Here's chapter 4! I hope you like it! Please R&R! I do not own anything from The Secret Life Of The American Teenager! Thank you! I really appreciate everyone's reviews! :)

Italics=Grace

Bold=Ricky

Plain=Other characters

Adrian decided to call her dad after thinking about what Grace had just said.

"Hey Adrian. I'm at work. Did you need something?" Reuben asked concerned.

"I'm sorry to bother you at work but...I just wanted to make sure that you are coming back to New York for Bob's trial in December right?" Adrian asked nervously.

"Of course I am. I wouldn't miss it for anything. So what's really on your mind? You usually call me when you have a serious problem." Reuben said slowly smiling.

"Do you think I'm in over my head?" Adrian asked stubbornly.

"What do you mean? Did someone say something to you about being in over your head?" Reuben asked confused.

"I just got off the phone with Grace and she said I was in over my head by marrying Omar. I don't understand how she could say that to me." Adrian said a little irritated.

"Listen Adrian, I'm sure Grace didn't mean what she said. Both of you have been best friends for years and sometimes best friends argue. Did you say something to upset her?" Reuben said seriously.

"Yeah...I told her that she was in over her head by dating Ricky. I know I shouldn't have said it but...I talked to Amy last night and she just made me think about things...I care about my friends a lot and I just hope they're making the right decisions. I'm really happy being married to Omar and I just want them to be as happy as we are someday." Adrian explained sincerely as her eyes got watery.

"Wow...Look who's growing up even more. I'm really proud of you Adrian. It's not easy being an only child and I'm really glad that you care a lot about your friends. You sound a lot like your mother...When we first dated she wanted all her friends to be just as happy as we were. Some of them are now and some of them are not. The truth is, is that you can't control how happy other people are. You can only control how happy you are. I love you." Reuben explained as he smiled.

"Thank you Dad. I love you too. I'll see you in December." Adrian said as she wiped her eyes.

"You're welcome. If you ever need anything, you can always call me or your mom. We will always be here for you. And try to enjoy your first year being married because it is a very exciting time. Don't get too stressed about Omar and keep studying hard at school too." Reuben said sincerely.

"Don't worry Dad. I'll be fine. Talk to you later. Bye." Adrian grinned and hung up.

Meanwhile in California...

Ricky was eating lunch when Jack sat next to him.

"Hey Ricky. How are you?" Jack asked smiling.

"Hey Jack...I feel like hell..." Ricky said sadly.

"Yeah...You don't look good. Did something happen with Grace?" Jack asked surprised.

"No...Do you remember that Joe Hampton guy?" Ricky asked looking at Jack.

"Joe...Oh yeah! That guy who made fake IDs for everyone so that we could go to...Ben's and Amy's wedding..." Jack said awkwardly.

"That's him. He mugged Ethan this morning a few blocks away from the butcher's shop this weekend. I gave him fifty bucks and he ran off. He had a gun too." Ricky answered seriously.

"A gun? Oh man! Are you ok? Did Ethan get hurt? Who is Ethan again?" Jack asked confused.

"I'm fine and so is Ethan. He's that kid that my foster parents watched for a short time while I was growing up with them. And then he came back here after being in juvie. So I kept an eye on him with Amy last year since Margret wanted me to. And he almost got a job from Joe selling crack." Ricky explained a little irritated.

"Wow! Joe sells crack now? That's insane! Did you call the cops?" Jack asked intrigued.

"No I didn't. I don't have time to mess with Ethan and Joe right now. If I did, I would have been late to class this morning. Ethan's almost eighteen, he should learn how to take responsibility for his own problems. And I'm sure Joe's dumb enough to get caught by the cops on his own. And I also told Ethan that I would look into getting him a job at the butcher's shop since I'm the assistant manager." Ricky answered calmly.

"Congrats on that and I hope everything works out with Ethan. You're probably right about Joe anyway. He's just lucky that I took the blame for him before." Jack said as he took a bite of his pizza.

"Yeah...It's crazy how some things never change...Why did you do that again?" Ricky asked confused.

"I wanted to do something nice for someone. Now I know it wasn't the most honest thing to do, but at least I made it to college and hopefully I'll be a minister at my church someday." Jack smiled.

"That's defiantly true. I made a lot of stupid mistakes but here I am... Out of everything that has happened since I've went to school here, the one thing that I didn't think was going to happen did...happen." Ricky said sadly as he looked at his tray of food.

"I'm truly sorry about Amy leaving Ricky...I know it must have been one of the hardest things that has happened to you...I feel your pain... You're not really over her are you?" Jack asked sincerely as he looked at Ricky.

"Honestly, Jack...I am over Amy but I just don't know if I'll ever be able to get over the fact that she left me. After everything we went through together...I still can't believe it... I changed my entire life for her and she's gone...I thought we were going to live happily ever after with John but that didn't happen..." Ricky answered seriously as he looked at Jack.

"Yeah... I never thought Grace was going to leave me but she did... And now she's with you which just totally shocks me... I thought she would have waited at least a year after we broke up to start dating again. I guess she just was never in love with me...What if...she's been in love with you for all these years and she just used me as a substitute for you? I know she never tried to make you jealous with me since you were with Amy but..." Jack said sadly.

"I'm still shocked that we're together too...I thought I wouldn't be able to fall in love ever again after Amy left but...I did. I doubt that Grace has been in love with me for years. That's just crazy Jack. I think she really loved you until you pressured her to have sex. Then I think she moved on from one guy to the next to fill the pain that you caused her. I know this because that's how Adrian and I used to be. I think all of us just used sex so that we could feel loved...But when I'm with Grace I don't need to have sex with her to feel loved. Both of us have a connection that I've never had with anyone else. We really can love each other without having to get too physical." Ricky explained sincerely as he took a bite of his salad.

"Wow...I'm surprised that you two haven't slept together. However, I guess you're right about us using sex to feel loved. But sometimes we used it to make other people jealous which was really wrong...Sometimes I wonder if my life would be much different if I never met Grace. Don't you wonder how your life would be if you never met Amy?" Jack asked concerned.

"I don't like to think about that stuff. Life isn't a big what if game. There's what is and what isn't. That's it. There's no if I never met so and so. Everyone comes into your life for a reason whether it is good or bad. I need to get class. And I hope you can find someone to get over Grace. See ya later Jack." Ricky said as he stood up with his tray.

"Thanks Ricky. See ya around." Jack smiled and decided to call Grant.

"Hey Jack. How are you? I haven't heard from you in a while." Grant answered his phone.

"I'm doing all right man. Amy was in the hospital all weekend and she's fine now. I saw her with Ricky and Grace this weekend. How are you doing?" Jack asked smiling.

"That's good about Amy. Oh, you know...I've just been enjoying college life. Harvard's amazing! Did you need something?" Grant asked seriously.

"Do you have any single friends that you could hook me up with? It's obvious Grace is not going to get back with me since she's with Ricky." Jack answered as he rolled his eyes.

"Come on Jack. Ricky and Grace? You really think those two are going to work out? Grace is too good for him. I bet she'll meet a handsome doctor and fall in love with him. It's hard to be married to someone who's not a doctor if you are one. Especially since there are so many long hours working in the hospital but it's worth the money." Grant answered honestly.

"I don't know about that. I think Ricky really loves her. I just talked to him. So do you know someone I could date or not?" Jack asked a little irritated.

"Yeah...We'll see about that. Why don't you find someone at your school? I'm sure there's some girl there that you could love more than Grace. I need to study for a math test so I'll talk to you later." Grant answered.

"All right Grant. Thanks anyway. Talk to you later. Bye." Jack hung up and laid his face on his arms.

Grace walked back to her dorm room and saw Chloe studying.

"Hey Grace. How are you? How was Amy in New York this weekend?" Chloe asked intrigued as she looked at Grace.

"Oh...It was fine. I'm really glad Amy made a full recovery. How's Daniel?" Grace said stubbornly as she sat on her bed.

"Are you ok? You don't sound very good." Chloe asked concerned.

Grace sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Daniel told me that you've talked to him about me and Jack. Why would you do that? Don't you know it's not healthy to talk about your exes when you're in a relationship?" Grace said as she raised her voice.

"Well...I'm sorry Grace. We are room mates so it's not like there's a rule where we can't talk about each other. I promise I won't talk to Daniel about Jack again. Besides...why do you even care? You're with Ricky now anyway." Chloe said sincerely.

"Yeah I know...but I don't want Daniel to know everything about what Jack and I went through. I'm very happy that I broke up with him." Grace said seriously.

"Did something happen between you two in New York? I promise I won't tell anyone. If you're not over Jack, just tell me Grace." Chloe said concerned.

"It's really nothing...Adrian and I had an argument earlier and she just sort of upset me...I'm sorry if I took any of it out on you." Grace said sadly.

"You and Adrian? I thought you two were best friends. What did you argue about?" Chloe asked surprised.

"We are best friends but...Adrian thinks I'm in over my head by dating Ricky because he has a son with Amy and he cheated on me twice...I just don't know... I really love him." Grace answered as she looked at the floor.

"Hmm...Here's what I think. I think that if you really love Ricky then you wouldn't have any doubt in your mind about dating him. You shouldn't worry about what anyone else says if you really love him. Of course I don't know much about love since I'm so young but I do know that true love will lasts if you allow it too. That's why you left Jack. The love you felt for him wasn't true enough." Chloe explained as she smiled slowly while she looked at Grace.

"Heh...I guess you're right. You are way too smart for your age, you know that? Thanks for your advice Chloe. And...Ricky did ask me if I ever want to marry him someday." Grace smiled as her cheeks turned red.

"Aww Grace! You're so welcome! What did you tell him?" Chloe asked with a big smile on her face after.

"I told him that I want to marry him in the future basically. We both have plenty of time to get married. Unless...something tragic happens to either of us...I think that's the most important thing I learned from being in New York all weekend...Amy could have died and life is just so short...You never know when your last breath will be..." Grace said frowning.

"That's defiantly true Grace but all we can really do is take one day at a time. I'm happy Amy made it. Ben really loves her...Sometimes I feel stupid because I tried to seduce him to help him...forget about Amy." Chloe said sadly as she rolled her eyes.

"You did what?! You tried to seduce Ben? That's just crazy!" Grace said shocked.

"Yeah I know...I'm defiantly never going to do that again. Ben and I are siblings by adoption or whatever so there is no way I will ever try to seduce him. I just thought it would help when he was feeling sad...Didn't you sort of date him too?" Chloe said seriously.

"Yes I did...We were just a little interested in dating each other but we never went on an official date. Adrian slept with him to make Ricky and Amy jealous and he got her pregnant so...we never worked out. I did have a little crush on Ben but he never really liked me. I think he just pretended to be interested in me to make Amy jealous. Heh...I sure hope Ricky isn't with me for the same reason." Grace explained while she looked at Chloe.

"Hmm...That makes sense because he talked to me about Amy a lot. Remember what I just said about Ricky. If he wants to marry you, I doubt he wants to make Amy jealous. I need to get some books for a research project so I'll see you later." Chloe said as she got up from her bed.

"All right. Thanks Chloe. See you later." Grace smiled as Chloe went out the door. Grace's phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Grace. It's Grant. I just wanted to tell you that I don't think Jack is over you." Grant answered.

"Oh, shut up Grant! He is over me. And I gave him one last kiss so that he could get over me." Grace said annoyed.

"You really believe that crap? I don't know if he'll ever get over you." Grant said seriously.

"Why do you say that?" Grace asked confused.

"He asked me if there were any single girls that I could hook him up with after he said that it's obvious that you're not going to get back with him because of Ricky." Grant answered sincerely.

Grace hung up and had a very angry look on her face. She looked up at the ceiling and began to pray.

Oh dear...Sounds like there's some doubts going on with Grace and Ricky. Are there friends and exes going to cause more problems for them than they already have? What's going to happen to Ethan? And Adrian is feeling a lot better about Omar. Let me know what you think! Thank you! :)