If Walls Could Talk (Adamtina)

Chapter 4

"Dude, did you pull an all-nighter?" Jake joked when Adam stumbled into the casual restaurant unshaven, his crumpled shirt from last night thrown back on over a pair of jeans.

Adam just replied with a friendly whack before they both ordered burgers with the lot and beers, relaxing and catching up before the subject eventually turned to the wedding.

"So, how's the big day coming along?" Jake asked as he added more salt to his fries. "All on track?"

"Yeah," Adam answered after a sudden sting in his throat. "We're pretty much ready to go, we just need to make sure the dude that's got the rings doesn't do a runner and it's all good."

"Guarding them with my life, buddy," Jake answered with a smile.

Adam took a long swig of his beer.

"How's Claire going with it? Total bride-who-go-nuts?" Jake asked with a smirk, remembering how nightmarish his wife Taylor had become the week of their wedding, which had almost ended in a premature divorce.

"Nah, she's actually been really cool," Adam answered, his heart lifting a little. Claire hadn't complained about anything and had put the whole event together with nothing but an enthusiastic smile. And that didn't surprise him at all... she was one of the most patient, measured people he'd ever met.

"Sweet." Jake washed his fries down with some more beer.

"I saw Christina yesterday." It was like the words that tumbled out of Adam's mouth were making a sudden escape and he couldn't quite believe he'd actually blurted them out. He shifted and sat up a little higher in his seat.

Jake stopped chewing as he looked back at Adam with surprise. "Aguilera?" he mumbled, one eyebrow rising slightly, even though it was hardly front-page news for Adam to be hanging out with Christina. But it did seem a bit unusual that he was bringing it up.

"How many Christinas do we know?" Adam asked, his voice carrying a hint of sarcasm.

Jake nodded slightly and just looked back at Adam. "Cool... and how is she?" He really didn't quite know what else he should say. He didn't know Christina nearly as well as Adam, and they didn't normally talk about her when she wasn't there. Especially nowadays.

"She told me she's still in love with me." Adam was kind of shocked at how plainly he said it - no hesitation, no sugarcoating; almost as if he was telling Jake what the specials were on the menu that day.

Except Jake's reaction wasn't exactly impassive. He choked on his beer and sat forward in his seat as he wiped some from his chin.

"What?" Jake asked, his face coloring with disbelief.

Adam just shrugged. "We had dinner, and she told me she didn't want to come to the wedding... and when I pushed her about it she just... out of the blue, started crying and told me she still loved me."

Jake's eyes widened for a moment. "Dude, I -" Jake went to say more but felt muted by shock.

They shared a few moments of silence as Jake took sharp intakes of breath and Adam just sat there and picked at his food. He'd barely touched it.

"Does she want to get back together with you?" Jake suddenly looked at Adam as he asked the question, his face still bewildered.

Adam went to answer 'yes' before he suddenly realized that Christina hadn't actually said that she wanted him back. Fuck, had she? He couldn't remember.

But she must, right? I mean, why else would she say those things?

"I guess so..." Adam started to feel a little green after suddenly hearing himself say these words out loud. Did she want to get back together with him though? Or did she just want him to know how she felt before he got married? Suddenly he felt like he really needed to know the answer to that question and he was pissed at himself that he couldn't remember.