Growing Pains

Chapter Twenty-Five: Road to Redemption

"Brandyn, slow down!" Adrianna yelped, dodging a crate at the entry of an alley. "What's the hurry?"

Brandyn grinned impishly at her over his shoulder. "I want to escape with you now before some man swoops in and takes you away!"

"Oh yes, because I have a history of men swooping in and taking me away," Adrianna snarked.

"Hey, one can't be too careful."

Adrianna snorted. "Too careful makes a boring life."

Brandyn glanced back at her with a disbelieving look.

"What?"

"So says the girl that doesn't get out much."

Adrianna finally pulled her hand loose from his, stopping them in the alley. "Huh?"

His prior excitement gone, Brandyn sighed. "It's nothing."

"Try me." Adrianna raised an eyebrow.

"Okay," Brandyn folded his hands together in front of his mouth. "How do I say this without you going all crazy-Haddock on me..."

"Crazy-Haddock?"

"That's what they started calling you guys when you get upset. Especially your dad after that one village meeting. Hoo boy-"

"Brandyn, focus."

"Totally focused, princess," Brandyn snarked. "You don't get out much at all. Like, at all. So it's funny hearing you say that a person being too careful is a bad thing."

Adrianna shrugged. "It's not like I don't hang out with people because I'm afraid. We just have different interests."

"Then you need to either a) be more interesting, or b) find interests that are common to the group," Brandyn said.

"Why?" Adrianna frowned. "I don't want to hang out with some of those kids on a regular basis."

Brandyn huffed. "I can't live in a box, Adrianna."

The girl moved back a step. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm a social guy, Anna. I get bored, I want to do things. There's nothing wrong with just sitting and talking, or hanging out while you read a book or something, but that seems to be a common occurrence." Brandyn said. "I'm not saying lose the stuff you like to do, but I am saying you should expand a bit. I want to spend time with you, but... you need to be more spontaneous."

"More spontaneous." Adrianna repeated.

"Yes. Because some of us want to do things a certain way in our lives and when we have that one friend who's a stick in the mud, we find ourselves in a precarious position." Brandyn stepped closer to her.

Adrianna shook her head. "I don't know what exactly you're trying to say. Are..." She gulped. "Are you... breaking up with me?"

"No!" Brandyn shook his head wildly, taking her hand. "Of course not. But Anna, you've been distant lately. All you've done is read or spend time with Erick and I've gotten pushed to the sideline. What we have done together in recent weeks hasn't been all that interesting. I want to do things with you, but I'm a social, active guy, I want to do things. And I'd hate for it to come down to people avoiding you because you're not fulfilling their needs. I wouldn't want to lose you because you weren't doing your part."

Adrianna's heart pounded. It was like that conversation with her dad two years ago. If she didn't do what was necessary, she'd be eliminated from the equation. She wouldn't be important. She had to try harder. There was no way around it. She wasn't doing what needed to be done; she didn't have her priorities straight. She had to fix this.