Heroes...And The Rest Of Us.

The next morning, I wake up fully clothed in bed next to Adam. We didn't have sex last night, I was tired and we were both totally stressed about everything. Adam is still asleep, so I quietly sneak out of bed and grab my purse and leave the room. I walk out to the kitchen where, Barry, Tobin and Tobin's girlfriend, Jules are all sitting at the table drinking coffee.

"Hey, what are you doing here, woman?" Jules asks.

"I brought Adam home last night, you guys were already in bed when we got here" I say.

"So, did you guys kiss and make up?" She asks in a way that's begging for gossip.

"Uh, yeah, I guess"

"Before this gets awkward and I have to leave the room, theres coffee on if you want some" Barry says to me.

"Thanks, and don't worry, I'm gonna end this conversation before it gets awkward"

I pour myself some coffee and get some creamer out of the refrigerator. I sit down at the table and talk for a few minutes, when I get a text from Mike.

"It's our turn to sit with Dad at the house today, where r u?" It says.

"I'm at Adam's. Can u pick me up?"

"Yeah, I'm bringing Charlie"

"Yay!"

I feel Adam's partially gloved hand on the back of my neck, he leans down and brushes his lips against my ear.

"I could make you as hot as that coffee if you gave me five minutes" He whispers.

"I bet you could, but I don't have time. I have to go to my parents house and be with my dad today" I say.

He gets his own coffee and sits down next to me at the table.

"Then later tonight. I'll pick you up at your dad's and we can go out to dinner and..." He trails off, taking his black fedora off of his head, putting in on mine.

I smile, "That sounds great" I get another text from Mike.

"It fucking snowed" I look out the sliding door in the kitchen and sure enough, our first big snow of the year is piled up all over.

"It's so pretty" I respond.

"Charlie hates it"

"I sawy!"

"I'm on my way in"

"Mike's here" I say aloud. He stomps in a moment later.

"You guys ever hear of a snow shovel?" He asks.

"Yeah, there are three of them, if you want to get started" Tobin says. Adam looks at me.

"Come with me for a second before you leave" He says.

"Babe!" I say, dragging the word out.

"No, I want you to hear something" He leads me to his bedroom and picks up one of his electric guitars. He plugs it in to an amp and starts playing.

"Somehow I found a way to get lost in you, let me inside, let me get close to you, change your mind, I'll get lost if you want me to, somehow I found a way to get lost in you" He sings to me.

"And that's it" He says when he's finished, giving me a rare, full on smile.

"Babe, I love it!" I wrap my arms around his neck, the guitar in between us. He starts playing the song again, singing the same words.

I keep my hands locked behind his neck while he sings. I hear a noise come from behind us, I look over my should and see Mike taking a picture of us with the huge, expensive camera my parents bought him for Christmas last year.

"What are you doing?" I ask him, pulling my arms from around Adam.

"Nothing, are you ready to go?"

"Mike, you better turn away unless you want to watch me kiss your sister" Adam says.

Mike rolls his eyes and walks out of the room.

"I'll be right out" I yell to him.

"Now that he's gone" Adam says and kisses me.

"I'll see you tonight" I say when we're finished. I walk out to the foyer, where Mike is waiting.

"You have to carry me so that I don't ruin these shoes" I say to him. He rolls his eyes again.

"Whatever"

"Bye" I say to the others, who are still in the kitchen.

"Let's go!" I say to Mike, jumping on his back, piggyback style.

"Jesus fuck! You're heavy!" He says, dropping me to my feet next to the car.

"Thank you dear!" I say, pleasantly.

We go to my parents house and hang out with my dad. The doctors told him to take it easy and Billie doesn't trust him while she's at work apparently. While were there, I realize that I need to go to my house and get something to wear on my date with Adam. Since I'm still wearing the same outfit that I wore out the night before. I take Mike's keys and drive his car to our place. When I get there, I see another car in the driveway, parked behind my truck. I don't recognize the vehicle, so I drive past it and park in Mike's spot. I look in my rearveiw mirror and see Adam's ex, Chris walking up to the car. What the fuck? I get out of the car.

"What do you want?" I ask her.

"I was thinking about you last night, and I figured I should come over here and talk to you"

"I don't really care about what you have to say, Chris"

"You will, just please hear my side of the story" I sigh.

"Fine, but whatever drugs you have on you, you need to leave in your car. We don't do drugs in this house and they aren't permitted inside either" I say.

"I don't do drugs, that's Adam's deal" She says, following me to the door.

"You're not winning any points here, Chris"

"Sorry" We walk into the house and I throw my keys on the counter.

"You can sit on the couch if you would like" I say. She sits on the edge of the couch, looking uncomfortable. I stand, leaning against the wall.

"So, say what you came to say, Chris"

"I'm sure Adam has already told you that I'm crazy and that I'm on drugs, but I'm not"

"Just get on with it"

"The night that I was talking about last night, was a couple years ago. I went shopping with a friend and when I came home, Adam was hiding in the bathroom, apparently getting high. I knew that he was on drugs, I just didn't know to what extent" She pauses.

"OK, keep going, I'm all ears" I say, pretty pissed.

"He wasn't answering when I yelled to him through the door, I wasn't sure if he fell, if he was hurt of what, so I busted in the door and when I did, it hit his shoulder and his drugs spilled everywhere. He totally freaked out and he screamed at me and he had me against the wall, choking me, and then he hit me. Across the face, so hard that I fell on the ground" I take a deep breath.

"And then he left. When he came home, he told me that he had found a whore that could fuck better than me. I left the next day" She finishes.

I think for a minute about what she said.

"I don't believe you" I say, and walk to my bedroom to look for an outfit. She follows me and is talking a mile a minute, trying to make me believe what she's saying. My head is spinning, it feels like she's standing on top of me. I finally spin around to face her.

"Chris! Shut the fuck up, you're giving me an anxiety attack!" I scream in her face. She stops talking and just stares at me.

"First of all, I told you that you could sit on the couch, in the living room, not follow me into my bedroom" I say.

"I'm sorry" She says, quietly.

"Second, I already said that I don't believe what you're saying, so I don't know why you're still here"

"I'm trying to help you"

"Oh blow me! You just want Adam to be miserable like you are, you don't give a fuck about me"

"Fine, don't believe be. Maybe when we see your name in the paper and Adam's in jail, then you'll believe me" She says, turning and walking out.

I fall face down on my bed and scream into the blankets for a while. I get up and grab the clothes I selected for my date. I acted like what Chris said didn't bug me, but truth is, what she said kind of shook me up. I don't believe a word that she said, but the image of Adam doing those things is very disturbing, but I'll try to ignore it all.

I go back to my dad's place and act like nothing happened at the house. At about five thirty, I take a shower and get dressed in my old room. At six, Adam arrives to pick me up. He's wearing the same hat he was wearing earlier and slightly faded jeans with a black button down shirt, the sleeves on the shirt are rolled up to his elbows to show off the thin black fingerless gloves on his hands.

"How was your day?" He asks when we get in the car.

"Um, weird, I got a visit for Chris at my house today" He stares at me blankly.

"What did she say?" He asks with a sigh. I tell him the whole story.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that garbage"

"Is any of it true?" I ask.

"Bits and pieces" I nod.

"That's what I thought"

"Are we OK?"

"Yes"

"Good, then let's go to dinner" I smile.

"Where are you taking me?"

"That's for me to know and you to wonder" I roll my eyes.

"So, what did you do today?" I ask him.

"I finished Lost in You"

"When do I get to hear it?"

"Maybe tonight if were not too busy, I gave Tobin and Barry fifty bucks each to get lost tonight"

"Hmm, that could be interesting"

"It will be for sure"

"Do you like how we just skated around that issue?" I ask.

"What issue?"

"It's a good thing you have a nice ass, because you sure as hell are annoying sometimes"

"My ass isn't my best part" He says with a little smirk.

"I'm well aware of what your best parts are, babe"

"Good, then I'm going to say one thing right now, so that you can spend the rest of the night focusing on my best parts and me on yours"

"OK" I say, laughing.

"I am dead fucking serious right now and you're laughing"

"No, no, go ahead, say what you need to say, I promise I won't laugh"

"I'm done over thinking and talking about everything. I'm tired of either saving each other or fighting"

"So, that means ignoring the issues?"

"You said we were fine"

"We are"

"So then were not ignoring anything. The way I see it, you and are going to build a wall around us that is going to be so strong, that no one person will ever mess with us again"

"When we have issues, it's not always someone else's fault" I say.

"I know that, but were both stronger than we were before, were not going to let stupid shit get the best of us"

I think about this for a minute.

"So where are we going for dinner?"

Later that evening, were laying in bed with the sheets strategically placed over our bodies. Adam has his arm around my shoulders and is tracing circles with his finger on my arm.

"This is nice" I say.

"Mmmmhhhmm"

I look up at him, he has his eyes closed and I'm almost sure that were both purring.

"Aww, did I wear you out, babe?" I ask. His eyes flutter open as soon as the words are out of my mouth.

"I doubt it, but if you want to test your theory, I might be up for it"