Their shared classes were right before lunch like they had been the other two times this happened. Now that Erica was in a relationship, she probably wasn't going to want to eat lunch with Adam even if she did still want to study together.
But to his great surprise, she did on the very first day of school even though there was no homework to be done. She said she wanted to catch up about what they both did over the summer.
Adam should really say no but didn't have the willpower. He never did when she was involved.
"I met someone at the beginning of the summer and mostly hung out with him," Erica admitted. "Though I did go to Disney World and to visit Julie at different points. What about you?"
So he had been right. It was recent. That didn't make him feel any better. Or any less confused why she was still hanging out with him now.
"Does he go here?" Adam asked.
"Nah. He's at community college waiting to transfer. We met at the waterpark."
That explained why she was still willing to eat lunch with him at least. She couldn't eat with who she really wanted to.
"Ah," he said lamely, not knowing what else to say.
"Anyway, what about you? Did you do anything fun?" Erica asked before taking a bite of her lunch.
"Yeah, we did lots of fun stuff. The best part was probably our annual camping trip on the Fourth of July though. Aside from the twins climbing this huge tree and not being able to get back down on their own. That was pretty stressful."
"Of course they did. They didn't get hurt, did they?"
"Just a few scratches from branches. They were more upset about getting chewed out for wandering off," Adam said with a small laugh, remembering the looks on their faces. It hadn't been funny at the time but looking back…
"That's good at least. Did you do anything other than hang out with your family this summer?" Erica asked.
"Just worked."
"Fun."
He could hear the sarcasm there and shrugged. Work was what it was. It wasn't the best but it could be worse.
Adam managed to make it through the rest of lunch feeling rather conflicted and tired so he went home once they were done eating and lay on his bed looking at the ceiling, not knowing what to do with himself since everyone was at work or school.
Colton got home first since the high school got out earlier than the middle and elementary schools and narrowed his eyes at his brother's position of hopelessness. "What happened, Adam?"
"Nothing."
"You wouldn't be doing this if it was nothing! Did something happen with Erica?"
Adam bolted upright. "How in the world did you guess that?!"
"Simple. There are only three things you really care about: us, work, and her. I know nothing's going on with us so it was a 50/50 shot. Don't tell me she dumped you," Colton said as he sat down on his bed.
"We were never together, Colton! She's dating someone else."
Adam winced when he realized what he had blurted. There went trying to keep this to himself so his brother wouldn't give him a hard time.
To his surprise, Colton was oddly sympathetic. "I'm sorry. Do you want to play something to make you feel better?"
No further questions? No giving him a hard time for not going for it sooner? What was this?
Adam squinted at him suspiciously. "…why are you being so nice?"
"Because I feel sorry for you. Come on. I'll let you pick the game," Colton said as he got up.
Adam ended up picking Parcheesi and they were still at it when Evan got in from the bus and wanted to join the next game. All three of them were playing when the rest got home and wanted a snack that Colton got up to get for them.
Oddly, Adam did feel a bit better by the time he went to work. His brother's odd show of sympathy instead of giving him a hard time had gotten to him.
===
Erica Simmons wasn't happy in her relationship. The high had worn off and now that the fun summer was over, she was hit with the reality that her boyfriend didn't truly care about her.
Dan had been so charming when they met. He knew all of the right things to say and she hadn't been in a relationship since breaking up with her high school quarterback boyfriend who went away on a football scholarship and didn't want to do long distance. She got swept off her feet.
The stars had fallen from her eyes now though. Dan was directionless, a slacker, and didn't understand why she wouldn't ditch her responsibilities to go have fun. Her parents were paying good money for her to go to school! She wasn't about to waste it!
Dan wasn't anything like Adam. He would never suggest she ditch. He had come to school when he shouldn't have because he didn't want to fall behind by being sick.
He was the hardest worker she had ever met. The smartest too. He was majoring in something hard and ran around with the Academic Decathlon kids in high school. It was no wonder they never crossed paths since she wasn't in the AP track.
That seemed like too much homework and that would have interfered with cheer. She had loved everything about it from the dance aspect to the acrobatics. Her school's team had made it all the way to regionals before getting second place. She always knew that she didn't want to become a professional cheerleader though.
She didn't want to be a professional artist either, which was her other main hobby. She didn't think that would be very realistic. So she settled on being a teacher, reasoning that she could still draw on her own time for fun.
At least she had somewhat of a plan for her life. Dan didn't at all. She had a feeling he would go wherever the wind took him and she didn't want to be swept up in that.
Honestly, she should just break up with him since it wasn't going anywhere. She just felt bad because he hadn't treated her badly or anything. But she didn't see this lasting long term and didn't want to set herself up for more hurt if she got attached later.
Erica had been devastated when her high school boyfriend dumped her because they had been together for two years. She had been going into a new place with none of her old friends since they all scattered to the winds. No one she knew decided to stick around and go to UF because they wanted more adventure.
She got plenty of adventure visiting Julie. She loved the city she grew up in and didn't want to leave it.
She had always been friendly but hadn't clicked with anyone after getting to college despite introducing herself to countless people in her classes and activities she went to over the first few weeks. Then she heard the guy sitting in front of her in her least favorite class audibly groan and detected a potential kindred spirit.
Adam had been a lifesaver, honestly. She wanted to take her studies more seriously than the people she met doing student activities did and he was the perfect person to do that with.
He not only made that horrible class tolerable but even fun. He was an easy person to be around both with how calm he was and how funny he could be. He knew when to goof off and when to be serious and get things done.
Erica got the majority of her homework done when she was with him on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It was a no-brainer to sign up for more generals with him while she could get away with it.
She knew she would run out of them eventually but it was better to have a friend to study with for now, wasn't it? Though that was all they ever did aside from him occasionally telling funny stories about his siblings. She wouldn't mind spending time with him outside of school at all but he seemed like a busy person.
She knew he had a job that took up most of his free time and his siblings took up the rest. It was actually very sweet but she couldn't help but wonder why he didn't want to branch out. A nice, funny guy like him could have all the friends he wanted if he put himself out there.
He was cute too. Very cute. Especially when he was laughing.
Erica tried to shake those thoughts free. She shouldn't be thinking someone else was cute before breaking up with her current boyfriend.
Besides, Adam wasn't interested in her. He would have said something if he was. The only things he was interested in were school and his family. They obviously meant the world to him. She couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to mean that much to someone so devoted given her past luck with relationships.