Bad Luck

Break Up

Chapter 10

Break Up

After I was done with breakfast, I opened the Pet store and tried to rearrange a few products on display at the front window to lure more clients inside.

The first person to arrive in the store was Adam. He wore his usual skater baggy shorts with a singlet beach shirt and walked inside with uncertain steps and apologetic almond eyes.

"H-hey, hi Mia." He greeted me.

Lucky, who had been lying on his claimed spot on the counter, sat on his haunches immediately and started a low rumbling of warning that increased gradually with each step Adam took closer to us.

When it was audible enough and closer to becoming a wail, Adam stopped and raised his hands in an appeasing gesture. "All right, I hear ya. I'm not coming any closer, I can talk from here." He told Lucky who turned the volume down, but still rumbled quietly to remind him of his warning.

"Look, Mia, I came here to apologize on Russell's behalf..."

I frowned from the other side of the counter. What was he? Russell's message boy?

"You don't have to apologize for anything, Adam. He's the one who should be apologizing, instead of getting you to do his dirty work," I said.

"He didn't come because he didn't want to upset you again."

I gave him a tired scoff. He was so lying. Russell would never be this considerate of anyone's feelings.

"He doesn't even know you're here doing this, right? Why do you bother trying to save face for him, Adam?"

"I'm sorry. You're right, he didn't ask me to come," he said, giving a cautious step forward. "But I think he ought to, so I'm doing it for him. You deserve to hear an apology. What happened yesterday was horribl-"

"Look, Adam," I interrupted him. "It's okay. I appreciate the gesture and all, but I don't want to talk about what happened at the Pier anymore."

He glanced down and shuffled his feet uncomfortably. "All right."

"And... I-I think we should stop talking to each other. I mean, we can talk in here when you come to buy anything you want for Noodles, of course, but if we bump into each other outside, it's best if we don't talk."

"W-what? Why?"

"Because I don't want any more of this crap in my life, Adam," I said exasperated. "I don't want Russell Cooper harassing me twenty-four-seven and making my life a living hell because he's jealous of you being with me. This thing at the Pier... you saw him. If he sees us talking to each other, he's going to be all over my face again, making trouble, causing fights. I don't even get why he's acting this way, he has a girlfriend now! But he thinks I'm his damn property just because he was interested once, and it's just, I don't know, easier to avoid any problem this way. I just want to be left alone, that's all."

"So just because Cooper acts like an idiot, you're going to stop talking to me?"

"If you stay away, he'll leave me alone, Adam."

"I can't believe you." He muttered, sounding utterly disappointed in me.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Hey, this is not my fault, okay?"

"How it's not? You are the one asking me to stop talking to you!"

"I'm doing this because of your best friend, okay? Why do you even stick around him, Adam? If he's such an idiot, why are you still friends with him?"