(Will probably just have a few chapters to help tie story together)
Adam-
"Yes, that's fine, as long as Jade's there with you guys." Adam said before hanging up his phone.
He hadn't expected Jade to come by shortly after he'd left, and especially not for him to bring Jana. When Jake had called that they were all drying off at the apartment after the sudden rain storm, he nearly turned right back around and ran all the way home.
Granted, he wasn't too far away, as he was just meeting Wren at a local park a few streets down from his apartment complex, but still. Lowering his phone, he slid the device into his damp back pocket the exact second it chimed with a text.
This is going to be my luck all day. Adam thought with a hint of humor as he ran a hand through his wet hair. He wasn't soaked, since he'd managed to find shelter for the brief time that it had rained, but his shirt was uncomfortably wet.
Pulling the phone back out, he relaxed a little when it showed Wren's name.
I'm over at the coffee shop since it started raining.
Good idea. Coffee sounds great.
Heading over to the shop, Adam slipped inside and immediately spotted Wren sitting in a back corner booth. He had two cups of coffee in front of him, so Adam hurried over to drop into the seat across from him.
"Hey Wren," he said as the boy slid the untouched cup of coffee across to him.
Adam tasted it, holding back a look of surprise when he realized that it was the same thing he'd ordered the first time he'd run into Wren with Jacob.
"Thanks for the drink." He said, earning an awkward nod from Wren as the kid wrapped his hands around his own cup.
"You're welcome, sir." He whispered as he lowered his eyes to the tabletop.
While he despised being called sir, Adam pushed aside his dislike and offered a warm smile as the coffee began to heat his chilled body.
"How did your midterms go? It sounded like you were studying a lot last time we spoke." Adam said before taking another sip of coffee.
Wren's face lit up the slightest amount as he went into a long story about each exam. Adam was used to the boy's enthusiasm about school, mainly because, through their gradually lengthening text messages and short phone calls, that's all he'd really talk about. Sure, he'd slip in a question about how Jake was doing or ask him how his day went, but mostly, it was the grades he was getting as a senior in high school.
Adam didn't fault him for seeming self-centered... because honestly, the kid absolutely wasn't. Looking at Wren sitting across from him at the table, he could see a shy boy with messy hair and black circles under his eyes. His clothing was clean, almost to the point of being brand new. Yet his shoulders were hunched, he couldn't keep eye contact, and he, likely unknowingly, fidgeted a lot.
If I were gay, he'd be pretty cute.
And if I had a thing for little kids.
Grinning to himself, Adam leaned back in the booth and put his hands on the seat. "So, what are your plans for after graduation? You're valedictorian and I don't see that title slipping, so surely you must already be getting scholarship offers?"
Wren gave a slight smile, almost as if it had slipped and wasn't actually wanted, before he shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of his drink. "I don't know."
That's a very odd answer for a kid so focused on his grades.
"Why not? There's nothing specific you want to study about? No certain job you're looking forward to?" Adam asked before taking another sip of his drink.
He let Wren have all the time he needed as they sat in the quiet shop together, the background music just loud enough to make their lack of conversation comfortable. When Wren finally leaned forward and opened his mouth, Adam returned his focus to him.
"Honestly, I don't want to be me when I graduate..."
Adam raised an eyebrow, smiling slightly as he leaned forward, too. "Who do you want to be, then?"
Wren looked down as he clasped his hands in his lap and shrugged again. "Not me."
Unsure of what he was trying to get at, Adam considered his options int he conversation. Every time he'd pushed Wren, he'd always backed off and taken longer to contact him the next time, yet he seemed pretty open to talking since he'd actually called him out to meet face to face. Deciding to give it a careful shot, Adam leaned back again and tried to appear as relaxed as possible.
"Is something going on in school that you don't want following you?" He asked, knowing that that likely wasn't the issue. If a kid could talk so openly and excitedly about AP Calculus, AP History, and every other AP class a senior could take without their brain imploding, then those aren't the cause of his worry.
I'd bet money that it's his parents, but I can't risk asking that.
He had, at one point, pointed their text conversation toward them, but that had been the longest pause out of all of them when Wren didn't reply back for a while. If he asked face to face, it likely wouldn't help at all.
Wren shook his head, but didn't offer up any other response. Adam decided to let that conversation drop, not wanting to push the kid again.
"Alright. Well, how has track gone? You seemed to be enjoying that the last time I spoke with you? You had a meet recently, right?"
Surprisingly, Wren's face turned the faintest bit red at his question. Did I miss something? Is that why he wants to run away from who he is? Did something happen with someone on his track team?
"Um... I don't think we should talk about that." Wren whispered, his gaze remaining on his hands.
Okay. Something definitely went down with his track team.
Adam loved a good mystery book, but he wasn't good at waiting until the end. He'd always read it through in one sitting... and it was pretty hard, now that he knew where the issue was, to not try and figure it out.
Patience.
He normally had tons of it, but for some reason Wren just made him have to remind himself constantly that not everyone was able to say what was needed all the time.
When Wren suddenly slid out of the booth, Adam automatically moved to follow, but was stopped when Wren turned around with a surprising yet small smile. "I'm just going to go use the restroom."
Taken aback slightly, Adam nodded and slowly sank back down into his seat. "Oh. Okay, sure. I'll hang out here." He said as he grabbed his cup of cooling coffee and downed the last few sips while Wren walked away.
It didn't take long for Adam to realized that Wren likely wasn't coming back. He hadn't seen him leave, however, so he decided, after twenty minutes, to make his way to the bathroom in the back of the coffee shop.
There was only one room for each gender, and surprisingly, there was no line. Either he's been in there for twenty minutes and just extremely lucky no one's had to use it, or he somehow managed to sneak out of here without me seeing him.
Frowning from both ideas, Adam walked up to the door and lightly knocked. There was no response at first, so he knocked a little louder, then checked the handle. It was locked, so someone was definitely in there.
"Wren?" He called quietly, not wanting to disturb any patrons that happened to be close by.
Adam was just lifting his hand to knock again when the door opened a little. When Wren didn't come out, though, he realized that he was silently asking him to step inside. Not the weirdest thing I've been asked to do by a long shot, but what happens in the club, stays in the club. Or in this case, bathroom.
Shrugging at the randomness of it all, Adam stepped inside the bathroom and nudged the door shut. Just in case someone did have to go bathroom soon, however, he turned the lock.
"What's wrong, Wren?" He asked when he looked away from the old door to the kid leaning awkwardly against the wall by the sink, his hands in his jean pockets and his eyes flicking from the dirty floor to Adam, then back again over and over.
"Hey, Adam?" Wren mumbled as he finally settled his eyes a little ways below his own, though he couldn't tell what he was really looking at.
"Yeah?" He asked, feeling a bit more awkward as Wren walked up to him, though his eyes still didn't raise at all.
Wren glanced down at his feet, whispering his next words. "My birthday is in a few days... can I try and get my present a little early, though?"
Try and get it?
He couldn't think of anything bad the kid could really do to him that he couldn't deal with by restraining him, if it were bad, so Adam just shrugged. "Sure, go ahead?"
Before Adam could think through what was actually going on, Wren lifted his head and pushed himself up on his tip-toes. Adam felt the faint brush of lips against his cheek, but Wren was already gone, out the door, before Adam could make his body respond.
Why the hell did he have to go and do that?
Now what happened in the bathroom really does have to stay in the bathroom. Dear god, I can't tell Jacob.