The Shell Must Break 2/6 Adam/Kris
Adam dropped his bag on the floor next to the door as he walked into his apartment. It'd been another long week, he really wasn't sure he was cut out for teaching. Well, to be fair, the teaching part wasn't the problem. What was so exhausting were the hordes of teenage girls following him everywhere, asking inane questions. At least he had the weekend free, or mostly free. He'd accidentally slipped and told a few students where he was singing this weekend, which wouldn't be that bad if the club wasn't an all ages club.
On the bright side, he did finally manage to meet the librarian, he thought as he flopped back onto the sofa. His students would probably hate him because in order to meet Kris he'd had to make up a writing assignment for his class, so he'd have a reason to go to the library. He hadn't intended to follow through with the assignment he just wanted to meet Kris, but then when he'd offered to come in early so he could find what he wanted, he'd committed himself to the assignment. He was glad he had though, he liked Kris. Once Adam had gotten him to relax enough to talk they'd really clicked. At least on the surface they had. Adam hadn't been able to get him to share much about his life but they had many of the same tastes in music and movies.
His phone buzzed on the table in front of him. He leaned forward and grabbed it. "Hi."
"Are we going out tonight?" Danielle asked.
Adam groaned. He'd planned on going out but now that the week was finally over all he wanted to do was sit on the couch and stare at the television. "Any chance you just want to come over and watch a movie? Pick up dinner on the way, maybe?"
"So then, meeting the cute librarian didn't go as planned?"
"I met him," Adam sighed. "I’m just exhausted. I thought teaching would be easier than this."
"Teenage girls still harassing you?" Danielle asked, laughing.
"You could at least pretend to be sympathetic," Adam pouted. "Are you coming over or not?"
"Fine, I'll be there in an hour with food and a movie."
"Bye!" Adam disconnected the call and pushed himself off the couch, he had time for a shower before Danielle arrived.
An hour and half later he and Danielle were on the couch with Chinese takeout containers spread out in front of them. The romantic comedy Danielle had chosen playing in the background as they talked about their weeks.
"So you met the librarian?" Danielle asked. "What's his name? What was he like? Do we still like him or was he a jerk?"
"Yes I met him, his name is Kris. He's not a jerk at all, so yeah I still like him."
"What do we know about him? Did you ask him out?"
"Not much," Adam admitted, although it wasn't from lack of trying on his part. He quickly described his meetings with Kris over the last couple days. "I know what kind of music he likes, and that he plays guitar and sort of sings, but not much else. No, I didn't ask him out, I'm not even sure he's gay."
"Well, find out," she said.
"I think he might be," Adam admitted. "But then Megan said she thought he had a kid."
"There's plenty of ways he could be gay and still have a kid," she pointed out. "There's adoption or surrogacy, or he could be bi."
"He's really private and guarded though. I'm afraid if I push and ask him out it'll ruin everything. I think I need to wait until there's some sign."
"So you're going to what? Just sit around and hope he'll decide he wants you on his own?"
"I was thinking continuing the lunches and some flirting and you know, moving slowly."
"That is so not you," Danielle said, smiling.
"I can be patient," Adam insisted.
"Yeah, sure you can," she said, grinning and ducking as he tossed a fortune cookie at her head.
** ** **
"This place is packed," Tommy said as he walked into the dressing room where Adam was putting the finishing touches on his hair and makeup. "I didn't think a show this early would draw this big of a crowd."
"I accidentally told some students I was playing here tonight," Adam sighed. "Word probably spread pretty fast."
"So all those girls out there-"
"Underage, sorry." Adam dropped his lip gloss back into his bag and glanced at the clock. "Ready?"
Tommy went to find the others and let the club manager know they were ready while Adam headed to the stage to see just how many of his students were out there. Tommy had been right; he'd never seen so many people here before. He also recognized a lot of them from school, many from his classes. As he scanned the crowd trying to see if there were any adults in the audience, he saw Kris at a table hidden in the corner. Adam tried to convince himself that Kris being there was a coincidence. This could just be a club Kris liked, okay, so he didn't seem like the club type but he'd only known him for a few days so he could be wrong.
"Ready?"
"Yeah," Adam said, as he turned to make sure the rest of the band was there, before adding, "Whenever you are."
** ** **
Adam hurried off the stage as soon as he'd finished the last song. He'd been watching Kris almost as intently as Kris had been watching him all through the set. Now he just needed to get out there before Kris left. He started to push open the door that led to the main floor and saw the same sea of teenage girls he faced every day gathered around it, so he pulled it shut again. He could hear the girls talking on the other side, they were definitely waiting for him, he could try to wait until they had to leave, kids still had curfews right? But, if he did that Kris might be gone too and he'd miss his chance to talk to him. He continued to lean against the door and listen, maybe the crowd would at least start to taper off out of boredom.
"Who was the blond guy?"
"He was cute, wasn't he?"
"He was, maybe he'll come out with Mr. Lambert."
Adam smiled slightly when he saw Tommy heading his way. He reached out and grabbed Tommy's arm. "I need your help."
"Sure what?"
"Just go out there with me," Adam said, tugging his arm as he pushed the door open.
"Adam, I…"
"Hi girls," Adam said, smiling brightly as the crowd moved closer.
"Hi Mr. Lambert," several girls responded. He also caught several compliments and he smiled and waited for the noise to die down so he could speak again.
"This is my friend Tommy," he said, pulling Tommy further into the crowd.
"Hi," Tommy said, waving slightly at the girls whose eyes were all trained on him now.
Adam gave Tommy a slight push forward as the girls started asking Tommy questions and quickly and quietly slipped through the crowd and headed to the bar to grab drinks and then to the mostly hidden table he'd seen Kris at. As he grabbed the beer for Kris and a drink for himself he looked back toward where he'd left Tommy, and pushed down the small feeling of guilt inside him. He'd make it up to him; buy him dinner or something another day.
Adam set the bottle down in front of Kris, and slid into the seat opposite him. "I didn't know you'd be here tonight."
"I didn't know either," Kris admitted, "It was kinda spur of the moment."
"You should've let me know you were here. They hold a table near the front for the band's guests."
"You weren't supposed to know I was here, either," Kris said softly, a blush creeping up his cheeks.
"Why not?" Adam asked. He really was curious why Kris would make the effort to come to the show but not want him to know he was there.
Kris' blush darkened, as he stammered, "I-I just-I don't usually do this. I don't like to complicate my life any more than it already is."
"Seeing me sing complicates your life?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow.
"More than you know," Kris said, finishing his beer. "And I really need to get out of here, before anyone-"
"Adam, there you are." Before Kris could finish his sentence the club manager came to the table with a woman following behind him. "This is Jill, she's that reviewer I told you might be here."
"Oh right," Adam said, frowning. He looked back at Kris, "I'll only be a few minutes, can you wait?"
"I can't," Kris said, sliding out of the booth, "I really have to get home."
Adam watched Kris slip into the crowd and out the door before he turned his attention back to the woman who had slid into Kris' seat. "I’m sorry, Jill, I'm all yours now."
"Who was that?" She asked, "A boyfriend?"
"No," Adam sighed.
** ** **
Adam pushed the library doors open Monday morning, careful not to spill the two coffees he'd picked up on his way. He headed for the office when he spotted Kris behind his desk, reading a newspaper. "Kris!" When Kris didn’t immediately look up he set one of the cups in front of him as he took the seat on the opposite side. "I brought coffee."
"Hi," he said lowering the newspaper. "Um, thanks for the coffee. I didn't think you'd be in early again. Did you still need to look at resources for the paper?"
"I thought I'd just come in so we could talk," Adam said, shaking his head. "Is that okay? We didn't really get a chance at the club."
"Oh, yeah," Kris said, "We didn't, did we? I just wasn't expecting to really see much of you anymore. "
"We work in the same school," Adam pointed out. "We were bound to run into each other."
"Not really. I rarely leave the library."
"And as we discovered last week, the library is the one place that the students don't follow me. And I like you."
Kris' eyes narrowed and he stared at Adam for several moments before speaking. "I told you I don't need to complicate my life."
"Yeah, you did," Adam agreed. "But you never explained why I'm a complication. Maybe I just want to be friends."
"Do you?" Kris asked, raising an eyebrow. "Just want to be friends?"
Part of Adam's brain was telling him to lie, don't risk frightening Kris. The other, more honest part of his brain was saying that lying was a bad idea and would only make things end in disaster. "No."
"Adam, I don't," Kris got up and began pacing. "It's only been two years since Katy-I'm really not ready for this. Especially not with someone like you."
"Ready for what?" Adam asked. "So far all I've asked for is morning coffee and a place to hide during lunch."
"I know," Kris said nervously. "But you want more than that."
"Yeah, I probably do," he agreed. He was choosing his words carefully trying not to upset Kris anymore than he already had. "But I've got time. I can wait until you're ready. And what did you mean by 'someone like me'?"
"You're in today's newspaper." Kris said, sitting back in his chair and pointing to the paper he'd been reading when Adam arrived.
"Yeah, it happens sometimes, reviewers show up and they want to talk to the performer," Adam agreed. "Is that a problem?"
"I can't-" Kris hesitated again, then said "I'm a very private person."
"Look Kris," Adam said. "I'm not going to try to push you into anything. I'm also not going to do anything to make your private life less private. Those interviews aren't all that common and they usually focus mostly on the clubs, not me. When they are about me, I keep it about the performances. I don't want them in my personal life either. And right now, I don't imagine they'd have any interest in my having coffee with the school librarian."
"You don't know anything about me," Kris pointed out.
"I want to though, and since I’m pretty sure you'll bolt if I ask you out," Adam said patiently. "I’m willing to stick to these morning coffees and lunches until I do know you."
"You aren't going to give up are you?"
"No."
Part 3