I'm Just a Teenage Dirtbag, Baby
Three
“Where’s Adam?” I ask Will when I walk into school and only see two guys waiting for me by my locker.
“He’s not coming. He said that he worked it out with the school for him to take finals after the draft. He’s going to be coming back for a week during the summer for that,” Jeff answers instead. I bang my head against my locker and groan loudly. “Why? Did you want to talk to him about…?” Jeff asks, trailing off. I know exactly what he’s talking about.
I nod against my locker, still leaning against it and Will picks me off the locker and pulls me into a hug.
Jeff joins the hug from the side just as Sara comes over from her locker on the other side of the hallway and the bell rings to send us to first period.
-
Once the day is over, I still don’t see Adam like the guys had said. I debate calling him once I get home but decide against it on the train ride back from Charlottetown back to Cornwall with Will and Sara.
I stay silent on the train, trying to recall anything I can from Friday night, but Sara and Will chat quietly among themselves. We get off the train and I separate from the two of them, walking home alone. I pass by Adam’s house on the walk and see his sister outside on the house’s porch. I wave to her briefly but don’t go up to the house to talk and follow my own resolution to avoid any contact with Adam.
I finally get home and plop down on the couch in my living room, turning on the TV and splaying out.
After a while, my parents and younger sister, Caroline, get home from school and work one by one. My mom comes into the living room, wiping her hands on a dish towel, “The McQuaids are coming over for dinner in about an hour.”
I panic, my eyes going wide and I barely stutter out a sentence, “I-is Adam coming too?”
She gives me a funny look, “Of course he is, we invited them over to say a proper goodbye to Adam before he leaves on Wednesday. Why?” I shake my head and mumble a nothing to her while pulling myself up from the couch and going up to my room to change.
About an hour later, Adam’s parents and his sister come over without Adam, saying he was a little late because he had last minute homework to do before he left. The seven of us all wait around for Adam and after another half hour, he knocks on the door. The moms are busy cooking and gossiping, dads somewhere in the house talking about hockey and the CFL, and our younger sisters probably upstairs in Caroline’s room talking about boys or something, so I’m the odd one out to answer the door.
I hesitantly walk up to the door and pull it open, not quite meeting Adam’s eyes as I welcome him in and walk with him to the kitchen. He doesn’t try to say anything to me which both relieves and annoys me as he reaches my mom and his.
My mom goes to call everyone to the table and his mom carries various pots and dishes full of food into the dining room, so Adam and I are awkwardly alone in a room together for the first time since we woke up together in my bed Saturday morning, two days ago.
We would always welcome time together, cracking inside jokes and talking about random things, just enjoying each other as best friends, but now I feel like I’m drowning in the silence and the void that was created the morning we woke up just seems to separate us more and more as we don’t speak or even acknowledge each other.
Finally, we’re called to the dining room and of course, we’re sat at our normal seats right next to each other. And since there’s an extra person on our side, we’re pushed closer together, my elbow constantly bumping his throughout the meal.
Dinner ends after what feels like forever and we’re excused to go into the living room to wait for desert. My mom calls me back though before I can get away and escape to my room until everything is ready. “Is there a reason that you haven’t spoken one word to Adam since he got here? Are you two fighting or something?” She asks hesitantly.
Even in our current status, I look at my mom like she’s absolutely gone mad. I can count on one hand how many times Adam and I have fought since we met over twelve years ago. “We’re fine, Mom.” I try to hold back any emotional tell as I continue, “But my best friend is leaving for the OHL in two days.”
She gives me a sympathetic look, rubbing my arm briefly and letting me go to the living room now. I wasn’t totally lying when I said that; I am upset Adam is leaving for the OHL but I know there’s nothing I can do to get in between him and his dreams, especially when it comes to hockey. And after what happened, I’m not sure I would want a reason for him to stay.
-
Wednesday comes two days later, and I still haven’t said one word to Adam since Saturday morning. His flight leaves at four, right after school, but I’m not going to see him off. My parents and Caroline aren’t home as usual when I get back from school but I find a note from my mom saying they’ll meet me at the airport.
I crumple up the note and throw it away, dropping my backpack down by the front door. My cell phone rings just as I pull it out of my pocket: Adam. I sigh and shake my head, tapping the reject button and leaving my phone on the counter.
I thought I was ready to talk to him about this but clearly I’m not.
“He’s not coming. He said that he worked it out with the school for him to take finals after the draft. He’s going to be coming back for a week during the summer for that,” Jeff answers instead. I bang my head against my locker and groan loudly. “Why? Did you want to talk to him about…?” Jeff asks, trailing off. I know exactly what he’s talking about.
I nod against my locker, still leaning against it and Will picks me off the locker and pulls me into a hug.
Jeff joins the hug from the side just as Sara comes over from her locker on the other side of the hallway and the bell rings to send us to first period.
-
Once the day is over, I still don’t see Adam like the guys had said. I debate calling him once I get home but decide against it on the train ride back from Charlottetown back to Cornwall with Will and Sara.
I stay silent on the train, trying to recall anything I can from Friday night, but Sara and Will chat quietly among themselves. We get off the train and I separate from the two of them, walking home alone. I pass by Adam’s house on the walk and see his sister outside on the house’s porch. I wave to her briefly but don’t go up to the house to talk and follow my own resolution to avoid any contact with Adam.
I finally get home and plop down on the couch in my living room, turning on the TV and splaying out.
After a while, my parents and younger sister, Caroline, get home from school and work one by one. My mom comes into the living room, wiping her hands on a dish towel, “The McQuaids are coming over for dinner in about an hour.”
I panic, my eyes going wide and I barely stutter out a sentence, “I-is Adam coming too?”
She gives me a funny look, “Of course he is, we invited them over to say a proper goodbye to Adam before he leaves on Wednesday. Why?” I shake my head and mumble a nothing to her while pulling myself up from the couch and going up to my room to change.
About an hour later, Adam’s parents and his sister come over without Adam, saying he was a little late because he had last minute homework to do before he left. The seven of us all wait around for Adam and after another half hour, he knocks on the door. The moms are busy cooking and gossiping, dads somewhere in the house talking about hockey and the CFL, and our younger sisters probably upstairs in Caroline’s room talking about boys or something, so I’m the odd one out to answer the door.
I hesitantly walk up to the door and pull it open, not quite meeting Adam’s eyes as I welcome him in and walk with him to the kitchen. He doesn’t try to say anything to me which both relieves and annoys me as he reaches my mom and his.
My mom goes to call everyone to the table and his mom carries various pots and dishes full of food into the dining room, so Adam and I are awkwardly alone in a room together for the first time since we woke up together in my bed Saturday morning, two days ago.
We would always welcome time together, cracking inside jokes and talking about random things, just enjoying each other as best friends, but now I feel like I’m drowning in the silence and the void that was created the morning we woke up just seems to separate us more and more as we don’t speak or even acknowledge each other.
Finally, we’re called to the dining room and of course, we’re sat at our normal seats right next to each other. And since there’s an extra person on our side, we’re pushed closer together, my elbow constantly bumping his throughout the meal.
Dinner ends after what feels like forever and we’re excused to go into the living room to wait for desert. My mom calls me back though before I can get away and escape to my room until everything is ready. “Is there a reason that you haven’t spoken one word to Adam since he got here? Are you two fighting or something?” She asks hesitantly.
Even in our current status, I look at my mom like she’s absolutely gone mad. I can count on one hand how many times Adam and I have fought since we met over twelve years ago. “We’re fine, Mom.” I try to hold back any emotional tell as I continue, “But my best friend is leaving for the OHL in two days.”
She gives me a sympathetic look, rubbing my arm briefly and letting me go to the living room now. I wasn’t totally lying when I said that; I am upset Adam is leaving for the OHL but I know there’s nothing I can do to get in between him and his dreams, especially when it comes to hockey. And after what happened, I’m not sure I would want a reason for him to stay.
-
Wednesday comes two days later, and I still haven’t said one word to Adam since Saturday morning. His flight leaves at four, right after school, but I’m not going to see him off. My parents and Caroline aren’t home as usual when I get back from school but I find a note from my mom saying they’ll meet me at the airport.
I crumple up the note and throw it away, dropping my backpack down by the front door. My cell phone rings just as I pull it out of my pocket: Adam. I sigh and shake my head, tapping the reject button and leaving my phone on the counter.
I thought I was ready to talk to him about this but clearly I’m not.
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