You guys have been way too patient. I finished... finally. Enjoy. Don't kill me, Rachel.

After a satisfyingly syrupy meal, Ada drove everyone to the RetroPit in her tiny car. It was across town, almost near the Shaw’s house, but the ride was made extra long thanks to the non-stop chatter from the backseat. Rachel and Rocky were acting like four year olds, and Ada felt like a soccer mom — she almost had to turn around and give Rocky a good flick between the eyes after he kicked the back of her seat for about the hundredth time. The front seat was a bit more sombre. Adam stared out the window, while Ada fiddled with the radio buttons on her tape deck. They finally arrived at the club. It was a small, black, square building with a few floodlights on the perimeter. A canopy hung at the entrance, with two beefy bouncers on either side of the double doors. There was no line up, which was expected as it was still quite early.

The inside of the club had a low ceiling, with white Christmas lights laced through a horizontal trellis suspended from the roof with its bare pipes exposed. To their right was the bar and at the far end of the room was a small stage, slightly elevated from a slick, black dance floor. About a dozen people loitered among the tables and bar stools, a few played a game of pool on the other side of the room, opposite the bar.

“Drink?” Rocky asked, already heading to the bar. Rachel nodded and followed him.

“You did a really good job,” said Adam. Ada looked at him, confused.

“With your sister. I barely recognize her. And she’s letting Rocky buy her a drink,” he chuckled.

“I think I may have created a monster,” said Ada. Rachel and Rocky had not shut up since she moved in. A few days ago she had asked her sister why the sudden change of heart, and Rachel had replied that it was simply a matter of old fashioned chivalry, or at least a modest attempt at it.

“When him and Eli got in that fight it was like I really saw Rocky for the person that he was. He stood up for me.” This made sense to Ada and she wondered if Luke or even Adam would draw pistols for her. Probably not, but then again, Rocky’s act of chivalry was mostly due to his drunken state and excitable personality, more so than to defend Rachel’s honour. Ada didn’t tell her that, though.

Adam looked around the club, feeling conspicuous in the mostly empty room. It was dark, but the music wasn’t on very loud, so his and everyone else’s conversation could be easily heard from one end of the room to the other. At least Luke hadn’t shown up yet. Their band was opening that night and would hit the stage in about an hour. Good time to drink, he thought, heading to the bar, and leaving Ada to keep a table by the dance floor. Rocky was already chugging a beer, much to Rachel’s mirth, when Adam arrived at the bar. He ordered a beer for himself and a cranberry and vodka for Ada.

“I feel dizzy,” said Rocky, gasping for air. Rachel patted him on the back and encouraged him to go another round by buying another beer from the bar tender. Adam shook his head and went back to Ada, who was searching the room for someone. Three guesses as to who, thought Adam. He set the drinks down.

“Thanks,” said Ada. She looked over to her sister and Rocky and gave Adam a questioning look.

“You’ve created two monsters. He won’t stop until Rachel loses interest, and your sister seems to be endlessly amused by stupidity,” he said, taking a drink of his own beer. “At least that’s the only way I can explain their new found friendship.”

Ada shook her head. “Don’t even ask me.” They watched the beer Olympics for a few minutes, after three bottles, Rocky finally stopped, as he could no longer stand. He and Rachel made their way towards the nearest table, and Adam turned back to Ada.

“We should probably talk about the other day,” he said.

She seemed surprised by this. “Why? What is there to talk about, I mean, I thought you explained yourself.”

“It was a little half-assed, don’t you think? And I’ve had time to think about it, I thought maybe you’d like a better explanation,” said Adam. He took another drink. This was going to be harder than he thought.

“It’s no big deal, Adam,” said Ada. She scanned the room again. “You were upset – for some reason. But it’s okay, it doesn’t matter now.”

“It is a big deal to me. Ada, do you know how hard it is for me to be here?”

She set her glass down and gave him a hard stare. “You told me you were okay with this.”

“Yeah, I guess I lied,” said Adam. He ripped a piece of the label from his bottle and twisted it between his fingers.

“So you don’t like Luke?” Her face fell.

“No, he’s fine. I like Luke, but I also like you. Like, really like you,” said Adam, he rested his forehead on his palm and looked up at Ada through his bangs, trying to read her face. She just sat there, staring far away, as if Adam was sitting there in front of her. The lights suddenly dimmed and the pre-recorded music kicked up an extra notch. Ada returned her gaze to Adam.

“Why are you bringing this up now?” she half-shouted, trying to be heard over the music.

“Because I didn’t know what I wanted before. I thought I liked someone else, and then they helped me figure out that that wasn’t it at all, and that my mind was just screwed up. It was confusing. But now--“

“Now Luke is here,” interrupted Ada.

“I know it seems like that’s the case, but it isn’t. I just have bad timing,” said Adam.

“No, I mean, Luke is here, as in walking right towards us.” Ada pushed out her chair and waved across the room. Adam buried his face in his hands as Luke sauntered up to their table, twirling a drumstick in his right hand. Ada jumped up and hugged Luke, squealing as he lifted her off the ground a little bit. Adam watched on, not believing she would act like that after what he’d just told her. Didn’t what he had said mean anything to her?

Ada looked down at Adam. She seemed sad, but that still didn’t count for the fact that she was holding Luke’s hand. She saw that Adam noticed this, and let go. “Adam, Luke wants to show me his drums, but I’ll be back. I promise, and we can work this out,” she said. Adam nodded numbly. “I’m sorry, but I said I’d go.”

Adam watched as Ada ran to catch up with Luke. That did not go exactly as planned, but what did he expect? Ada to forget all about Luke and accept Adam’s vague interpretations of his feelings? No, obviously not.

*

Ada took one last look at Adam before rounding the corner to the backstage area. His back was to her, slumped over and shaking his head. She swallowed her guilt and continued to follow Luke as they wound their way through a snaking hallway and into a tiny room with a stained couch and card table.

“Can you just wait here a minute, I got to run and get something,” said Luke. He smiled at her before taking off down the hallway, leaving Ada alone in the dingy room.

She decided against sitting on the questionable sofa, instead electing to lean up against he wall, and pound the back of her head repeatedly while moaning. Bad timing? He said he had bad timing? Adam, it seemed, was the all time world champion of it. Had he said something of this to her two weeks ago – 14 bloody days – she would have been able to actually consider it. But now? It was out of the question. Adam could take his stupid feelings, and his stupid rose and just shove it because it didn’t even matter if she liked him back. He didn’t deserve it. Ada crossed her arms and sighed. There, that’s it, that was her decision.

She stood up straight when Luke came running back into the room. “I guess the rest of the guys aren’t here yet. Do you want to check out my set?”

“Yeah,” said Ada, trying to smile. Okay, so her decision wasn’t holding much water, she sort of wanted to cry. Stupid Adam.

“Are you alright?” asked Luke.

“Sort of,” said Ada quietly.

Luke looked over his shoulder. “Did something happen back there with you and Adam?”

Ada shrugged. Did she want to tell Luke? Yes, she did, she wanted to tell him a lot of things, but that still didn’t change the fact that he might not take what Adam said so well. She decided to stick with the vague shrug, but retained her look of misery. Luke cocked his head sympathetically and moved closer to her, pulling her in for a hug. He held her for a few seconds and then stepped back an inch, moved his hand to her cheek and leaned in to kiss her. Ada relaxed in his arms for a moment and then pulled back.

“He kind of told me he liked me, as more than a friend.” She looked up at Luke. Talk about bad timing.

Luke stepped back and folded his arms. “Ada, you told me there was nothing going on between you two.”

“There wasn’t. And there isn’t, but you asked me what happened and I told you,” she said. Even then it sounded stupid.

“You couldn’t have waited until after I kissed you?” asked Luke. He looked bemused, but not the good kind of bemused.

“I’m sorry. Can we just forget it?” pleaded Ada. She wished so much she could take it back, but she couldn’t help what her mind was fixated on, and at the moment, it was Adam.

“Well no. It’ s obviously something you’re still thinking about. Ada, I don’t want to do this if you have feelings for Adam,” said Luke. He swung his drumstick in the air, clearly frustrated. Ada just stood there with her mouth slightly open. Could this be happening? Was Luke dumping her before they even started going out?

“I want to be with you,” she said. But even she didn’t believe what she was saying.

“Maybe we should just cool it for awhile,” he said.

There were voices travelling down the hall – the rest of KillJoy, it would seem, as before Ada could even reply to Luke, the tiny room they were standing in was suddenly full of three more guys in old tee-shirts and shaggy hair. Without even looking at Luke, Ada edged past the band and marched down the hallway, gaining speed as she went along. She emerged in the main area of the club, which had begun to fill up considerably since she had left with Luke. Ada searched the room and spotted Adam, Rocky and Rachel at the table near the dance floor. She strode over, digging her keys out of her purse as she went along.

“Here,” she said to Rachel, placing her keys on the table. “You can drive everyone home. I’m leaving.” Without looking at either Rocky or Adam, she turned to leave.

“How are you getting home?” yelled Rachel.

“Cab!” Ada called back over her shoulder. Pushing her way through the crowd, she managed to find her way outside. There were two taxis waiting off to the side, and Ada made her way to the one at the front.

“Ada!”

She flipped around. It was Adam. “I don’t want to talk to you right now, Adam!” she said, reaching the taxi. She had her hand on the back door handle, but Adam had caught up.

He grabbed her shoulder. “Wait.”

“I’m not waiting anymore Adam!”

“What happened to Luke?” he persisted.

“You. Ruined. Everything,” she said, through gritted teeth. “Luke doesn’t want to see me anymore because of you and your little speech. But guess what, Adam? It’s not going to happen. You waited too long and it was just the wrong time. What did you expect? That I would all of a sudden fall in love with you and just drop everything so I could be with you. Don’t fool yourself Adam, you’re not a great catch, okay? Luke was. He had a band and a future! Just leave me alone!” She couldn’t believe she was saying this, couldn’t even understand where it was all coming from. But there it was, on the table – ten point strike for Ada.

Adam stood, blindsided for a moment before leaving Ada to her taxi. She struggled with the handle before swinging the door open, diving in and slamming it shut again. The cab driver looked at her through his rear-view mirror.

“Avenue,” said Ada. She slumped back in her vinyl seat and buckled her seat belt. The cab eased into drive and rolled out of the parking lot. Ada rubbed her forehead and stared numbly at the advertisement on the back of the driver’s side seat.

“Want to teach in Japan?” the sign asked her, all the way home. Ada caught her haggard reflection in the sign’s Plexiglas. Yes, she thought, anywhere but here.

Chapter 15

Adam stood behind the counter of Otis Car Wash, thumbing through a motorcycle magazine and trying desperately to keep his eyes open. It wasn’t even six o’clock, and yet half the world, it seemed, found it fit to go to the local car wash and harass the hung over clerk for brewing a weak cup of coffee. Adam wanted to slap them. He wanted to slap himself. It wasn’t his fault Otis forgot to get coffee as he was so busy getting ready to show the store off – or having Adam get the store ready to show off. It wasn’t his fault he had to sit in the bar and watch Rachel and Rocky slobber all over each other, while Ada’s almost ex-boyfriend performed a ten-minute drum solo. He could barely be blamed for drinking an entire jug of draft.

Oh well. He’d get over it, he supposed. He couldn’t change how Ada felt about things, but he could change other parts of his life. Like the car wash. Adam wondered what he would do if he quit. Probably find another crappy job, except the next one would probably require him to put in a bit more effort than he did for Otis. Quitting hardly seemed worth it when you had to write up a letter of resignation, fill out applications and train all over again just to end up where you started. Start and stop, start and stop. Why didn’t he just die?

If not die, then maybe he could slip and fall in the wash. Hit his head really hard and go on worker’s comp for awhile. Or maybe he could get hit by a car – just serious enough to break his leg and render him useless behind the till. That would be fairly difficult, Adam mused, he’d have to fall just in the right place, and find a car that was going just the right speed. He sighed. Perpetrating a fraud was just too much work to even think about. Plus, it wouldn’t make Ada like him again.

Adam was stuck, and the worst part of it was, he was stuck in a job soon to be run by the father of a girl who he brutally dumped. A girl who wouldn’t even look at him anymore. Adam stared at the door, hoping that maybe the answers to all, or at least some of his problems would come walking in the door… now. Nothing. He straightened up and tried again. Nnnnnnnnnnow.

Ding.

It was Elma Wong. Adam slouched, this could only mean bad things.

“Do you know where Ada is?” she asked, walking towards Adam. Though the woman was barely five feet, Adam was genuinely intimidated. He’d only talked to Elma Wong once before – after attempting to buy some beer with a fake ID – and had come out of the experience feeling cowed and very beerless.

“Yes,” said Adam immediately, not even considering to feed this woman a lie, thinking of how well he’d been lying lately.

Her eyes lit up. “You do? Tell me where she is.”

Adam mustered up all the courage he could handle that early in the morning. For Ada’s sake. “Why?”

“I need her back at work. The store’s going down the toilet,” she said, looking about the car wash, as though Ada might be hiding among its well dusted shelves.

“I don’t think she wants to work at the liquor store,” said Adam weakly. He actually winced, anticipating a full on attack. But Elma only deflated.

“What am I going to do?” she moaned, throwing her hands up in the air. “My daughters have deserted me, and Jackson and I can’t run the store by ourselves. How am I going to find someone to replace them? Eh? Why should I even have to? They should be begging to work for us!”

Adam didn’t have an answer to this, so he just shrugged. He watched as Elma paced around in small circles, and then it came to him. “Mrs. Wong? I’ll work for you.”

She regarded him suspiciously. “But you have a job here.”

“I’ll quit,” he said.

“How do I know you’re any good?”

Adam almost laughed at this. “I’ve worked here for six years and Otis hasn’t canned me yet.”

Elma lifted her head an examined Adam, after a few moments she sighed. She had little choice but to say, “okay. You’re hired. You can start this afternoon.” Elma looked at him one last time and then turned on her heels and marched out the door, muttering all the way.

Adam felt a strange feeling of accomplishment. This was it, he was leaving the car wash. Granted, he was only moving twenty feet over to the liquor store, but it was a start.

*

Ada was still fairly angry. Her frustrations had subsided enough over the night, as she tossed and turned in her squeaky bed. She had come to the conclusion that what had happened wasn’t entirely Adam’s fault. It was partly hers, she admitted to herself, having gone over the course of events and decided that maybe it hadn’t been such a great idea to bring up Adam as Luke was making his move. Still, it wouldn’t have even been an issue had Adam kept his mouth shut.

Regardless, she had decided that she’d had enough of boys for a while. For now, she had the house to herself, save for Asshat, who was keeping her company as she whipped up another batch of Angry Pancakes. Rocky and Rachel had left earlier that day. She didn’t know where they were headed, though Rocky had announced they were running away to Las Vegas to get married. Ada doubted that very much, and figured they had followed up on Rocky’s hints of another bowling ball escapade. This time striking the Southside Fun Centre. Ada wondered what a Vegas wedding with Rocky would be like. They’d probably hit up the Elvis impersonator – Rachel had always liked The King.

Ada finished measuring her milk and poured it into the plastic bowl. She had to rinse out the wooden spoon, which was still sitting in the sink from the day before. She sighed. One of these days she’d have to get a job. Her money was running out, and sitting around an empty house all day was really wearing thin. Again, she couldn’t for the life of her think of what she wanted. Driving would be fun – a delivery truck or a bus. A cab, maybe. She laughed, picturing herself behind the wheels of a bright yellow station wagon. Maybe not. Ada thought back to her cab ride home from the night before.

“Want to teach in Japan?”

She stopped, mid-stir. “Yes, I do,” she said, and then turned to Asshat, whose tail was swishing madly in tiny arcs across the floor. “I should teach in Japan!”

Ada marvelled at this new idea, stirring idly. Already she could see herself sitting on a plane, flying far, far away from everything that was here: her parents, Adam, Luke, Rachel and her scary new boyfriend. It was perfect! She almost started laughing out loud as she lit the gas stove and placed the cast iron pan over the blue flame.

“I’m going to Japan, Asshat! Yes, I am! Yes, I am!” she said, working the mutt into a tizzy. Asshat was dancing in place now, his nails clicking against the floor. He barked, and, once more, jumped on top of the counter.

“No!” scolded Ada. She reached for him, but Asshat dodged her grasp, and click-clacked down the length of the counter to grab the paper towel roll again.

“Put it down, Asshat!” said Ada, pointing downwards forcefully, but the dog ignored her, instead opting to shake the roll violently, while growling. Ada grasped for it, but missed every time, causing Asshat to shake the roll even harder. She stood back and stamped her foot. Stupid dog.

Her attention was diverted suddenly, when the sounds of someone knocking on the front door came travelling down the hallway. Ada knit her brows, this was unusual. They’ve never had a visitor to the house; Adam and Rocky had their own keys. The knocking continued as Ada ventured down the hallway, though as she got closer, she could tell that it wasn’t someone knocking that was making the noise. The small thumps were coming from somebody throwing something against the side of the house. Ada peered through the frosted glass of the front entrance, but was not able to identify anything other than some fuzzy grey shapes moving around the front yard. She opened the door slowly.

“Stupid son of a bitch!”

Thwack!

An egg splattered against the side of the house, right above the door and where Ada was standing. She ducked, watching warily as the gooey yolk dripped down the wooden slats and onto the concrete. Asshat was at her feet, barking madly at the two girls running around on the front lawn.

“Destiny? Anita? What are you guys doing?” yelled Ada from the door. The girls froze and stared at Ada. Their egg-laden hands dropped to their sides. Between them, a crate full of what looked like toilet paper, shaving cream and two more cartons of eggs sat, spilling its contents onto the lawn.

“Oh, it’s only Ada,” said Anita. She returned to her egg and swung back, hurling the tiny projectile onto a second floor window.

“Stop it!” screamed Ada, running down the walk. Asshat was on her heels, howling now. “Shut up!” Ada hissed.

“This is revenge,” stated Destiny, chucking two eggs at a time.

Ada stood there, at a loss as to what to do. “Against Rocky?”

“No,” grunted Anita, flinging the last of her eggs. “Against my ugly ass brother, who broke my best friend’s heart!” She sighed, brushed her hands and bent down to pick up a roll of toilet paper and the shaving cream.

“But this is Rocky’s house, not Adam’s,” said Ada, though she did see where the appeal of hurling food at a house to mend any hurt feelings came from. Satisfying, but pointless. “You guys are making a huge mess for nothing, Adam isn’t going to care. Come to think of it, Rocky won’t either.”

Destiny and Anita stopped for a moment to think about this. Asshat continued to bark like a banshee.

“Will you shut that dog up?” whined Anita. She checked her nails and frowned to discover that the nail polish on her right pinky was chipped.

Ada covered her ears. “Ug, I can’t. He wants pancake batter or something,” she said. “Hang on, I’ll go feed him. You two stop throwing dead chickens at the house and I’ll come back so we can figure out how to piss off Adam properly.” The girls looked at each other and grinned. Ada set back up the walk, but only got to the door before realizing something was very wrong.

Smoke.

She covered her nose with her sleeve and ran up the hallway, which was already filling with ash white smoke. It billowed out from the kitchen doorway, which was as far as Ada got before realizing the entire counter was on fire. Traces of the paper towel roll ran from the element on the stove, all the way across the counter to the sink in the corner.

Asshat, thought Ada. Stupid, stupid dog.

Flames licked the tinder dry walls and climbed up towards the ceiling. The flaking paint on the ceiling was already beginning to blacken and the fire was threatening to spill over onto the floor.

Ada gaped at blaze in front of her, already struggling for air in the room that was thick with smoke. Without thinking, she ducked down and headed to the sink, thinking maybe she would be able to direct the flow of water onto the counter and put out the fire. She didn’t even make it half way across the room before realizing this was impossible. It was already too late and Ada could tell that no amount of blanket beating or bowls full of water was going to put these flames out. Coughing and with tears streaming down her face, Ada turned and ran back outside.

She fled from the house, gagging and waving her arms. Destiny and Anita were chattering on the front lawn, still quite oblivious to what was going on. Ada ran up to them and bent over, gasping. “Fire,” she croaked. “Call 911”

Anita and Destiny looked at her cluelessly, as Asshat continued to howl. Finally, Ada found the strength to stagger over to Anita and grab her cell phone off a clip she wore on her belt loop. Smoke was pouring out from the open door as Ada dialled 911, and a hint of orange flames could be seen from down the hall.

“911, do you have an emergency to report?”

Ada murmured the address to Rocky’s house and listened to the instructions that were given to her. Get everyone away from the house. Don’t go inside. Crews will be arriving shortly. Rocky is going to kill you in your sleep.

Ada herded the girls and Asshat to a spot on the curb across the street. Within minutes they could hear fire sirens screaming from the Avenue just blocks away. Ada stood up as the red engines came hurtling down the street. Her relief on getting out of the house alive turned to numb disbelief as she watched the fire fighters jump out of their truck and immediately set to work, dislodging equipment from the side and pulling out the fire hose. Anita and Destiny, for once, were not talking, but staring wide-eyed at the scene with their hands over their mouths.

“I’m in so much trouble,” murmured Ada. She turned to Anita. “I need to use your phone, I need to call Adam.”

Anita handed it to her without looking, her gaze still transfixed on the house, which now had smoke pouring out from the second storey windows. Ada found the car wash number on the phone and dialled it. Otis answered, which was unusual. She asked for Adam.

“He’s quit? Where has he gone?”

Otis didn’t know, and Ada hung up, feeling the situation had just gotten worse. Not that Adam could do anything about the fire that was currently destroying Rocky’s house, but he’d make her feel a lot better, that was for sure. She had no choice but to call Rocky. Ada sighed and dialled his number.

“Hello?” It was Rachel.

“Rachel, why are you answering Rocky’s phone?”

“Why not?” answered Rachel, giggling. Ada wasn’t sure she liked the new Rachel better. This one was quite annoying.

The phone clattered and changed hands. Ada could still hear her sister yammering in the background when Rocky came on the line. “Yo.”

“Rocky! You need to get home. Quick!” Ada was now on the verge of tears, having gone from numb disbelief to panic in the half second it took for Rocky to take the phone.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just, now. Please! I think the house might be burning down,” Ada bit her lip and felt the first few tears start rolling down her cheeks. That the house “might” be burning down was a criminal understatement. The fire crews had now taken to spraying more water on neighbouring houses to prevent the flames, now clearly visible from the outside, to spreading further.

Rocky swore and hung up the phone. Ada began to hyperventilate and crouched down on the curb beside Destiny. She put her hands around Ada’s shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. “It’ll be okay, babe. Rocky’s not smart enough to hate your forever.”

Ada took one more look at the flames through a cloud of tears and fell forward onto Destiny’s lap, bawling.

Chapter 16

It had been three weeks since the fire, and Adam was not nearly as depressed as he thought he’d be. For one thing, he’d had to move back into his mom’s house, much to her joy. It seemed that his presence in the basement and casual appearances at the dinner table were, in fact, a vital ingredient to her overall sanity. Who would have thought? After thinking about it, he realized that he was the perfect Yin to his Anita’s Yang – they balanced each other out, and for now it would have to do.

The arrangement was just as agreeable to Anita, who felt that having a hand in the destruction of Rocky’s house was the ultimate in revenge for Destiny, who had since gotten over Adam and was now dating their school mascot. (The boy inside the suit, not the actual mascot).

Eventually he would move out, Adam told his mother, because if what the Wong’s were saying was true, he could be a full-fledged manager in six months. Not too shabby, he thought.

In fact, the situation seemed to be working out for everyone involved. Both Elma and Jackson found that having employees who weren’t there children to be rather refreshing. And the Wong girls? Well, Adam had spoken with one of them several times over the past few weeks, and that had only been because she was constantly over at Rocky’s when Adam came to visit him in the pool house. Ada, it seemed, had taken up permanent residence in her family’s basement, emerging only to go to some undisclosed location. The reasons why were still fuzzy to Adam, who had managed to glean only snippets of information from her sister.

It wasn’t just him Ada wasn’t talking to, though. She had cut off communication from everyone.

Luke had even come down to the liquor store about two weeks after the fire to see if Ada had been around. That had been an uncomfortable conversation, and Adam was happy to send Luke on his miserable way after quickly assuring him that Ada was nowhere in the vicinity.
Adam was behind the counter of Wong’s Beer, musing over the recent turn of events on a quiet Wednesday afternoon, when Rachel came into the store. She was followed closely behind by a doting Rocky, who it seemed had actually combed his hair before showing his face in public. Adam shook his head inwardly wondering what other influences Rachel would bestow on Rocky. A shower every day? Clipping his toenails before they cut through his socks? It was sad, in a way.

Rachel said a quick hello to Elma (who still refused to look Rocky in the eye) at the back of the store and strode immediately to the front counter, where Adam was standing. She took off her sunglasses and folded her arms on the counter, narrowing her eyes at Adam.

“What?” Adam stepped back. Rachel was a good half a foot shorter than he, but still intimidating as hell when she wanted to be.
“You’re back in the circle of trust,” she said, stone-faced. Rachel held her serious look for a few seconds before cracking a smile and giggling.

“Ha, ha. Yes, very funny Deniro. Did you come in here just to bug me?” said Adam, sneaking a glance at his boss in the back of the store. Daughter or no, he didn’t want to lose his job.

“No,” said Rachel with a smirk. “I’ve come to tell you that Ada wants to have a conversation.”

Adam raised his eyebrows and looked up at her.

“Yes, I know, what an honour,” said Rachel sarcastically. “The queen wishes to speak with you and I am but a simple messenger.”
Adam ignored the eye-rolling. “When does she want to talk?”

“You can come over to our house after work,” said Rachel. “She should be there. It’s not like she ever leaves.”

Adam considered this as he watched Rachel take her leave and swing into the back of the store to talk to Jackson. It still wasn’t entirely clear to him why Ada had been avoiding conversation. He knew he’d screwed things up at the RetroPit, but couldn’t imagine anything he had said was that terrible. There was that whole thing with Luke, but surely three weeks was long enough to get over that. Right? Even Adam had come to terms with the fact that Ada currently despised him and that had only taken a few days.

Rocky wandered over to counter, with a stupid grin plastered across his face.

“So, another chance with Ada?” he grinned.

“I really doubt that,” said Adam. Despite his recent luck with the ladies, Rocky was as clueless as ever.

“Too bad, because those Wong girls…” Rocky trailed off and winked. Adam looked away. That had been creepy.

“So is your dad still threatening to sue you for the house?” asked Adam.

Sammy Shaw had not taken the destruction of his tax shelter lightly, vowing legal action on his only son shortly after viewing the charred remains of the three-storey.

“Nah,” said Rocky. “He calmed down after a couple weeks. I guess the insurance was worth more than what he could have sold it for. He’s just gonna sell the land at top price and maybe buy a ski-doo for the lake. It’s cool.”

They were silent for a few moments, and then Adam asked Rocky something he really cared about.

“How’s your mom doing?”

Rocky only gave him a sneered look and then walked away. Adam had garnered that he’d found out about the conversation he and Mia had had just a few weeks ago. Not that it mattered anymore, he had come to terms with the reasons why he was attracted to Mia, and now it was simply a case of caring for her as a friend.
Adam shook his head and went back to straightening the lottery tickets and scanning the store for shoplifters.

*

The Wong house was like nothing Adam had expected. First of all, the lawn needed a good cutting. By the way Jackson ran the store, Adam had expected his house would be under the same strict regime. There were leaves on the sidewalk and a dead bird underneath one of the windows, which Adam tried not to look at as he made his way up the front walk to the door.

He knocked twice and then rang the bell. A few minutes passed and the lock finally rattled. Ada poked one eye out and then opened the door entirely, walking away and beckoning Adam inside. She was in her pyjamas, even though it was five o’clock, and her hair was messy. Adam wondered briefly if she’d gone off the deep end.

“There’s a dead bird on your sidewalk,” he said.

Ada turned around to look at him and scrunched her nose. “I know. Dad’s been bugging me to clean up the yard for days now. I can’t even look at the poor thing without gagging.”
Adam nodded. That would explain the state of the yard. Looking around the house, from what he could see, it was just about as clean as the liquor store. There were even bulk cleaning products he recognized from their storeroom sitting in a corner by the shoe rack.

“How have you been?” ventured Adam. He was mystified by not only Ada’s appearance, but her attitude as well. She was acting as though she’d seen Adam just the other day, and not ignored him for the last three weeks.

“I’m a mess,” she said. At least she was being honest.

She walked up the stairs from the landing to the main floor. Adam followed her into the kitchen and watched as she began to rummage through the cupboards for cereal.

“Is it because of Luke?”

Ada stopped mid cereal-grab and rolled her eyes at Adam. “I burned down a house. I’m not that shallow that I’d have a nervous breakdown for a guy I’d known for a month.”
Adam sat down at the kitchen table. As usual, he couldn’t get a proper read of the situation. Would probably be a good idea to just shut up and listen.

“Is that what you wanted to talk with me about?” he asked.
Ada took her cereal and grabbed a bowl from another cupboard before sitting down across from Adam.

“I guess,” she said. “I also wanted to make sure things were okay between you and me. I was pretty mad that night at the bar.”

“Yeah,” said Adam.

“I hope you know I still consider you my friend. That’s cool, right?” She shoved a spoonful of frosted flakes in her mouth.

“I think I can handle that,” said Adam.

Ada concentrated on her cereal for a few minutes, leaving Adam to watch her slurp away.

“Sam doesn’t blame you for the house,” he said. “He knows you didn’t mean to set it on fire.”

“It was still my fault,” said Ada glumly.

“Everyone screws up. There isn’t anything you can do about it now.”

Ada nodded slowly and sipped up the last of her milk. Adam had a feeling she’d received the same bit of advice from everyone.

She looked up from her bowl and gave Adam a long look. “I’m going to miss you.”

“You’re going somewhere?” Adam almost choked on his own spit.

Ada raised an eyebrow. “Japan. Didn’t Rachel tell you?”
A
dam sat straight up in his chair. “No!” He felt a little sick. This had been unexpected in that while he had been prepared for the ‘let’s be friends’ talk, the ‘I’m going to Japan’ speech was something else entirely.

“Oh, well I am. I’m going to teach English there for a year.” Ada shoved her chair from the table and stood up to take her bowl to the sink. She looked over her shoulder. “Sorry you didn’t know.”

“You can’t go,” said Adam, a little desperately.

Ada stood across the kitchen with her hands on her hips. She tilted her head to one side. “What?”

“I’m sorry,” said Adam quickly. “When are you going?”

“In a month,” said Ada. She opened the fridge and began to rummage through its contents, leaving Adam to catch his breath at the table.

“Why?”

“Because – well, why not? I have nothing keeping me back here anymore. Being out of my parent’s house for the last little while has really proved to me how much I need to get away. Don’t you just want to run away sometimes?”

Adam blinked. Nothing to keep her back? “Yes.”

“There you go. I’m so excited, Adam. I just can’t imagine what it’s going to be like.”

Ada smiled for the first time since opening the door, and Adam couldn’t help but smile right back.

“You’ll be back though?” he asked.

Ada looked away. “Eventually, I suppose. Although I do plan to meet some rich, Jewish Japanese man and move to Hawaii.”

Adam forced a laugh. “Back to where your ancestors come from, eh?”

Ada looked down and smiled.

“Send me a postcard?” said Adam.

“Of course. I know where you work.”

Adam stood up and walked across the kitchen to hug Ada. She rested her head on his shoulder for a few seconds before pulling away.

“You’ve changed my life, you know that?” she said.

Adam shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. “It’s only a start, Ada. I’ll see you around, okay?”

They both nodded and Adam turned to leave. Ada called out goodbye to him as he reached the front door and waved backwards. The door shut behind him and he left the Wong house, making sure not to stare at the dead bird belly-up on the sidewalk.

THE END