Erica didn't know what to think of Adam's disappearance when he was gone for two whole weeks but she was going crazy with worry so she sort of pounced on him when he got back. Then felt terrible about it because he had gotten his stomach sliced open and hugging him like that obviously hurt.
She had a lot of things she had wanted to ask him when she saw him again but didn't end up doing any of them because he was so clearly stressed, exhausted, and in pain. She didn't want to make things worse.
So she stamped down her curiosity and did her best to help him catch up on everything he had missed in their shared classes. He had an awful lot of makeup work to do but at least he hadn't missed midterms. He was able to finish all of his makeup work before then.
Once the worst of it was over and she knew he was back to his normal schedule, she felt like she could finally make a move. His long absence and how panicked she was not being able to get a hold of him at all had proved that she did like him. Of course she did. He had been one of the most consistent parts of her life for a year and a half. She should have realized her feelings sooner.
Erica remembered what her mom said about treading lightly. It was part of why she hadn't said anything on the matter before now.
She wasn't sure how to make her move until Adam brought up wanting to repay her for her help. She could get a date out of him that way and make him talk then.
The night of, she got ready in a very good mood. She answered the phone cheerfully when she saw he was calling, expecting to hear that he was on his way. Instead, she got a rather apologetic cancelation.
"I'm so sorry, Erica. Evan broke his arm and my mom had to take him to the hospital. Colton's at work and she couldn't find anyone else to watch the rest of the kids. Can we reschedule for next week?"
Erica's heart sunk. She had really been looking forward to this too!
She knew how important his family was to him though. She couldn't begrudge him having to watch his siblings in an emergency.
That being said, she still wanted to see him. She had made herself look good tonight for a reason and didn't want to waste it. Besides, having an in with his siblings would make him realize that dating her wouldn't get in the way of hanging out with them, wouldn't it?
"Not a problem! Do you mind if I come over and watch your siblings with you though? Since I don't have anything else going on tonight anyway," she said.
Adam's tone was rather dumbfounded. "You want to?"
"Yeah! I told you, kids are funny."
"If you're sure."
He gave her his address and she headed out as soon as she did the finishing touches on her makeup. It wasn't too much for Hardy's, which was a fairly casual place, so it should be fine for babysitting too.
Erica's outfit was cute but easy to move around in so she could take whatever Adam's siblings might dish at her. She headed out immediately after looking up his address and discovering that he only lived about ten minutes away from her.
When she arrived, she took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell and Jonas answered it. "Who are you?"
"I'm Adam's friend Erica."
"Adam! Some girl is here for you!"
Adam rushed over, panting a bit. "JoJo, you know you aren't supposed to answer the door!"
Jonas simply shrugged and Adam straightened before looking at Erica. He normally wore t-shirts at school but he had dressed up a bit too and his hair wasn't quite as messy as usual. Her heart skipped a beat. He made an effort too. Like this was supposed to be a real date.
"Sorry about that. Come on in."
Erica walked in and discovered that Adam's three youngest siblings had all been playing a video game together on the couch since Jonas went right back to it. The other two looked up curiously.
"Is this your girlfriend, Adam?" Peter asked curiously.
Adam's face turned red. "No. Just play your game, okay?"
"How come? She's pretty," Jenna added.
Adam looked like he wanted to melt into the floor at this point. Rather than saying anything, he mussed her hair and ended up leading Erica to the dining room table where they could still keep an eye on the kids.
"…I'm so sorry about them," he whispered.
"It's fine," Erica told him, unaccountably annoyed that he said she wasn't his girlfriend even though she wasn't.
At the same time, she was happy about the compliment from Adam's little sister. It was a strange mixture of emotions and she had only been here for less than two minutes. Maybe coming here hadn't been the best idea.
If she was going to get Adam to open up to her though, wasn't it best to see him in his element? He was obviously more comfortable with/talking about his family than he was anything else. She had noticed that very early on in their friendship.
"So…" he said somewhat awkwardly. "Do you want to play a game or something?"
"Sure. What do you have?"
"A lot."
Adam showed her his family's game closet and she let out a low whistle. That was more games than she had ever seen in one place in her life aside from the game aisle of a store.
She ended up picking one she had never seen before. "Can you teach me how to play this one?"
"You've never played Parcheesi?" he asked in surprise.
She shook her head and he ended up taking it down and bringing it over to the table, explaining the rules to her. That was when his siblings noticed what they were doing and stopped their video game.
"We want to play Parcheesi too!" Peter exclaimed, echoed by the twins.
"Alright. Jen, JoJo, do you want to be a team?"
They both nodded, taking the tigers. Jenna announced that tigers were her favorite animal and Erica couldn't help but smile at the cuteness.
The cuteness didn't last long. Erica very quickly realized that the Mitchells were incredibly competitive. Even the twins, who she knew weren't quite eight yet, were kicking her butt. They crowed gleefully whenever they managed to kill someone and whoever had been killed swore revenge.
Adam was no exception. She had thought he was the calm type but when Peter managed to kill his last piece on the board when he was less than ten spaces from his safe zone, he actually shoved him as the boy grinned triumphantly.
She supposed she only ever had a sister. Brothers interacted with each other differently.
It was interesting seeing a new side of him. He laughed and smiled a lot more with his siblings than she had ever seen on top of being surprisingly competitive. That didn't stop when they finished Parcheesi and moved on to Clue after dinner.
That was a particular favorite of Julie's so Erica had played it plenty of times and managed to win. All of the kids let out a collective "aww!" when she did and she couldn't help but laugh.
This was fun. She didn't get the chance to play games with kids often. Her niece wasn't old enough to want to play anything aside from little kid board games like Chutes and Ladders even when she did see her.