The Unpredictability of You and Me

thirteen - fist fights

"Are you nervous?" I ask Adrian on the bus when we're about three minutes away from our stop.

"Not really," he answers quietly.

After a whole day of convincing my parents to let us go to Greenwich to see Adrian's grandma, they finally agreed. Not after a long list of questions and rules.

How do you know she's actually your grandma?

We need her name and address and number.

Don't leave Greenwich.

Come straight back here after you're done.

Be back by curfew.

Now, we'd been sitting on the bus for 2 hours, and went were stopping at a bus stop a few blocks down from the address Adrian's grandmother sent him. Mom and Dad respected Adrian's request of not telling Carter, so they just told him we had a weekend school trip to Connecticut for the day.

The bus slows down and people start standing up. I force my legs to stop shaking. I ran out of my anxiety meds this morning, and I didn't want to tell my mom right before we left, or she wouldn't have let me come with Adrian. But it's okay. I can be okay for a few hours. I hope.

✘✘✘

Thirty minutes later, we're sitting in Adrian's grandma's living room.

She started crying when she saw Adrian. Then, she gave me a big hug, invited us in, and insisted we both call her abuelita. She also asked if I was his girlfriend, and looked a little disappointed after we both turned bright red and said no.

Her house is pretty nice. It's cozy, big, and well-kept. I can tell she has at least a little bit of money. She told us it feels a little lonely, because her husband, Adrian's grandpa, died four years ago. Now, it's just her and the two cats.

There's pictures of Adrian's mom as a kid and teenager all up on the walls. I was surprised by how much they look alike. She has the same hazel eyes and beautiful smile.

"It's so weird seeing all these pictures of her," Adrian mumbles next to me.

I look up at as the door to the kitchen opens. His grandma walks out with a plate of cookies in one hand and a tray with glasses of lemonade in the other. She sets them down and beams at us.

"It was such a wonderful surprise to hear back from you," she says, sitting down on the armchair across from us.

Adrian gives her a smile. "How did you find my number?"

"Ever since I found out that Julia died, I've been trying to find you. It took a while, since there wasn't a funeral or anything, but I got one of my old friends in the New York child services system to find your number."

He looks uncomfortable. "There wasn't any money for a funeral. We just had a private burial with some neighbors and friends."

A sad expression crosses her face. "I wish I would have reached out sooner. Before she passed. I was just so angry at her for running away, and I didn't think she'd want to hear from me again."

"She talked about you sometimes. She missed you."

His grandma buries her head in her hands for a second before picking it up again. "So tell me what I've missed in the last seventeen years. Do you play any sports or anything like that?"