Chapter Eight (Adrian’s POV)

Unintended Consequence

Part 1

“You know Adrian, that hand you’re wasting would be better off holding a beer.” Marshall eyed his friend with a kind of disappointed sadness, as if he was watching him leave to war or something. “Would you please stop starring at your cellphone like the little girl you’ve become and enjoy the party? You’re embarrassing yourself.”

Adrian chuckled and complied with his friend’s will. He quickly shoved his cellphone on his pocket, grabbed a beer and looked around.

“That’s more like it.” Marshall smiled and playfully hit Adrian’s beer with his own, inviting the brown haired boy to drink.

They were hanging in a celebration party that was being held at Jackson’s humble home. They always celebrated their hard earned victories. The whole team was there, plus the cheerleaders and a lot of other students from their school. The drinks were cold, the music was loud and the girls were hot. There could be no better recipe for fun.

So why wasn’t he having much of it?

Marshall left him to mingle with some pretty girls and Adrian immediately took his chance to stare at his cellphone again.

Nothing. He felt pathetic as the disappointment washed over him from head to toe. What was wrong with him? So, Sophie didn’t show up at his match as he was hoping. So she didn’t see him win. So she wasn’t taking any of his calls. So she wasn’t calling him back.

So what?

What the hell was wrong with him? Since when did he care about something like this? No big deal, she was probably busy.

And so what if she wasn’t?

No big deal.

“Man, you do realize what’s going on here, right?”

Adrian quickly looked away from his cell and shoved it back into his pocket as soon as Chad’s voice reached him.

“What do you mean?”

Chad smiled mischievously, like he knew a secret he enjoyed keeping to himself. “C’mon. You know what I’m talking about.” And, still smiling, he motioned towards the pocket that contained the shamefully hidden object.

Adrian shrugged and returned the smile with relaxation. “I know what you’re talking about, but I still don’t know what you mean.”

Chad’s smile widened and he winked. “It’s okay, though. It’ll be good for you.”

“The hell are you talking about?” Adrian laughed, entertained by Chad’s attempts at being mysterious and wise.

Chad never had the time to answer though, because soon Diane was standing right in front of Adrian, a seductive smile in her pink lips. She stood so close that he could feel her breath as she sighed his name. She was a beautiful vision of blond curls and hazel eyes, her sweet scent intoxicating him. Diane gently rested her hand against his chest and almost whispered, “Congratulations.”

“Thanks.” He grinned, and caught himself avoiding her eyes and scratching the back of his head. He had no idea why he did that, it was like he was uncomfortable with her proximity to him – which he never had been before.

Who was he, Chad or something?

Thank God Marshall wasn’t there to see it.

“Do you want to go celebrate?” She smiled, seemingly unaware of his uncharacteristic actions. He looked at her again, dived right into those amazing eyes. Diane was a sweet girl with the wrong stereotype attached to her. He was about to answer, not even sure of what, when his cellphone finally rang.

Adrian quickly looked at its screen and, as soon as he saw the name blinking, a sudden wave of relief invaded him and he smiled wide.

“Sorry, Di. I really have to get this. I’ll be right back.” And without waiting for her reply, he left the room, in search of a quiet place outside the house to pick up the phone. He didn’t even hear Chad chuckling and saying, “That’s what I mean.”

He pressed the button and rested the little object against his ear.

“Finally, Murphy.” He smiled. “Busy morning, huh? I’ve been trying to talk to you for ages.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. It was chaotic.”

For some reason, the first thought that came into his mind after her answer was – trouble. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but something was definitely wrong. Her tone was strange, not quite worried or tired but maybe sad? He didn’t like it.

“Is everything alright, though? You sound… I don’t know, weird.”

“Everything is fine.” She sighed, in that way she made every time she tried to convince him, and herself, of something she didn’t quite believe in.

“Hmm…” He didn’t buy it. Nevertheless, he decided to change the subject, knowing that she would eventually tell him or he would probably get what it was through casual conversation. Sophie was quite transparent, after all. Or, at least, she was to him. It was one of the things he liked most about her. “By the way, we won the match today.” He tried to sound casual and relaxed about it, but the truth was, he was damn proud about it and he hoped she would be, too.

“Great. Congratulations. I’m happy for you.”

Okay, not exactly the excited reaction he had been hoping for. He decided to blame whatever was upsetting her, instead of blatant disinterest.

“You know, I was kinda hoping you would end up showing up there.” It came out of his mouth before he could even think about it, but he shrugged. It was the truth, after all. “I really thought you would. I guess you’re still mad at me, huh?” He was playful about it, since he was pretty convinced that she wasn’t, but now that she was acting so weird, he was beginning to wonder if maybe he had underestimated Murphy’s grudge-keeping abilities.

“No, I’m not mad at you,” she answered quickly and he almost took a sigh of relief. His smile widened. “I was there.” And then it quickly vanished.

It took a moment for him to fully understand her words. “You were there?”

He was trying to decide if that made him happy, angry or confused.

“Yes.” And he could tell by her voice that she was trying to understand the same thing.

“You actually, physically, went to the game?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You saw me?”

“Yes.”

Wait. That wasn’t the deal. “And… I didn’t see you because…?”

What the hell happened? Why didn’t she meet him at the end of the game? Her answer only made it more confusing.

“Because… I was a coward. Because… I’m stupid?”

Yet, somehow, no matter how little sense it made, it was totally Murphy. He should’ve known.

“No shit.” He still didn’t know if he should be entertained or angry.

“Are you angry?”

Probably entertained. The shyness and slight fear in her voice made him smile, but he figured she deserved to suffer a little.

“I think I should be a little, don’t you? I mean, I don’t see how this is fair.” He knew he should be, but somehow, something, wasn’t allowing him to be.

“I know, I’m sorry.” She sounded sorry. She also sounded freaking adorable. Now he really was getting frustrated. He did have the chance of finally seeing her, finally meeting her in person; she was that close and she denied him that. Selfish Murphy.

“What the hell, Murphy? Why won’t you let me see you?” He really couldn’t get it but he suspected it had something to do with her usual paranoia. At the sound of her silence, his heart melted. Adrian sighed and decided he should stop torturing her. “What am I going to do with you?” Then he smiled. “You owe me!”

“I do.” Her relief was definitely cute. It felt like she had been holding her breath all this time.

“So what do you think?” He decided to concentrate now on how happy he felt that she had actually showed up to see him kick ass. “Pretty damn hot, huh?”

She laughed and he enjoyed the sound. Relaxed, fun Murphy was definitely better than paranoid, awkward Murphy, no matter how entertaining the latter was. Still, the fact that she wasn’t willing to show herself bothered him. There had to be a reason (and knowing Sophie, it should be a pretty stupid one).

“Why wouldn’t you come to meet me, Sophie?” He asked in a serious tone and, somehow, he was sure she would answer him this time.

Here it comes.

“I felt… embarrassed.”

Voilà.

Stupid reason it is.

“Embarrassed? Of what, me?”

He wasn’t going to lie, it would be pretty insulting, if not hurtful, if she didn’t trust him yet.

“No! Of course not.”

Well, at least there’s that.

He kept waiting for her explanation and was slightly amused by her failed attempt at being sneaky.

“You’re a great basketball player, by the way.”

Of course he was. He knew that, already. If she thought he was going to be distracted so easily, she was pretty mistaken.

“Embarrassed of what?”

Not going down so easily, babe.

“And your mother is a beautiful woman.”

“I know, what I don’t know is, why wouldn’t you come to me at the end of the game?”

Lord knows he looked and waited for her.

“And your brother is as cute as I imagined him to be. I just wanted to squeeze him.”

“Embarrassed of what?”

“And you school is so big and everyone looked so nice-“

He had to interrupt her, because now, she was just plain desperate.

“Sophie! Embarrassed of what? Just tell me. Jesus!”

She sighed, sounding defeated. “Why are you making me say it?”

“I want to know.”

“Don’t you know already?”

She asked as if it was plainly obvious. Well, it wasn’t. Who knew what new webs of doubt and insecurity were swimming in that weird head of hers?

“How am I supposed to know? If I did, I wouldn’t be asking.”

She answered so abruptly, it was like she was spitting the words. Like she was pleading guilty to some horrible, shameful crime. “Me, ok? I was embarrassed of myself. There. I saw you all awesome like and I just… couldn’t face you.”

Yeah, he was right. Pretty damn stupid. Webs of paranoia, doubt and insecurity and all.

Adrian sighed, shook his head and massaged his eyes with his free hand. “So… what are you telling me exactly? Because that doesn’t make any sense and if it is what I’m thinking, it’s beyond ridiculous.” He pleaded to the Gods that she wasn’t that unaware.

“It is what you’re thinking and I do know it’s ridiculous, thank you.” Alright, so some sort of awareness after all. Still, he could feel some kind of hurt or sadness or maybe even shame seeping out of her. It frustrated and angered him in a very weird and alien way when she thought or talked about herself like this. At first, all her self-doubts entertained him, but now, it made him feel something stronger – and he couldn’t quite understand why. It was like a protective instinct. Like he felt compelled to constantly protect her from herself.

“So you thought you weren’t good enough for me? Is that it?”

“More or less…”

Adrian rolled his eyes. “Don’t you think I should be the judge of that?”

She didn’t answer. What, she thought he would mock her or run away or ignore her if she wasn’t good looking? Geez, did he sound like that much of a douche?

“Because I think you’re more than good enough. And I think you should give me a chance to tell you that in person. Why do you keep underestimating me? I’m not that much of a jerk, you know? My name is not Mark.”

“I know you’re not a jerk and I know you’re right. And please, don’t bring Mark into this.”

“Believe me, if it was up to me, his name and his person would never be mentioned or thought of.”

Damn right.

“It is up to you, though, you brought him up.”

She was clueless.

“That’s because I strongly believe that you keep confusing me with him. Acting towards me like I’m the same kind of jackass.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” She really was clueless. “And stop calling him names.”

Wait… What?

“Why are you even defending him?” He couldn’t hide the confusion, or maybe even anger, from his tone.

“Because he’s… he’s a friend, ok? So please, respect him. For me.” She sounded unsure and shy. It was like she was trying to convince herself as well as him. Whatever, it wasn’t working. When had this happened?

He couldn’t help but scorn. “A friend? Since when?” The definition of the word must’ve changed since he last checked.

“Since this morning.” What. The. Hell. “And we were friends before we started dating, you know.” She said it as if that made it right, like it made it better. She was genuinely blind to the fact that it actually made it worse. At least in his book, it did.

When had this happened?

“Am I missing something?” he asked.

“Kinda…” He could feel her discomfort.

“Care to elaborate?” He felt an unnatural, unknown, rage filling him that he tried, with his mightiest effort to control and hide.

“I saw him at the mall today and we talked-“

“Ah, shit… Murphy!”

“He came to me! I didn’t budge, he did.”

“And that’s supposed to make it alright?”

“Yes, it is! He seemed sincerely sorry for what he did to me and-“ He couldn’t help it, he had to laugh. It was a bitter laugh, though, for he didn’t really enjoy the situation. Sophie ignored him and continued, “and he asked me to be friends with him again.”

She couldn’t really be this blind.

“And you said ‘okie-dokie’.” He rolled his eyes and couldn’t really help his bitter mocking, which, again, she seemed to ignore.

“I agreed to try, yes.”

Adrian took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes with his hand, he felt tired and frustrated. “So now where does that leave you two?”

“I don’t know, we’re friends, I guess.” He could tell she was insecure and unsure of what she was saying, though she was trying epically to sound otherwise.

That didn’t make him any less angry. “Wow. It was that easy, huh?” He smiled with a foreign kind of sadness.

“You know what, Adrian?” Oh boy, she was getting that tone - her pissed of tone. Good. “You really shouldn’t feel the right to judge me.”

“I’m trying to help you. Without any success, it seems.”

“What is your problem? It’s not like I can just take people out of my life just like that.” Well, that was kind of endearing. Stupid, but kind of endearing. “He was one of the most important people to me for a long time.”

Adrian knew better than her how difficult it was. But he also knew how important it was to just let him go.

“I just can’t understand… I really can’t,” he answered honestly, shrugging.

“Well, that makes two of us.”

“He’s going to hurt you again.” He found himself almost pleading with her. Just listen, Murphy!

“You could give me a little more credit.”

Adrian took his cellphone away from his ear for a few seconds.

“So, what, you guys went on a date? He bought you flowers?” Again, he felt bitter and angry and maybe a bit childish, so he tried to hide it behind a mocking tone. He didn’t know why he felt like teasing and making fun of her.

Her answer was equally bitter and angry, but he could feel her attempts at remaining patient and cool with him. “It wasn’t a romantic date, ok? It was a friendly date. We went to a coffee shop and he bought me a hot chocolate.”

“At least he remembered you don’t drink coffee,” he mumbled. “Did something else happen?”

“No…”

Her tone wasn’t convincing.

“Nothing happened?”

“We talked, like friends do.”

“And what else?”

“He said he would call me later.”

He sighed. “And…?”

“That’s it.”

Sophie was definitely hiding something.

“Really?”

“Sure.”

“I can tell you’re hiding something.”

“I’m not.” The light trembling of her voice betrayed her, no matter how convincing she tried to sound.

Adrian took a deep breath again and said with almost tenderness, “Murphy…”

“Well, maybe just a little something…”

“Tell me.”

“It’s just a little detail.”

“Go ahead.”

“He kind of… kissedmeintheend.”

“He kissed you?” Adrian repeated, a mix of surprise and a weird sort of anger suddenly on his veins. “You kissed?” The sudden image of Murphy and the asshole kissing filled his mind – he couldn’t really picture them, but it bothered him nonetheless, much to his surprise and concern.

“He kissed me, but it was nothing, really.” He could feel the urgency in her voice.

“Oh, of course not. That’s why you didn’t want to tell me, because it was so meaningless. He’s got you already! I can’t believe it was so easy. Don’t you see? You’re dating again!”

“Adrian…”

“How can you be so stupid?”

“Hey!” She sounded mad now. Great. “It’s my decision to make, ok?” But she’s making the wrong one! “If I want to date him, I will.”

Adrian smiled, an uncharacteristically angry smile that he wasn’t used to wear on his features. “You’re right. You should bang your head on the wall as many times as you want.”

“Can you please stop talking to me like that?”

Her voice was sad and pleading, which made him feel guilty and a slight ache in his chest. He hesitated to answer, but no matter how bad he felt about her anguish, he still felt pretty angry at her. Besides, she needed to hear the honest truth.

“’Just friends’, my ass… Why are you so pathetically afraid of being alone?”

“Adrian, I told you, you don’t get the right to be pissed off about this!”

He could kind of get what she was saying, he could almost agree with it, but he couldn’t help feeling it nevertheless. He felt an irrational need to keep her away from that guy, to bring her back to reason, to yell at her, though he knew he’d never do it.

“How can you be so frustrating?” was all he could say, walking around in the middle of the street, his fists clenched. He couldn’t remember ever feeling like this.

“I knew I shouldn’t have told you. At least I told you!”

What the hell did she mean by that?

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“At least I was honest with you. Can you even say the same?”

Yes! Yes, he could. He had been nothing but honest with her from the very beginning.

Adrian took a deep breath and managed to relax a little. “Again, what are you talking about?”

“You weren’t completely truthful about your girlfriend, were you?”

Another deep breath. Oh, Murphy. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Don’t lie to me!”

Whoa. Seriously pissed of Murphy. Also, seriously wrong Murphy, as usual.

“I’m not lying. I don’t lie! I never lied to you.”

She should know this, already.

“Are you sure?”

“Sophie, just cut the crap and tell me what in the world are you talking about?”

“Alright! You wanna know why I didn’t meet you at the end of the game? The real reason? I was coming for you, but your hot girlfriend got there first, ok? I saw her jumping into your arms and I saw the two of you kissing. Why would you tell me all you two had was a one night stand? Why would you lie? Unless that was another girl, in which case-“

Okay, so he was not expecting that. At all. He was stunned and surprised for a few seconds, but he regained composure pretty quickly. He could only repeat, with more certainty, what he had already told her more than once, “She is not my girlfriend.”

“So you usually kiss your friends on the lips?”

Usually, Adrian loved sarcastic Murphy. It made him laugh. This time though, it only frustrated him more.

“She kissed me, I pushed away. Maybe if you had stayed there instead of making stupid assumptions, you would’ve seen it.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“Why would she kiss you in the first place?”

“Because we spent a night together and I guess she couldn’t get enough of me,” he bitterly joked, rolling his eyes.

“Funny. That’s really funny.”

“Don’t want to believe me, then don’t.” He shrugged. “It’s the truth, though. I don’t lie. If she was my girlfriend, I would tell you with no problem. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

He ignored her last remark. “So you didn’t meet me because you were jealous?”

“I wasn’t jealous, I felt betrayed and humiliated.”

“In other words, you were jealous.” He smiled.

He heard her take a deep breath and mumble, “You’re such a pain.” It made him smile wider.

Suddenly, Adrian heard a woman’s voice on the other side of the line, which he supposed belonged to Sophie’s mother, telling her that Mark was on the phone waiting for her.

Shit.

He had to be bitter and petty about it, the situation basically screamed at him to do so. Either that, or he would be mean and mad. He went with petty and bitter.

“You should get that. You don’t want to keep your boyfriend waiting.”

He could hear her ignoring him and answering her mother, “Tell him I’ll be right there, mom, please.”

He could not believe it. “You’re really going to get it?”

“Obviously, I’m not rude. Besides, I thought you wanted me to.”

God, he hoped she was not having fun with this.

Adrian laughed with no humor. “So now you listen to what I tell you to do?”

“It’s just a phone call, what’s the big deal?”

“You know what? Forget it. If you want to be with him, be my guest.”

“Why are you acting like this?” She sounded desperate again.

“It’s amazing to me that you didn’t get it yet. I’m tired of telling you but I’m not like you, I have a shred of pride in me, so I’m just going to stop trying.” He sighed, he felt mentally tired.

“Would you please stop talking to me like that?” Again, her tone made him feel the urge to make her feel better, but he fought it.

“Forget it, Sophie. I’m tired of this conversation already. You shouldn’t keep your boyfriend waiting. I hope you don’t regret it, by the way.”

“Adrian, just wait a few minutes, I’ll call you right back.”

No. She had made her choice.

“Just… You know what? Don’t bother.” And he hang up the phone.

Adrian felt his body and mind ache. He was suddenly exhausted, numb and sad. He also felt an inexplicable anger. He couldn’t really understand it. Why was he so pissed off about this? So he didn’t want a friend to get hurt. That’s pretty standard behavior. But that’s no reason to get so… angry, so hurt. The fact that she forgave Mark so easily and he was calling her and they were probably talking right now made him angrier than it should.

What the hell?

He walked around for a while, anxiety taking over him as he imagined Sophie, his Murphy, hanging out with another guy – especially if that guy was the asshole that Mark was. He took deep breaths, brought his hands to his head, messed up his hair some more and tried to make sense of it all.

Murphy…

Could it be?

The reason why he always got so excited to talk to her. Why he always smiled every time he heard her sweet, innocent voice. Why she always made him laugh and forget about all else. The reason why he cared so much about her, even though he never even saw her.

Why he called her Murphy.

Why he got so mad as he imagined her getting hurt. The reason why it frustrated him and hurt him to imagine her with someone else…

Ah, shit!

Author's Notes (not here before because I was in a hurry when I uploaded this and, as usual, when you're in a hurry, your computer does its very best to screw you):

Hooray! Panda finally did it :D I am so sorry for the delay. Please, forgive me! Please... with a Pink Elephant on top ;)
Anyway, yeah, I have no freaking clue how and why this chapter got so epically huge! O.o
Author fail?
Maybe.
Probably.
I'm sorry if it has mistakes or errors. I did a pretty lousy edit, I admit it (as you can probably tell by the fact that it is so freaking huge that I had to cut it into two parts -_-)
I hope you enjoy it, though =) Sincerely. I guess the good news is - the second part will be up in no time, eheheh.
Thank you SO much for reading and waiting patiently and loyally. I seriously love you for it. Not obsessive, stalker, creepy kind of love though, unfortunately, since Fritzel is on vacation and I lack the motivation to do it without him inciting me. Just pure, sweet, grateful, slightly less psychotic love, which is frankly as good as the other one - though not as fun. I LOVE YOU!
Tell me everything, my sweet bunnies that ride the train of awesomeness (yeah, you do, even if you weren't aware of it xD).