seven (adam banks)

chapter five

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chapter five: drifting

( a/n: lmao the ending of this chapter literally made me scream

also, a part of this is kinda ripped off that bus stop scene with charlie and linda. idk i just really like the way he talks in that scene and thought it was fitting.

also, at the risk of sounding like *those* authors, i think i have a stomach virus or something, which is fucking sweet )

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"Can you believe them?" Linda scoffs, slamming her tray down on the table. "Why do the cheerleaders get their own table? They barely even do anything!"

Jamie and Elena Ross exchange a look as the frustrated brunette sits down across from them. It's an everyday thing with Linda-she's always whining and complaining about the athletes in the school for doing one thing or another. Jamie makes a face and stabs a bit of food with her fork, not really wanting to take the bait and engage right now.

"Uh, they get their own table because there's twelve of them and one of you." Elena says hesitantly. "And cheerleaders do a lot, don't they?"

Jamie sighs through her nose as Elena turns to her expectantly.

"Yeah."

Linda huffs slightly but says nothing more, letting the conversation topic switch to something else. Jamie tunes them out, her eyes drifting past Linda to the varsity table where Cole and Rick can be seen harassing one of the JV Warriors; she finds herself frowning, knowing that Adam is right there and is just letting them walk all over his friends. He managed to defend her, why isn't he defending them?

Both girls follow her gaze.

"...Okay, you've been all weird since those Ducks joined the school. What's your problem?"

Turning her attention back to them, she finds herself in the hot seat.

"My problem is Adam Banks, that one-"

She points to his back.

"-he and I were best friends growing up. When we were like eight his dad signed him up for peewees and we just kinda drifted apart."

Elena's brows crease further as Linda scoffs.

"See! Nothing good comes from sports!"

Ignoring the other brunette, the older girl leans closer to Jamie.

"I'm hearing what you're saying and it doesn't make any sense. That was like seven or eight years ago, haven't you moved on?"

She stares at Elena oddly for a moment. Of course, she's moved on. Right?

"It's not like that...it's just weird. He's Adam, and I know he's Adam, but he's so different."

Three more of the JV team come in, two of whom she knows vaguely (Fulton Reed and Charlie Conway, she believes.) Rick and Cole start to pick on them too, making her frown even more. She could've sworn that Charlie had taken up her vacant spot of best friend.

"Well, eight years really changes a person. I'm sure you're really different too."

Jamie nods, accepting her friend's half-assed attempt to comfort her.

"What the hell kind of brownies are these?"

Everyone in the room turns to look at the varsity enforcer as he pulls something out of the bag.

"I gotta tell her... to stop using the horse turds in the recipe."

She snorts a laugh, ducking her head down as the entire lunchroom seems to erupt. The three boys run down the lunchroom, the varsity team following them; as Cole runs, he throws the bag of dung onto the cheerleaders' table, earning shrieks as they all stand and chase too.

"Thanks for not letting me sit there!" Linda calls after them.

Adam, as he begrudgingly follows his team, watches Jamie, gauging her reaction. He's pleasantly surprised to see her laughing with the rest of them, trying to hide it with her hand.

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Adam is a pretty good partner.

He doesn't slack off on his cut of the work and he always shows up on time in the computer lab or library, even if he's just had practice and has to drag his gear around the school. Of course, there's still slight amounts of tension between the two of them and, sometimes, the silences weigh so heavily that she just wants to send him home, but outside of that, she actually finds herself enjoying their time together.

While she'll never admit it, Jamie really missed him.

"So, you don't like hockey?"

She sighs softly, tracing a figure of Apollo out of one of the library books. "I don't dislike it, it's just..."

Sitting back on her living room carpet, Adam cocks his head at her. He was outlining one of the paragraphs for their board with a gold paint pen.

"What? Too violent for you?" He asks gently, a smile tugging at his lips. "You don't understand the rules?"

Jamie runs her tongue along her teeth, snorting softly.

"Have you ever even been to a game?"

She pauses tracing to glance up at him. "I went to yours."

Adam gawks at her for a moment, a silence overcoming them yet again. No one speaks for a few incredibly long seconds, the only sound in the house being the television show they put on for background noise.

"You did?"

"Mhm." She nods, pointedly avoiding his gaze. "Every one until that last one with the Hawks- the one where you went flying and had to get taken off the ice in a stretcher. I kinda couldn't stomach going after that."

"Oh."

"Yeah... so I guess too violent works."

Adam blinks at her a few times after her awkward laugh fizzles out. Her face growing hot, she turns her attention back down at Apollo and continues tracing.

"...I have a game tomorrow."

"I know." Cole has been talking about it for days.

"Why don't you come?"

Jamie's eyes flicker up to him again and he immediately looks down at their poster again.

"Uh, sure. I'll be-" it's way more embarrassing than it sounded in her head- "cheering you on. All the Warriors."

He smiles softly, looking about as red as she feels, and they go back to work.

They take a break and decide to order pizza. Jamie goes into the kitchen to use the phone in there, away from the TV and Adam, and puts her head in her hands- why the hell did she agree to go to a hockey game?

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It rains again the next morning.

Jamie gets to the bus stop looking like a drowned rat, her nose wrinkled and her eyebrows scrunched together as droplets travel down her face. Adam wordlessly holds his umbrella out, biting back a laugh at the state she's in, and she takes it.

He doesn't expect her to stand next to him and hold it over his head, too.

"What?" She asks when she catches him staring.

Adam points to his own face. "You, uh, you're- here."

He pulls the sleeve of his varsity jacket up past his hand and brushes it against her cheek, pausing as she recoils slightly before leaning into his touch. No words are exchanged past that point and the two avoid each other's eyes.

The bus comes and they get on it together.