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chapter nineteen: the bad dad's club

a/n:

daily reminder to go read rileswritings 's adam book "illicit affairs"

tw(s) - daddy issues!, more dog metaphors (you can pry them from my cold dead hands <3)

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Team USA crushes Team Canada with a four-point lead. A kind, flirty boy named Ryan ran interference between her and the Andersons, certain their fathers wouldn't be letting them speak, the entire time, and helped them make some plans to hang out between plays.

Rory left the game feeling lighter than she did going in and, apparently, so did her team.

There's a hopeful energy in the locker room that wasn't there a week ago. It makes Rory smile as she puts some stuff into a bag, half-listening to Averman as he recounts something so totally cool she did during the game and half ignoring him to save herself the embarrassed flush that threatens to crawl up her cheeks. She's still not sure what to do with his compliments, so unused to someone celebrating everything that she does, but, if he notices, and she doesn't think he does, he doesn't seem to care.

Adam lingers to her left as people start to leave. He's unwrapping his wrist, the one that got hurt in their Iceland game, and shooting glances over his shoulder. It's suspicious. It's like he's hiding something.

She turns to him with furrowed brows. "Hey, Banks, are you alright?"

His head whips around to her and swallows shallowly.

"Yeah." He nods curtly. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Rory puts her hands up to placate him as his tone gets sharp. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she takes (a still yapping) Averman by the hand and drags him along as she follows the crowd out of the room. Connie and Guy walk just ahead of them, his arm looped around her shoulders, and Julie joins them a minute later.

"Hey," Guy taps the blonde's arm, "if Rory's not too busy with her Canadian ex... something, the four of us were thinking of checking out this tour of haunted places in LA. Wanna come?"

Julie shakes her head. "As fun as fifth wheeling sounds, I've got a date."

Rory's eyebrows reach her hairline and Connie giggles.

"Does this date have anything to do with Miss Johanna Lewis, gold-winning ice skater from Trinidad and Tobago?"

Julie's face glows red. Before they can make any comments, though, Guy is bumping straight into Bombay.

The coach waves off the boy's apology attempts, this far-off look in his eyes and a forlorn look on his face. Rory narrows her gaze at the sight, but nobody asks him anything-- not that he gives them the chance, or anything. He's pushing past them and heading toward the locker room by the time anyone could work up the courage.

"That's weird." She comments, slowly dragging her gaze back to the rest of them. "People are acting very weird."

Averman nods. "Yeah, they are-- now, Ms. Gaffney, an ice skater? Really?"

He laughs as Rory hits him on the arm telling him to be nice, and Julie turns around to bark 'I don't have to explain myself to you.'

Before they turn the corner, her eyes drift back to the locker room door.

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That night, long after fruitless ghost hunts and Julie's fruitless date, Rory finds that she can't sleep. She is tired enough. Exhaustion pulls at her eyelids, but, whenever she closes her eyes, her mind is too busy running to let her get any rest. At first, she's thinking about Missy and hockey camp, but then about Krystal and the baby, too, and her thoughts just spiraled out of control from there. After tossing and turning for the better part of three hours, and trying every method she could think of to clear her head, she gave up with a huff. To prevent waking the other girls up, she grabbed a sweatshirt, her book, and snuck out of their room to head to the common area.

She pauses on the threshold when she sees that Adam's already in there. He's bathed in blue and green light that emanates from the television.

Rubbing the heel of her palm into her eye, she narrows her gaze to see him better.

He's wearing a sling on his arm.

"Hey."

Adam sniffles and wipes at his face with his free hand. "Oh, hey."

Hesitantly, she walks up to him and sits next to him on the couch, crossing one of her legs over the other. There's a heavy silence between them, not a sound in the room but the muffled noises from the television and the occasional sniffle or hiccup from Adam.

Eventually, he breaks it. "I'm sorry. For snapping at you earlier, I mean."

Rory shrugs her shoulders.

"No harm, no foul." She flashes him a gentle, crooked smile. "How are you feeling?"

It's Adam's turn to lift his shoulders. "I dunno. Bombay's benching me, but my brother's flying out to check on me, so that's nice, I guess."

Rory winces. Technically, Bombay could bench her, too, but he won't.

Guilt ebbs at her conscience.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Adam sighs. "It's not your fault."

"Still..."

The sentence trails off as she struggles to figure out what to say. They fall quiet, again.

She changes the subject. "You have a brother?"

"Yeah."

"What's that like?"

"Well, Jake's, like, seven years older than me. He's got a wife and a kid already. So it's not the same as Guy and his brothers." Adam turns his head to look at her. "But it's cool. He's nice. Why?"

Rory fiddles with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. "My dad's girlfriend is pregnant. I guess I'm a little worried about being somebody's sister."

Adam stares at the side of her head like she's insane, or something.

"My mom's husband has kids." She breathes a laugh. "They weren't very nice. Always made me be the dog when we played family... I don't want anyone to have to play the dog for me."

"Then don't make them." Adam offers, a soft look on his face. "You're not that kind of person, Rory. Don't worry."

She opens her mouth to respond, the corners of her lips daring to pull up into a smile, but they're interrupted by a knock on the doorway. Charlie's standing there, looking equal parts sheepish and as exhausted as they both feel.

"Hey." Rory greets him with a soft smile.

"Hey." Charlie responds, glancing between the two of them with a strange gleam in his eye. "What are you guys talking about?"

Adam speaks before she can. "My life and how it's over."

Rory can only feel grateful for that for a small moment. "Your life isn't over."

Their captain enters the room quietly. He opts to sit on the floor in front of them instead of taking another seat on the couch.

"It is." Adam says surely. "The scouts are going to stop paying attention to me and my dad-- he's going to freak out."

Charlie's got this strangely sour look on his face, the mention of Adam's father not sitting well with him, and vaguely, Rory wonders if this is what she sounds like.

"The scouts won't forget a player like you. Trust me." She wraps an arm around him and rests her chin on his shoulder. "Besides, screw your dad."

"Yeah. Your dad's an asshole." Charlie tacks on, head tilted all the way back to look at them.

Adam laughs wetly and wipes his nose like a little kid. Rory just squeezes him a little tighter.

There's another knock on the doorway.

"So... You dorks couldn't sleep either?"

They all shake their heads at Dean, mumbling various excuses. He, heaving a sigh, crosses the room and takes the seat next to Rory.

She watches as he rubs his face with his hands. "Why are you up?"

"Had a nightmare, I guess..." Dean's face looks older, now, than it should. "What's on the TV?"

"Peter Pan, I think."

Nobody speaks after that.

The first official meeting of the 'bad dad's club' is held in comfortable silence, and, when Rory falls asleep on Adam's shoulder, Dean carries her to bed.

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a/n:

I hate that chapters that don't break 2k words are short to me, now. like, this is long enough to be a long one shot and I'm just not happy about it.

I elaborate more on the dog thing in the next book ;)

would the ducks be okay with gay people in canon? idk. are they going to be for my fics? yes.

comments and votes are super appreciated! they let me know that you guys like my writing and I cannot stress how much they motivate me to continue! thank you