The Second Time (3/3)

"Adam, say something." Clare pleaded after a minute of dead silence.

"Something." Adam replied, putting his hands on his head and rubbing his temples in circles. He paced back and forth with four pairs of eyes trained on him. "What am I supposed to say? What would anyone say?"

Eli smirked. "How about: I didn't know someone could love without a heart?"

Clare elbowed him briskly. "You should just say how you feel, Adam."

"Terrified, confused, anxious." The boy's pause was only momentary, and he soon returned to pacing.

Clare shook her head, "I meant how you feel about her." She bit her lip, trying to dance around the obvious question. It needed to be asked delicately, not suddenly. Tactfully.

Fiona cut right to the chase. "Do you like her?"

The question caught Adam halfway through his pacing. The thought of Becky Baker had barely grazed his mind before, other than the night she had stolen clothes from him to donate to charity. He certainly had never considered dating her. Not that that was an option if this was just some elaborate prank.

His stomach churned.

"Stecky? Flecky? Mecky?" Imogen thought aloud, still obviously hung over what rhymed with 'Becky'. This surely was an enigma for her. Fiona promptly shut her off by pressing her lips against hers."Necky?"

Fiona just groaned.

"Maybe." Adam mumbled, meeting four pairs of eyes.

"Maybe, you should try then." Clare insisted gently, somewhat motherly.

"Maybe, you should not." Eli countermanded.

Clare tried to elbow him again but he caught her forearm midway. Eli smirked, leaving her arm by her side in favor of wrapping his own arm around her shoulders. Turning to face her, he said in a hushed tone, "I'm just looking out for him."

Then shyly, she returned. "I know."

They held each other's gaze.

"That!" Adam shouted, pointing at the two of them where he would usually be gagging by now. "What you guys have!" He turned to face Imogen and Fiona, who were still holding hands behind their backs. "And what you have – I want that."

"And can you have that with Becky?" Clare asked.

There was more silence.

The four others exchanged gazes, deliberating among themselves until finally Eli met his eyes, folding his arms across his chest with an unreadable expression. "So, I guess that means you're going to go after her then?"

"Hm? What makes you say that?"

"You haven't stopped smiling since we told you." Clare said with the faint semblance of a smile, faded only by genuine concern. Taking his hands off his head, Adam felt the corners of his face. He was smiling. He didn't know why, but he felt…lighter. Less heavy.

"I should go talk to her." He clapped his palms together restively, the moment Imogen tried to shake him back to life once he turned catatonic again. "Is she still in the drama room?"

"Yeah. She-" Eli fake giggled again. It still didn't suit him very well. "Is such a hard worker!"

"Okay, fine." Adam said, turning heel and ignoring Eli's 'Becky' voice. He waved a hand at them as he did. "Don't wait up, guys!"

The remaining four just stood there, watching him, each with a vague expression. Surprisingly, it was Fiona who broke the silence, albeit with a slightly obvious question.

"We're going to follow him, right?" The former heiress asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, clearly." Imogen replied, rolling her eyes.

–––

He wasn't sure what was going to happen. By the time he reached the drama room, he half-expected to have made up his mind over the whole fiasco with a speech on hand. At the very least he expected words to come out of his mouth the second he unbolted the door. Instead, he just stood in the silence, waiting for something magnificent to happen.

Which it did.

"Did you forget something?" Becky asked, standing up suddenly. Blonde hair fell to the sides of her face with a gentle tug from gravity; his heart dropped as well as his jaw.

"I, um, yeah." He replied lamely. Frantically looking around, he picked up the nearest ornament - a lamp - and held it up for the two of them to see. "I left, um, this here. It's my Mom's. Lamp, that is." He mentally slapped himself. When did it get so difficult talking to her?

Obviously seeing through this ruse, she just nodded out the door; he turned in the middle of his great escape.

"Okay, that was a lie." He confessed, setting the lamp back down.

With a cocky grin, she scrunched her eyebrows together."It sounded like one."

She motioned him toward the stage, and they sat crossed-legged across from each other. Patiently, Becky met his eyes with a sort of confidence he suddenly seemed to lack. Was she just waiting for him to say something?

"Are you going to tell me the truth now, mister?" She asked with only the slightest impatience.

"Oh, right." He sputtered nervously. "I don't really know who owns that lamp, though I think I might've seen it in Fiona's apartment when Imogen tried to use it as weapon after we - me and Eli - broke into her apartment but-"

"That's not really what I meant." Becky soothed, despite being a little curious as to what incident he was referring to.

"Oh, I, um, actually have some more questions about love letters that I wanted to ask you about," Adam bit his tongue, noticing how furiously his cheeks were burning. He looked away. Well, it wasn't that far from the truth. "Since you're so knowledgeable about this stuff and all." He added lamely.

"Ask away." She waved at him.

"The ribbon?" He asked, nudging around the question.

Definitively, Becky rested her hands on her hips, "It's elegant, flashy and shows they want to stand out in your eyes. Even if just a little."

"And why Shakespeare?" He inquired, nearing her face so closely when he turned, he nearly jumped back. Both of their faces were flushed with embarrassment. He brushed off her gaze in favor of breathing."Is it just because I'm helping out with Eli's production or-"

"It's because it's personal and romantic." Despite her blush, she laughed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Obviously, anyone who takes a second look at you knows you actually care about the play…despite what you want everyone to think." The hushed tone of her voice told him he wasn't to supposed to hear that last part, but he had.

What do you think?

He swallowed.

"When were you going to tell me it was you?" He asked, refusing to meet her eyes.

It certainly caught her off guard, evidenced by the shiver that ran up her spine. He just barely caught that, making the air around them shiver.

"Never." Becky said sullenly, and that was all he needed to hear. Was she that ashamed? He needed to get out of here. The urge to flee got a hold of him and he stood up briskly. "Adam, wait!"

"Why?" He asked, his voice turning to ash. "Was this supposed to be some type of joke? A little prank? Am I just a joke to you?" He turned around swinging his arms, but she caught his forearm swiftly. Their eyes met, and he felt her getting closer, lunging forth.

She pressed her lips against his, swiftly but chastely. He blinked, pressing two fingers against where her lips had just been. They were certainly softer than he had imagined. Wait, had he imagined that? He hadn't realized it.

Pulling away, she sat on the edge of the stage, letting his legs dangle off the miniature cliff. Rather than looking at him though, she stared at the space between the ground and her shoes. "It just terrifies me. Being around you terrifies me."

"Being around me…" Adam said, taking a seat next to her. He swallowed. "Because I'm trans."

"Well, yes…" Becky narrowed his eyes, and he stopped himself from running away. For whatever reason, his body begged him to stay. Maybe it was because his legs had already turned to jello. "And because I like you."

Adam nodded, his mind still reeling the sensation of her lips on his.

"Because if my parents found out about you, they'd probably have an aneurysm. Because if there was anything that people have taught me, it was that being different is a sin and everyone like you was just 'confused'. But then I met you, and you were far from confused - you were confident and funny and amazing. And you had the, biggest, heart! Because in the instant of meeting you, everything I grew up learning - everything my parents told me - was suddenly wrong. Because I like you so much and I recognized the consequences of liking you. Sending those letters was the most terrifying thing I've ever had to do, even knowing that they were anonymous."

She spoke in paragraphs, almost without breathing and he wrung his hands in his lap, realizing where this conversation was headed. He had heard this before with Fiona and Katie, and knew what it meant. 'You're really nice but it wouldn't work out'. Chastising himself internally, he realized he never should have gotten his hopes up.

"And I know that there are a million reasons why we shouldn't end up together. And there are going to be other people, other opportunities for me and you-" She breathed, and he let out a sigh.

He really wasn't ready for rejection again so soon.

"But what if they aren't half as good as what we can have with each other?" She said, facing him. With a perky smile, Becky took the young Torres's hand. At the very least, he was not expecting that. "And I don't want to miss a single opportunity with you, Adam."

A smile cracked on Adam's face. Why was it so necessary to smile around her?

After a few moments, he said, "We're going to be late for class."

She smiled, "Yeah, Probably."

"I thought you were a go-getter." He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I am." She replied, scooping up her bag from the floor. She kicked herself off the ledge of the stage and sauntered ahead of him. "Are you coming, or are you just going to sit there looking smug?"

He didn't need her say it twice.

Racing ahead of her, he pulled the door open, hoping to be rather 'gentleman-like'. Instead a quartet of familiar, guiltier looking faces fell forward, in what seemed to be a case of 'leaning against the door'. He stared at them, situated like dominoes. Fiona was on top of the fallen pyramid so she spoke first, pushing herself off of Clare's back. Though at that point everyone seemed to have their own excuses.

"Adam!" Fiona spouted, with awkward, wide and unblinking eyes. "We were just-"

"- such a funny story -"

"- this isn't the Chem lab!"

"- fell down the staircase and-"

Becky shifted, not realizing she was leaning against Adam. Feeling the tingle that ran up his spine, Adam coughed, "So I take it, you guys were eavesdropping."

Fiona squirmed, Eli still looked slightly dazed, Clare wore a guilty expression and Imogen...just shrugged unabashedly. The bespectacled girl was the first to regain her voice, "Si. You would be correct."

Eli shifted, the last one at the bottom of the collapsed pyramid. He rubbed his eyes and simply said, "I need to go bleach my eyes somewhere."

Next to calm down, Clare shifted slightly, bringing herself to her feet. Her glance shifted between her best friend and the blonde next to him."So, you guys both like each other."

Before he could answer, Becky looped her arm around his without falter. Brimming with confidence, she muttered, "Yes."

"Triple date!" Throwing her hands into the awkwardness in the air, Imogen squealed. "Ooh, we can triple date! It'll be sooo much fun, Fions."

"No." Fiona said plainly, shaking her head.

"Never." Eli added vehemently; he had slowly gotten over the need to bleach his eyes.

"I don't think I'd mind." Clare thought aloud, mulling over the possibility. The other two just stared at her as if she had just grown an extra head, or something. She couldn't possibly be serious...

They bickered over it and looming possibly of a 'triple date', which was greatly protested on the bounds that Eli refused to sit at the same table with Becky and Fiona preferred to make out with her girlfriend in private without their friends in such close proximity on the grounds that it was awkward. Imogen was giddy though, wrapping her arm around Clare's shoulders.

She piped in, quoting her favorite Degrassi alumni. "This semester's going to be a hoot."

–––

"Are you nervous?" Drew asked for the forth time, as Adam stood in front of the mirror checking his tie.

"Not really, it's just a first date." The brother shrugged, hesitant to admit that he had combed his hair in five different ways before heading downstairs and then promptly checking his reflection in the dining hall mirror.

"Exactly!" Drew exclaimed with zeal. "The first date can be the difference between you being her boyfriend and 'that guy she hung out with that one time'."

Adam shook his tie until the knot undid. "Okay, now I'm nervous."

"You'll do fine," Drew patted him on the back, though the gesture had lost its touch much to the looming nervousness that was currently hanging over his head.

"Easy for you to say, you've dated like millions of girls."

"What?" Bianca poked her head from the living room.

"Easy." Drew defended himself, "He's exaggerating. Tell her you're just exaggerating."

"I'm exaggerating." Adam said, not taking his eyes off the tie in the mirror. "What if she doesn't like this tie?"

"Yeah, you're probably right." Drew joked, with a laugh. Adam shot him daggers. "You'll do fine."

Adam traced himself in the mirror. His crisp white shirt stood out under the grey vest, the undid yellow tie hung around his neck. It was certainly not as fancy as Fiona's brother's suit, which she had lent him last year, but it was more comfortable. Unsatisfied though, he carefully smothered his dark brown hair with two fingers.

"Look at you, little Torres." Bianca said, making her way behind him. She crossed her arms, "Tell me I didn't chose the wrong brother."

"Hey!" Drew shouted, a little offended and Bianca rolled her eyes. Shaking his head, Adam just grinned to himself as he tried to fix the pale yellow tie around his collar.

–––

"How do I look, Luke?" Becky queried, making her way to the room where Luke was taking his after-game nap. With Mr. and Mrs. Baker on their way to a charity fund, it seemed almost inevitable that Becky would take this opportunity to have Adam escort her to the premiere of Romeo and Jules. Luke just hated the fact that his sister was dating anyone to begin with.

"Like my sister." Luke replied, prematurely waking halfway through his nap on the couch. When she pouted, he sat upright. "Fine, you look very nice. Are you happy, now?"

"Very," Becky nodded, smoothing down her dress with her hands until it was perfectly flat.

Luke eyed her uneasily in the corner of his eye. "Mom and Dad are going to freak when you tell them."

"I'll ease it in." Becky stated, before suddenly turning toward him with accusatory eyes. "You won't tell them, will you? Because if you do, Luke –"

Luke raised his hands in defense, "Don't worry about it, Becks."

He didn't mention that she already had a lot of dirt on him, which he preferred to keep under the ground. And honestly, if his sister had to date anyone, it was probably best that she dated the 'nice' Torres boy. Compared to the other single guys at Degrassi - teammate Owen, KC the sperminator, and Dave, who had tried to persuade his last girlfriend to give up MIT to stay in Degrassi Central- Adam was certainly a relief. He just hated the thought of anyone touching his sister. Ugh. He shuddered. Mental images, Luke. Why do you always give yourself mental images?

The doorbell rang, and he watched as his sister leapt up to answer it. He rolled his eyes.

"That's probably him. I should probably get that." She first spouted nervously.

"Yeah, probably." Luke replied, unable to return to his nap now. He rose from the couch and watched awkwardly as she flung open the front door, and the two of them stared at the nervous looking Torres at their doorstep.

"We match." Becky gaped.

"Yeah," He said, reaching for the tie with the likeness of her own pale yellow dress. "You said yellow was your favorite color." Shifting a little, the younger Torres grinned, not taking his eyes off her. Not that she didn't do the same. He held out a bouquet of yellow azaleas with trembling hands. "These are for you."

Luke cleared his throat, "Ahem."

The two of them jumped.

"Have her home by ten," Luke explained, a little bitterly. "A second later and I'll-"

"Luke!" Becky huffed. Luke shook his head.

"I will." Adam took the matter very seriously. "Not a second later."

Luke's mouth quirked into a lopsided, involuntary smile. Adam offered her an arm, which she gladly looped with her own. They head down the front porch and Luke eyed her seriously, before reaching to closing door behind them.

"You call me if he is anything less than a gentleman, okay?" He mouthed, still a little protective over his sister. She just rolled her eyes, and it did nothing to quell his nerves; the way Adam looked at her however, did. He shut the door, and resigned to the window, watching them through the blinds.

"Is he still watching us?" Becky asked at the bottom of the doorstep. Adam nodded, and she let out a groan. "I'm really sorry about him. He's just a little protective over me."

"I get it - you're worth protecting," Adam said before standing on his toes and glancing at the window. The blinds shuddered, eliciting a grin out of both of them. He turned toward the blonde with a slight head bob and felt her slip her hand into his. Nervously, he cleared his throat. "We should really get going."

"Yeah, probably." She muttered, giving his hand a light squeeze and holding the bouquet of azaleas in her other hand. He grinned at her without trying, and she did the same without a second thought, tugging on his collar slightly to pull him along. He almost fell, but that was alright.

He was already falling.

~ Fin ~

A/N: First of all, thank guys so much for reading. This was a really fun story to write, especially with the Misfits + Fimogen friendship dynamic and Becky as a really intense secret admirer. And I like writing her brother as also very intense in a protective way.

I based their date outfits and the 'tugging on his collar' thing from the promo pics.