Little Miss Perfect

Ch. Three

I'm not sure when I finished crying, but it didn't take a long time. I really did hate crying in front of people which encouraged me to clean up my act as quickly as possible, but I just couldn't help it. This day was shitty and I was overreacting a little bit, but I couldn't help it.

I wiped the last of the tears from my face. "I'm sorry."

Adam offered me a soft, encouraging smile. "Don't be." He stood up and helped me to my feet. "C'mon, you can come to my house."

"But, we don't have a car." I said, finally fully calmed down again. I felt like I looked like a disaster but I was hoping that I was wrong.

He smiled and pointed down across the cul-de-sac that my house was on. "That's my house."

My eyes widened. "You live across the street from me?"

He nodded with a small laugh at my astonishment. "I have for years, dude."

"I don't get out much, dude." I said, mocking his use of the word 'dude'.

He laughed again as I followed him across the street towards his house. "My mom must be home, my car's here."

I noticed his big black Hummer in the driveway. "Will she mind me coming over?"

"Nah, she'll probably be too busy with Alec."

"Who's that?" I asked as we walked through the door.

When we got inside, he pointed to the couch where a small boy was watching TV. "That's Alec, my little brother. Hey, little buddy." He called as we passed him.

Alec had long blonde curls and he looked to be about seven or eight. He didn't even acknowledge Adam's greeting.

"He doesn't talk?" I whispered.

Adam shook his head. "He has Asperger's so he doesn't like to talk much."

I nodded and looked back at the little boy who was watching a show about outer space. He looked so peaceful but I noticed how fidgety he was. He was so intent on the show that was now talking about the gravitational pull from Jupiter.

I jumped out of my daze when Adam wrapped a strong hand around my thin wrist. "C'mon, we can go upstairs." He dragged me up the stairs and down the hallway into a room that was probably his.

I slipped his hoodie off and tossed it to him before I forgot to give it back. "Thanks for letting me wear it." I said.

He smiled. "Anytime."

He jumped and then made a loud springy sound as he landed on his bed. I giggled and sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. He looked at me, puzzled.

"Why are you sitting on the floor?"

I shrugged. "I like to."

He rolled his eyes. "You're weird."

I shrugged again because I already knew that I was weird... that's what all the tears were about, didn't he get that? "Is Alec your only sibling?" I decided that I'd change the subject.

He shook his head. "No, I have a lot of them."

"How many?"

"Eight, not including me. Four brothers, four sisters."

"How old are they?"

He thought for a minute. "Alec's the youngest, he's seven. Aaron and Ace are ten, they're twins. Arial is twelve, Abby is fifteen, Ariana is seventeen, Ayden is twenty, and Amanda is Twenty- four."

My mouth dropped. "That's a lot of A's."

He chuckled. "Yeah, I know."

"Kind of ironic, because Amber starts with an A, too."