I smiled at the prospect, thinking of how he’d react to my bare body.
Though, I couldn’t help but wonder who he was texting. Then panic raced through me as it dawned on me — he could be texting Nick about my mom.
I had to know — I couldn’t delay any longer. So I opened the dressing room door and leaned out to face him.
“Who are you texting?” I asked.
I half expected him to lie and say he was browsing the web or checking Instagram or something, but I had seen the telltale text screen. The bubbles were gray and blue on a white background, so I knew that at least it wasn’t Grindr.
He blinked at me innocently, then his eyes traveled downward.
Even though I was just leaning out of the dressing room, he could only see part of my naked torso.
His mouth dropped open.
“Huh?” he asked, coming back to himself.
I smirked a little, feeling a little rush of power inflate my ego. “I asked, who are you texting?”
“Oh… uh, Jake.” He said, “he’s going through some stuff…”
“Oh, okay,” I said, relief flooding through me. I’d completely forgotten about his brother and all of his drama that was going down.
But I couldn’t forget how it was related to my dad.
As I put the next outfit on and buttoned it up, I shuddered to think about all of the times I’d seen him in the past month. Did he know, when he looked me in the eye, that he was betraying our family? Did he know that his careless actions were having an impact on everyone around him? He surely must have known that he’d get caught eventually, right?
With a raincloud descending over my mood, I stepped out to show Adam the second outfit. He reacted with the same blown-away response as the first one.
“Get it. Get it all,” he said.
I smiled a little, then hurried back into the dressing room.
My mind kept tumbling away like a washing machine, the thoughts whirling around. My father was a cheater. My father probably didn’t think he’d ever get caught… who knows how long he’d been cheating on my mom for… and above all, he thought I was a failure and didn’t want me staying at the house…
I tugged the next shirt on a little too hard as I worked myself into a steady rage. Then I pretty much stomped out of the dressing room to show Adam my new outfit. “How’s this?” I asked, my tone lashing out a little sharper than I expected.
Adam looked me up and down again, a puzzled look coming over his features. “You look stunning babe… are you sure you’re alright?”
I lowered my eyes. “I wish I could say I was…”
As I leaned against the wall next to the dressing room, Adam stood up and walked over to me. Then he wrapped me in a huge hug, filling me with his warmth.
“Hey now. What’s wrong? I’ve got you.”
I returned his hug, squeezing him tight. “It’s just that… it’s really overwhelming, you know? There’s a lot of change, my family is falling apart, they all think I’m just this loser who sits around all day doing nothing…”
“You’re not a loser. You’re magnificent,” Adam said.
When he used that tone, it was like his word was law. If he said that gravity had to stop working with that voice of his, we’d all be floating like balloons.
“Thanks…” I said, feeling my fear wind down. It felt like there was a tight spring being pulled apart in my gut, and hugging Adam like this gently released the tension.
“I just got a status update from Nick. Your mom is alright. She just went into the school to do some work, I guess,” Adam said.
My insides relaxed a little more.
“Thank you for telling me. I’m worried about her.”
Adam chuckled. “Don’t worry, we’re keeping an eye on her. She seemed calm from what Nick told me.”
My eyes snapped open. “That’s when she’s at her most dangerous. She can convince anyone of anything when she’s like that.”
Adam sighed. “Don’t worry about that. We’ve dealt with people like that before; we’ve got it handled.
There was a silence that hung in the air for a few seconds, then the fear that had been simmering deep inside me came bubbling to the surface.
“I am going to have to go home eventually, you know. I’m going to have to see her again.”
“Who says?” Adam said without missing a beat.
I looked up into his beautiful green eyes filled with care, unable to believe what I heard.
“What do you mean?” I asked, if not just to hear it again.
“I mean, I have a spare bedroom. You only have a few days left until you start up the semester again. It really only makes sense,” he said simply.
“You’d do that… you’d do that for me?” I asked him.
“I’d do anything for you,” he said planting a firm kiss on my lips.
And in that moment, I was truly happy.
16
Adam
I was over the moon that Luke had said yes to staying with me for a few days. My house would be filled with someone else to keep me company.
Luke, even though I’d only met him a week ago, was quickly becoming my favorite person in the world.
We stopped by his house to pick up his suitcase and laptop. Those were the only things he brought back with him for the spring and summer.
“That’s really all you need?” I asked as he loaded it into the truck.
“I travel light,” he said. But there was a glimmer in his eye that led me to believe he was lying.
Luke didn’t strike me as the type of guy who was minimalist; from what I knew about him, he was the extravagant type. Even that made me more fond of him.
I smiled and shook my head as he climbed into the front seat.
“What?!” he asked, noticing my grin and matching it.
“Nothing…” I said, backing out of the driveway.
* * *
When we were back at my house,
