Real To Me (BxB)

Chapter Sixteen

Henry is an asshole when he's in a mood.

"Shut the fuck up Clara! God, you talk so much." Henry was now yelling at the lunch table, grabbing the attention of a random passersby. Half of us rolled our eyes, ignoring him.

"Oh, fuck off and take a nap, bitchass. I don't wanna hear your whining just because you decided to stay up all night." Clara flipped him off, making Rachel and I laugh, but I tried to cover it up when Henry glared at me. He just rolled his eyes, huffed, and laid his head on the table.

"Anyway, how was your weekend guys? Rachel and I went to nude beach together, and we went to Hooters, and we went rollerskating, and-"

"Clara, I think you've shared enough of our weekend. Anyone else want to speak?" Clara pouted at being cut off, but Rachel just patted her head. Brendon laughed at her.

"Well, I had a pretty good weekend myself. I went over my mom's house. She took me to the bookstore, and of course I had to buy twelve books at once. Then, we went to some clothing store together, and I bought some new sweaters and stuff, plus new jeans. Oh, and we played a bunch of board games with my little siblings." He smiled, looking like a puppy that just got a new toy.

"What are your siblings' names? How old are they?" I asked, curious. I didn't even know he had siblings.

"My little brother Jaidyn is twelve, and my sister Gracie is seven." I nodded my head.

"I have a younger sister, Eloise. She's thirteen."

"Oh cool. How come we've never seen her before? Eighth grade is in this school, isn't it?" Brendon cocked his head.

"She's home-schooled. She has epilepsy and tourette's, and it's some kind of extreme epilepsy condition - I forget what it's called. My mom kept her home so she can watch over her because she has a lot of seizures, minor and major, and gets what we just call tic attacks."

"Oh okay. She's lucky, she probably gets to wear pajamas all the time."

"You're right, she does." We both laughed, the bell cut us off.

"Alright, see you guys later." There was a collection of goodbyes, and we all walked to our classes.

~~

Maddy and I were the only two working at the coffee shop during our shift, and the manager was out for something. It was busy as hell, and customers just had to be difficult, so we were struggling.

"Why do you always get my order wrong?! I just want a caramel macchiato with no caramel and two pumps of chocolate! Why do you keep putting it as a chocolate macchiato?"

"Ma'am, without caramel and adding chocolate makes it a chocolate-"

"Are you giving me attitude?! That's it. Get your manager now!" I tried so hard to not roll my eyes.

"I'm sorry, but he's not in today." The lady groaned loudly and stomped her foot.

"Then give me his number! I'm going to report you so you can lose you job!"

"Alright ma'am." I wrote the number down and handed the sheet to her. "He is on a trip, so-"

"I don't want to hear your sorry excuses! I'm never coming here again!" She walked away briskly.

"Have a nice day, ma'am." I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment before looking back up to the next customer.

"Oh! Hey there, Sam." He looked at me with confusion before beginning to sign.

"I'm sorry, I'm deaf. Do you know ASL?" I nodded and signed that I could, smiling.

"What would you like to order?"

"I'll just take a small caramel frappe, please."

"Alright, I'll be right back with your order." I walked in the back, quickly making his drink and bringing it back.

"Here you are! That'll be $4.99." He handed me a five, and I gave him the penny back. He just put in the tips jar.

"Thank you!"

"Have a nice day! Oh, and tell Adrien I say hi." He paused.

"How do you know Adrien? How do you know I'm related to him?" Oh, he doesn't know I know him. Oops.

"We're friends. I slept over your house after a party one night, and I met Braelyn the next morning. Adrien explained what was happening. I don't know if this is how it works because I don't know how you guys communicate, but tell Sam and Braelyn I say hi too."

He looked worried for a moment, before shrugging and nodding.

"Will do. Bye!" I waved, and he walked away.

"Why do all those deaf people take so long? Jesus! I just want to get my coffee!" I sighed. This is going to be a long day.

~~~

Adrien:
Do you want to go to another
party with me? Some guy is
throwing one at his house
on saturday

Another party he wants me to go to. Another place where people will be drunk. Where people would be horny. Where people will be doing...

I really didn't want to go, but what happens if I say no? Will he stop being friends with me? Will he decide I'm not cool enough to be around? What will happen then? Will all my friends decide I'm not good enough, too, and leave me to suffer alone?

I sat in my shower with my clothes on, turning the knob to make cold water rush from the showerhead. I immediately shivered, but it helped slow down my thoughts to focus more on the present. My therapist from two years ago taught me this trick, and I've used it ever since.

I curled into a fetal position, trying to control my breathing as the water rolled down my face, dripping from my hair, my nose, my eyelashes. My clothes stuck to my body. The water on the clothing would warm up, but quickly cool as more cold water hit it.

A quiet knock startled me out of whatever trance I was in.

"Adrien, honey, are you okay in there? You've been there for a while now," my mom spoke almost in a whisper through the door. I knew she couldn't get in - the door was locked - but I was still scared something would happen.

"I-I'm okay. Just give me a minute." I sighed.

"Okay. Get me if you need me, okay?"

"Yeah, mom." I heard her footsteps drift away. I'm never going to be what she wants me to be.

I stood up slowly, turning the knob to stop the water from drenching me further. The clothes still sticking to me made me feel uncomfortable, so I quickly removed them and grabbed a towel. After drying off my body, I made sure no one was in the hall and ran to my room to get changed (because who thinks to bring clothes to the bathroom with them when they're having a panic attack?).

The kitchen was warm when I walked in. I could smell the food my mother was making: tortellini and shrimp.

"Hi honey. Dinner's just about ready. You okay?" She looked away from the food for a minute and turned to me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Do you want me to grab Eloise?"

"Sure!"

I head over to Eloise's room, where I find her blasting music and typing on her computer. She doesn't even notice me walk in. Her head is bopping around to the beat as she types, and her feet were tapping as well. She seems to be in a peaceful zone right now...

"ELLIE!" Her zone was ruined and she jumped up, away from her chair. Her headphones, still in her ears and attached to her laptop, pulled her laptop off the desk and onto the floor, where she had fallen from the fright. I began laughing hysterically as she clutched her chest.

"NOAH! I swear you could've made me have a seizure! Jesus!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I saw the opportunity and I took it!" She scowled and stood up.

"What do you want?"

"Oh yeah, dinner's ready." She groaned, walking towards me and slapping me over the head before walking out.

"Hey! That's not fair!" I chased after her until we were both laughing hysterically in the kitchen.