Few Days Later
" This sucks. I can't keep falling asleep in class. I already have to go to summer school, I don't want to fail the 10th grade. My birthday already falls weirdly in the middle of school semester, I don't want to be the oldest student ever to graduate." Adrienne complained
It was passed midnight and Adrienne was on Facetime with Derek whining about not being able to sleep. The only time she got some rest was during lunch or immediately after school when she was able to be all up on Derek.
" Have you tried wearing my shirt?" Derek asked sweetly as he rubbed his eyes. He too wasn't getting a good night's rest at night but at least he slept. Adrienne on the other hand had a serious case of insomnia.
" I'm wearing it now. Maybe I'm hungry." Adrienne thought.
Adrienne's eating habits were getting slightly better. Slightly better meaning she eats but nothing that's good for her daily health. Her obsession for anything made with potatoes was still prevalent but she was obsessed with pickles, hot cheetos, and cheeseburgers. To balance out her eating habits, she drank smoothies all the time with fruits, vegetables and added minerals. Anything else she refused to eat.
" I want a cheeseburger."
" Its almost 1 o'clock in the morning Luv. Just relax and stop talking. You'll be sleep before you know it."
A few moments past and Adrienne couldn't help but to want to talk to Derek." Baby, I love You" she said.
" I love you too, now shh go to sleep." He shushed. A few moments later Derek opened his eyes to see Adrienne looking at him through the screen. He sighed and sat up in bed.
" Where you want yo Cheeseburger from? Mcdonald's and Wendy's open till 2."
"Wendy's. Thanks baby."
" Mhmm. I'll text your mom and see if she want anything. You know she woke too." He said getting up out the bed to put some clothes on.
He was right, Diane was usually up as well with her off sleeping pattern. She would go to bed with the kids then wake up a couple hours later. The only reason they know this was because Adrienne tried to sneak Derek in one night when she was having a bad night just for them to get caught. Even though Diane scolded Adrienne she was too tired to do anything more. She allowed Derek to sit on the couch with Adrienne until she fell asleep. Derek and Diane were able to have a conversation about respect and boundaries and Derek also apologized for his role in having Adrienne leave home and going to court. He really was only trying to protect Adrienne and with him dealing with his past with abuse his judgement was clouded.
" She said okay but that we can't keep doing this and for you come downstairs. Ooh and while you down there ask her about the weekend in the mountains with Emery and them."
" You ask her since you all buddy buddy with her." Adrienne said with a eye roll as she got up to.
" Aye stop that. She's putting forth effort to be involved in your life. You should do so too instead of shutting her out every time things don't go your way." Derek fussed as he picked up the phone and grabbed his keys.
" It's not that I haven't. It's just these secrets she's keeping from me. Were suppose to do these sharing exercises where we talk about a point in our life when we were happy, sad, blah blah blah. She shuts down everytime, she's always talking around me like she's avoiding something." Adrienne explained.
" Maybe something traumatic happened to her."
" Yeah my father. Now I get why she didn't want me to see him but she doesn't have to worry about him anymore. What more can she tell me?" Before Derek could answer she cut him off "I'll see you when you get here."
Adrienne quietly made her way down the stairs to meet her mother in the kitchen. Diane was sitting at the island with a cup of tea and her laptop. On nights she couldn't sleep she tried to tire herself out by looking at job opportunities in the area.
" You wanted to see me". Diane looked up at her baby and gave a soft smile.
" Yeah I just wanted to check on you to see if you were okay. Things have been bit tense."
" It's always been this way mama" Adrienne mumbled as she sat across from her. She then sighed " I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
Diane taking no offense to it offered Adrienne some tea to where she politely declined.
" You know it brings me no joy to see you unhappy." Diane confessed.
" And that's the problem mama. There's obviously something you're not telling me. If it's not my business then it's not my business. Mama you've been hurt by my daddy, and I'm sorry for that and as much as it was hard to hear it, it made me understand you even more. But, please don't base off your happiness on mine."
Adrienne said her piece and wanted nothing more to wallow under her covers. She didn't do well with pain. The two have always dealt with their problems by running away but at this point they had nowhere to run but to each other.
" As your mother it's my job to put your happiness before mine" Diane got up to make herself another cup of tea. The lack of sleep and her past demons were causing her head to spin. Diane hasn't told anyone but her stomach has been in knots for weeks.
Adrienne sighed, " Is this about what I said at Therapy? If it is, I didn't mean it like that. I know I belong here. I'm just confused that's all."
Diane didn't say anymore instead she looked out the window in the kitchen to see Derek pulling up. She saw Jason's car as well across the street. Everynight Jason parks his car across the street from the house. Sometimes he would try to come to talk to her at night or pop in before the kids wake up with a surprise breakfast and ride to school. That all ceased when she talked to him about boundaries. He could be there for the kids but she didn't want no parts of him. At least for now.
" Y'all keep it down. He can't come over here like this again, you hear me?" Diane made her way to the stairs with a cup of tea in her hand when Adrienne stopped her.
" Um... Some of the kids are staying at a cabin this weekend for the end of the year. Only a couple of us would be spending the night. I was wondering if I can go."
" Your curfew is at 11 on the weekends, Adrienne you know that."
" But..."
Diane gave her look causing Adrienne to shut her mouth.
_____________
Early Saturday Morning
" Are you sure about this?" Derek whispered as he picked up Adrienne's duffel bag.
" Yeah I just can't spend the night. She knows I'm going to be hanging out with you all day. As long as I come home in time for curfew I'm good." Adrienne quickly walked to Derek's truck which was a little ways away from her house.
" Then why are we leaving at the crack of dawn when nobody is up?And why did you have me park all the way out here? What's with the duffel bag if you're coming back home? You're being sneaky and I don't like it."
Once Adrienne got to Derek's Truck, she turned to face him. "I'm not running away if that's what you're thinking. Don't you want to spend time with me." Adrienne pulled Derek close by his belt buckle.
The two haven't had sex in about two weeks which has been the longest they've held out on each other. On the real Derek was the only one holding out. He have been denying Adrienne advances and poor Adrienne is not used to being told no. There once adventurous and risky love life has become very missionary.
" You do miss me don't you?...Mmm unless you want me to get some from somebody else" Adrienne snapped but mumbled the last part.
" Fuck you say?" Derek dropped Adrienne bag and got in her face. Derek's aggressiveness only turned Adrienne on. She liked getting him riled up like this because she knew what was to come. Whenever Derek got frustrated with her it led to very satisfied Adrienne. She tried kissing him but Derek backed away, grabbed her bag and placed it in the backseat of the truck.
" Get your ass in the truck." He commanded as he closed. Adrienne obliged with a smirk on her face. She was going to get it but thats why she wasn't wearing any underwear.
___________
Later that morning, Diane was up pouring her guts out in the toilet. This was the second time she's gotten sick this week. The time before she took nausea medicine and the sickness subsided before the kids woke up for school, but this time medicine wasn't working. Out of all days, Saturday, the day her kids are home all day, she's sick.
"I can't do this. Not right now." she said to herself. Thinking she was done throwing up, she tried getting up only for that queasy feeling to come back again. She could here baby Jace moving around meaning that he was waking up. If he was waking up now that meant that it was around 8 am, the twins and Charity should be waking up as well.
" MaMa" Jace whine.
" Hold on baby. I'm coming" She croaked. She needed Adrienne's help.
" Adrienne!" she called out but it wasn't loud enough for her to hear. She tried getting up again but her body was to weak. She heard the pitter patter of little feet running towards her room.
" Good Morning Mommy!" the twins shout obnoxiously.
" Where's mommy?"Marcus asked.
Diane tried to keep quiet in the bathroom but she felt like she was going to get sick again and began to gag.
" What's wrong mommy?" Michael gasped. Charity ran in there after them with jace in her arms. She shielded her brothers from what was transpiring, backing them out of the bathroom.
"Boys go downstairs with Jace. You guys are big boys right? you can make your own cereal." She heard Charity say. Charity's maturity has grown so much with all this going on. On one hand Diane is proud and the other she was sad that her little girl was growing up.
" You alright mama?" Charity asked once she was done. She handed a damp face towel to her mother as Diane flushed.
"I'll be okay. Wake up Adrienne for me and tell her to come here please. Hurry" Charity ran off to do what she was told as Diane sat up against the wall.
Charity went Adrienne's door and knocked. " Adrienne? Adrienne? There's something wrong with mommy." She knocked again before opening her door. Seeing that Adrienne wasn't there, her heart sank a little. She went into their shared bathroom to make sure she wasn't in there before going into her own bedroom to grab her phone.
She quickly went to Adrienne's number under favorites and clicked on it.
The phone rang a couple of times before it picked up."
" Stop, it's my sister. Hey Charity, what's up?" Adrienne spoke out of breath. The sound quality of the phone was not that good either.
"There's something wrong with mommy." Charity rushed.
" What?"
" I said there's..."
" Hello.... Charity?.... Hello"
" Adrienne?" Then the call ended.
" Charity?!" Diane called out faintly wondering what the hell was taking her so long.
Charity didn't know what to do as she through her phone onto the bed. Then she remembered something. Charity ran down the stairs and out the door in hopes that the car she always saw parked outside would still be there. Sure enough, Jason's car was still parked across the street. Once she got to his drivers side, she began knocking on his door making him jolt up. Seeing Charity all frazzled he immediately opened his door.
" What's the matter Princess?"
" Mama is on the bathroom floor throwing up. She told me to get Adrienne but she's not here. I called her but the call dropped." She rushed out as they both crossed the street and went into the house.
" Okay don't worry. I'm sure mommy is okay. Watch the boys while I check on her."
" Hey daddy." the twins greeted but understood the urgency as they watched Jason run up the stairs then went back to eating there fruit loops with baby Jace.
Diane was in the middle of throwing up when Jason walked into the master bathroom. Diane didn't even have to look up to know it was him. She knows those heavy footsteps.
" Adrienne is not here?" She asked already knowing the answer. Charity is technically still mad at Jason for lying so she wouldn't have gotten Jason unless she needed to.
" How long have you been throwing up, babe?" Jason asked ignoring her question entirely. He knelt down to where she was on the floor and grabbed the face towel out of her hands to wipe the corner of her mouth.
" I'm not pregnant."
" I didn't ask you that." Jason said as he got up to rinse out the towel.
" You didn't have to. I've been sick all night. I was sick a couple of days ago but the medicine helped. But I'm not pregnant." Diane explained as her voice began to crack from emotion.
" You keep saying that as if you trying to convince yourself." Not wanting to get up just yet incase she got sick again, Diane asked for mouthwash. Jason handed it to her then sat down beside her with a clean warm towel.
Jason watched her cry and try to get herself together. He knew that it was deeper than her feeling sick. His ring was still on her finger which made His heart flutter seeing that but he put that aside to focus on what his lover was feeling.
Diane breathe in and breathe out before she reached for the trash can and dig through it to get what she was looking for. She pulled out a small box and dumped out the contents on to the floor between them. It was five pregnancy test. Three were positive and the other two were negative.
" Baby" Jason now understood what Diane is upset about
" I can't be pregnant. Look its negative, look at it."
" Baby just listen to me. If you are pregnant, it will be okay."
" Jason you don't understand I can't... I can't...do this.. I can't handle another baby." Diane sobbed as her head fell onto Jason's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and let her cry.
" We'll figure this out. We'll see a doctor."