The Way Back to You

Chapter 14

Adam pushed his hoodie sleeve back to look at his watch. It was only eight o'clock. He hoped Marissa didn't notice when he rolled his eyes. His curfew couldn't come quick enough.

He looked at Eli and Clare, who were sitting across the table from them at The Dot. Clare was looking at her French fries, picking the burnt edges off of them. She'd tried to start various conversations, but they all quickly died out.

Marissa and Adam had nothing in common. It was almost painful to watch. She seemed to have a negative reaction to everything Adam said. Eventually, he stopped talking altogether.

Suddenly, Clare clutched her stomach and groaned. Eli jumped and looked at his girlfriend. "What's wrong?" he asked quickly.

Clare shook her head, still holding onto her stomach. "We need to go," she said.

Eli nodded and helped her out of her seat. "Adam," she said pathetically holding her other arm out to her friend.

Adam quickly stood and put Clare's arm around his neck. "Sorry," he said to Marissa before the boys led Clare away.

"I got her, man," Adam said once they were outside. "Go get the car. Where'd you park?"

Eli smirked. "Down the block. You can let go of her."

"What?" Adam's mouth fell open as Eli stepped away from his girlfriend. "She can hardly stand."

"She's fine," Eli said.

Clare straightened up and looked at Adam, smiling.

He blinked, looking between his two friends. "What just happened?"

"Someone had to put an end to that horrible date," she told him.

Adam smiled. "You were just acting?"

Eli rolled his eyes. "If you can call that acting. It was a bit overdramatic for my taste."

Fiona glanced over her shoulder when her computer beeped. She walked out of the kitchen and looked at her laptop, smiling when she saw the Holly J wanted to chat on Skype.

"Hey, HJ," Fiona said as she carried her computer to the island.

"Hey. What are you doing?"

"I was just about to eat," she said, sitting down on a stool.

"Oh. What did Jean-Pierre make today?"

"Nothing. Mom gave him the day off, so I'm fending for myself. I made grilled cheese." She held up the blackened sandwich.

Holly J fought back a grimace. "Looks… yummy. Why didn't you just order take out?"

Fiona shrugged. "Nate's always going on about grilled cheese. I don't see what the big deal is."

Holly J laughed. "I think some of the allure may have been lost in the preparation."

Fiona shrugged again. "What do you have planned for the weekend?" Thanksgiving break had officially started for them.

"Studying."

"How boring," Fiona sighed.

"We can't all be art students. Some of us have exams."

Fiona rolled her eyes and glanced at the pile of unfinished sketches and other projects. The due dates were coming up soon. "Why don't we go visit your mom for a few days?"

"Fiona, I don't have time. Not this weekend."

"Come on," Fiona urged. "It'll be fun. We both need breaks."

"You don't want to go see my mom," Holly J said knowingly.

"Ok, you caught me." She rolled her eyes. "So?"

"Fine. But you won't find a flight. Trust me, they're all booked solid."

Fiona shook her head. "You have such little faith in me, Holly J."

To be continued…

AN: Holly J makes a comment about art students here and before art students prepare to attack me, I'm an art student and can't tell you how often my friends who have "normal" majors tell me how busy they are because they have tests they need to study for, when I have four projects all due on the same day.