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chapter seventeen: "i'm here. i'll help."
dedicated to:
iwritewhenimboredlol
;)
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VERA'S STEPS WERE SMALL AND SLOW as she made her way back to her room. Tears continued to blind her vision, and her chest ached from both pain and betrayal.
She was confused from the weird outburst Hayden had.
Did he always feel that way?
Well, to be honest, she could care less what he felt right now. He hurt her. He's not supposed to do that, he's her best friend!
Though as more angry tears threatened to fall, Vera kept herself in line. She wasn't going to let this bother her.
She had more important things to worry about.
Such as why he mother was standing in the middle of her dorm room, rummaging through Julie Gaffney's dresser drawers.
"Mom what the fuck!?
The woman turned around quickly. She grinned warmly at the sight of her daughter. "Hey, honey."
"That's not even my dresser. What the hell are you doing?" Vera yelled, not bothering to greet her mother back. There was no reason to.
"Oh I know. I just wanted to see what type of roommate they put you with."
The brunette's eyes were raised, a mixture of embarrassment and horror flooding every inch of her face. She let everything register in her mind, just to make sure that this shit was actually happening before she stormed towards her mother.
"You're insane." She spat, ripping the pair of Julie's athletic shorts from Angela's hands. "I don't know what makes you think this is okay."
"I just want to know who my daughter is around. Is that so wrong?"
Vera scoffed while she went to return the shorts. "Why're you here anyways? Why couldn't you've just called like a normal human bei-" The girl stopped right in her tracks then, staring at the pile of medical textbooks stacked ontop of her side of the dresser.
She angrily ripped one from the top, turning towards her mom. "You're kidding."
"That's what I came here to talk to you about." Angela replied calmly. She had already taken a seat on Vera's bed, and patted a spot next to her.
When Vera shook her head, the mother sighed.
"You're behind on the course I signed you up for." She began, watching Vera cross her arms. "I didn't just spend all this money for you to be failing."
"Mom, I told you I didn't want to do it." The girl snapped.
Angela managed to keep herself under control because normally she'd lash out. She sighed deeply, slowly getting up from the bed.
Vera tensed. She didn't know what was coming.
Would she hit her? Would she scream in her face?
But instead the older woman wrapped her hands around the girl, taking her in a tight embrace. She planted a kiss to the side of her daughter's temple.
"You know I'm so proud you you sweetie, right?"
The girl wouldn't move. She was so fucking confused.
"What...?"
"You're only seventeen and you've accomplished so much already." Angela pulled away and placed her hands on Vera's shoulders.
The brunette glanced at one side before focusing back on her mom. She let her eyes flicker between hers. "What're you doing?"
"Honey...," Angela started up again. "I really would like if you did this one thing for me. I want you to succeed in life."
Vera picked up her face, everything in her expression raised up. "But I am already succeeding? I can genuinely see me having a career with this spor-"
"No, no, no, no." The older woman shook her head vigorously.
"You need to learn to let go of your childish dreams, baby. You need to start realizing that it's not realistic at all."
Vera felt herself getting more upset with every word that came out of her mother's mouth. She didn't understand how or why all of this mattered so much.
In her mind, if she really set her mind to it, she would be able to achieve it. That's what she was doing with hockey, and it was working! A number of the academy's coaches had meetings with her, and they honestly said she had a very high chance of becoming something big.
"I'm almost an adult. I can make my own decisions." Vera replied in a flat tone. "I don't need you or anyone else telling me otherwise."
"But you're not and as your mother I'm telling you that you need to start caring." That's when a devilish grin rigged up on the corners of her lips. "Who knows? Maybe you will be the first doctor to find a way to power up that ol' rachet heart of yours.
That made Vera's mouth open in shock and a couple of her features twitched in vexation. After a long moment she shoved her mother's arms away and headed towards the door.
"Who the hell says that." The girl mumbled bitterly, yanking a black zip-up sweatshirt from a hook. She turned back towards her mother then, tears that she didn't realize were forming started running down her cheeks.
"I hate you!" She screamed while taking a tight grasp on the door handle. "You're crazy!"
"Honey...,"
"No!" Her tone was deep, pure anger evident in it. "You don't get to do that. Please just-" A choked up sob escaped from the back of my throat. "Please just leave!"
Vera opened the door harshly, slamming the door behind her.
It was hard as she ventured down the hallway.
Since her encounter with Hayden a couple minutes ago, she didn't think she had any tears left.
But she was wrong because they wouldn't go away, and they seemed to have gotten heavier.
She didn't know where to go. There was never a quiet place on campus at this time of night.
A few options were circling her mind as she approached the lobby. Each of them had a downside except one, though she didn't know if she wanted him to see her like this.
But she's had such a tough day already. There was a chance he'd understand.
So while using the heel of her hand to wipe an eye, she turned to the receptionist and asked what dorm number that blue eyed blonde was staying in.
EVERY ONE OF ADAM'S roommates were out for the night so he was going to be left alone for a little bit, which he didn't mind at all. He loved being alone. It was calming and just gave him time to reflect and plan his life.
But tonight, he was doing none of that.
He was sitting on the couch with his feet perched up on a small round coffee table. A notepad and pen was sitting on his lap, and bag of Doritos laying beside him.
The boy was watching tapes of him at practice and taking note of things he needed to work on. Some people hated watching and critiquing the way they played, but Adam didn't.
He loved it. He wanted to make sure he was playing the best he could while looking smooth as he did- just like the pros.
Adam leant forward and picked up his can of cherry Coke that was on the coffee table. He took a long sip, sighing contently as he swallowed the sugary drink.
It was then when he heard a knock on the door. He knew it wasn't any of his roommates, because they'd just barge in. It wasn't Julie or Guy because they hanging out at Averman's.
JJ, Reina, and Grizz crossed his mind as he rose up from the couch. Though, it couldn't have been them.
They were a training.
A terrifying thought then came to his mind as his hand wrapped around the door handle.
Could it be Cher?
Preparing himself for the worse, he slowly opened the door and peeked out through the crack he'd made. His eyes widened as he saw the girl that's been on his mind for the past month, standing there with tear stains marking up her cheeks and her hood up.
"Hey, um..." She started while glancing shyly towards the ground. "Would you mind if I came in?"
The boy opened the door fully. His face had worry written all over it as he nodded, moving out of the way so she was able to walk in.
He closed the door then looked at her. He studied her for a long second, thinking of all possible ways of why she would come to him while upset before he asked, "Are you okay?"
She let out a sob, and that's when he knew he asked the wrong question.
The boy ran up to her as she was about to stumble to the floor. His strong arms wrapped around her body, securing her arms as well. He sat them down gently, her back pressed against his chest.
Vera continued to cry and the sound pained Adam. He needed to know why she was so hurt so that he could fix it.
He had to fix it.
"It's okay, it's okay." He whispered sorrowfully, lifting her sweatshirt's hood off her head. "I'm here. I'll help."
It only made her tears run down faster as she heard that come out of his mouth, and she knew she made the right decision coming to him. She turned in his arms, straddling his waist and coiling her arms around his neck. The girl buried her face into his neck, allowing herself to cry freely.
Adam didn't mind. Whatever helped take away the pain was what mattered.
He took one of his hands and began to run it up and down her back soothingly, in hopes it would calm her down.
And it seemed to work after a couple of minutes. Vera pulled away and looked down, using the back of her hands to wipe her eyes and all the loose tears that still clung to her skin. She took in a long breath.
"That's right. Just breathe." Adam cooed, brushing away wild strands of hair that created a curtain around her face. "You're alright."
Vera swallowed hard, nodding. "Thank you." She mumbled while finally looking at his face. His deep blue, comforting eyes were now staring into hers with all the sympathy they could hold.
He wrinkled his nose, mumbling back. "You know I got you."
Her heart had a weird, ticklish feeling surrounding it. Like the feeling you'd have when you get butterflies, just stronger.
It was just so refreshing to have someone there for her without spiraling with questions or comments. Just simply comforting. He was her place of solace.
She gazed at him longingly and with so much admiration. How could someone, especially a boy, be so perfect?
Maybe it was just within the heat of the moment, or maybe she needed some distraction, but she found herself cupping the side of his face.
Before she could even catch herself, she kissed him.
Adam didn't have any time to react though as she quickly pulled back in realization of what she just did.
"Why'd you do that?" He rasped, glancing between her worried and watery eyes.
She opened her mouth and for a second, nothing came out. "I...I don't know," her voice was shaking. "shit! I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry-"
Vera didn't have time to finish her sentence. The boy reached for her hands, grasping onto them gently.
He then brought his head down.
It felt as if time stopped when his lips met hers, and the flutter only intensified. Vera's heart pounded in her chest as her knees got weaker.
She could only focus on how soft he felt against her mouth, how addictively he invaded all her senses.
It still wasn't clear if she dreamed this moment to life, but there was raw emotion in the way his fingers curled around hers.
Adam kept his eyes half open, sneaking a guilty peek at her every time he came back for air, just to make sure this wasn't a product of his imagination.
He wasn't sure if his mind tricked him into a perfect present, but every breath he took smelled sweet and for the first time since he'd known himself, he didn't feel shy.
Although niether of them wanted to pull away, they knew it was smart to end it as they weren't prepared to do anything farther.
Their lips parted. Vera was unable to open her eyes for a moment, but did once realizing Adam was staring at her.
He was grinning softly. "Don't ever apologize for that again."
The girl let out a small chuckle, now smiling wider then ever. She laid her head on his chest, taking in all the comfort his body had to offer.
"Noted."
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mari speaks!!
it finally happened.
yk i wrote this then my internet went out and i lost it all, so then i had to rewrite it AGAIN which was annoying and i did prefer the first version, but i still think this is cute
angela is such a bitch. i promsie things get better for vera soon
hope you all enjoyed!
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