Rule #4: Date Night
I didn’t mean for it to slip out, it just did. A pained look flashed across Audrey’s face before she blanked it. But just as I opened my mouth to explain, we were interrupted.
“Hey, Adam? Not that I mind witnessing a lover’s spat now and then, but would you mind asking your girlfriend to please get back on the customer side of the counter?” May said in a sickly sweet voice. She and Audrey stared each other down with calculating looks before I released Audrey’s wrists and she slowly pushed the mini-door to get to the other side.
“Are we going home?” Audrey asked me, her voice controlled, or maybe just somewhat normal. Her eyes were still on may’s.
“I... uh… May?”
May shot me a look that I think was supposed to say something before she sighed. “Yeah, go on. I’ll teach you the ropes tomorrow.”
Suddenly feeling bone tired I gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks, man. For everything today. Really, I owe you a ton. Hopefully it doesn’t turn out to be a ton of gold or something,” I joked lamely. No one laughed, but the mood was lightened considerably as she rolled her eyes.
“Just go, Adam,” she whined, suppressing a grin.
Saluting, I took off the uniform and handed it to her before grabbing Audrey’s arm and leading her out to the parking lot (which, apparently, had been right across from Starbucks the entire time).
“Wait!”
Audrey and I both turned to see May awkwardly jogging towards us, a coffee tray in her hands. Putting a hand over the two cups to keep the coffee from sloshing over the rim, she slowed down as she approached us. “Here,” she said, handing me the tray sheepishly. I looked at Audrey, who shrugged.
“What’s this for?” I asked, taking the tray from her.
May lifted a shoulder and dropped it. “You didn’t get to drink your iced coffee from earlier, and I sort of felt bad after the whole Jay and two terror thing.” I avoided looking at Audrey and barely restrained a smile.
“You both look like you’ve had a long day. I thought a little something might help.”
I was touched by her small gesture and gave her a warm smile. “Thanks.” Audrey mumbled her thanks as well before May nodded one last goodbye and turned to head back into the mall.
I turned to Lana and unlocked her, sliding behind the wheel. Hearing the other door open, I looked up from the gearshift just as Audrey was buckling herself in. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Her eyes flashed to mine briefly. “Uh, going home?”
“Oh, no, not with me you aren’t.”
Her mouth shaped a small ‘o’. “Sorry?”
I sighed, the pent up anger and stress from the entire day crawling up my throat and into my head “What I mean, Audrey, is that you’re not coming home with me. Now get out of my car.”
Her surprise turned to amusement, which only ticked me off more. Best friends or not, today had been hell for me. Literally. And she needed to understand that by at least giving me some time alone to process and decide what the hell to do next.
“So I’m supposed to just walk home?” she said, her eyes taking in my serious appearance. With a pointed glance towards the evening sky outside she looked at me again, brow raised. “Alone?”
Taking a note from her book, I rolled my eyes. “Auds, you can crawl home for all I care, just go.” I knew it. Here it was. The guilt seeped into my gut as her eyes kept flicking from me to the door. She’s a big girl. She can take care of herself. I am not backing down.
Gritting her teeth, she unbuckled herself and pushed out of the vehicle. “Fine,” she said, slamming the door shut. I winced. Poor Lana.
Seeing her stony and hurt expression as she stood just outside the door with her arms crossed, my gut churned uncomfortably again. I hesitated, my hand on the steering wheel. Maybe I shouldn’t leave her like this.
But the memory of her lips on mine was like a cold bucket of water. Setting my jaw, I pressed down on the accelerator, Audrey’s figure becoming smaller and smaller. As I peeled out onto the main road, a few drops of rain began falling onto my windshield. Dammit. Sighing, I resignedly took a U-turn and went back, my heart and gut both heavy. The rain was pouring harder now, and I matted my wet hair back as I got out, shutting the car door behind me.
Peering through wet lashes, I scoped the parking lot, but there was no familiar red head in sight. Where was she? I couldn’t have been gone more than five minutes. “Audrey! Where are you?”
There was no answer, and again, no red hair in sight. My heart pounding loudly through my soaked shirt, I rushed to the front of the mall, squinting inside and around the parking lot.
Cursing, I drew myself closer in to keep warm and stuffed my hands deep into my pockets, waiting in the shade for some sign of her. Maybe she just wandered off. Maybe she just went to the bathroom. I recalled seeing a bus stop on my way back, but it was empty. What if she reached there just as I left? What if I just never saw her as I passed? My mind was whirring, searching for some sort of excuse, some explanation as it grew late and my eyes began tiring from not blinking in case I missed her.
She’s here; she’s got to be here…
But I knew she wasn’t.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two hours later, I walked through my front door, sporting wet clothes, a dead phone battery, and a migraine. I still hadn’t found Audrey, and it was all I could do from breaking down. The shivers down my spine weren’t from the cold.
“Took you long enough.”
My head snapped up. There was Audrey, calmly sitting on the couch with her sketchbook in her lap, perfectly safe and warm. Without another word, I launched myself at her and engulfed her in a soggy hug.
She wriggled in m grasp so I let her go, and she glared at me, wrinkling her nose. “You’re all wet.”
My mouth formed a large smile. “I was looking for you,” I said matter-of-factly. You’re okay, thank god you’re okay.”
She just raised an eyebrow at me, and my expression sobered. “Listen, Audrey, I’m really sorry-”
“It’s okay. I should thank you, actually.”
I frowned. “For what?”
She closed her book, running her hand over the cover slowly. “Well,” she began, brushing her constant strand of (dry) hair back. “After you left me, I bumped into an old friend of mine. He gave me a lift home.”
Deciding that it had been a long day and bringing up the fight would be pointless, I tentatively approached the subject. “I’m, uh, glad you got home safely. But, you know, maybe you could have picked up when I called you or something.”
The book was opened again. “I was busy.”
I stared at her, stumped. “Oh.”
She continued reading and I continued staring, waiting for her to break the awkward silence until I gave up and stood, plucking non-existent lint from my half-dry jeans. Debating on whether to continue down the hallway to my bedroom and change, or go to the other end of the hallway and enter the kitchen. A shiver ran through my body. Coffee it is.
I found the little bit of crockery I had brought when I came and Audrey when she arrived last week, and took down a cup from one of the clear cupboards mounted on the pale yellow walls. Setting up the coffee maker, I stood there, tapping my fingers against the granite countertop. Hearing movement in the hall, I stuck my head out into the hallway, “Audrey? Where are you going?”
She was heading to her room but stopped when she heard my voice. “I’m going to my room, dad.”
I ignored her jibe and pulled another cup out before calling out to her again. “Do you want some coffee, too?”
“No, I’m going out with someone tonight. We might get some coffee later.”
My hand stilled as it reached for the sugar. “Oh?” I said casually, stirring my lone cup of coffee. Turning the kitchen lights off, I followed Audrey into her room. Wow, this is one hell of a redecoration, I admitted grudgingly.
While both of our rooms were plain white, Audrey had put a soft purple and cream theme around the room, from the duvet covers, pillows, curtains and rugs to the cream furniture. She had matched everything perfectly.
“Nice room,” I commented, gingerly sitting down on her bed, making sure not to soak anything too much. Warming my hands with my cup, I watched as Audrey combed out her hair and began reapplying her light makeup.
“Thanks,” she said, rubbing some lotion over her hands. “Have you seen your room yet?”
I shook my head, knowing she caught my motion in the mirror. “Nah. I always end up knocking out in the living room after university.”
She made a non-committal noise, and silence ensued, only interrupted by the ticking of the clock on her wall. Glancing at it, I saw that it was almost nine o’clock. “It’s pretty late, Auds. Are you sure it’s safe to go out tonight?” I asked worriedly.
She didn’t turn around, answering as she replaced her regular earrings with her more sparkly dangly ones. “He’s coming to pick me up, and he’ll drop me off as well, so I think I’ll be fine.”
“He?” I sat up straight, forgetting my wet state. “You’re going out on a, on a date?”
She looked at me then, and I couldn’t tell what emotion she had in her eyes. “I thought I mentioned a guy had picked me up at the mall? And yes, Adam, I’m going out on a date.”
“But… with who?” This was rusty territory for me. Audrey hadn’t dated since eleventh grade. It’s been more than three years. Why now? I had a niggling doubt that I knew, but I didn’t like it.
“Cody DeVito. Remember him?”
The sinking feeling grew. “Isn’t he the guy you dated back in our junior year of high school?”
Audrey nodded, beaming. Her genuine smile squeezed something inside me painfully. Oh, right, I was happy for her. Right. Yep.
“He’s the only guy I ever dated, Finch,” she said, rolling her eyes. That one movement made the squeezing more painful. Gosh, why I being so happy for her?
She came to me and held two dresses in her hands. “Which one should I wear? The straight red one or the blue one with the ruffled bodice?” she asked, biting her lip nervously.
“What’s a bodice?”
Another eyeroll. “The top part, silly.”
I leaned back to see her excited face clearer and frowned. “A dress? Wasn’t this just coffee? Where are you going? Why can’t you just wear jeans?”
“Just tell me which dress, Adam,” Audrey said patiently as if I were a five-year-old. “I’ll explain later, he’s about to be here soon!” she said, shifting her wait to her other leg.
I turned up my nose and shook my head. “I don’t know.”
She threw a hanger at me. “Yes, you do,” she grinded out dangerously. “Now, Adam, which one of these dresses would a regular guy be impressed by?”
Oh, I knew very well which one of the dresses us guys would be impressed by. The red one left nothing to the imagination. “Fine. The blue one.” Take that, Cody.
She nodded and headed out into the hallway bathroom to change. Knowing that this was about to take a while, I went to my room to quickly change; I could feel a cold coming on.
My room was pretty much like hers, except it was themed with a gray and blue colour scheme. There was a furniture store uptown that was clearing out during the summer, so we had gotten our furniture really cheap and stowed it away until we moved here.
Soon I was dressed and warm, but Audrey had gone back to her room and it appeared to be locked. Left on my own, I opened up my email to find a welcome surprise. ‘The Guy Rules’ had gotten a few hits. There were mainly comments from other guys, saying they agreed and that they liked my blog. Breathing deeply to let the air get out of my head, I smiled so wide it felt like I was going to split my face in two. Replying to the few comments and questions, I came to the older comments and my euphoria dulled.
There was quite a lot of hate as well, all from girls. Wasn’t this supposed to get me a girl, not turn them off? I scratched the back of my head in confusion and opened my mouth to call Audrey but closed it again, glumly realizing this had been my idea, not hers. She didn’t even know what it was about. Still, I wasn’t going to stop writing, even without the ulterior motive. I was never going to admit this to Audrey, but this blogging thing was starting to grow on me.
I started writing out my latest post, a new rule in mind, when my computer ‘dinged’ with a new email.
Re: The Guy Rules
Hey, Adam!
I saw your blog. Man, you are so funny! And quite right, too. Us girls need to understand these things more, and I have a feeling these rules might really help! (Or you’ve just dug your own grave here. Haha, kidding! :P)
Samantha M.
I leaned back, surprised. First off, this wasn’t a comment on the blog – the Samantha chit had personally emailed me. And she didn’t seem to hate me, which seemed to be a good thing. The motive was back, and I clicked ‘Reply’.
Re: Re: The Guy Rules
Thanks, Sam! (Am I being too forward, or is this okay? You girls aren’t easy to figure out. There should be a rule on this, too!)
Adam F.
She didn’t reply back, and my hope diminished with every click of the ‘Refresh Inbox’ button. Giving up, I clicked to refresh one last time and prepared to shut my screen off.
Ding!
The inhuman speed at which I opened the screen again surprised me and almost split my laptop in half, but I was too relieved to care. It wasn’t a reply, but something better – a contact request.
This was a total ‘she wants the D’ moment.
A chat popped up. It was Samantha. She didn’t have a profile picture posted, I noticed as I opened the chat.
SM: You’re in Toronto? Cool!
AF: You’re here, too? Haha, stalker :P
SM: Shush. And yeah, I am :D
AF: Nice. What’s up? :)
SM” What’s the ‘F’ stand for?
AF: Finch. Adam Finch. *cue James Bond music* and what’s the ‘M’ for?
SM: Meet up.
AF: Pardon?
SM: Let’s meet up :D I’m free tonight, how about you?
I frowned, rubbing at the slight stubble on my chin. Damn, this was going fast. But this girl didn’t seem like Nicole. My eyes drifted towards Audrey’s bedroom door, where the sound of a hairdryer had just stopped. I typed in a reply, and then backspaced it, hesitating.
“Oh, stop it, Cody.” Audrey’s voice drifted through the closed door. “Fifteen minutes? I can’t… Oh, fine. And come on, just tell me-” She gasped, and I tilted my head my head to hear her more clearly. “Affie’s? That’s great! I can’t believe you still remember that. Oh, you’re too sweet. Of course I will, now let me get ready! Yeah, bye!”
Somehow, I had ended up just outside her door, holding my coffee cup to the wall. Dammit, these things actually don’t work, and there was now slight coffee stain on the wall. Hearing footsteps nearing the door, I scrambled back inside the room. I jumped back onto the bed, almost knocking over my lamp in the process and bunched up a pillow to my chest to make it seem like I was comfortably settled in just as Audrey’s door opened and she crossed the hallway to enter my room.
“Hey, Adam?”
“Hm?” My eyes intently stayed glued to the computer screen, not seeing anything.
“Cody’s reaching here in a bit, then we’re leaving. Are you okay on your own for tonight? Dinner’s in the fridge.”
“Actually, I’m going out tonight, too.” I looked up to smile at her, but my breath caught in my throat, and I choked, letting out a gargled noise.
Audrey was wearing the blue dress, and I felt like taking my earlier suggestion back and making her wear a black garbage bag or something, although it probably wouldn’t have made a difference; she looked like a dream.
The different shades of blue made the different shades of brown in her eyes pop. To be honest, h=she looked like Ariel from The Little Mermaid. I don’t know what I would have done if she had walked out wearing a green shell bra.
Great. Now that image was not going to be leaving my mind anytime soon.
“Adam?”
My eyes snapped up from her chest to meet her eyes. “What?”
She rolled her eyes. “I asked you how I looked.”
“You look amazing, Auds, really.”
She seemed satisfied and twirled around, the dress fluttering around her toned legs. My eyes moved down to her white heels and the sparkly sequined navy blue tote that was dangling from her hand. Yup. Really great.
“Thanks. Do you think there’s something missing?”
“A green shell bra.”
“What?”
I jerked and straightened up. “A green shell bra – celet! In fact, I’ve got one right here!” I said quickly, leaning over to the bedside table and opening the drawer. Taking out said bracelet, I beckoned Audrey over. “C’mere.”
She smiled and walked over, stepping in front of me. Taking her wrist, I put the bracelet around it. “I know it doesn’t match the dress, but I got this for you from your favourite shop back home – Ardene’s, wasn’t it? – and I wanted to give it to you, and –”
She shut me up with a brief hug. “I love it! Thanks, Finch.”
I smiled, looking into her vibrant eyes, “No problem, West.” We stayed like that for a few seconds, her still in my arms, before her cheeks tinged pink and she looked away, backing up.
“So,” she began, tucking a freshly curled strand of hair behind her ear. Sitting down beside me on the bed, she crossed her legs and started tracing the striped blue lines on the bedspread. Looking up at me, she smiled. “Where are you going? And with who?”
I opened my mouth to answer , my eyes darting around the room. “Uh, I, uh.” Wasn’t this the moment where a bell, a phone, a knock, something was supposed to happen?
Audrey’s eyebrows rose higher o her forehead in anticipation. “Come on, tell me!”
I sighed, my fingers fiddling with the keyboard in my lap. I still hadn’t replied to Samantha.
Audrey moved quickly, her head upside down in front of my screen in a split second. “Hey,!” I cried out in surprise and quickly shut the screen, whacking her nose in the process. Scowling, she leaned back again.
“Jeez, what’s the deal?” she murmured, massaging her nose. “You’re acting like… wait a minute. Is this person a girl? Possibly related to the blog?”
I kept my mouth shut, quickly shaking my head no. A sneaky look entered her eyes and she gave me an evil smirk. “Your ear twitched. Why do you even try, Adam,” she said, shaking her head mockingly. “It is, isn’t it?” she asked, crawling closer to me on the bed until she was practically hovering over me on the bed.
Her sweet smell was doing crazy things to my body, not exactly sure what, so I held my breath, blowing out through my mouth. Maybe I was allergic. “Audrey, if you move an inch closer,” I began, and she ignored me, moving closer with a mischievous smirk. “I might have to tickle you,” I finished, my eyes not moving from her twinkling ones. Pouting, she sat back in her original spot and stuck her tongue out at me in annoyance.
“Pooh. That’s not fair, you know all my –” The doorbell interrupted her and she leapt up, jostling me. “He’s here!” she exclaimed, brightening up and grinning widely. She took off just as the bell rang another time.
Feeling a bit miffed at how easily she forgot about me, but partly relieved, I opened up my laptop and stared at the screen again. My ears were unconsciously cocked to the sound of Audrey and the newcomer exchanging pleasantries.
“You look beautiful tonight, Auds. No need to stutter to that,” a familiar but slightly changed deep baritone said, the voice teasing. Cody.
“No need to stutter, Auds,” I mocked, harrumph-ing. “Huh, It’s not such a huge deal that Audrey stutters when she’s extremely nervous. Everyone knows that. Audrey probably won’t even care that he remembered. We’ve all known each other for years,” I mumbled, my eyes trained on the two shadows in the hallway. “In fact, he should remember –”
“Wow, C-Cody, I-I can’t believe you remembered!
Now, where did I leave my shotgun?
“Of course, babe.”
Babe. How lame.
“Aw, you always look so cute when you blush.”
Oh, his face was going to look so cute when I freaking rearrange it, that scheming son-of-a-nice-woman-who-probably-bakes-really-good-cookies-and-doesn’t-know-her-son-is-a-scumbag.
I really need to keep a handle on my body and make it stop moving without my command, because once again I was at the front of Audrey’s door, dangerously in sight of the ‘happy couple’. Fuming, I headed back inside my own haven, making sure to slam the door behind me to interrupt their colossally long pleasantries.
As soon as I landed on my comfy bed again, I heard the front door close and suddenly it was like I could breathe again. Why was I angry in the first place? Wasn’t I super happy a while ago?
Who cares.
Samantha was still online. My fingers flew across the keyboard.
AF: Sorry for the late reply. Me, you, Affie’s. 9 o’clock sharp.
Adam Finch, logging out.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
10 pages on Word, Almost 4,000 words. My fingers are dead D:
I split this chapter into two parts, because this was already hella long and I didn’t want to make you guys wait any longer. Plus, I took all your critiques into account and focused on the writing and description (even if it is for NaNoWriMo). :)
Vote if you ship Adarey (AdamxAudrey)
Comment if you ship Codrey (Cody and Audrey).
Fan if you can’t wait for the drama to unfold the next chapter
P.S. ADAM IS NOT GAY.
P.P.S. I KNOW AUDREY’S PSYCHOTIC, BUT BEAR WITH ME xD
P.P.P.S @seanarturo LOOK, I GAVE ADAM SOME STUBBLE :P
Peace outttt,
xAce