Falling From Disgrace

Busy commuters pushed passed them, shooting annoyed looks their way for blocking the door. An announcement let them know the train was departing in one minute.

“I know it’s not something you’re used to,” Jack grinned, “but boyfriends generally like taking care of their girlfriends.”

It didn’t escape Adrianna’s attention that Jack just referred to her as his girlfriend for the first time. It made her smile.

“I know,” she told him, “and thank you. But you need to let me do some things on my own, okay?”

Frowning, Jack nodded and then kissed her goodbye. “Call me tonight.”

On the drive back to his apartment, Jack worried about what Adrianna said. Was he smothering her? He didn’t really think so but he didn’t know if she felt the same way. She had done so well, weaning herself off the pills, and she was managing the pain the best she could. But Jack still fretted that the pain and stress she was going through would end up being too much. He hated when she was alone and without his help to distract her. However, Adrianna had been on her own for two years and she wasn’t used to depending on anyone. She’d be with her parents that weekend, and so Jack decided he would give her the space he believed she needed from him.

As the train pulled in to her destination, Adrianna smoothed her yellow top and her khaki shorts the best she could and then checked her hair in her reflection in the dingy window. She wanted to appear as normal as possible to her mother.

“Hi, sweetie!” Donna Adello cried as she embraced her only daughter who was the spitting image of her, minus a few pounds and a few years. She was relieved to see that she hadn’t lost too much weight and then dabbed at her eyes that were wet with joy. Donna and her husband worried about their daughter every day and wished she would move back home, but Adrianna had convinced them she was doing well and she was an adult. They wanted her to visit more but they knew it was hard for her since the accident so they didn’t hound her.

The drive to Adrianna’s childhood home was short but she still fidgeted with worry the whole way. She was nervous about coming clean to her parents; about the pill dependency and her lying about having a job. She wondered if she should just tell them she quit, or better yet, was laid off, but the idea of lying even more disturbed her. When her mother turned her Lexus SUV onto their street, Adrianna’s stomach danced at the site of the home she grew up in. The large, white, two-story cottage stirred up so many memories, Adrianna felt she was drowning in them.

The front lawn, that was kept so meticulously landscaped by her father, was where she and Rachel spent summers running through the sprinklers during the day and catching fireflies at night. The large oak used to have a tire swing hanging from it where they would take turns pushing each other. Glancing up, she saw the window to her bedroom where they both tried to sneak out of one day, just to see if they could. Adrianna had one foot on the ledge before Rachel had panicked and pulled her back in, saying she had a vision of Adrianna falling and breaking her neck. Oh, the irony.

Adrianna’s father, Fred, hugged her tightly which made the both of them a little uncomfortable. Fred Adello was a man with graying hair and a round stomach who enjoyed golf and tinkering with old automobiles. He wasn’t a man who showed much emotion and Adrianna grew up much closer to her mother than him. Still, he had missed and worried about his daughter and told her so.

“I’m fine, Dad,” Adrianna reassured him with a pat to his back.

She climbed the stairs to her room and it was just the same as it was when she had moved out eight years ago when she left for college. Her twin-sized, canopy bed was neatly made with her purple and turquoise comforter. Ancient bottles of half-used perfumes sat on top of her white dresser and the mirror’s edges were still littered with pictures from high school. Most of them were of her and Rachel, but other friends, including her first boyfriend, Conner, stared back at her as well. Her bookshelves still held the worn paperbacks of the young adult thrillers she had loved, and good God, even some Babysitter’s Club books. Rowing trophies gleamed proudly at her and Adrianna realized her mother must have polished them recently. As Adrianna stood in her room, surrounded by memories that only brought her pain, she felt as if a lead weight dropped into her empty stomach. She could practically hear the thunk.