•─────────•❋•─────────•

chapter nineteen: nothin' happened in the way I wanted

a/n:

tw(s) — les is unintentionally(?) a dick, rory's parents mention, and a cliffhanger ending

•─────────•❋•─────────•

A few days before the dinner prank, Adam approached the Ducks at lunch, his hands clenched into fists down by his sides and his face a concerning three shades too pale.

Averman recalls that it really came out of nowhere.

While Rory, since her social banishment, had been such a formidable presence in all of their lives—— angry, and gorgeous, and hanging onto the every word that the self-proclaimed king of their school said—— but Adam? He, as if he wasn't their friend for longer and wasn't more entitled to anger than her, simply disappeared into the background. He didn't really answer questions in class anymore and avoided them at all costs, often rushing out of hallways or leaving the library before they even knew he was there.

So, the fact that he was in the same room as them, let alone actively making his way toward them, was more than a little shocking.

But it was what he said (and maybe, partly, the look on his face because Averman swears he hasn't looked that ghostly since they carried him off the ice on a CPR board) that really stuck.

"You have to take it easy on Rory, man." He'd said, his voice trembling with emotion, and then swallowed. "I don't care what you do to me, but... You have no idea what you're doing to her, and you need to stop."

Adam left as soon as he came, not giving them a chance to respond, and Charlie, looking more nervous than he would ever have admitted, brushed it off as Adam being paranoid, so, of course, they brushed it off, too.

But, God, will they regret not listening.

•─────────•❋•─────────•

Standing in a dark dorm hallway after hours, a flashlight in one hand and a walky-talky in the other, he can't help but think that, maybe, they should have listened to their friend.

This link in a long chain of back-and-forth pranks with the varsity warriors was the most outrageous yet. It, in fact, likely bordered on a crime. Biological warfare, he thinks, is the technical term for it; or, at least, he thinks that Rory mentioned those words once, and he thinks it covers this well. They'll probably have to close the school for a few days just to fumigate (sure, ants die pretty fast with or without their colony, but letting foreign insects that bite loose into a place where people sleep will need immediate action from administration) and, if any of the varsity kids decide that enough is enough and decides to fink, they're so fucked. The school is already pissed off about their investment in a team that can't win a game to save their lives, so this would surely be the final nail in their coffin.

And, which is somehow a more urgent problem to him, Rory's dorm is in this building.

It's not like he wants to harm her, or anything.

Sure, he kind of made fun of her for a few days (all of whom were also reluctant to actually shit-talk her) and then publicly made out with a girl he knew she was not comfortable with just to hurt her, but he's over it.

He doesn't hate her.

He's found that, much to his chagrin, it's actually very difficult to hate her.

He just hates how she's acting right now, so quick to hide from what burns her that she won't see anyone else's side of things and clinging to the arms of that trust-fund douchebag like he's the next coming; and, most of all, he hates the fact that he's so mad about it, because he knows why she's like that (and he guesses that, maybe, Rick must be easier to like when you live the same life, but he's not going to budge on that guy.)

So, as he helps Kenny up to stand on his shoulders, he voices his concerns.

"I don't know about this." He says, grunting from the other boy's added weight. "Yeah, sure man, why don't you just stand on my face some more?"

Kenny doesn't say anything about his complaints.

Fulton, from across the hall, scoffs. "What's your problem now, Averman?"

Averman balks at the words that get so venomously thrown at him.

"I just—— Rory's dorm is in this building. What if she gets hit in the crossfire?"

That makes the enforcer roll his eyes.

"Dude, she broke up with you. Why do you care?"

Averman wonders why he has to explain himself.

(And, though this admittedly an awful thing to think, he wonders if Fulton would be able to understand him if he bothered to in the first place.)

"Yeah." Julie butts in. "Besides, it's not like she's in his room, or anything."

There is a brief pause where they all (Julie, Fulton, Luis, and Averman) exchange a look, processing what she just said.

"She's... not in his room, right?"

"Naw." Dwayne, their lookout on horseback, responds to Julie over the radio. "Hell, she ain't even in her room."

Averman's eyebrows pinch together at the same time that Julie's face scrunches up.

"What?"

"She ain't in her bed, and her half of the room looks empty." He says it so nonchalantly that he might be shrugging. "I'm gonna go around again, check the other side of the building."

In the following silence, Averman and Julie make eye contact, and she has the brains to look worried.

With all the (questionably but surely ethically sourced) tubing set in place, Charlie and the rest return from the office with the Tupperware full of venomous insects, they go through with the prank.

It goes about as well as Averman figured it would—— the grand finale being them almost getting murdered by a horde of itchy, rich boys who would definitely get away with it—— and plans to settle this are made for just a few hours later, when the sun finally rose in the sky.

And Averman just can't shake the feeling that sinks into his bones when Rick looks him in the eye with nothing but an apathetic look on his face.

•─────────•❋•─────────•

With only a couple of hours of sleep under his belt, he gets up to his alarm at the crack of dawn and tries his best to leave his house without waking anyone else up.

Fulton is waiting for him in his brother's pickup truck and Averman hardly has his seatbelt on before the old, beat-up vehicle is peeling down his street, making more than a few noises that he's sure means that they're liable to see a tow truck any minute now. They don't talk much—— Fulton has never been a morning person, and he's pulled into himself in the wake of all the change that has happened, and Averman has, for once in his life, nothing to say to his friend, really—— but when Fulton pulls into a gas station to refill the tank, Les offers to grab them both something to eat from the store, and Fulton thanks him preemptively.

As he makes his way to the back of the store, ignoring just how much convenience stores with linoleum floors remind him of a happier time, a row of magazines in the corner of his eyes catches his attention.

In the front and center of all of it is an exposé on Rory's parents.

The biggest picture, the one that makes up most of the cover, is obviously something from a photo shoot. Her father is closest to the camera, smirking and wearing a pair of Ray-Bans as he pretends to drive a car. Across from the camera is her mother, not actually smiling as she reaches to touch the back of his head in something that looks like it's meant to be an affectionate gesture.

Averman pauses for a moment and just stares at it.

He isn't sure he's ever met her mother but he knows he would know her if he were to see her in the street. Rory obviously favors her mother a lot—— they had the same eye shape, noses, and full cheeks that were dotted with freckles—— but there's something about Janice that's so incredibly different. So cold. (Though he supposes, that might be from being a model and French, and he would not be the happiest person if he was married to a guy like Oliver, either.)

There are a few more photos of them on the cover and sparse images of their new spouses have been thrown into the mix. The sheer distance between Oliver's wife's and Janice's husband's ages is made abundantly clear, and all of the images of his ex-girlfriend's parents screaming at one another in public make him queasy.

But, what really takes the cake, is the only actual mention of Rory.

(Which is ironic. Had he looked up from the magazines to the TV overhead, he would have seen something about her that would've changed his world.)

When Averman flips to page six like the cover instructs, there's a picture of Janice in the hospital with a newborn Rory, sourced from a close family friend. Janice must be in her early twenties and, as she stares down at the baby in her arms, there is not a hint of warmth on her face.

There might even be contempt.

Drug Abuse And Baby Trapping: CEO's Ex-Wife Tells All is the title of the article.

He shuts the magazine as a memory of Rory telling him that she was sure her mother actually trapped her father resurfaces and shoves the magazine back like it burned him.

While it feels like it was a lifetime ago, he remembers LA like it was yesterday. He remembers getting to know her and wishing that he could save her somehow, be a white knight from a fairytale and ride off into sunset with her on horseback, taking her so far away that her father would never find her.

All these sudden thoughts of her bring a metallic taste to his mouth, though, so he grabs what he needs and leaves in record time.

Fulton looks at him strangely when he gets to the car.

"Are you alright?" His voice is still weird from sleep. "Do I need to go kick somebody's ass?"

Averman shakes his head and hands over what he got for him.

"No. Just—— I want to be done with this already."

If Fulton is skeptical, Averman can't quite tell. He's very relieved, though, when the boy just started driving.

The locker room is quiet when they get there. Averman doesn't care to change that—— there's been so much infighting recently that Connie and Guy aren't even really talking, and there's so much riding on this game that he knows they need to be together for it—— so he changes in his own corner and doesn't make eye contact more than necessary.

When they get out onto the ice, Varsity is already there and warming up.

Charlie and Adam are, almost immediately, arguing. Averman is too far away to hear what they're saying, though he's got several ideas. (He's pretty sure that Charlie was much more miserable about Adam being put on Varsity than he was about Bombay leaving.)

Instead, he busies himself with looking for Rick amidst the crowd of red, black, and white, prepared to mock him for how itchy he must be. (And how gross Rory must find his face now that it's covered in little red zits.)

But, just as he sets his sights on the captain in question, Julie is yanking him back.

"Rory isn't here."

"What?"

"Rory. Isn't. Here." She repeats through gritted teeth, and then gestures. "Look."

Averman looks up to find that Julie's right.

Rory isn't here.

Her side of her dorm room is empty, and she isn't here.

Averman's heart drops to his stomach for a second time that morning.

Mustering up all the courage he can, he skates up to the captain and shoves his shoulder, "Hey, Riley!"

Three boys immediately saddle up to them, ready to fight him for his pre-game aggression, but Rick holds up a hand.

The fact that he's amused by Averman's rage almost knocks him off track.

"Where the hell is Rory?"

Rick's cold eyes soften, slightly, at the mention of her, and his shoulders fall. The boys immediately stand down, too.

"She's taking a break from school."

Averman's heartbeat is in his ears. "What the hell does that mean?"

The taller boy rolls his eyes at Averman's insistence and, not breaking eye contact again, calls out.

"Banks! C'mere!"

The redhead watches his former friend skate over and his blood pressure climbs with each passing second.

Stopping beside them, the blond takes his helmet off and looks up at his captain.

"What?"

Rick nudges him a bit, giving him an odd look. "They don't know about Myrtle."

Adam nearly drops his helmet at the revelation and turns to Averman, looking madder than he ever has.

"You don't know?" Adam asks, incredulous, like not knowing where Rory was right now was the biggest offense that he could have ever committed. "Didn't you watch the news?"

Though this is a distant thought, Averman knows that his team has gathered around behind him, too. In his periphery, Guy puts a hand on Charlie's chest to keep him from involving himself in this.

"I didn't have the time."

"You didn't——"

Averman narrows his eyes slightly, glancing between the two of them. "Would you just tell me already?!"

"Her grandfather is dead!" Adam spits out with venom that nobody knew he had and Averman flinches back. "He died last night and those—— those assholes made her announce it!"

The varsity goalie squeezes Adam's shoulder comfortingly.

Averman can't feel his tongue.

"What?" Connie asks for him.

"Yeah. He's been dying for months. They took her home so she could say goodbye and he just... died."

For months?

Why hadn't she said anything?

"Happy now?"

Averman flinches again and Adam skates off.

Oh dear god, what have we done?

•─────────•❋•─────────•

a/n:

word count — 2335

i find it soooo funny that without jesse and/or adam the team just... cannot win a game lmfao? like, there's a reason that those two were picked for the most high stake part of the game at the end of the second movie! and nobody talks about it!!!! (guy and julie are also hard hitters, don't get me wrong, this is just a jesse and adam appreciation post!)(for their talent, not just cause you guys think that adam's hot.)

*ralph wiggum voice* ha i'm in danger

the next few chapters of this are going to be VERY long and have a cast of MANY characters. I am warning you of this because people have a tendency to lose interest in long chapters and I cannot afford that rn lmfao.

PLEASE READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS ON THE NEXT CHAPTERS!

comments and votes are super appreciated! they let me know that you guys like my writing and they motivate me to continue! thank you