Noise

Part 7

She made a noise sounding like R2-D2 which made Adam smile. Ericha was the furthest thing from his mind. Tim was watching his friend closely and wondered how this was going to play out. Adam was married. Happily, Tim thought. Was Adam just being extra nice to this girl because he felt a connection to her and her beatboxing skills? Was he smitten with her unique appearance?

Adam's phone dinged with a new text. Adrielle watched as he took his phone out of his back pocket and checked his message. Before he could reply, his phone began ringing.

"Hey baby! Just a minute, let me head to my bunk." Adam said as he got up and headed to the bunk area

Tim watched as Adrielle suddenly looked sad. Did she have a crush on the beatboxer? What was going on with these two?!

"So, what are your plans after this month-long road trip?" Chance questioned

"I guess we'll go back to our home and get back to our boring lives!" Donna chuckled

Adrielle responded with a sad little drumbeat. She knew most of the guys were married. She didn't quite understand why she was feeling sad right now.

"I have a question. How are y'all doing this if she's in college?" Austin questioned

"I called the Dean and said I was taking her on this road trip. He understand what we've gone through to find out why she doesn't speak so he said he'd make sure she could do her classes online while she was one." Donna explained

"Ah ok. We have Wi-Fi if you need it." Luke said, flashing the two ladies a warm smile

Adrielle just sat there quietly as her mother talked to the rest of the group. She loved these guys but she was starting to feel out of place again. Tim noticed her change in body language and wondered if she actually felt more comfortable with Adam than the rest of the group. If that were so, then why was that? It was strange at breakfast how they communicated through beatboxing. It wasn't really a language. Then again, this woman was quite unique.

Over an hour later, and Adam was still in his bunk talking to his wife. He was trying to make sense of what was happening. He couldn't understand what his wife was telling him. He understood it, in his head, of course. But his heart couldn't comprehend what she was telling him. They'd been together for years. They had an almost four-year old daughter together. "I'm sorry, Adam. This is for the best." Ericha told him before she finally hung up.

He laid there wondering what was happening to his life. First his brother left the group. Now his wife was taking their little girl and leaving. What else was going to happen? He was already getting depressed. Until he heard the "Star Wars" theme. It made him smile as he climbed out of his bunk and headed back to the front. Adrielle was sitting there, staring off into space, and absent-mindedly doing the "Star Wars" theme.

"Everything ok, buddy?" Austin asked

"I'll tell you about it later." Adam replied, "Sorry for being gone for so long."

Adrielle looked up when she heard his voice. He smiled down at her making her smile back. Tim just watched curiously. As soon as she'd heard Adam's voice, she perked back up. He wasn't imagining things. Adam sat back down and turned to talk to Chance. She recreated his text sound. He grabbed his phone, looked at it, then looked at her. She was looking around trying to look all innocent.

"You are quite the jokester!" Adam exclaimed making her blush and smile

"What are you doing now?" Donna asked sounding a bit angrier than she was, "Messing with people?"

Adrielle responded by recreating her mother's text sound. When Donna grabbed her phone, Adrielle snickered.

"Oh you!" Donna said, shaking her finger at the younger woman making the entire bus erupt in laughter

"So she does that you, too?" Luke said, trying to keep the smile off his face

"All the damned time!" Donna fake-glared at her daughter

"Do you play board or card games?" Rob asked

"Oh yeah. Skip-Bo is probably our favorite." Donna replied as Adrielle nodded yes

"Cool! We play cards all the time." Austin smiled

Donna's phone rang so she excused herself to answer it. Adrielle made noises as her mother was exiting the bus like her shoes were squeaking which made the group laugh. She was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable without her mother. Seeing Adrielle start to fidget, Adam began beatboxing a fast tune. The pink-haired woman turned her attention to him. The rest of the bus watched as she picked up his tune and added her own spin to it.

"This is just...... wow." Chance quietly stated

"I don't know how he understands her." Austin shrugged, still watching the pair

"She's definitely more comfortable with him than the rest of us." Luke said, earning a head nod from Rob

"You've noticed that too?" The giant teddy bear quietly said

"It's her body language." Luke said

"So, did you ladies have a favorite performance on The Sing-Off?" Tim asked, looking between them as Donna returned

"Why are you going to ask me an impossible question?!" Donna smiled

The guys all laughed.

"In all seriousness, everything you boys did was great. 'Pretty Woman' was really good. I always go back and forth between that one and 'I'm Alright'." Donna chuckled, "Her favorite was 'Ring of Fire'. Hands down."

The "Star Wars" theme could be heard and Adrielle took her phone out of her back pocket. She was checking the message while Adam just watched her. The pink-haired woman frowned with a sigh.

"Everything ok, sweetie?" Donna asked

Adrielle just looked away from her mother. She was supposed to be working in a group of students for a project and she had just been informed she was being dropped from the group. It was by the students and not the professor. As hard as she tried to stay positive, she couldn't help but feel the sting of rejection.

"What happened?" Donna asked

The bus got quiet as they watched the mother and daughter. Adam noticed that Adrielle looked like she was about to cry. Donna moved to kneel in front of her daughter. Adrielle showed her mother the text she'd gotten.

"Adrielle, we know that you always turn in great work and you always give 100% to each project. But we can't take you anymore. We're dropping you from our group."

"Oh baby, I'm sorry. Those little tarts just....." Donna sighed, "It's their loss."

"What happened?" Rob softly asked

"She was in a group in one of her classes and they dropped her from it because they 'can't take her anymore'. She always gives 100%, always does outstanding work, and half the time she picks up others' slack." Donna stated, giving her daughter's hands a squeeze, "People just don't understand how she communicates. It's stuff like this where she really feels rejected."

"That's not fair!" Austin exclaimed, a bit angry

"It happens a lot, actually." Donna sighed

"Well maybe they're jealous. You do such great work and they don't." Chance stated making Adrielle look up at him

The bearded man smiled at her so she timidly smiled back.

"Hey! Can you show us some stuff you've done for school?" Luke inquired

"Yeah!" Austin added with a grin

Adrielle shrugged but her mother urged her to go get her laptop and show them some of her work. Adam watched as the young woman cautiously made her way off the bus. All he wanted was to pull her into his arms and comfort her.

"I hate to say it but she does bring this on herself sometimes because she just refuses to communicate normally." Donna quietly stated, "But I'll support her no matter what. And it never fails to anger me at how people are and the way they treat her."

"You're her mother. It's natural to get angry about it. And although she does communicate in an unusual manner, doesn't mean that others should do this kind of stuff to her." Luke said right before Adrielle boarded the bus with her laptop bag