Loose Ends

Chapter 32: Frenemies No More?

Adrian was on pins and needles as she sat on a bench in the shade at the park and waited for Amy. She had been too anxious to sleep much last night and she found herself driving to the park and locating a comfortable spot to sit much earlier than 9:00. She sat there replaying in her head the conversation she'd had with Ricky, what she'd overheard her dad tell her mom and what her mom had lectured her about. Adrian had never been a religious person but she'd been praying most of the day yesterday begging God to let Amy forgive her quickly so they could get around to talking about teen motherhood. While Adrian was at the park Amy was just about to head out the door. She didn't know how long she and Adrian would be talking but since it was supposed to be a little warm today Amy filled her water bottle and took it with her as she headed out the door. Amy made the short drive to the park and found a place to park. She glanced around the park and walked over to Adrian once she spotted her sitting on a bench. Adrian looked up when she noticed Amy out of the corner of her eye and her palms started to get a little sweaty. Amy took a seat and the two girls stared at each other for a moment, Adrian with a mixture of fear and nervousness in her eyes while Amy's face was perfectly calm. Adrian broke the silence.

"Hi, Amy."

"Hi, Adrian." Adrian had been imagining how this conversation would go on and off yesterday and she decided she wanted to jumpstart their conversation by apologizing, hoping it would help her get to the point where she could ask Amy her questions that much sooner. Adrian licked her suddenly dry lips and cleared her suddenly dry throat.

"Before we start I just wanna say I know I was a mean, jealous, selfish bitch and you have every right to hate me for as long as you want. I overheard my dad telling my mom that you'd talked to him about me and my mom lit into me pretty good after she heard what you'd told him. I also talked to Ricky about our messed up relationship and I know I didn't handle your having his baby right at all. So even though you don't have to, could you just go ahead and yell at me or whatever so we can move on to my questions?" She waited hesitantly for Amy's response and hoped the absence of anger in Amy's face was a good sign.

"Adrian, I don't hate you. I just don't like you." Adrian was surprised to hear that Amy didn't hate her but had no problem believing Amy didn't like her.

"Um….so are we gonna go over everything or what?" Adrian asked, not sure which direction to take the conversation next. Amy shook her head.

"If you overheard your dad talking about my conversation with him than you already know what things you did and said back then that really upset me. I talked to Ricky and understand that a lot of the things you did to me were motivated by jealousy. I still don't understand why, I just get that jealousy can make you do hurtful and stupid things. I'm not here to rehash all that, Adrian. I'm here because you said you wanted to ask me about being a teen mom."

"Well, yeah, but I kinda figured you wouldn't be willing to talk to me about it 'til after you yelled at me or told me off. I mean, you went and talked to my dad about what I'd done back then and, from what I got from the conversation I had with Ricky, you talked to him about it too so you obviously weren't over it all entirely," Adrian admitted honestly, with a hint of surprise in her voice at Amy's calm demeanor. Amy chuckled.

"Adrian, that program in New York helped me a lot. It gave me some perspective about life and being a teen mom. It gave me the confidence to speak up and stand up for myself and helped me reclaim my self-esteem. When I got back I decided it was time to get rid of the unnecessary drama in my life. The only way I was gonna be able to do that was to stop talking to friends who were actually my enemies and that meant going back to the beginning to figure out who I could actually trust. That's why I went to see your dad. I needed answers to some questions that only he could answer. It wasn't that I'm not over what happened back when I was pregnant and John was a baby; I just needed to go backwards to figure out how all the drama in my life started."