Aquata Cove Ch. 88

"Alright, very clever Adam." She says, jotting down a note on her clipboard.

"Alright, so who are you to me?" Adam asked, "Come on, you can tell me."

"I want to tell you, Adam." Donna said, "I really want to..." Donna once again suppresses her urge to get emotional, "You're very special to me... But as part of the program, I can't tell you who I am. All I can tell you is that I am your therapist, and I am here for you when I am not with another patient."

"Hahhhh... Alright..."

"Also, I am supposed to inform you that you may not leave the psychiatric ward WITHOUT written consent or a chaperone to monitor your condition."

"Alright." Adam nodded, "I just... I know a friend of mine... I think his name is Jamal? Or maybe it was one of the cards... I keep getting the message that I'm not actually alone. But... I still feel like I'm on my own here."

"Adam..." Donna reaches her hand, and then holds his, "I know it's rough right now. But the one thing that you never are, is alone."

"Ok..." Adam nods, looking back at her, "Are you sure you won't tell me who you are in my past life?"

"If I told you, it'd be a breach of program, and you wouldn't learn anything." She smiled. Her own beeper goes off, and she checks it, "I'm afraid I have to cut this session short, Adam. I'll have to see if I can see you again this evening or tomorrow."

"Alright... Thank you, Dr Donna." He said as a formality. Before Donna left, she stops, and turns back to him.

"And Adam... I can't tell you who I am, or who anyone or what anything is," She adds before turning, "But if you can figure it out on your own, that's a very good sign."

"Ok." Adam nods, sighing.

Donna leaves, closing the door softly so it doesn't completely seal. She steps to the side, and leans her back next to the door, and puts the back of her head on the wall.

"Heh... Decent deduction, he's already taking after me again..." She puts her hand on her forehead, "Want my boy back..." She whimpers quietly, before her beeper goes off again, "Alright, I know, I know." She says as she walks off to her next appointment.

~~~

Jessica strides down the ward's halls, glancing every now and then, in hopes that that lesbian or that black thug isn't around to stop her. Every time, every time she goes to try and help Adam in this long time of need, they both find a way to ruin her attempts to save Adam from himself.

Don't they realize that being gay is wrong?? If they want to burn themselves in their depravity, that's THEIR right. But Adam... Adam is special, he belongs to HER. Who else could ever be his Eve? What happened to him has given him a clean slate, to allow himself to make the right choice, and earn his place next to her in heaven.

Her heart leaps as she sees Adam standing there from afar, all by himself! She breathes with joy as she starts to jog.

"Hey! Heyeyeyey, what you think you doin here??"

"Ah!" Jessica's arm is yanked back, nearly tripping her as a thick, brown hand seizes her arm, "Let go, you're hurting me!"

"Not yet." Jamal said as he looks at her darkly, "I thought I made it clear that you ain't welcome round here."

"This is NONE of your concern!" Jessica yanks her arm back, "What, do you LIVE here?! Heh, probably with all your drugs and poison peddling-"

"You shut the fuck up." Jamal points his finger threateningly, "You in dangerous waters, lil girl. And I ain't no life guard if you get too deep."

"Just stop! Why won't you leave us alone already!"

"Cause you a creep, woman." Jamal answers, "Now git the hell out before I carry you out."

"You lay one finger on me, and I will have you arrested." Jessica threatened lowly, "Why won't you let Adam make his choice? The RIGHT choice??"

"Cause it ain't you." He said, "Ya know, you really put a whole new spin on the whole stalkin thing. Mah man is very fragile right now, and the last thing he needs, is some stupid white trash tellin him he goin to hell cause he fucks guys, aight?"

"How dare you!" Jessica clenches her teeth, "I am here to SAVE him! Why won't you give me a chance??"

"Ya had yo chance, and you screwed yoself."

"You don't understand," Jessica exclaims, nearing tears, "I NEED to do this for him! I love him!"

"I ain't playin around no more, lady." Jamal growled, "Adam ain't even allowed to know bout his own life, his therapist says he's gotta take things VERY slow. If he's pushed too much bout his own life, he's gonna crack."

"Which is exactly why I should be WITH him, helping him through this!" She wavers her hand around, "I don't see his exboyfriend around getting him back on his-"

Jamal's hand snatches her wrist, gripping it harshly and making her gasp in pain. "You done. Got it? You way outta line now." Jamal said with anger in his voice, "Now I kept mah mouth shut about what you did at the Waltz cause I respect women, and I understand how shit like that happens." He breathes roughly through his nose.

"You wouldn't strike me." She said defiantly, trying to wring her arm away from him, "Not in a place like this."

"Don't fuckin tempt me." Jamal frowns darkly, "But if I see you here again, if I see you anywhere near him. If you even LOOK at him, I'mma make sure yo never seen in this town again."

"Let go of me, or I'll start yelling 'rape'." Jessica says viciously. Jamal threw her arm down, and nears his face to hers.

"As if I'd ever try a dirty hoe like you. I don't fuck trash." He shoves her shoulder back, before turning around and leaving.

"... I will save you, Adam." Jessica mumbles as her eyes rim with tears.

~~~

"Hey, wassup, buddy?" Jamal says as he catches up to Adam in the sport area of the huge ward, where the patients gets some excise in a few of the games.

"Oh, hey..." Adam says as he walks slowly forward. He feels dizzy and slow, his arm bandaged from another dose of Yuri's vaccine.

"You doin ok, Adam? Yo kinda out of it."

"Yeah..." Adam groans as he rubs his forehead, "Is this what depression feels like? I don't know how to describe this feeling."

"Naw, you just tired." Jamal says as they both walk to the fence of the ward. It's afternoon, and Adam has been walking aimlessly around the establishment, his head slowly spinning around bland and ambiguous subjects. Nothing is grabbing his interest, his curiosity having left him at some point.

"Aaaahhhh, check it oouuut." Jamal says with a grin.

"Huh?" Adam looks up, and sees they are near a beach, at least where they are on the fence.

"Got some smoking hot babes over there, man! Check it!" Adam looks to the side, and sees Jamal looking into some binoculars.

"Oooook?"

"Aw shit, they gettin each other oiled up, it's fuckin on!"

"On? Are you sure you should be looking at them like this? They might prefer to have privacy."

"They wouldda stayed home, man." Jamal removes the strap of the binoculars from over his thin wool head, and holds them out to Adam, "Here, give it a look see."

"..." Adam shrugs as he accepts the binoculars, and puts them to his eyes.

"Aight, now," Jamal then turns Adam's direction to the sexy women. The girls are in very scant bikinis, barely even decent. A blonde rubs some kind of shiny lotion onto the back and shoulders of a long-haired brunette while another one runs about with a volley ball. "See wut I mean??? They's crazy hot!"

"I... Guess?" Adam answers neutrally, "Is there something you wanted to say to me?"

"Just hangin." Jamal said as he looks at another direction, "Oh hey, who's that there?"

"Where?" Adam lowered the binoculars to look at his companion.

"There." Jamal points to a different part of the beach. Adam looks, and does a double take at where he looked. He blinks as his mouth opened a little. A tall, tan man goes to one of the shower ports on the threshold of the sand, wearing a rather snug speedo and a drenched tank top.

Adam slowly puts the binoculars back up to his eyes, and looks at the hunk from afar. His attention is gripped tightly to the random male stranger pushing the metal tab of the pole to get the water going.

"Wuhhh..." Adam stares intently at the man running his hands back and forth under the cascading rush of water, spritzing tiny drops up and from his head. He gulps slightly as Adam watches the water run and dribble over his semi-transparent top, and down his speedo-defined ass. Adam doesn't even notices the breach of sweat on himself as he looks at the man's muscular rump, right before the man peels off his wet tank top, and started to wring it.

Adam grips the railing as he sees those biceps bulge, or even his glistening pecs tense and bounce oh so tenderly. He feels something strange pull in his pants as he watches, but he doesn't care, the nearly nude beach goer reaches downward, making Adam edge closer. Adam's chest almost explodes as he sees his hand dip into his speedo, his package expanding and shrinking as he adjusts his tightly packed equipment.

"Bingo..." Jamal mumbled. Adam can only wish and hope that that man down there would just peel down his swimsuit to show him what he's got bundled up in there, reveal some extraordinary treasure contained within the spandex confines-

"Hi, Adam!"

"Aaahhh!" Adam jumps as Dr Yuri is suddenly next to him.

"O-Oh, hi, Yu- Dr Yuri."

"Adam, what's wrong? Your face looks very flustered."

"I uh, I, I, it's just very hot out here, I can't think straight."

"Yeah you can't." Jamal sneered, "We better git you back inside."

"O-Ok..." Just as they leave, Jamal feels something a kin to a vice clench his elbow, stopping him from going. Not even having turned, Yuri keeps a strong grip on him, and pulls him back.

"Jamal." She says, "I wouldn't happen to be walking in on something extremely inappropriate, would I?"

"No, gurl, I'm just hangin out wit him! Let go'a me!" He yanks her off, rubbing the part where she nearly sprained him, "Gawd, what the hell??" Jamal huffed with clenched teeth, before running off to catch up with Adam.

-vvvvrrrr-

Something vibrates in Jamal's pocket, prompting to open it up, and seeing a text message.

Leonard Cell [Can I stop now?? Im getting looks, and I wanna stop touching myself now]

Jamal chuckles as he types a reply. [Yeah, yu done. Mission accomplished, thx]

(...) Lenard Cell [And our deal?? Your going to fix me up with one of those girls over there, right? I want the one with the blue and green in her hair]

Jamal Cell [You got it. Ill talk you up and tell her yull rock her world, she been dead tired from exams]

Leonard Cell [Awesome. Thanks. Good luck with your gay friend.]

Jamal grins as he puts his phone away, glancing, and checking that Yuri isn't nearby as they went.

~~~

Jamal smiles as he waits next to a door, before Adam walks out of the room of job simulators, where patients can get familiarized with a work-like environment -- today, he had a crash-course of how to use a cash register.

"So, what you up to do, Adam?" He asked, "Wanna go shoot hoops again?"

"I don't really feel like it... Not that there's much to do anyway, I have Physical Therapy in about an hour."

"Aint' you done wit that yet??"

"I don't think I need it, but the doctors won't listen to me. Even Dr Yuri insists I play it safe." As they talked, Jamal leads them both in a different direction.

"Yeah, she's like that, a lot. She kind've a nag. Oop," Jamal whips his head around, and looks at him, "Don't tell'er I said dat."

"Aheheh, why, is she mad easily?"

"You COULD say that." Jamal nodded.

"She said she was my room- huh?" Adam's head turns and double takes again, something immediately catching his eye. His insides start to feel uneasy again as he looks towards someone unfamiliar.

"Yeah, she chop my head off if I say the wrong thing." Jamal said, "But she's aight, if ya," Jamal stops, realizing Adam isn't following him any more. "Adam?" He looks, and sees Adam have that weird look on his face -- when he was looking at that guy at the beach.

His eyes are just focused on someone inside another classroom, making creative 3-D sculptures using various basic materials. A blonde man in a white long-sleeve shirt under a blue T-shirt and white jeans. The sunlight just beams on this young man as he talks to the patients, laughing with them, and sharing his method and time with them.

"Wow..." Adam stands in awe as this unknown stranger just radiates with the sun's glow, as if his hair and flesh was made to specifically reflect any kind of light.

"Adam, what'chu starrin at?" Jamal grins as he nudges him.

"Oh- I, uh, I don't know..." He said, "M-My meds must be making me dizzy."

"Naw, that ain't it." He says as he stands next to him, "I see that blondie in there, all bright and stuff. Folks round here call'im 'Sunshine'. Partly cause... Well, lookit." He gestures as Merrick shows the classroom of art how to balance sea shells with the structure he's working on, "And partly cause he looks like a character from a gay show called Queer As Folk -- that's only known to a few people round here."

"Sunshine... Huh..." Adam ponders with a small, smile.

"Gheh. That's not his name, ya know." Jamal tells him, "His name's Merrick."

"Merrick..." Adam furrows his brow. Something about that name feels very weird... He can't place it, but just knowing it seems to shift something in his head.

"Yep. Merrick Piscien. He works part time at the Lovers store, but he volunteers in the art classes in his spare time."

"O-Oh, really." Adam smiles at that.

"Heh... So... Why don't ya go talk to him?" Jamal said on the sly.

"Wha- Oh, wait, what?" Adam doubles back, "N-No, I can't."

"Shoot, why not? I know the guy, he's an awesome dude, he'll like you."

"B-But, h-he's in the middle of a class right now! A-A-And I still need to go to the Hobby center to pick up a program and... Stuff..."

"Naw, you chicken."

"I am not, I just... I-I-I don't know, my psycologist says I shouldn't take on things that might be stressful and-"

"Like wut? Makin friends? Bein nice? Gettin to know the locals? C'mon, man, he ain't gonna bite."

"I-I- just... What should I say? What should I do? I'm on a strict program, if I do something too much without my psychologist's permission, I'll get in trouble."

"Psssh, you ain't got to worry bout it." Jamal says as he puts his big arm around Adam's shoulders, and walks him off, "I'm a people person -- I know ev'rybody. I'll git Merrick to be yo friend. Simple."

"You can?" Adam asked as they went.

"Solid. Just count on me." Jamal says with a nice smile.

~~~

Merrick paces around the porch, checking his cell phone as he leans his bottom onto the railing. Jamal said he had something to talk to him about Adam, but he hasn't shown up yet.

"Come on, Jamal..." He mumbles, "You know I don't like having my time wasted." He gives an aggravated huff as the warm, tropical breezes blow around him. He bows his head down as his hands come up. He puts his fingertips onto the beautiful swirled-welded ring on his finger, with the small diamonds on every end. He smiles smally as he makes the tiny stones glitter in the dusk light.

"U-Um, hi?" Comes a very familiar voice. Merrick whips his head, his eyes blinking up and his mouth slightly ajar. Adam stands there, looking rather awkward and nervous, and holding something cute and fluffy in his hands.

"Hey." Merrick got off from the rail, and faced him. What should he even say? 'How you doing?', 'Who are you?', 'What can I do for you?'. How are you supposed to pretend you don't know someone?

"My name's Adam." He said as his fingers shift and rub onto the object he's holding, "I-I'm a patient here at the ward..." He chuckles oddly as he points and gestures to his head, "I got my head hurt, and stuff."

"I see." He smiles, "My name's Merrick. I'm not a patient, but I volunteer. Just small stuff, like cleaning or doing art classes..." Merrick turns. Adam blinks as he sees Merrick's fingers start to fiddle with a tiny, beautiful ring on his left ring finger.

"I-I brought you something, I heard you'd might like it."

"Hm?" Merrick looks at him as Adam holds up a stuffed animal, "Oh-hoh," He chuckles as he sees a cute gold and tan plush seahorse with gleaming powder blue orb eyes.

"I won this at the claw-machine out in the lobby of the ward. I-It took me 4 tries to get it." Adam trembles as the handsome blonde walks to him. His chest tightens as Merrick's fingers touches his, before sliding away, now holding the doll. "I-I heard you might be feeling down, and I wanted to give it to you."

"It's adorable, I love it." Merrick said. Adam feels himself smile too as Merrick looks at it, "Thank you," Adam gasps as Merrick suddenly comes close, and kisses his cheek! Adam stands there, stunned, still feeling the lip-imprint on him.

"You ok?"

"O-Oh yeah, I am." Adam answers, still disoriented by what happened just now. He stumbled before he adjusted to walk with Merrick.

"So, if we can't leave the ward," Merrick began, "What're we gonna do to hang out?"

"W-Well, uh... What time's your next art class?"

"Hm..." Merrick checks his phone, "About 5 min, if you want to get in there real quick."

"Yeah, sure! I-I mean, if you want..."

"Sounds great. I love working in art, don't know why I never tried before." He says before they turn. As they went, Adam steals glances at his new friend. His blue eyes are so... Blue. They almost flash out in color in everything, it's mesmerizing. He knows he doesn't have much to reference with, but it's like he has deep vivid sapphires... And his hair looks like a short fall of light gold, more real than bleach, but shinier than natural. And his fair skin, it looks so smooth... Down to his lips... The soft, pink lips that not 5 minutes ago, actually put a kiss onto Adam's face... He can STILL feel it...

~~~

The patients come in carefully one by one, right after Adam and Merrick had secured their own set of paint cups and brushes. As they waited, Adam looks subtly over to the blonde next to him.

Merrick is fidgeting with the ring on his finger again. Adam furrowed his brow, curious about the ring. He saw Merrick adjusting it before he came up to talk to him.

"Alright, today we're just going to be working on simple paintings." Says the art instructor, "A scenery of your choice." He smiled as he clapped his hands together, and then held them out, "Impress me~!"

Adam circles his brush in a white, yellow-bordered cycle, not really sure what to really paint. Colors of light and sun just keep surfacing in his head. Again, he can't seem to stop trying to look at Merrick, who is sitting right next to him.

Merrick moves his wide brush of white-cyan and navy blue along the paper, getting darker as it goes. He swipes around here and there to blend the lighter colors with the dark in the upper region of the canvas, before working in black meshed with brown on the lower regions.

Adam takes a very light blue with the white as he curves and blends the color in round grooves. Just then, he feels a wet lick on his ear. "Ah- wha," He feels it, and finds his fingers blotted with pink paint. He looks, and sees Merrick still painting... With his index and middle fingers hidden slightly, with a glimpse of pink.

Adam's smile frowns as looking at the pink color makes him feel... Uneasy... Something pulls inside his skull before he turns his focus onto the yellow, white, and blue cups of paint in front of him.

Merrick looks, and blinks as he sees Adam looking uncomfortable. Maybe playing with a dab of paint wasn't the best idea... Merrick dips into the green and white pain, and started to illustrate something on his paper.

Adam's chest pounds as the front of his head pushes inward. He closes his eyes, and shakes his head, before glancing at Merrick again, looking at how focused his face is. This guy is really... Something. He's so nice, and easy on the eyes. Something about looking at this man just makes Adam feel weird... Like, he's happy for no reason. He just feels like smiling.