Waking Up (16 page)

“Were you and Alex already a couple then?”  I didn’t even mean to ask the question.  So wrapped up in the company and Adriana talking, I didn’t think before speaking.  The glares I’m getting from her friends tells me I fucked up.  Little do they know, I already know this.  Regret consumes me.  “I’m so sorry.  That was rude to ask and totally none of my business.”

“Don’t sweat it, Tucker.  I get why you asked.  I’m not upset.”  A collective sigh of relief goes around the table.  Acting like she doesn’t notice the reactions around her, she goes on.  “To answer your question, no Alex and I were not together.  We were just best friends at that point.  I wanted to be more, he knew that, but at that time, he wasn’t ready.  We didn’t start dating until the end of our sophomore year.  And even that took an… event you could call it, to push us together.”  Again, I watch her get lost in her memories.  I wish I could stop being an ass and bringing up her husband, but somehow I keep asking about him.  I don’t know who I’m tormenting more.  “I think that’s a story for another time, too.”

She stops for a minute to drink and I think to collect her thoughts.  I’m not sure.  She doesn’t seem to be in a rush to tell her story and I’m in no rush for the evening to end or for morning to get here.

 “Alex interned for an architecture firm throughout college.  Preston continued working for Smitty’s Construction as much as he could.”  She must have seen my confusion because she adds, “He worked for Smitty in high school, too.  Alahna and I were naturals as far as our teachers were concerned.  We interned, but we also took as many freelance jobs as we could.  All of us had hopes of owning our own companies or studios after school.  We banked every penny we could.  Don’t get me wrong, we still partied and had fun like college kids do, but we saved a lot.”  The pride on her face and Alahna and Preston as they look at each other, spoke volumes about how they all felt about each other.  I was starting to understand why Alahna disliked me from the second she saw me.  I hadn’t earned her trust.  I’m disappointed because I was hoping to hear more about her college exploits with Alahna, but it looks like my Alex question changed the course of the story.  “Alahna and Preston got engaged our senior year.  Graduation day, actually, and got married a little over a year later.  By then Alex and I were engaged.  I was taking culinary classes.  Photography is my passion, but I love to cook and Alex loved to eat,” she says grinning from ear to ear, her hands moving a mile a minute as she talks.  Everyone erupts into laughter and starts cracking jokes about Alex mounding his plate until food was falling off the sides, or talking with his mouth full because he was too hungry to wait to eat, or begging Adriana to make more food because he was starving.  All comments lead back to Alex’s never full stomach, but it also leads back to six happy friends talking about their seventh friend no longer here and their eighth friend who’s trying to be just as happy.  The look on her face is hard to explain.  It’s a combination of complete sadness and overwhelming happiness rolled into one.  I desperately want to wrap her into my arms, hug away the sadness and tell her to embrace the happiness with her friends.  To remember the fun times.  Grieving sucks.  

But, then she starts talking and the moment is gone.

“Ever since junior high school people joked about how close Alex and I were.  They even called us A+.”  She makes a vomiting gesture at how much she hates this nickname and I chuckle behind my hand at her childish behavior.  “Alex + Adriana or Adriana + Alex.  Didn’t matter because wherever you found one, you found the other.  As much as we hated the nickname, it was great when it came time to name our businesses.”  She looks at Alahna and they smile at each other.  “Alex named his firm A+ Architecture and Alahna and I agreed to name our business A+ Photography.”

“Adriana + Alahna or Alahna + Adriana.  I think we’re a better A+.”  Alahna winks at Adriana.  I’m starting to like her more by the minute.  She has Adriana’s back and loves her more than I could possibly realize.  The respect I feel for Alahna overwhelms me and if I wasn’t afraid she might punch me, I might try to explain it to her.

Instead, I decide to try to get some information on the other friends.  “This is great background on you four, but I don’t understand where the rest of the group comes into play.”  I know I shouldn’t rush the story, but I need a little break from the Alex talk.  Not thinking I’ll actually get it, I brace myself for watching the first woman in my life I’ve had true interest in light up at the mention of another man.

“Patience, Mr. Stavros.  Patience.  I’m getting there.  Am I boring you?” she asks, raising her eyebrow and placing her hand on her hip.  Holy shit she looks hot.  
Respond, Tucker.  Respond.
 

“Um.  No.  Not boring me at all.  Uh… uh… sorry.  I’ll try harder to not interrupt.”  Shit.  I feel stupid.  I can’t think of what to say and her looking so sexy is making my little brain overrule my
big .
 

“Holy fucking shitballs, Adri.  You just made one of the sexiest men in the world stammer.  I take back every comment I ever made about you being a priss, the girl next door, or too cutesie.  Hell, all you have to do to flirt is raise your eyebrow and ask if you’re boring a man to make him putty in your hands.  I want to kiss your fucking feet I worship you so much right now!”

“Mickayla!”  Blake gasps as he spits his drink out.  “I can’t take you or that mouth of yours anywhere.”

We all stare at Adriana, waiting for her reaction.  I’m holding my breath waiting for her to say something, anything, even if it’s just for her to scream at Mickayla for being an ass.  I thought it was funny and accurate.  Adriana did have me stammering.  Now she’s just sitting there silent, not moving.  Please don’t let her cry.  Please God.

Just.  Don’t. Let. Her. Cry.

The sound that escapes her has all our mouths dropping to the floor.  We’re all waiting for the meltdown to start, but instead she lets out a whooping belly laugh.  She’s laughing so hard she wraps her arms around her stomach and holds onto her sides.  Tears are streaming down her cheeks and she continues to laugh, snorts and cackles rolling through the air.  She tries talking a couple times, but the confusion on our faces cracks her up all over again.  About five minutes in, her laughs are calming down to giggles and she’s looking around at all of us openly gawking at her.  She gives us a shit eating grin and says the last thing I think any of us expect to hear.  “Holy fucking shitballs, that’s why I love this bitch!”  The whole table bursts into laughter with her.

Tension forgotten.

I peek at her as she’s wiping the tears off her face.  She looks radiant.  Smiling at her friends, knowing she diffused what could have been another explosive situation.  The happiness pouring off her warms me to my very core and I know I’ll carry a part of her with me to the day I die.  She is someone who can never be forgotten.

“Are you all ready for me to continue?”  She purposely raises her eyebrow at Mickayla to gain another round of giggles and profane comments from her.  It gains laughter from everyone else, too.  I can’t help but enjoy seeing this side of Adriana.  Fun.  Carefree.  Enjoying herself.  Watching her square her shoulders, I know she’s getting ready to begin again so I start mentally preparing myself to hear more about the man that she is still in love with.

“Alex and I found that starting his firm and my studio at the same time was a lot harder than we thought it would be.  He took on a partner.  Alahna and I were fortunate enough to have an investor.”  Tension skyrockets and I see Adriana wringing her hands.  “Another story for a different time.  Alex found Lance Jacobs who already had an established firm.  It was small, but established.  Lance was a great business mind, but what he needed was a design genius.  Fortunately for him, that’s what Alex was.  He was brilliant.  A visionary.  He saw the world, houses, buildings in a way other people didn’t, and how they should all fit together.  This neighborhood was one of those visions.”  Her voice had gotten soft, full of emotion.  Not sad, but nostalgic.  “Speaking of this neighborhood.  This was the first project that A+ Architecture and Levine Construction, Preston’s company, undertook together.  The two companies started out doing residential developments together, building a name for themselves and worked their way into commercial.  It all started here,” she says, waving her arm out around her yard.  “It was a perfect working relationship.  Alex’s company designed the houses and Preston’s company built them.”

“Still is a perfect relationship, Kid,” Preston says, looking at her with nothing less than complete admiration on his face.

“Yes, it still is, Pres.  Alex would be proud of what you guys have accomplished.”  I can tell that one sentence is like a hammer to the gut for her, but she goes on.  “Alex and Preston picked their lots first and, yes, Alahna and I had a say.  We all knew we wanted to live here.  All of us loved this area.  We loved the idea of living back to back, growing old next to the people we knew would always have our backs.  We just didn’t expect that one of us wouldn’t make it to the growing old part.”  She has to stop.  When Preston starts to get up, she holds her hand up to stop him.  Everyone stays silent and gives her the time she needs.

“The guys,” It’s not lost on me that she doesn’t say Alex’s name this time, “they built two houses while they were building our houses so there would be income coming in.  Alahna and I were renting a studio in Manchester to start and were doing well.  The guys surprised us by building us a studio on Preston and Alahna’s lot.  They figured we could have two studios.  One in the city and one here with more of a country feel to it.  We were thrilled.”  She looks at Alahna and the two share a look, a shared memory, maybe of the first time they saw the studio.  She gets up and walks over to hug Preston.  I feel the loss of her presence instantly, but I think she knew Preston was still feeling the need to comfort her from her earlier comment.  She remains there with her hand on his shoulder.  He stares up at her with a look of love and relief on his face.

I can’t imagine what this has been like for him losing one best friend physically and the other emotionally.  All I know is that I respect the hell out of the guy for holding it together and taking care of Adriana.

“The first two houses sold fast.  I think the biggest selling feature was the lot size.  Every lot had two to three acres.  The guys,” Guess she still isn’t ready to say his name,  “wanted families to live here and didn’t want people living on top of each other.  Lance loved the idea.  He thought with the designs and the lots sizes they’d sell.”

“Isn’t that bad business, though?” I ask before I can stop myself.  “Don’t developers try to put as many houses as they possibly can into an area to make as much profit as possible?  Isn’t that how they make all their money?”  I’m not trying to be rude, but for companies just starting out I don’t understand why they would take the risk.

“Yes, Tucker, you’re right,” Adriana says.  “It could have backfired and bankrupted both companies, but, in the end, every lot sold.  Both businesses made money and a great reputation for themselves.”

“I’m not trying to interrupt you again and you’re not boring me, but I still don’t understand where the others come into this group.”

She smiles at me like a mom would a child who’s asked “Are we there yet?” one too many times.  You know the smile.  It’s a strained one.

“I was just getting there.  So, the first few homes sold to couples in their thirties and forties.  After they sold, I would deliver a welcome to the neighborhood basket.  I kept telling Alex,” Looks like she’s saying his name again, “it would be nice to get some neighbors our age into the neighborhood.”  The smirk she gives Deidre lets me know who the next story is about.  “About two months after the last sale, the guys tell us they’re going to meet with a young couple to look at the only house available at the time.  They had a couple others started and lots being cleared.  The guys made it a point to meet with every person interested in buying one of their houses if they could.”

It’s all about the personal touch, right, babe?” Alahna says, still in Preston’s lap.

“Absolutely.” He smiles at her, running his hand up her thigh.

“As I was saying, the guys headed out to meet this young couple.  Turns out it was Deidre and Kale.  Dee was pregnant with her third child.”  I notice the quiver in Adriana’s voice.  Were she and Alex trying for a child when he died?  “She fell in love with the house and made no secret about it.  Her and Kale told the guys that they had two other kids and that they planned on one or two more.  The house they were looking at was a four bedroom.  Alex and Preston knew one of the houses they were currently building was a six bedroom so they mentioned it to them.  Dee and Kale both said they would love a bigger house, but the four bedroom was the max they could get a loan approval for.  So, the guys sent them off to keep looking at the house while they cooked up a plan.”  Deidre is glancing at Kale with misty eyes.  It seems this story still gets her emotional.

“They could hear Dee gushing over the house while Kale kept trying to tell her to keep quiet.”

“I really did love that house.  It was beyond stunning.”  I’m confused by the past tense talk of the house because I thought they all lived in this neighborhood.

“Alex and Preston really wanted some young families in the neighborhood.  Families with kids that would grow up in the development.  Better our community.  Alex asked Preston if he would be okay with selling the six bedroom they were building for the price of the four bedroom to this couple.”

“They seemed like a couple who really wanted to live in a nice neighborhood for their kids and Alex was so excited by the idea.  I couldn’t say no to him.”  Preston shrugs when I look his way

“Soooo,” Adriana starts again, “Alex called Lance.  Luckily the lots were selling like hotcakes and Lance was a good guy.  With everyone in agreement, the guys headed back in to talk to Dee and Kale.”  Deidre keeps wiping under her eyes obviously affected more as the story progresses.  They found them in a bedroom that Dee was saying would make a great nursery.  Alex wasted no time telling them that they had a special offer for them and what it was.  He was like a little kid, so excited when he came home that night to tell me.  When I asked him if the couple accepted the offer he told me, “Hell yeah, they accepted!”, and that Dee was so happy she jumped up and down and hugged him and Preston both and cried.  Then apologized to them that her damn pregnancy hormones made her crazy.”