When I Needed You. Part One.

When I Needed You. Part Two.

~Adam~

Like Emily said, she saw me in school on Monday. I sat at her table, as she was all by herself again, totally submersed in the book she was reading. I almost turned and walked away, not wanting to smother her into changing her mind, but then she looked up at me and flashed a small friendly smile. Looked like I was staying.

I didn't really know what to say at first, and I could tell she didn't either, so she continued reading and eating the slices of her orange.

Emily's always had this eating thing. She doesn't like to in front of people, and while she's not the thinnest girl on the planet, she's a healthy, attractive size, so I don't know what her problem is with it. But, she's self concious and won't eat anything but fruit in front of large groups of people. I'm one of the select few that's seen her scarf down a pizza. However, I can't say I haven't done the same thing. Countless times.

She flips her bangs out of her face and turns the page, crossing her legs and putting her hand in her lap. And I just sit there.

Finally, she closes her book and looks up at me. I take this opportunity before it's gone, "Hey."

"You've been sitting her for ten minutes, Adam," she replied with a smile.

"Yeah, I know," I laugh.

"How was your weekend?" she asked, picking at another slice.

I shrugged and swirled my fork in my corn. "It was okay. Would have been better with Special Saturday, though."

I see her eyes light up, but it doesn't last that long, "We haven't had one of those since... A long time ago."

"Why don't we have one this Saturday then?"

"Sounds like a plan," she says, grinning. Our Special Saturdays are always the best. We order out, rent a few movies, stay over, laugh laugh laugh, cry cry cry. Well, she cries. It's the best night of the week, and I've missed them for the last six months.

Let's start keeping a list of things I've missed in this last half of a year. One, Emily. Two, Special Saturdays.

After lunch, I walk her to class and then head to my own.

I've never been a fan of science, but this is different. Chemistry is amazing, it's actually my favorite class. With most thanks to my lab partner, Jenny Givens.

I don't know if I've made it very clear yet, but I'm not the most popular dude in school. I've got friends, I've got a lot of friends. I've got good grades, I play sports. But I'm not that popular. So, for me and a girl like Jenny Givens to get along is one of the coolest things about highschool, because she's totally not an Ashley. She's not stuck up, she's not a liar. I think I would know, because we've been partners all year so far, even though Mr. Johnson has given us a lot of opportunities to change.

Jenny is pretty, with long, curly, blonde hair and big blue eyes. She's almost as tall as I am, and she's on the volleyball team. Everyone likes Jenny, and I'm happy me and her are friends.

Maybe there's a possibility I could make it more.

~Emily~

"I don't trust him," Riley says, stroking his paper so lightly the watercolor is hardly showing up.

I flick my paintbrush at him and laugh, "You don't trust anything."

"I trust you," he replies, smiling at me.

"I know you trust me, but... I don't know. I don't feel like I should trust him either," I tell him.

We both look over at Connor Lisle, who's doing some scratch thing. He's a clown, he's always doing things he shouldn't be. We're both worried he's going to stab someone.

"No one can trust him."

I look back over at Riley Smith. He became my friend when Adam disappeared. Riley was a senior and I was really going to miss him when he went off to Colorado in the fall, even though he promised to come back to see me as often as possible.

"Anyways... What about Adam?" I ask. Riley shrugs and shakes his head so that his light brown hair flops all over the place.

"I don't know. I don't really know him well enough to say you can't believe him, but I can also tell when people are saying things for selfish reasons. And this is quite possibly one of those times."

"I was afraid you'd say something like that," I said.

"Well, Emily, see, I don't know what to tell you. So, don't go shutting him out because I said that. He may be for real, and if you were such good friends then, why can't you be now?"

I set my brush down and looked around the room at all the other art work, "I guess you're right. I mean, even though he just left me for a girl who wasn't even worth anything. Maybe I am over reacting."

He shook his head. "Not at all, he ruined the bond you two had. I just don't think that you should be so easy to block him when you know how much you've missed him and how much you wished he was there for you to turn too, you know what I mean?"

I looked at Riley, "That's what I like most about you, Riley. I know exactly what you mean."

The piece he was working on for almost three days is complete, and it looked amazing. He was such a great artist, but he wanted to major in business. I didn't ever think he'd actually like it, but I supported his decision.

 He held it up and let me look at it.

A woman, in distress, trouble, pain. Whatever it was, it was dark and emotional. The proportions were perfect, the shading even better.

"It's beautiful, Riley," I told him, getting a little discouraged at my simple flower. How was it that he managed to pull something like that off with watercolor and my piece looked terrible?

He put the canvas up to my face, "Then I think we have a perfect match."

I'm sure that in his eyes, that was sweet, but to me, it initially sounded like he was comparing me to the woman in his painting. But then I realized he was actually calling me beautiful. I know I blushed when he walked away.

Riley taped the painting up onto the wall like our teacher told him too, and then came back over to our table to help me out a little bit. Art isn't really my strong suit. I mean, I can draw and stuff, but I can't paint with watercolors. It's too difficult for me, so I let Riley paint it all.

After school, I go to get in my car, and catch a glimpse of Adam talking to someone. When he looked over, I waved and he smiled back before turning his head to continue talking. It's only when I pulled out that I saw who he was talking too.

~Adam~

"Sounds like fun, then," Jenny smiled as she closed her car door and waved goodbye to me.

"I'll see you Saturday!" I called out after her. When my hands dropped to my sides, I let out a sigh. I had said that like I wasn't going to see her every other day of this week.

I saw Emilys car idling in the parking lot, in almost the middle of the aisle, and I waved to her. She smiled at me and rolled down her window.

"Who were you talking too?" she asked, lowering her stereo. Sadie by Gratitude.

"Jenny Givens, why?"

"You just looked really scared about something," she laughed.

"Oh, no," Oh. Shit.

She shrugged, "Well, alright. Do you want to do something tonight?"

I think about it for a moment. What's the harm in living up this friendship of ours until I have to break the news with her that I wasn't going to be attending our Special Saturday this week.

"Yeah, sure. What do you want to do?"

"We can... I don't know. Try and beat that game," she suggested.

"Alright. I'll be over when I can."

She nodded and then left me standing there in the parking lot. I mean, if she was really my friend, she'd understand, right?