Truth About Adrian

Chapter 4

"I will never understand why he insists on trying," Noah stated, he leaned against the wall beside Adrian as they both watched their best friend from a close distance. Theodore swayed side to side with a stupid grin on his face as he talked to the curly haired girl in front of him. The young woman folded her arms and turned towards her group of friends who stood a few inches away from the pair with amusement. 

"As long as he doesn't to the thing." Adrain prayed silently for his friend to just leave, he knew that Theo was as he'd stated many times before a 'ladies man' but after a while, it just got to his head.  As if Theodore heard him, the man's grin widened and his chest began moving upwards and downwards. The two men rolled their eyes and slightly cringed at their friend. "Oh my God," Adrian shook his head adjusting his backpack. They watched as the girl walked away from Theo with her friends while they laughed. 

"Yeah, let's go." Noah and Adrian headed towards Theo with slight smirks, Theo, on the other hand, looked confused and turned to his friends slowly. 

"Great job, really nailed that one Theo, man," Noah teased. 

"She, she was totally into me. You should have seen it." The stutter in his voice made the long-haired man laugh as he turned towards Adrian. Theo put on his shirt and ignored Noah.  

"So, are you going with us to Sam's?" 

The three hopped down the stairs, it was around ten thirty on a Thursday. Thursday's at Sam's was something a lot of people at the University attended, Sam was a junior at Rocky Mountain and had thrown the wildest parties. Adrian attended them, on occasions though it was never his idea he'd only go if Noah or Theo made him. Parties were something that Adrian would avoid, though every now and then he did quite enjoy them they gave him a chance to be 'normal'. 

"Uh, I promised Miles that I'd hang out with him tonight." Adrian shoved his hands in his pockets as the trio made their way to the parking lot. "Maybe next time?"

Theo nodded, and playfully punched his arm. "Alright, hey if we leave before three we might come by." 

They shook hands and got into their separate cars. Adrian snorted a laugh as he saw Theo turn and head in the direction of a group of girls. Noah threw his arms in the air and turned to Adrian who just shook his head and pulled out of the parking lot. "Typical Theo," he smiled.

The car ride wasn't long as he lived a good five blocks from the University, it gave the man time to think. It had been a long day of lectures, lectures that Adrian paid no attention. His thoughts ran through his head like children at recess. He thought about what Miles said earlier, and how Dr. Jones told him to try opening up. He thought about his parents, specifically why his mom would call after all these years. He even thought about what it would be like if he wasn't feeling empty all the time. He didn't know why he let the emptiness run his life, but he couldn't do anything to stop it. It was like a cloud of darkness had taken over and it followed him everywhere. 

He slowly parked the car in the driveway and noticed the living room light was on. Miles. The streetlight in front of his house shined down on the car as he got out. With a sigh, Adrian made his way up the sidewalk, the door flew open before he could even step foot onto the porch. 

"Dad's gone, I made pizza rolls and meatballs," Miles grinned, supporting himself on both sides on the entrance. 

Adrian grinned and wrestled the boy, "Hope you didn't burn them." 

"Hey get off!" Miles laughed, the two of them nearly falling out of the door. 

Adrian let go of the younger boy and shut the door, he headed for his room where he dropped off his bag and made his way down the stairs. "How was practice?" Adrian leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen and watched the boy take out a big bowl, of what he assumed were meatballs, from the microwave. 

"Eh, boring. Jefferson kept messing up the shots and we had to do runs. That sucked. How were lectures? Wait let me guess, boring?"

Adrian nodded with the click of his tongue and went to grab a meatball. "Dad been home?"

"What do you think?"

"Okay, smart ass." The two headed for the living room and sat on the couch. The television was already set for them to play which made Adrian laugh. "How romantic," he mused and quipped and grabbed a controller. 

"Only for you, sweetheart." The brothers joked as they began the game occasionally popping pizza rolls and meatballs into their mouths. 

They played a bunch of games, and talked about random things, as they enjoyed each others company. It had been a while since they'd done this and it was something that they both had missed. Neither one of the boys noticed the time getting later and later, and they ignored their brains telling them that they were tired, not even the sound of the front door opening and shutting. Alan stood behind the couch and watched his two sons as Miles argued over something that happened in the game and Adrian laughed. A smile grew on his tired face as he watched the two. He hadn't seen them like this in a long time. He barely saw them at all, with all of the work he'd been doing. 

Miles threw a meatball at Adrian and the two began wrestling. Alan grinned and folded his arms. "Boys," he muttered. 

Adrian went to slam the shorter boy onto the couch when his eyes shot towards their father, who grinned at them. Adrian dropped the boy who yelped and rubbed his head. "Dad?"

"Dad? You're home." Miles stood up and the two stared at the older man. Alan awkwardly unfolded his arms and looked around. "Uh, well yeah," Alan didn't know what to say. The two boys stood there equally awkward. 

"Cool," Miles stated, he wanted this to be over. He rubbed his head and rocked on back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"What, uh, what are you guys doing?" 

Adrian stood there, he wanted to be anywhere but here. It was so awkward, and his father's stuttering was not helping at all. 

"Just some, Call of Duty." Miles glanced up slightly at his brother. 

"Well, uh cool. I'll just, I'll be upstairs in the office." Alan pointed up the stairs and the two boys nodded awkwardly. 

They waited for the man to be out of earshot before they turned towards each other and scrunched their eyebrows. "That wasn't weird at all," Miles snorted and grabbed his controller. 

Adrian rolled his eyes and fell back onto the couch. "Ya' think?"

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It was five o'clock when Adrian awoke by a bunch of movement. He opened his eyes and looked around, he was still in the living room but the television was off. It was still dark out and he turned his head to see Miles. Not just Miles, but two other figures slumped on each end of the smaller couch beside them. Adrian sat up and noticed Noah and Theo which confused him. He looked down to see Mile's feet in his face, and his head resting on the arm of the chair. 

"Your dad let us in." Adrian looked up to see Theo staring at him, resting his head on his fist. The streetlight made the living room light enough to see that Theo looked like death. "Dude, I feel like shit."

The muscular man rubbed his stomach and threw his head back. "I take it the party was fun?" 

"It was a total waste, Sam's neighbor called the police and everyone had to leave. I was too drunk to go home so we came here. By the way, your dad was not pleased." That made Adrian snort and gave the guy a sarcastic reply. 

The two talked for a while before their snores filled the room.