Just a Friend...

Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

A sigh escaped my lips as I walked through the door after my anniversary dinner with Ryan. I told him we didn’t have to do anything special, but he insisted our two month should be celebrated. Although dinner at a fast food restaurant isn’t all that special. Adam and I were okay even though we rarely spent time together. Speak of the devil…

“Hello?” I said after grabbing my phone out of my purse.

“Hey. How’s it goin?” the familiar voice asked.

“I’m alright. I miss you. I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while.” I told him as sadness took over my facial expression.

“Three weeks is a long time for us Taz.” Adam stated. He was right. We grew up inseparable and now we’re going weeks at a time not seeing each other.

“Yeah. What happened?” I responded.

“I guess relationships got in the way. How’s Ryan?” Adam’s tone of jealousy immediately made me feel guilty.

“Ryan’s alright. You know I always have time for you. A relationship isn’t going to take me away from you.” I hoped Adam would hear the concern in my voice. 

“You sure? Cause I can’t lose you. I almost did once, and I don’t want a repeat of that.” he replied. 

“Don’t worry. Nothing like that is gonna happen.” my eyes watered just at the thought of the distant memory. Adam didn’t reply. Maybe he was remembering too. 

“I should get some sleep. Good night Adam.” I said hanging up the phone. I would’ve waited for a reply, but I just need a shower to let out all the stress. 

*************

I don’t think I’ve ever been this nervous waiting for Adam. Usually I’m jumping up and down ready to leave the house and spend the day with him. Today was different. Actually ever since I started dating Ryan its been different. Adam’s busy with Kathy and I spend time with Ryan. If Adam does spend time with me its either in a group or somewhere quiet like the movies. After a long time we were going to spend time at his house, just me and him. Before I could think anymore and back out on the plans, my doorbell rang.

“Since when do you ring the doorbell?” I said opening the door.

“Always?” spoke an unexpected voice.

“Ryan?” I said dumbfounded.

“Yeah. Were you expecting someone else?” he shrugged and entered through the door. 

“Yes, Adam. I’m spending the day with him. I told you that already.” I stated trying to keep out any anger in my tone.

“I know. I just wanted to stop by and make sure you were okay.” I couldn’t tell if he was asking out of fear, concern, or guilt. My guess is it was just a mixture of all of the above.

“My back still aches, but I’m alright.” I replied walking away from him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want any of that to happen.” he stated reaching towards my hand. I flinched and looked up at his guilty filled eyes.

“You’ve said that enough times. I just need some time. You need to leave. I’m going to spend the day with Adam. I’ll text you later.” I went back to the door opening it for him. I knew he would be reluctant to leave, but I needed my space.

“Talk to you soon.” saying that and leaving a kiss on my cheek, he left. Ryan may be my boyfriend, but he needed to stay away from me for a while. Especially after the events from last week. Although for now I would rather just push those thoughts out of my brain. I let my mind drift off to thoughts of Adam and finally spending time with him again. I sat on the couch while I waited for him. I guess he is taking his time. As if he knew I was thinking about him, the familiar tan boy walked through my door. The strange thing was he wasn’t the happy guy I was so familiar with, tears were streaming down his face. Adam’s shining smile was gone and all I saw was pain. Time slowed down as he came and fell in my arms crying. I hugged him and rubbed his back trying to say anything that would help. I may not have known what was wrong, but his condition showed me that he really needed me. Time passed and he had finally stopped crying. The minutes I waited for him to talk to me felt like hours. I sat there with my arms around him just waiting. I knew he needed time before he explained and I was willing to wait. 

“You probably want to know why I came here bawling my eyes out like a little baby.” he said wiping his eyes and looking over at me.

“You’re not a baby. But yeah, that would be nice.” I smiled at him hoping that me being here was comforting for him. He reached over and wiped away tears from under my eyes. I hadn’t even noticed that I was crying. I guess my heart just couldn’t handle seeing him like this. 

“My grandpa’s in a hospital. He had a heart attack. My dad wants to go see him, but my mom keeps telling him the times not right with our current situation.” he started. I nodded my head encouraging him to go on. 

“Then after the disagreement, they just started arguing. Next thing you know they were yelling. It was like they completely forgot what was going on. Now everything is just messed up.” he chocked on his words and tears began falling again.

“My grandpa has always been like a second dad to me. I can’t lose him.” he hugged me again needing the comfort of a friend. I hugged him back trying to show how much I cared. 

“You don’t know what’s going to happen. They can help him, Adam.” I tried to comfort him even as tears started to fall down my face. 

“I know you care about him a lot. You’re scared too.” he looked back up at me with his eyes glistening from the tears.

“I am. But all we have to do is hope. Then we’ll see what happens.” I wiped away his tears and hugged him again. I didn’t intend on letting go until he felt better. Moments passed as we just held on to each other.

“Thanks.” he said pulling away. Before getting up he wiped away my tears and his own. I saw him walk towards the bathroom and took that as my chance to wash off my own face. Since there was only one bathroom downstairs I went upstairs to try and get me emotions in check. After crying for a good few minutes hidden in the bathroom, I finally washed my face. Once I felt brave enough to put a smile on my face, I headed down the stairs. I turned the kitchen corner and found Adam already taking out ice cream for the both of us. 

“Good call. I’ll grab some bowls and spoons.” I walked around the kitchen island walking towards the cabinets. 

“Do you still have those Disney themed bowls?” Adam asked as he sat in a chair on the other side of the island. 

“Of course!” I said pulling out the bowls and placing them on the table.

“I would cheer, but I’m to manly for that.” Adam reached for a bowl. He didn’t need to cheer. The giant smile on his face showed how happy he was to see our childhood ice cream bowls. 

“Yeah. Whatever.” I rolled my eyes and reached for the ice cream. Before my hand could grab it, Adam stopped me. He had put my own palm in his.

“What is that?” he said nodding towards my upper arm. My eyes widened in when I realized what he was motioning towards. 

“Nothing.” I mumbled pulling down my sweatshirt sleeve. 

“I know when your lying, Taz. How did you get that bruise?” 

Authors Note: Well! That’s chapter 3. I guess that was sort of a cliffhanger. Sort of. I really hope you guys liked the chapter. I took my time and put a lot of effort into it. Please don’t hate me for taking forever to update. I know its been 5 months and I only wrote two pages. I’m sorry!!! I feel terrible. Updates will be sooner now since my writer’s block is gone. At least nothing that exciting happened last chapter. Hopefully you remember what happened. I barely do. Haha just kidding! That wasn’t even funny. Well, I love this story so far and I’m really proud of it. Anyway! If you guys have any questions, predictions, complaints, compliments, then go ahead and comment them! I always reply. Obviously cause I have like four readers. Thank you to you guys by the way! I really appreciate the reads. Okay, I need to shut up now. BYE!!! Talk to you soon!