Adrian was walking down the street, away from the school, when he heard a car pull up alongside of him. His first thought was the boy who had broken his heart, Ezra, and he turned eagerly, trying to hide his half smoked cigarette behind his back. When he realised who it was, he tried not to look too disappointed, since it was one of the few people who would understand who he was hoping it would be, but he must have failed because Spencer look turned to one of pitty. "Um," Adrian began, "hi Spencer. What can I do for you?" Not caring anymore if the person in the car saw him smoking, he brought the stick back up to his lips.
Spencer's eyebrows raised, and Adrian considered telling him: I need to smoke regularly to calm myself now because your best friend has ruined me, but instead he remained silent. "Get in the car, Adrian," the other boy said. Adrian stood there for a moment, looking through the rolled down passenger side window to Spencer's face as he blowed smoke slowly from his mouth. He could refuse and then keep walking home, but for some reason he felt like Spencer wouldn't take that as an answer and would follow him. Without a second thought he threw his cigarette on the sidewalk and grinded his heel into it before pulling open the door and climbed in. "You really shouldn't smoke. You're too pretty and it'll kill you someday".
Adrian rolled his eyes. "Quite a greeting you have there, Spence. I can't believe you got me to get in your car".
Spencer looked pleased then and grinned. "Hi cupcake".
"I didn't realize that you'd still be calling me that given the situation," Adrian said dryly, raising a hand to point where Spencer had to turn.
"The situation...," Spencer trailed off and Adrian was happy that he lived relatively close to school since he really didn't want to talk about this with the best friend of the boy who had dumped him less than twenty four hours ago. "Adrian, you don't understand it completely".
"And I don't care to," Adrian claimed, watching Spencer's attractive face as the boy raised his eyebrows.
"Cupca-"
"I'm sure Ez-" Adrian cut himself off. He didn't want to say his name. It hurt to much. "He has his reasons, and I just don't care". Adrian relaxed at the sight of his street sign and he pointed so Spencer knew to turn.
"Adrian, he cares about you. Please, just be patient with him. He'll come around. I know it". Adrian's house came into view as soon as they turned and he pointed at it. Spencer nodded in understanding.
"I don't care, Spencer," he said as the older boy pulled into his driveway. "I'm over it". It was a huge lie, but lying had come easy to Adrian over the years and it felt so much like the truth leaving his lips that he almost convinced himself. Spencer inhaled, preparing himself to speak again, but Adrian left the car, slamming the door between the two of them so he didn't have to listen to any more of it.
Adrian didn't say thank you, and didn't look back as he entered his house.
He did however peer out of his open window moments later as he lit another cigarette, only to see the senior still parked in his driveway.
***
"Adri, are you sure this is a good idea?" Helen asked over the phone. She had first called him about an hour ago to see if he wanted to go over to her house, but at that second Adrian decided that he wanted to go out. At first, Helen thought that he meant she would be coming, but he hadn't, and she grew weary over the next hour as Adrian dressed himself to look like a slut.
"If Osmond won't sleep with me, and you won't let me call David-"
"This isn't you, Adri," Helen began but Adrian just continued
"-someone needs to," Adrian said, holding the phone against his ear with his shoulder as he applied his perfectly thick eyeliner. "And boy, if I look like this someone is going to want to".
He was wearing tight black pants with rips down the thighs and a translucent white shirt that would hide little and do nothing to shield him from wind.
"Where are you even going to go?" Helen asked and Adrian grinned to himself, sliding into his favorite pair of purple converse and leaning forward to tie them.
"I heard that The Golden Quarter lets in high school students on the weekends," it was saturday, and he was a high schooler. There really was no problem seen there. " I figured I'd try there".
"And what if you can't get in," Helen asked, and Adrian shrugged to himself. He wasn't too worried about it based on how he was dressed.
"I don't care". When he was finished lacing his shoes he went and locked his bedroom door. This was amusing to him, since he knew that his parents wouldn't even care that he was leaving and wouldn't bother to check his room anyways. "I need to climb out of my window, Helen, so I'm going to go". He hung up on her before she could respond and shoved his phone into his back pocket.
The climb was one that he hadn't done in years (since him and Helen used to sneak out to go play ghosts in the graveyard with the neighborhood kids back in elementary when his parents cared about whether or not he was abducted in the night) and Adrian found he was a little rusty with his tree climbing abilities. He got half way down, and was just thinking about how it wasn't that bad when his pants got caught on a branch and tore even more. He fell the rest of the way down, but miraculously landed on his feet.
On inspection of his pants, they didn't actually look that different, just a bit sluttier yet, not that he minded at all, and he still deemed himself suitable to continue.
It wasn't a long walk to the bar, about as far from his house as the school was, and he found himself arriving at the shady brick building only fifteen minutes later. He shook with nerves at the sight of a rather large man standing by the entrance, but he approached anyways.
The man looked extremely amused the second his eyes landed on him. "You're way too young to be here," he said with a deep voice and Adrian was almost so scared that he turned and ran away. But he wanted to get inside, desperately. He needed to find a different man, someone who wasn't Ezra, to make him forget.
"I just need to get in for tonight," he said, trying to move past the man who quickly caught his shoulder.
"Fuck no," he said, "I'm not about to get arrested for giving a minor use to alcohol-"
"James," a cocky voice interrupted and Adrian turned quickly, his eyes landing on the extremely attractive boy who was walking down the sidewalk towards them. When he got there, he looked down at Adrian, his eyes flashing with interest and amusement and something else and he slid an arm around his waist tightly, pulling Adrian against him. "He's with me".
Adrian was looking up at this beautiful boy in wonder. His dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes were so much unlike Ezra, but also so attractive, that Adrian could easily find himself forgetting the boy who had broken his heart just by looking up at him.
"Caleb Higgins," James growled, "I'm not even supposed to be letting you in. If even more underage kids start showing up I'll lose my job". The man eyed Adrian. "At least you look twenty one. He looks like a fourth grader".
"Just this once," the boy, Caleb, said, noticing Adrian staring and looking down at him with a smirk. He was so tall. The man in front of the door looked very uneasy about this, and Caleb reassured him with a soft, "James".
The door was held open for them as they entered, and Caleb's hand never moved from Adrian's waist. "Aren't you going to thank me, dear?" Caleb asked, directly into Adrian's ear so he could be heard over the music that was shaking the floor and Adrian looked up at him.
"Sorry," he said, and Caleb smirked, clearly sensing the effect he had over Adrian.
"Come on," he said, his hand sliding further over Adrian's hip, "Let's get you something to drink".
***
Adrian had been high before (once with Helen the year previous), but he had never gotten drunk. It was a weird feeling, very disorienting. He was drunk to the point of fuzzy thoughts and giggling, but he felt that at any second he could sober up if he needed to.
Caleb had never left his side the entire night, pulling him closer with each passing minute until Adrian was practically straddling him in the booth. It felt nice, but multiple times Adrian had to remind himself that Ezra and him were no longer together and it wasn't cheating.
Caleb kissed him, and he tasted like mint and forgetting, even though that wasn't a favor, Adrian just felt if forgetting had a flavor, this boy's mouth would be it.
Adrian was a bit concerned that he would taste overwhelmingly of smoke, but this proved not to be an issue as the other licked eagerly into his mouth.
It wasn't a nice kiss. It was mean, as if they were angry at each other. Adrian allowed Caleb to grip the back of his neck and hold him close, to ravish his mouth and take everything he wanted. The boy beneath him moaned and Adrian realized that he had begun to roll his hips against those of the boy under him. Caleb roughly pulled him back and looked at him with dark eyes.
"Would you like to come back to my house?" he asked, though it sounded more like a demand. He didn't wait for an answer before he was pulling Adrian out of the booth and out of the bar, pressing him against the brick wall in the alley behind the building and stealing his breath once more before he continued pulling him to his car.
"My parents aren't home," Caleb explained when they pulled into the driveway of an extremely large home that probably qualified as a mansion. Adrian wasn't given much time to dwell on this as the by pulled open the car door for him and yanked him out.
It was all happening so fast that Adrian didn't know how to process everything. Caleb unlocked his front door and Adrian wondered how they had even got here.
A name kept coming into his mind.
Caleb pressed him up against the door he had just closed and bent forwards to kiss his lips once more.
Ezra.
Caleb's rough hands gripped the back of Adrian's thighs and the next thing he knew his legs were around the taller waist.
Ezra.
Warm lips moved down his neck, sucking at the skin only-
Ezra
Should suck at.
Ezra. Only Ezra.
"No," Adrian said suddenly, dropping a hand down and pushing Caleb away . "I change my mind". Caleb didn't move and Adrian unwrapped his legs from around Caleb's waist and dropping down onto his feet.
"You don't get to change your mind, sweetheart," he said, gripping Adrian's shoulders tightly and Adrian tried to push him back.
"Don't touch me," Adrian said loudly, feeling completely sober now and Caleb's hands released him. For a moment, Adrian felt as if he had won, as if the boy would let him leave.
A sharp blow was delivered to his face and his head knocked back against the door. His eyes widened in shock and he felt warm liquid running down his face.
***
Adrian lay in the unfamiliar front lawn, looking up at the stars that he and Ezra had made love under a week before. Tears ran out of his eyes, but he was barely aware of them anymore.
He shouldn't have gone out. He should have listened to Helen. But no. He had wanted to forget about Ezra, wanted to have fun. It was almost ironic.
Because now here he lay, bruised and bloodied and sore, having nearly been raped before the boy realised that he had beaten the sophomore so much that sex with him would no longer be "fun," he had said, and then kicked him out of the house and left him there. And all Adrian could think about was Ezra, and he was having anything but fun.
He thought about how Ezra would never do this to him. Would never hurt him, or at least that's what Adrian had thought. Ezra had hurt him, Adrian reminded himself. Ezra had broken his heart, and honestly, as Adrian thought about it, the inside of him hurt more than the outside.
Adrian wanted to call him.
He called Helen instead.
It was three in the morning, and she still answered right away.
"Adrian?"
"Come and get me". He didn't care that she would have to get out of bed. He needed her.
"Are you okay?" The conceren was in her voice now, and it made him want to cry.
"Just come and get me El". There was shuffling on the other end.
"Where are you?"
"I don't know". Adrian couldn't see a street sign from where he was lying, and he was afarid to get up to go see. "I... I don't know Helen". He began to panic. "I can't stay here. You need to come and get me-"
"It's alright baby. I'll call your mother and have her track you. I'll be there soon". The line was quiet and he thought she hung up. "Adrian?"
"Yes?"
"Stay safe until I get there, please". He ended up being the one to hang up on her.
As soon as he did he dropped his hand down into the grass and closed his eyes. Everything hurt.
He didn't know how long it was until Helen showed up. Three minutes? Ten? An hour? Two? But he was still in the same position when her car parked on the street. It was still dark, so she couldn't see him lying on the lawn as she climbed out of her car. He said up, looking at her through one swollen eye and he heard her gasp.
"Adrian!"
She ran to him, kneeling in front of him and cupping his face in her hands. "Is it that bad?" He had yet to see his face, but if Helen looked that pale at the sight of it he was assuming it wasn't good. He began to cry.
"Come on baby". She helped him stand, supporting most of his weight as he leaned heavily against her. The walk to her car took far longer than either of them wanted it to, but when they were there she helped him in, pulling the seat belt over him and shutting him in.
They were ten minutes into the drive when she demanded for the boy's name. Adrian remembered what the man at the door had said, "Caleb Higgins," and gave it without an argument. He was too tired to argue. He then asked for something that he knew she'd be willing to get him. "I want Osmond".
"Adrian, he's sleeping," she said, but he noticed she turned on her blinker and turned onto a street in the direction of the Freshman's house. Being selfish right now felt justified.
They only knew where Osmond's house was from all of the time Helen had take Adrian there to practice his solo in the company of the other. Osmond didn't have a piano at home, but he still had a good ear and was an honest critique. Every Time Adrian had gone, he hadn't wanted to. At this moment he was very glad he had.
She parked in front of the familiar house and turned off her car. "Stay in here," she demanded before exiting. Adrian watched as she rounded the house, probably to throw pebbles at Osmond's window.
Adrian honestly had the full intention of listening to her, but the second the front door was pulled open by a black haired boy in pajama pants, Adrian was pushing open the passenger side door of Helen's car.
Osmond turned on the light above his porch and then froze at the sight at Adrian, who desire the pain was hurrying towards him. Oz seemed to understand because by the time that Adrian was in front of him, his arms were open and Adrian walked right into them, sobbing into the embrace.