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chapter twenty-five: reality break
{a/n:
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ADAM FELT THE SMILE ON his lips before he woke up. For some weird reason, he felt secured— like someone was trying to keep him safe just by bring beside him. It was a warm feeling, a feeling he's longed for since he was a little kid. He couldn't help but stay in the position for a couple more minutes, soaking in all the tenderness of this moment he'd found himself in.
When he eventually opened his eyes, the realization that he wasn't in his own bed hit him, and that someone was sitting right beside him. He shot you quickly then, ripping his body out of the persons' grasp and glancing around, disoriented.
'Oh fuck, not again...'
Adam couldn't remember anything he did this morning, let alone when he fell asleep. He couldn't afford another drunk accident, especially after what went down in the past day.
In reality, the temporary memory loss was just caused from him being burned out of sleep.
A soft chuckle came from the body beside him.
"You seemed to have a good nap, Banksy."
His body seemed to have immediately softened at the sound of her sweet, bubbly voice. The boy turned towards her with an awkward smile pulling up to the side of his lips.
"Shit," he began, rubbing his eyes. "what did I do this time?"
His hoodie had ridden up past his waist and was folded within itself. A section of skin from his lower stomach was showing; the projecting muscles tensing with every breath he took. Vera couldn't help but stare.
And to be honest, she wouldn't be surprised if she started drooling.
"Vera?"
Adam was confused by the sudden change of expression. But when he followed her gaze to his stomach, his brain caught up to what she was thinking.
Oh...oh
Redness flushed onto his face. He slowly laid his body back down on the mattress, not bothering to fix the situation his clothing was in.
He liked when she stared at him like that.
Vera just gave up on trying to hide the look of desire that had suddenly contorted onto her face. She wanted to pounce onto him, and gnaw at every alluring feature on his gorgeous face. But she restrained herself.
That would be inappropriate for a time like this.
And, she needed her answers first.
"Uh, you didn't do anything." The brunette faintly chuckled, again; endeavoring to collect herself and ignore that tingly feeling that had suddenly struck through her body. "At least, so I've heard."
Adam propped his upper body up with his forearms. He tilted his head slightly, eyes squinting ever so slightly. "What have you heard?" He questioned. There was a light rasp to his voice.
"That's whatever happened this morning was quite a story and that you were 'cheated out of your potential'." Vera restated Julie's words from the conversation she had with her just forty-five minutes earlier.
"Oh... right."
All the memories of the early morning started filling up his mind, overflowing to the point where he felt nauseous.
"You don't have to tell me." Vera spat out quickly upon noticing the expression on Adam's face. "I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."
"No it's not that," He started, shaking his head and glancing down. "I don't know, I guess it's just kind of embarrassing."
"How so?" The girl asked, in a way she hoped didn't seem to be too prying. That was the last thing she wanted to do; pry, but she couldn't help but be curious.
Adam sat himself up and folded his arms over his chest. "I just got upset over my placement," he stated, shrugging, "pretty much beat myself up."
Even though she didn't say it, Adam could tell she wanted details. He could tell by just looking into her eyes, the bright-- but soft and full of inquisitiveness. The gaze was inevitable, ultimately removing his filter.
"I stayed up the whole night trying everything in my power to strengthen my abilities. Whether that would've been studying plays, training in both the arena and gym, researching for fast but effective ways to improve my performance..."
Now that he was saying these things out loud, it reminded him of how bad of an idea it was. He was embarrassed.
"Things don't happen in the span of a day, Adam." Vera spoke tenderly as she slid her hand under the back of his shirt. She rubbed soothingly and in a comforting manner, up and down. It was hard to ignore the craters of muscle her fingers dipped in, but she managed by focusing on how worked up he seemed to be.
"I know, that's why it's stupid." He mumbled. "But something keeps telling me-- pushing me to keep trying. Then I end up in a whole melt down and making everything worse."
Adam slowly and hesitantly tilted his head to the side, resting it on Vera's shoulder. "It's something I've been doing since I started taking hockey seriously. Something would piss me off and I'd try my hardest to achieve 'whatever' in the span of a few hours."
"Oh, Adam." She cooed.
She leant her head against his, turning slightly to press a kiss against his hair. Surly what was making him this upset could be fixable. Maybe she could help arrange some things— like she did with his skates! Yet, those were a physical problem, this was mental.
Though, she was a girl full of determination.
Vera lifted her head up then, looking down at him. "Let's go do something."
Adam knitted his brows together as, he too, lifted his head. "What?"
"Yeah. Let's go do something to get your mind off of it all." She began to get up, but the boy was suddenly clinging onto her; two strong arms around her waist.
"Or we could just stay here?" He suggested, hope evident in his tone.
As much as she would have liked wanted to, with the thoughts from earlier still swarming in her mind, she declined with the shake of her head. "I think a break from this academy is what you really need, Banks."
With cheeks now flushed, his grasp loosened and she wiggled free.
"I guess you're right." He said.
As he got up and stretched, a grin pulled up against the corners of his lips. He chuckled slightly, "How come we are always finding ourselves in these kind of situations?"
"What do you mean?" She asked, grabbing the red windbreaker that was draped over the back of an armchair; her head turned to him.
"We just always seem to take a reality break every time we're together."
Vera couldn't help but snort a laugh as she replied bluntly. "That's because we're sad people. It's what we do to survive."
Adam stayed silent for a moment before nodding to himself. "... Yeah, that makes sense."
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VERA AND ADAM FIND themselves sitting in an empty cinima room at the Saint Anthony Main Theatre in downtown Minneapolis thirty minutes later. A dim, yellow glow produced from the floor lights that were running along the baseboards of the room. There was a strong aroma of buttered popcorn flowing throughout the large room, which was shockingly quiet— aside from the occasional giggles and chuckles coming from the two teenagers in the far dark corner.
It was when Urban Legend started playing on the big screen when a smile broke out onto his lips. He'd realized the whole cinema was empty, and it didn't appear that anyone would be walking in any time soon.
"There's nobody here!" He whispered excitedly, popping a few pieces of popcorn into his mouth.
Vera turned to him with a cheeky grin. "You don't have to whisper." She spoke normally.
"I know, but it feels wrong not to."
She chuckled softly as she returned her attention back to the glowing screen, bringing the straw of her cherry slushy to the corner of her mouth.
It wasn't long before Adam wasn't able to sit still. His leg was bouncing, and he was fidgeting with the cardboard rim of the popcorn bucket. It wasn't because of the movie being boring, he was in fact enjoying it, but he was still pretty anxious from the night before.
Vera noticed almost immediately. She chewed on her bottom lip, glancing around the room as an idea came to her mind.
She turned her body to him, a smirk contorting to her features. Her eyes full of desire. "I have an idea."
And before Adam could ask with what she was talking about, she had pulled him out of his seat. She ran down the ramp, tugging him along by the arm, and all he could do was hold on to dear life.
"What are you doing?" He laughed.
"Making the best of our time!" She giggled back
Now normally, if teenagers had a whole movie theater room to themselves, they'd be chewing and slobbering each others faces off. That didn't seem the case for these two though, as they started to run around screaming as the other tried to chase them. Laughing at either parts of the film, or the stupidity of what they were doing. Popcorn and candy were trailed around the rows of seats, and they didn't even notice that they spilled any.
At moments, they'd just stop with their chaos and focus on the movie, sometimes standing on opposite sides of the room just staring up at the screen in awe at an interesting part. But it would always be interrupted by one of them throwing popcorn at each others faces.
This was no doubt one of the fondest memories Adam would ever have with Vera. He's laughed like never before, and his jaw hurt from all the smiling.
With twenty minutes left of the film, it was then they realized how much of a mess they'd made.
"Shit," Vera breathed with wide eyes.
Adam glanced around too, his expression similar to the brunette's. He swallowed, "I wonder why they haven't kicked us out yet..."
"I feel bad for the people who have to clean this up." She sighed, turning and locking eyes with the boy.
He took a second to collect his thoughts, but that's when something hit him.
Without another word, he slipped off his hoodie, leaving him in a solid grey t-shirt. He bent down and went onto his knees whilst shaping the hoodie to look like a 'C'.
Vera watched confusingly, and then started laughing as he shuffled his feet and began to use his hoodie as a broom; racing down the isles. His invention seemed to have been working though as a pile of popcorn accumulated at the end of the isle.
He stood up proudly, dusting his knees off.
"You're such a doofus." The girl choked up from laughing. "Seriously, you looked so stupid."
Adam snorted as he began to imagine how he looked. "Well, it did the job, didn't it?"
"I guess." Vera ran a hand through her hair. She looked up at the remaining isles that were littered with the snack. She sighed and turned to him. "It looks like you'll need another zamboni."
Before to boy could object, she slipped off her windbreaker and began moping up the next row. Together they went through, making sure every kernel was swept off the floor.
Sure, they found it absolutely disgusting, but it was fun in a weird way. And it seemed to be helping Adam a lot, as he had forgotten all about his hockey complications-- and the fact he was currently missing his first section six practice.
"I'm going to smell like popcorn and butter for months." Vera grinned, shaking out the article of clothing. She sat down in the seat next to Adam once she finished.
He turned to her smiling, but didn't say anything. Hesitantly, he reached down and intertwined their fingers.
Vera flickered her eyes to their connected hands, then back up into his eyes. Her smile turned into a shy one, and she glanced away with rosy cheeks.
THAT NIGHT they left the theatre all giggly; strolling down the main sidewalk, Vera swinging their still tangled hands. Adam turned so his chin was almost touching his shoulder. He looked down at her admiringly. "Thanks for this." He spoke softly, earning her attention.
"I really needed it."
"Of course." She replied. "I honestly needed it as much as you did."
The two reached Adam's car then, and he stepped out in front of the girl. Her back was pressed against the passenger door. She looked up at him, her gentle eyes flickering between his.
So much tension built up in such little time. They were quiet-- but a comfortable quiet.
Adam swallowed anxiously as he let his eyes fall to her lips. They looked so kissable. All he needed to do was lean in.
He wants to. So, so much.
His tongue ran lightly over his bottom lip as his eyes wandered back to hers. Adam knew she wanted it as much as he did with the way she was staring at him, all doe eyed— pleading.
A hand cupped one of her cheeks. His thumb stroked over her skin, and she practically melted into his touch.
Things didn't go any further though as a sudden ringing noise came from Adam's back pocket. He cursed under his breath, ripping his hand away and pulling out his cellphone.
"Every time." He gritted.
Vera couldn't hold in a small chuckle.
He held the phone up to his ear, with the intention to face any bullet his father was going to throw at him.
But the thing is, it wasn't his father who called.
The person on the other line was only able to get out a few words before he hung up on them, angrily shoving the phone back into his pocket.
Vera furrowed her brows, cocking her head to the side a bit. She reached up and gently touched his arm, asking. "Who was it?"
"That bitch, Beau."
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mari speaks!!
ok i actually hate this sm. like i worded a lot of things weird
honestly i hate every chapter i write. they all feel so rushed
but i pull through because they're just so cute
and originally i was going to have them make out in the theater LMAOOO but i scrapped that and made them screw around. its cute idc
thanks for all the support! commenting and voting are greatly appreciated. wherever you are, i hope you have a blessed day/night!
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