9 Wow, Way To Be Sentimental

Adam's second semester of college was a lot better than the first in a lot of ways. Less work hours. More time with Erica. Everyone at home was adjusting better to their new normal as time passed.

She wanted to sign up for the same generals for fall semester as well and he wasn't about to argue even though he knew that it was a terrible idea. He was going to miss her over the summer but their relationship wasn't the kind where they ever saw each other outside of a specific context.

They might be able to laugh and talk together but never saw each other anywhere but school. She had a whole other group of real friends that she hung out with while he only ever hung out with his family on the weekends.

Adam didn't even have her phone number. Why would he? He couldn't afford a cell phone and there was no point in her having his family's home number.

So at the end of the semester, they parted ways with "see you in the fall" and that was that. He had officially finished his first year of college and was back to working two jobs. The difference this time was that he didn't up his hours at the movie theater so he wasn't working two full-time jobs. That allowed him to actually spend some time with his siblings aside from the days he purposely took off for their annual camping trip.

Both of his jobs had different days off so he had half days to hang out at home for about half of the week. He made sure that things lined up so his siblings were at their day camps when he wasn't at home so his mom didn't have to pay for childcare.

Last summer, Colton had watched everyone but that wouldn't work now that he had a job. He was working as many hours as he was legally allowed as a sixteen-year-old but didn't want to overload himself like Adam even if he could. Or so he said. Adam had only done that last year because he was eighteen and could get away with it as a legal adult.

"You need to save some of your money for yourself, Adam," Sarah told him sternly a few weeks into the summer. "I'm getting by fine with you and Colton helping and you have to think about your future."

His future was fine. He would stay at home until he had a good statistics job after college so he wouldn't have to worry about rent or anything and could keep helping his family.

"I have."

Sarah sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Adam, you need to do things for you. Even if you don't want to leave home—which is fine—you need to at least have money to go out and have a little fun now and then."

"I take the kids out plenty."

"That isn't what I'm talking about! What about friends? A girlfriend? Something! You don't even have any hobbies anymore unless you count babysitting as a hobby. You know I appreciate everything you do but you need to think about yourself too."

Adam frowned. "I don't need any of that."

He meant it. Friends were fickle. He had no desire to spend time with anyone outside of his family…excluding Erica. Who he always knew was out of reach.

Sarah sighed again. "I'm serious. If you're going to spend your whole summer working, you need to at least keep your movie theater money. You shouldn't have two jobs at your age anyway so even if you don't want to spend it now, save that for the future. You never know what might happen."

Adam didn't like it but could accept that easier than spending it on something so unnecessary. He could save it for if some big medical expense or other happened. Or if one of the cars broke down in a way he couldn't fix.

"Fine," he acquiesced reluctantly.

His mom seemed relieved but didn't realize that he had absolutely no intention of spending that money on himself. He didn't need to.

There was nothing Adam needed more than his family's happiness and well-being. Anything else was unimportant or impossible to attain. He tried not to think about Erica because she was important to him too but he knew that would never happen.

Still, he wasn't emotionally prepared to see her out on a date at the same ice cream place he took his siblings to on one of his half days off. She kissed the guy when he got up from the table to go to the bathroom and all he could do was stare, frozen as his heart tore in two. Jenna had to tug on his shirt to get his attention.

"Adam. I want a double scoop. Mint chocolate chip."

"Me too, Adam!" Jonas echoed.

"What are you spacing out for? We're up," Evan pointed out.

That was what truly snapped Adam out of it. Evan might be able to put two and two together if he caught his brother staring at a girl. It was a very good thing Colton was working right now because he would never hear the end of it from him if he knew.

Colton would give him a hard time about missing his chance without realizing that he never had one in the first place. Of course Erica had a boyfriend. Why wouldn't someone as wonderful as her be attached?

Adam ordered what everyone wanted and ushered them toward a table out of Erica's line of sight but wasn't fast enough. She saw him and a surprised smile lit her face.

"Hey, Adam! What brings you here?"

"My siblings wanted ice cream," he said stupidly, gesturing to the group now eyeing him curiously.

"Aww, what a good brother! But I only count four."

"Colton's at work," Peter piped up. "Who are you? Are you Adam's friend?"

"Yeah, we go to school together," Erica told him. "You're Peter, right?"

"Mmhmm! You told her about us, Adam?"

"Course I did. You guys are my best friends," Adam mumbled, face flaming. He desperately wanted to make his escape but didn't know how to without being rude or his siblings being suspicious.

"Wow, way to be sentimental," Evan said before Adam elbowed him in the ribs.

"You're my best friend too!" Jenna piped up.

"What about me?" Jonas cried, offended.

She rolled her eyes. "You're all my best friend. You're just the BEST best friend."

This appeased him and Erica was obviously trying hard to muffle her laughter. She was finally seeing Adam's siblings in action after hearing so many stories about them over the past year.

"…we should go sit down before the ice cream melts. It was good seeing you, Erica," Adam lied. He hadn't wanted to see her like this at all. He was happier in his ignorance.

As he miserably licked at his rocky road, he couldn't help but wonder how long she had been dating that guy. And why she would keep signing up for classes with him if she had a boyfriend. Wouldn't someone in a relationship be mad about that even though he was just a study buddy? They did eat lunch together almost constantly. Maybe she had only gotten into the relationship this summer.

The whens and hows didn't change anything though. Adam was half-tempted to change his class schedule for the fall while there was still time. It would be a hassle finding other classes to replace them but spending time with Erica while she was in a relationship with someone else would slowly kill him.

After a few days of miserable deliberation, he decided not to solely because he wouldn't know how to defend himself if he ran into her later and she called him out on it. He really was such an idiot.