhattan is loud and people smell. Her head pounds and her skin itches until she's finally back on the sidewalk.
With a glance to make sure her path is clear, Ada turns her eyes down to her phone. Her thumbs hover over the screen but before they can make contact, she feels herself suddenly moving to the side. She registers the arm wrapped around her next and yelps in surprise but the hand over her mouth muffles the noise.
On instinct, the teenager lashes out and manages to pull herself free from the hold. She spins on her heel and throws her fist out. Pain shoots from her knuckles and down her wrist. She cradles the hurt appendage to her chest as her 'attacker' holds a hand to his bloody knows.
"Chris!?" She yells when she recognizes the older boy. "What the hell, man!?"
Groaning in pain, the blonde stands back to his full height, still holding his nose. "Wow, okay, you weren't kidding when you said you'd punch me."
"Maybe don't go grabbing people and pulling them into dark alleys. Ever think of that?" She asks rhetorically, gesturing to their surroundings.
"My bad," He holds his free hand up but quickly braces it on his knee.
"Okay, tilt your head down," Ada sighs and pulls a tissue from her purse. "Here," She hands it to him and makes sure not to let his head lean back. "You're an idiot."
"Hey, I'm injured here," He stands straight again but keeps his head down per her command.
"Yeah, because you're an idiot." Ada retorts. She'd smack him on the back of the head if she wasn't worried she broke his nose. And as great as breaking someone's nose would be - she hadn't realized how much better punching someone would make her feel - it's probably best she didn't. "It's not broken, is it?"
"No," He tries to shake his head but stops when pain shoots through his face. "Not the first time I've been punched."
"That doesn't surprise me," Ada mumbles and looks to the mouth of the alley. People pass by but no one pays them any mind. "Alright, let's...why did you pull me in here?"
"I don't know," Chris shrugs, removing the bloody tissue from his nose. The bleeding has slowed. "Saw you passing,"
"And you thought, 'oh, hey, let me sneak up behind her and pull her into a dark alley'. How does that make any sense?" She asks but Chris just stares at her. "Just walk up and say hey like a normal person."
"Where's the fun in that?"
"The fun in that is not getting a broken nose."
"It's not broken," Chris tries to wiggle his nose but winces and raises the tissue back to it when more blood falls.
"That's debatable," Ada mumbles and offers him a fresh tissue. "Do you want to like, go to the hospital or something?"
"Nah," Chris waves her off while trying to clean his face and chin of blood. "I was on my way to hang out with the others."
"The others, right," Ada sighs, wiping the little bit of blood she'd gotten on her hands-off. Blood never bothered her before but now she can't look at it without chills spilling down her spine. "Well, I'm gonna-"
"Come with me," Chris cuts her off and Ada is about to say no but something stops her. She doesn't look at his face but instead the ground and the street outside the alley. "Alright," He nods when she shrugs. He goes to grab her hands but Ada steps back and looks sends a pointed look towards the blood on his skin. She looks away quickly.
The teenager backs off, raising his hands in surrender but he leads her from the alley. As they're walking down the street, few people giving the boy with a bloody face second glances, a loud noise rings out.
A car horn at first. Ada flinches instantly away from the noise, her eyes seeking out the source. Tires skidding across the pavement has every muscle in her body tensing. She squeezes her eyes shut and tries to think about her breathing when it picks up.
"Ada?" Chris's confused voice doesn't make its way into her ears, she'd forgotten the boy was even there until he places a hand onto her shoulder. Her eyes snap open and she jumps back. "Woah, okay. You need a drink more than I do."
Ignoring him, Ada takes in her surroundings. People walk past them, faces there, going about their day. All the cars on the road are moving slowly but they're all okay. Forcing a deep breath through her nose, Ada clears her throat and follows Chris without another word.
They reach Maisie's apartment - the girl's parents really are never home - soon and the girl's eyes widen when she sees Chris. "Holy shit, what happened to you?" She asks as soon as she sees Chris. Lexi shifts to sit on her knees to get a better look at him. Simon and the other boy Ada can't remember the name of raising their eyebrows in mild interest.
"She did," Chris gestures over his shoulder to Ada who sighs and throws her arms out.
"Damn," One of the boys says while Maisie wets a washcloth. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."
"Yeah, what'd he do?" The other boy asks.
Grumbling, Ada resists the urge to roll her eyes. "It was an accident." She opens and closes her sore fist, huffing at the cuts and already forming bruises. How hard is Chris's face? It feels like she punched a brick wall.
"Doesn't matter," Chris announces, face now cleared of blood. "We came here drinks, let's drink." He walks towards the coffee table and picks up the bottle of clear liquid. Vodka, Ada observes and this time she does roll her eyes. Chris offers her a cup and she looks at him like she's going to say no but instead, she takes it and gulps down the first sip.
She moves over to the couch, sitting next to Lexi and ignoring Chris's triumphant smirk. Screw him, he's not why she's drinking. Though the blood spilling from his nose only minutes before plays a part so...maybe.
Three drinks in and the pain in her hand is gone. Isn't that great? And no throbbing in the base of her skull that's become a permanent thing in her life, it seems. Lexi is the one who lights the first blunt. Ada is a little surprised it took so long but she accepts it anyway. She wonder's how Maisie gets the smell out of the air when her parents do come home.
When she's sober, she'll, well her head will hurt worse than it did before, but she'll realize she's a mixture of things when she's drunk. Not happy, but she feels relaxed and laughs. Even when something isn't funny. Everything is spinning slightly, but she likes to think she can handle it. From, you know, practice when her head was all messed up. Or still is? Ada giggles at the thought.
Even if she can't think straight, Ada takes Lexi's umpteenth drink from her hands and doesn't let her have it. The skinny girl doesn't put up much of a fight. Instead, she falls back onto the cushions. Ada thinks she might've passed out.
The odd vibrating that's been going on for...she doesn't know how long now, makes itself known again. She ignores it again and takes another sip, laughing at something someone says. But when it happens again, she moves her hand to her back pocket. "My phone," She slurs in realization and pulls the device into her hands.
Her heart drops when she reads the screen. Though it takes a minute. She tries to blink her blurry vision away but it doesn't help much so she only opens them wider. Five missed calls from Peter and like, so many texts. Just asking if she's okay and she is so no need to worry there. What catches her attention are the texts and missed calls from Mr. Stark. "That's not good," She mumbles to herself. "I gotta go!" She all but shouts into the room as she stands on shaky legs. Good thing her apartment isn't far from here.
"Have-you should probably-help," Maisie says but furrows her brows at her own words. "That didn't make sense."
"No," Ada shakes her head and purses her lips at the girl. "Is no one here sober?" Mike shakes his head, shoving Simon off his shoulder when he falls onto him. Lexi holds up a thumbs down but doesn't move otherwise. Chris just takes another drag of his cigarette. "That's not responable," Shaking her head again, Ada tries again. "Responsable. Responsible, that's the one, yeah. Mhm."
The others don't respond, to busy being unsober. Ada shrugs and leaves. It's humid out. Not as hot as it was during the day. Ada pulls her hat down further over her head and wraps her arms around herself. She gets lucky and returns to the apartment without incident. She snorts at the thought. Lucky. Yeah, she's super lucky alright.
It takes a minute to find the right elevator. She slumbs against the wall as the door close, feeling her eyelids fall shut. She breaths in deep, forgetting all about her missed messages. A mistake on her part. Though, in the end, it wouldn't really make a difference. The hole she's dug herself is to deep to get out of.
The elevator dings when the doors slide open. Ada blinks open her eyes and pushes off the wall. She stumbles into the apartment, bracing a hand on the wall to steady herself. She hears footsteps and straightens her posture. Best she can at least.
"Oh, hey, Mr. Stark," She whispers, hoping if her voice is quieter, he won't hear it slur. Just because she's drunk out of her mind doesn't mean she doesn't realize she'll be in trouble. Or already is.
Arms crossed over his chest, Tony opens his mouth to say something. He's not sure what. Chew the teenager out maybe. Not yell, but maybe. She was supposed to be back a while ago and hasn't been answering her phone. He hasn't been that worried since he got the call about the car accident. But those words escape him when he sees the signs. It's not that hard, considering his past. "Are you drunk?"
"No," Ada shakes her hand but wobbles. "Maybe a little." She whispers, holding her thumb and index finger a little bit apart.
Gritting his teeth, Tony breaths through his nose when his gaze sweeps over Ada's knuckles. "And what the hell happened to your hand?"
"I punched someone." She tells him easily with a shrug, wiggling her fingers, fascinated by how it doesn't hurt as it had before.
Pinching the brings of his nose, Tony mumbles. "At least your honest when you're intoxicated." Looking her over, the billionaire makes sure his teenager isn't injured anywhere else before guiding her to the couch. She falls down onto the cushions easily. "I can't-" He cuts himself off and bites the inside of his cheek.
Ada looks up when Mr. Stark suddenly walks away. Her stomach drops for reasons besides the alcohol but her shoulders slump when he returns. He sits beside her and takes her hand in his before placing a cold towel over her bruised knuckles. "Ice," She mumbles. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.
"Yes," Tony says. He had been angry, at first, but not anymore. It dissipated quicker than any anger he's ever felt has before. "Who now has a black eye or a broken nose?" He questions but only receives a confused look from the teenager. "Who'd you punch?"
"Oh," She mutters. "Chris." She tells him and it's Tony's turn to look confused.
"We'll come back to that. Why did you hit him?" Now that he needs to know. If this Chris did something...
"Didn't mean too," Ada pouts and grips his hand. "I'm sorry." Sad drunk too, it would seem.
"Oh, honey, don't-" Tony cuts himself off and shakes his head. He wishes Pepper was here.
"I don' feel good,"
"That would be all the alcohol you consumed," He informs her but the words fly over the girl's head. "Probably on an empty stomach, too."
As he usually is, Tony is correct. About the empty stomach and the things he didn't say aloud. Like the fact that they'd be in the exact situtaion they're in now. Sitting on the bathroom floor, Ada puking her guts out while he holds her hair back. If he wasn't sure about not being angry before, he is now. He's been in her position. He gets it. And it sucks.
After fifteen minutes of nothing else coming up, Tony helps her off the floor and cleans her face. Ada is able to wash her mouth out before Mr. Stark is helping her to her room and he makes her drink a lot of water. Her shoes are long gone and she doesn't care that she's wearing jean shorts, she climbs into bed without changing.
"Are you mad at me?" Ada looks up at Mr. Stark as he pulls the covers over her.
"Not at you." He says, tucking the cloth around her shoulders.
"Are you disappointed in me?" She slurs a bit more while her eyes droop.
"No, not in you." He's disappointed in himself. For not watching her closer, for not...being better.
"Good, because that's like, so much worse than being mad."
Tony chuckles weakly and nods with closed eyes. "Yeah, yeah it is," Brushing his thumb over her cheek, Tony smiles softly when Ada turns into his hand. "Goodnight, honey."
"G'night," Ada mumbles and curls into herself. If she wasn't already half asleep, she would've felt the kiss Mr. Stark places on her forehead before he walks from the room, leaving the door cracked open.
Sorry for the teasers last chapter, they were misleading again.
Please let me know what you guys think of this chapter!
Teasers: "I wanted to forget." / "She's not ready." / "I can't believe you let Peter corrupt you," / "What is this, a date?"
All dialogue today^^
Hope you guys liked this chapter! Any questions or suggestions? Feel free to leave them lying around, I'll pick them up. (I really am losing it)
'-'