Mirror // Van McCann

36. Unraveling Adam

As soon as I left the nursing home, I drove straight to El Borracho but I wasn't planning on getting drunk. I was on a mission to extract as much information as I could from Nathan. I pulled into the business complex and parked my car. I was a bit early so I sat in my car and texted Nathan that I was here. It didn't take long for him to text back that he would be there in five minutes.

A car pulled into the parking lot and parked right next to me. I turned to see who it was and saw that it was Nathan. He saw me and waved. I got out of my car and locked it.

"How are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm okay, you?" he asked back.

"I'm good."

We walked in. The restaurant was busy due to the lunch rush but we were able to get a table right away. We sat down and flipped through the menu. After a few minutes, I settled on tacos and we put in our order.

Things were a bit awkward between us. I could tell since he kept looking anywhere but at me but I understand. We used to talk all the time in high school but stopped once we went to college. And then I came out of nowhere asking to meet up with him. I figured since I asked to meet with him that I should start the conversation.

"Did you stay for Adam's burial?" I asked. Nathan nodded.

"Yeah. It was hard saying goodbye. It didn't hit me that he was really gone until they lowered his casket into the ground. Did you stay for his burial?" I shook my head.

"I only attended the viewing. I had to go and couldn't stay for his burial. I'm starting to regret it now."

"It's alright. You know where he's buried and can visit him anytime. There's no need to feel bad."

I had to admit he had a point. I just have to be careful about running into Joyce.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll have to visit him some day," I said, smiling.

The waiter brought our drinks over and I took a sip of the horchata I ordered. We didn't have much time left until our food would arrive. Once it does, I'll have to split my time between eating and talking.

"What was Adam like?" I asked. Nathan looked at me, confused. "I didn't know him as well as you did. I'm just wondering what he's like," I elaborated.

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"What his personality is like and if he ever had a girlfriend?" I didn't like being so forward with my questions but I had to ask. Nathan had to take some time to think before speaking.

"Well, Adam is a nice guy but he's very shy and quiet. It's a shame because he's really cool once you get to know him but people don't bother to talk to him because they think he's weird." Nathan finally looked at me. "He was bullied a lot, you know. He never fought back—he just took it which made him an easy target. And he was fine with it until someone told him that no girl would ever love him and I could tell that bothered him. One day he asked me if I thought it was true—that no girl would ever love him. I told him it wasn't true and asked if he liked anyone and he told me there were some girls he liked, one of them being you." Nathan paused to look at me.

"I already had an idea," I said, to make things less awkward. "I didn't feel the same way though. After we worked on a project together we kind of drifted apart."

"Yeah, that's what he told me," Nathan continued. "After that, he got the courage to ask Molly out and she said no. He didn't take the rejection well. I remember the rumors about his outburst, how he begged her to give him a chance but she still refused. That went on for a while. Him asking girls out and him getting rejected. After getting rejected a few times he finally found someone who said yes—Heather. They went out a few times but after three weeks, Heather broke things off saying he was too clingy and overbearing. She really tried to make it work but they fought often and she was fed up and called it quits. He already struggled with depression and the breakup made it worse. I didn't see or hear from him for months. Finally he reached out to talk to me. I could tell he became a different person after that. He became more negative and he didn't trust anyone anymore. I tried to talk some sense into him but he wasn't listening. He eventually cut me out of his life because I kept telling him to be more open-minded and to be more positive."