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Words: 2,448

"There are little people inside my head, hitting it with there little hammers."

"Here, this will kill most of those little people," Ada hands Lexi pain meds for her headache along with water to help wash them down.

"I don't remember anything from last night."

"Probably for the best," Ada sighs, setting the glass down on the side table before rubbing her temples. She should take some of those meds. The little people inside Lexi's head are contagious. "You should've waited for me."

"Didn't know if you were gonna show," Lexi mumbles, her voice the most melancholy Ada has ever heard it sound.

Sighing once again, Ada studies the other girl's face. It hits her that she doesn't know why she does all this. Why she drinks and takes drugs she doesn't know the name of. She never even asked. Guilt hits her in the gut like a super soldier's punch.

"Are those my clothes?" Lexi suddenly asks, pulling Ada from her thoughts and she looks down at what she's wearing.

"Yeah, didn't really feel like spending the entire night in a dress. And I don't want to walk home in one either." It won't be until later that she notices her use of the word 'home'.

"I don't mind," Lexi mutters. Ada's lips pull back into a tight smile.

"Thanks, Lex."

"Hey, can you braid my hair?" Stunned momentarily by the question, Ada takes a moment to process it before nodding.

"Uh, sure," Lexi turns when Ada motions for her too. The teenager grabs the other's hairbrush and slowly runs it through her blue tangles. "Um, hey, Lex, can I ask you a personal question?"

"I'd say we're there." The girl holds back her nods and closes her eyes, enjoying the relaxing sensation of someone playing with her hair.

"Why do you..." Ada trails off but continues to brush Lexi's hair. Even if all the knots are gone. "Do this stuff? You know, drink, the pills."

Lexi shrugs to the question, turning her eyes down to pick at her nails. No ones ever asked her that. "I don't think I meant too," She starts, sounding unsure of her own words. "But it just made everything easier. Or I thought so."

"What do you mean?" Ada pauses for a second to question the girl but soon continues her slow, precise movements.

"You know my dad, my real dad, he drank," Ada, in fact, had not known that. She knows Lexi's mother is married but she knows he's not Lexi's biological father. She never asked about it. "Other stuff too. Took a while but mom finally kicked him out when his hundredth promise to get better didn't happen. Haven't seen him since. I honestly don't even know if he's alive."

"I'm sorry, Lex," Ada says softly, setting the brush aside to run her fingers through her hair.

"Yeah, it's whatever," The teenager shrugs again, fingers not playing with the hem of her blanket. "I always thought I'd never do that stuff but," Lexi lets out a humorless laugh. "Look where I am." She motions around her, tapping the side of her pounding head. "Just one drink, I told myself. I remember that much. One drink turned into the person you see before you today."

Ada feels rocks settling into the bottom of her stomach. It's not the same but those words sound so similar to herself. Just one. But it's never just one. One turns to two and two to three and so on.

Tying off the bottom of the completed braid, Ada wraps her arms around Lexi's shoulders and mumbles into the girl's ear. "The person I see is pretty great," Pulling away, Ada waits until the girl turns to face her. "I mean, who else stands up to their friends, knowing they'll lose them for, someone they barely know?"

"Some friends they were," Lexi mutters, ducking her head when heat rising in her cheeks. "All this stuff does is ruin relationships, hurts the people around you. I'm not stupid, I know that. But it's easier. I like easy."

"Yeah, I like easy too," Ada whispers. It's her turn to look down at her hands, Lexi words running through her sleep-deprived mind.

"I think I'm gonna sleep this off," Lexi gestures to her head, and Ada nods while standing.

"I'm gonna head out," Ada lays the blanket back over Lexi. "I'll see you later."

"M'kay," The girl mumbles. Ada purses her lips and stands, walking towards the door. But before she can go, Lexi's voice stops her. "Thanks...for last night."

Ada hesitates, opening and closing her mouth once before sighing. "No problem."

Running her hands over her face, Ada steps out into the day, squinting. When did the sun become so bright? It must not like her. Nor does the universe, the teenager thinks with a grimace when a familiar voice reaches her ears.

"Ada?" Biting her lip, Ada thinks about how horrible she must look right now. She hadn't slept so the bags under her eyes probably have bags of their own. At least her hat covers her messy hair. She doesn't even want to think about her pale skin and who knows what else.

"Hey," She mumbles a greeting to the boy, wondering if it's possible to just run away, live out the rest of her life in a cave somewhere. Maybe the earth will open up and swallow her.

Jamie's smile falters a little when he stops in front of her. Ada notices and ducks her head. "You're out early," He says. Ada realizes that her apartment and Lexi's are on either side of the coffee shop. She should've taken the long way around. "Hey, are you okay?"

Opening her mouth to respond that she was indeed fine, Ada stops short. "All this stuff does is ruin relationships, hurts the people around you." They might not know it, but she is hurting the people around her, isn't she? Looking into Jamie's hazel eyes, the concern she sees there. His smile is gone. She did that. Wiped the cute, innocent smile from his face. The rocks in her stomach turn into lava, burning her insides.

"Jamie..." She whispers his name, voice faltering. "I like you," Okay, not exactly what she meant to say but she'll work with it. "I do. In a way I've never liked anyone," The boy's lips turn up but Ada shakes her head. It only makes her feel worse for what she's about to do. "But I can't..." She shakes her head. His smile is gone again, replaced by a confused frown. "I'm the opposite of 'put together'. I'm actually a huge mess, everything about me is a mess." Ada doesn't notice the tears filling her eyes until her vision blurs. "That's why I can't do this. I can't put that on you, you don't deserve it."

"Ada-"

"It's best this way," Ada cuts him off and moves around him. "I am so sorry." She can't bring herself to ask him to forgive her. She doesn't deserve it. Her backs to him before she knows it, her feet carrying her away from him. She's too far gone to hear him calling after her.

It's still early when Ada arrives back. Enough so that both adults are still sleeping. Maybe the universe doesn't hate her entirely. She thanks it for the small things. The hot water of the shower pounds down onto her back, easing the sore muscles there. She turns and it washes away her tears.

When the bathroom is so full of steam it's hard to see, Ada climbs out of the shower and towels dry. She sets her borrowed clothes aside to wash and return before dressing in her own. She takes something for her head and in her exhaustion induced haze, she forgets to put the hat back into the nightstand drawer.

When she enters her bedroom, Ada hears soft noises from the kitchen. Someone else must be awake. She might as well make herself known, wouldn't want Mr. Stark following up on his promise to put a tracker on her.

"That better be your first cup," She mumbles to Tony when she sees him sipping a mug of coffee, eyes glued to a tablet. The teenager herself grabs a cup and fills it with the bitter liquid, leaving plenty of room for the fancy creamer Ms. Potts uses.

"Yes, mother," Tony says just loud enough for her to hear. She raises a single brow and looks to him over her shoulder. He can't help but smile. She looked so much like herself just then. It makes him realize how different she's been lately. "And how was your night?"

Ada turns and leans her back against the counter, watching him as she takes a sip of the still bitter drink. It would be sweet to most, she just really hates the taste. "Uneventful." Is the words she decides on.

"Uh-huh," Tony mumbles and takes a sip of his own drink, eyes glued to hers. Pepper chooses that moment to walk into the room, still in her sleep clothes.

"Morning you two," She runs her hand through Tony's hair as she passes and places a kiss to Ada's forehead when she stops next to the teenager. "You eaten breakfast yet, sweetie?"

"No," Tony answers, smirking when Pepper throws him a look.

"I was talking to Ada," She tells him and grabs the eggs from the fridge.

"Yeah, I had something," Ada answers, the lie rolling off her tongue easily. The lava in her stomach churns uncomfortably at the thought of food. A soft ding emits from her phone. Ada removes it from her pocket to see a news notification. A just-published article about all people currently present. She sighs internally. At least they don't have her name, though she supposes that would be illegal, seeing as she's a minor and all. Didn't stop them from posting her picture though. A very clear picture. One obviously taken last night. But not when they were entering or leaving the restaurant, but while they were inside, at their table eating.

Excusing herself without a word, Ada makes an effort not to stomp back to her room, closing the door behind her as quietly as she can. Her phone nearly flies across the room but she throws it onto her bed instead. She would really like to hit something right now. Why can't people mind their own damn business?

Screw crying, all Ada feels is anger. She's pissed actually. And would really like the thing she hits to be someone's face. Preferably the person who took that picture and the person who posted it.

Lifting her hands, Ada balls them into fists when they shake. A knock behind her has the girl jumping out of her skin. Composing herself, Ada turns and opens her bedroom door for Mr. Stark. He raises his eyebrows before turning his tablet around to face her. Ada looks down with only her eyes to see the same picture she'd been looking at before.

Sighing, the teenager turns away from him and sits on her bed. He joins her a second later. "You know, Pepper gets these lines between her eyes when she's mad," He starts and looks down at her, motioning to the place on his own face. "You do too."

Huffing, Ada rubs the place between her eyebrows as if to wipe away the evidence to how she feels. "It's not the first article, won't be the last," She mumbles, dropping her hands into her lap.

"It's the first one with a clear picture," Tony points out and Ada shrugs. The ones someone managed to get with her and Pepper had been amateur at best and she hasn't been out with them other than last night. It was bound to happen. Doesn't mean she likes it. "It's okay to be upset over it. I know I am, you should've seen Pepper."

"What's she doing?" Ada knows the woman enough to know she's doing something.

"Oh, making phone calls. I like to give her her space when she uses her angry voice." Ada can't help but nod in agreement. Though she's never seen it, she's sure an angry Pepper is a force to be reckoned with. "I held it off because...because I didn't know what you wanted. Still don't and that's on me, but, we haven't made an official statement yet. About, this." Tony gestures around them. Ada knows what he means.

"I don't know what I want either," She blames her exhaustion for her loose tongue.

"That's fine," Mr. Stark tells her with a shrug. "It's up to you, not me, not Pepper and definitely not any of them." He gestures towards the tablet that displays the article. "You can take your time. All that you need."

"Thanks, Mist- Tony," A stream of guilt crashes with the lava swimming around in her stomach. He's being so nice, so understanding and looks at what she's doing behind his back. Maybe Masia was right. She should've died that night.

After her chat with Mr. Stark, the man himself gets called away. By Pepper. To deal with stuff. No more information was given, Ada only told them she was perfectly fine hanging out by herself for a while.

She turns her phone off, ignoring the missed calls and messages. She really does just want to be alone. And she wants to sleep. Going forty-eight hours without doing just that, you'd think it would be easy to close your eyes and welcome said sleep. But nope, apparently not. At least not for Ada Tinnez, insomniac teenager.

So despite everything said and everything she's thought about for the past few hours, she takes something anyway. Once it takes effect, she no longer cares about those things. Every bad thing she was feeling, every bad thought. All that guilt washed down the drain, replaced by a faux sense of relaxation, allowing the girl to find much-needed sleep.

Ignore how to many scenes end with her going to sleep.

Well, Ada's got some things to think about. She's already cutting her connections to Jamie, what will she do with everyone else? Will she push them away as well, or come to her senses? Let me know your theories!

Always love feedback. I thrive off hearing what you guys think of the story, so let me know in the reviews!

Got a big test coming up next week if you guys want to wish me luck.

Teasers: Consciousness returns to Ada slowly. / "Ada!?" / "Hey, hey, look at me," / Peter isn't sure if his stomach or his heart drops lower. / "Now! Get out!"

Hmm, what's going on next chapter? Probably not what you think but I don't know what you think so I can neither confirm or deny.

'-'