"The One" – Part 74
Summary and additional notes in part 1.
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! Dinner continues!
FYI, there's a super long note in the end about upcoming fics...
This is not related to my Degrassi timeline fics. (See my Author's profile for details!)
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Degrassi!
-oOo-
Simone took a sip of wine as she studied the 'happy couple'. They had all placed their orders and were waiting for the food to arrive. Gretchen was telling them all about an interview she had recently done to promote her book. There was good energy at the table. The mood was happy and relaxed. Still she couldn't help but think about how weird it was that Beth wasn't here. She knew people broke up all the time and that Fiona had clearly moved on. It just made her a little sad to think of how things used to be and how much Beth missed Fiona.
At first Beth held onto her anger. She maintained an attitude of 'I don't care' and 'good riddance'. She had been pissed at the way things went down. One day they were live-in partners in love, the next Fiona was out the door and they weren't speaking. As Beth's numbness melted away, sadness crept in and she wanted to analyze what went wrong. She usually held her emotions in, but Simone had been one of the select few she poured her heart out to.
Simone didn't like to take sides, but she didn't want to like Adam. For weeks he had been an abstract idea to her. She had seen pictures of him online and heard about him from other friends who had met him. However, he hadn't been quite real to her as a three dimensional person. He was this guy who had caused her close friend a lot of pain.
When Fiona suggested they meet up last week, Simone had made an excuse not to. She wasn't sure if she could be impartial. Though tonight she was starting to understand what Gretchen told her about the couple.
As she looked at them, the chemistry between them was apparent. Every time they looked into each other's eyes they glowed with love and affection. Simone had to admit, she had never seen Fiona happier! She now knew what they had was real and solid, and there was no going back.
"So Adam, Fiona says that you work in IT. What exactly do you do?" Raul asked curiously.
Adam glanced at Fiona and smiled. "I'm a Systems Database Coordinator. I work for a large pharmaceutical company."
He chuckled as most of them furrowed their brows in confusion.
"Okay, I'm completely lost!" Pete declared. Tech speak was a language he didn't understand!
"Oh, I had the same reaction last week," Gretchen assured him. It took a few tries before she got the gist of what Adam did for a living!
Simone raised an eyebrow. She hadn't had him pegged as a computer guy.
Fiona grinned at Adam. His job was difficult to explain in laymen's terms! "Let me give it a shot."
He chuckled. "By all means!" he encouraged. He was curious as to how she would explain it.
"He maintains the databases for a large multinational pharmaceutical company. They have various web portals, both public and private. He's their top guy in New York, which is their flagship location. The last couple of weekends he had to work overtime to assist the European branch in updating their data servers," she told her friends. "I wasn't too happy about that!" she added in jest.
Adam was impressed. He thought she did a good job summarizing his job! "Yeah, pretty much."
They all smiled, amused.
"That's interesting," Tomás genuinely responded. Adam's job sounded rather important! Pete gave him a look. "What? Some of us do know a little bit about computers! My brother is a programmer."
Adam brightened. "Oh, awesome! What does he do?"
Tomás thought about it. "He builds software for cell phone applications."
"Wow, that's really cool! Mobile application development is an exciting industry because the turnover and growth of technology is occurring at an almost exponential rate," Adam lightly remarked before taking a sip of his drink.
They all looked at him blankly.
"Yeah… That went way over my head," Pete told him.
Everyone laughed.
"I wouldn't have guessed it, but I think it's kind of cool that you're a nerd," Pete ribbed him. From the pictures of him playing sports on FaceRange he had assumed he was a jock, which was somewhat off putting to him. He was an arts & drama kid, so he didn't have the fondest memories of them back in high school!
Adam and Fiona looked at each other and laughed.
"He was on the Science team, graduated Valedictorian of his high school class, and studied Computer Science in college. I don't think he could escape that label if he tried!" she said in jest.
"Hey, I was kind of cool back then. I was in a band!" he protested.
"You play music?" Simone piped up. She played guitar.
"He plays bass and he's really good," Fiona told her.
Adam grinned. "I started playing back in Junior High, when I discovered Dead Hand."
"No way!" Simone exclaimed. That was one of her favorite bands! She knew all of their songs. "Those guys are awesome! We gotta jam some time!" It came flying out of her mouth before she could stop herself, but she figured in this instance what Beth didn't know wouldn't hurt her!
Adam laughed. "Absolutely!" He was excited at the prospect and happy to find some common ground!
Everyone laughed at their shared enthusiasm.
"In high school, I was in a band with my brother. We did some Dead Hand covers, but our direction changed after the first year. We got a female lead singer and developed a more pop punk sound," Adam revealed. He turned to Fiona. "Actually, I spoke to Drew earlier and we might reunite for a gig on Friday."
Fiona raised an eyebrow. "Really?" This was a new development.
"Yeah. Drew and Sav still play in their spare time, and Taylor's going to be in town as well," Adam informed her.
"Wow, so you're literally getting the band back together?" she noted, amused.
"Yep! This weekend will definitely be a blast from the past," he chuckled.
"You guys are heading to Toronto, right?" Nona asked. Fiona had previously mentioned they were going on another weekend getaway.
The couple nodded, with bright smiles.
"I'm taking her home, again," Adam declared. He had a relaxed grin as he turned to his girlfriend. "My mom is excited to see you."
Fiona softly laughed. From what Adam told her, Mrs. Torres liked her best out of all the girls he had been linked to. It was funny how things turned out after such a rocky beginning!
"That seems like a big step," Debbie noted. She didn't want to be a downer, but she thought they were moving pretty fast!
Pete and Nona shared a look. They both agreed with her sentiment but had decided against voicing their opinion on the matter.
"It's been years, but they already know her," Adam stated. "My best friend and her husband are having a christening for their daughter on Saturday. We decided to make it a long weekend so we'd have more time to hang out with everyone."
Fiona nodded. "Yeah, we all attended Degrassi together. It's going to be a like mini reunion."
Adam laughed. "Right, and a bunch of alumni are going to be in town on Friday. They're having farewell bash for Principal Simpson. He's actually retiring!" Drew had just told him this a few hours ago!
She looked at him. "No way!" He had been there so long, he was practically an institution at the school!
Simone looked on with a wry smile. Much had changed in the past month! From hearing them talk and the messages on FaceRange, it was like Fiona had a brand new life! It was slightly disconcerting but alas, nothing stayed the same. She had faith that when the dust settled, they could bridge the old and the new.
"Panang Curry with Beef?"
Simone turned to her left and smiled seeing that servers had arrived with their food. The plate was placed before Raul, who had the biggest smile!
Pete clapped his hands together. "Great, I am starving!" he declared happily.
Adam nodded. "I second that!" he said with a huge grin.
Gretchen playfully shook her head at their comments before adding her own. "And I third it!"
They all laughed.
.
tbc
A/N: Aww. Adam's nerdiness shined through in this one! Nice that Simone is working through her conflicting feelings and bonding with Adam over Dead Hand! (who knew? Lol)
Speaking of music, looks like we'll be seeing the band soon! Can't say if Keyboard guy will be there, but it seems like Drew and Sav will!
Reviews rock! :D
In the next chapter… there's bit of Spanish, and some unexpected turns in conversation ahead!
To the folks I cannot directly PM:
megGill - Thanks for the review! I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying this story! :D It's mega long, and I can't believe chapter 75 is around the corner! Anyway, thanks for the kind words about the OCs! It's good that they are being well received. In different ways they kind of reveal more about the established characters. They've certainly been fun to write!
Skipping promos is going well :) I don't seek them out (been avoiding Degrassi related stuff online) so it's been a breeze for the most part. Although sometimes people tell me stuff I don't want to know! But I'm still largely unspoiled. I will tune in when it comes back on. Adam is my favorite character so I wanna see what happens, even though I'm not a fan of the current storylines (ugh), I'm hoping some good stuff happens for him!
Another Note: So, I've been thinking... As much as it would be cool to release them in chronological order, I'm thinking of publishing the timeline fics I have in my queue. Probably starting with the finished ones first.
I have a Fadam newlywed fic which is done, and two-shot that takes place after "Long Weekend" - which I was considering expanding to a longer story. But then again, I can always write more about it later! I also have a far future fic in the same vein - it can stand alone as a one-shot, even though I started writing a second chapter *shrugs*.
Still in progress... I have a different multi-chapter fic that occurs a couple of weeks after "Long Weekend" - it's Adam-centric though. And I have about 4 or 5 one-shots written which will be part of the "Summer of Love" series of one-shots I previously mentioned. They all occur between Adam's Sophomore and Junior years at Degrassi (the summer before "Kiss, Kiss" and "Radiate").
Plus I have three other uncompleted far future fics. One is about their engagement (multi-chapter), another takes place during their honeymoon (possible one or two-shot), and the last occurs when their daughter Rory is about a year and half old! (multi-chapter)
Why tell you guys all of this? Because I'm totally torn about which ones to post and in what order! I'm leaning towards the Newlywed fic first because it's complete. The story is Adam-centric and tackles a tricky issue he faces, but it has a bunch of cute Fadam scenes in it! However, I'm also really happy with the engagement fic even though it's not finished yet.
So what do you guys think of publishing uncompleted fics? None of them leave off on cliffhangers (I'm sure that's a relief!), but I can't say for sure when they'll be completed, which could be frustrating...
Anyway, this is the longest note ever! I seriously outdid myself this time, but feedback on this would be appreciated!
-Cheers!