Back with an update! Thank you so much for the great reviews, guys! It really gives me a boost!
It was completely unexpected, was what it was. One day Coach Bombay rounded up all the Ducks again and told them about Eden Hall. He said that they were offering scholarships to all the members of the Ducks who played in the Junior Goodwill Games.
Immediately, all the Ducks invited roared against it.
'Why do we get to go and not them?'
'Why would we want to go to some preppy school, anyway?'
It took Bombay explaining what a great opportunity it would be and that they would still be able to see everyone else after school and on weekends for everyone to reluctantly agree. Well, almost everyone.
Jesse Hall had remained silent, lost deep in thought.
He brought it up to his dad that night and told him that he couldn't go. He couldn't leave Terry behind.
James looked at his son with an understanding expression but insisted that he take the scholarship.
It was to no avail, however. His son's mind was made up, and he knew from experience that Jesse was perhaps the most stubborn person he'd ever known.
Shaking his head, James stood up from his seat on the couch and looked at his son.
"Alright, Jesse. But you know what you gotta do now, right? You gotta tell Adam."
Jesse closed his eyes and let out a sigh. Yeah, he knew. And that was definitely something he wasn't looking forward to.
He put it off as long as he could. Once school let out and the 'National Junior Hockey Summit' started up again for the third year in a row, Jesse felt more and more pressure to bring his plans up to Adam.
He finally got up the courage one day when they were just relaxing at the apartment.
Needless to say, Adam didn't take it well.
"What are you talking about? You have to come! How am I supposed to deal with a new school without you?"
Jesse gave a sad smile but pressed on.
"I know. I know it's gonna suck and it's gonna be really hard. But we can still see each other on weekends..."
"But why?"
Jesse took a deep breath.
"Because I can't leave Terry. I know he's growing up now, but it's just...I've taken care of him my whole life. With my dad working all the time, I'm the one that cooks dinner and makes sure he's alright. I'm the one who makes sure he does his homework so he doesn't fall behind."
Adam just looked at Jesse. He had that same understanding look in his eyes that James had had. He wanted to tell Jesse that Terry was obviously old enough to take care of himself, but he just couldn't bring himself to. The look on Jesse's face showed that he was obviously torn, and Adam didn't want to make him feel any worse, so he just pulled him into a hug and they stayed like that on the couch for a while, savoring the time they still had.
Finally the day came for the ones going to Eden Hall to formally accept their scholarships and move into the dorms. Only parents of the ones attending were allowed to be at the ceremony, so Jesse wasn't allowed to go.
So he was surprised that morning when he heard his bedroom window open and turned to see Adam climbing through, even dressed in his fancy clothes for the ceremony later that morning.
"What are you doing here? You have to be at that school in-"
He was cut off by Adam yanking him closer by his shirt and planting a deep kiss on his lips.
They both just let themselves go for a few minutes, running their fingers through each other's hair, appreciating everything as if it were the last time.
They finally pulled back when the need to breathe became an issue, their eyes still glazed over.
"I just had to get one more of those in before I go," Adam finally said quietly, a smirk playing on his face.
Jesse laughed. "Look who decided to finally break out."
Adam chuckled, a shy yet proud smile on his face. He and Jesse shared one more quick kiss before he headed back for the window.
"I'll call you when I get the chance."
"Alright. Be careful, cake-eater."
As Adam descended the fire escape, Jesse watched from above, believing everything would turn out okay.
Adam woke up that morning with a feeling of dread in his stomach. It didn't help that not long after he awoke he heard his dad pounding on his bedroom door, reminding him to dress his best.
With a huff, he got up and put on some of his dressiest clothes, even though the "ceremony", if you wanted to call it that, wasn't for at least four hours. That left him with nothing but time to think. And the more he thought, the more anxious he became.
Why was he doing this? He didn't want to do this. He wanted to stay where he was. Secure. With Jesse.
Jesse.
At the thought of him, Adam knew what he had to do. He knew that if anything was gonna make him feel better about this new transition, it was gonna come from Jesse.
So, with that in mind, he snuck out the front door while his parents were getting ready and headed over to the Halls'.
When he got there, he climbed up the fire escape that he knew led to Jesse and Terry's room.
Through the window, he could see Jesse on his bed but no sign of Terry.
He opened the window and stepped through, looking up to see that Jesse was in fact awake.
It was this moment that made the day real, but before he could let the anxiety creep up within him again, he grabbed Jesse and pulled him into a kiss.
When they pulled back, he felt rejuvenated. When Jesse laughed about him finally "breaking out", he had to admit that he was proud of himself. He was finally doing what he wanted, what he felt.
He looked back down at his clothes once he reached the ground and thought,
'Well...partly, anyway.'
The "ceremony" was uneventful. Though soon after, they all heard that they were to get a new coach.
Adam was worried; it didn't feel right playing for someone else, but he'd make the most of it. Then the first day of school came.
Once again, his parents had made him dress in some of his dressiest clothes.
"To make a good impression," his dad had said.
Rolling his eyes, Adam had gotten dressed and met with all the 'Minnesota Ducks' who would be going to Eden Hall. The ones who came from around the country would be coming in together.
As they skated towards the school, Adam kept his mind busy; he focused on his last moments with Jesse, on the idea of having a new coach, on being in a new school.
It was Charlie commenting on his tie that brought him out of his thoughts. When he called him a cake-eater, his head snapped in his direction. No one had ever called him that besides Jesse. It just felt wrong coming from someone else's mouth, even if it was one of his closest friends.
Looking back on that first day now, Adam thinks he should have taken that crash through the curtain on the stage for what it was.
A sign of things to come.
As Adam descended the fire escape, Jesse watched from above, believing everything would turn out okay.
Yeah. That didn't happen.
He got a call from Adam that first night. He sounded out of breath and on the verge of a panic attack.
He tried his best to make out what he was saying.
new coach...crazy...varsity...
When it didn't seem like he would be able to do much for Adam's frantic mind over the phone, he came up with the one thing he figured would help.
"Why don't you come over to my place. Come through the fire escape. I'll make sure the window's open."
Even on skates, he never would have expected Adam to get there so fast.
TBC
So what do you think? I really don't feel all that great about this chapter so please let me know what you think.