The weekend had past and Adrian was at the school gym on his own, burning off all the extra calories that stacked up because of Thanksgiving.

Brody wasn't around to help keep him company since he was with his study group, and Adam ditched him last minute to hang out with Ashley. So he was occupied by his own presence as he shut the silence out and put his earphones in.

After an hour of doing intense cardio on the treadmill, Adrian moved onto the weight bench as he started lifting. He started with some easy bicep curls, and then moved onto tricep extensions.

Adrian then moved onto working on his chest as he sat under the dumbbell, deciding to go with the chest press. About halfway through his set, Adrian was in trouble. He thought he could handle the bench press on his own, he managed fine on his own before. However he didn't take into account how his body was already tired from doing cardio longer than usual, and now his muscles were becoming weaker from his arm workout.

Adrian struggled to set the weight back onto the hook, his breathing becoming short and heavy. His arms were beginning to shake as he trembled about the fear of being crushed under the weight.

Luckily for Adrian, a hand reached from under his head and helped him take the weight of him.

Adrian was thankful as he managed to catch his breath, as the outstretched arm was carrying a towel for him to dry himself down.

"Thank you." Adrian turned to greet his hero as he dabbed the sweat away.

"No problem." Elliot smiled as he offered his personal water bottle.

It has been over a week since they were trapped in the elevator together. A week since Elliot was pressing himself against Adrian and aggressively made a move on him.

A week since Adrian flat out rejected him by giving him a bruise on his face, as well as bruising his ego.

Adrian ignored the gesture as he chose to also ignore Elliot's presence. He went to walk away from him when Elliot grabbed his arm gently to stop him from walking away.

The hold didn't last long as Adrian quickly shook his arm away from Elliot's grab. Elliot became defensive as he held his hands up, not wanting to start a fight.

"What?" Adrian growled, not forgetting about the incident in the elevator.

Elliot appeared sincere as he looked down at his shoes, looking humble by not meeting Adrian's eyes. "Look, I just wanted to apologise about what happened at the mall last week - it wasn't cool of me."

"You think?" Adrian asked sarcastically.

Elliot scratched the back of his neck as he laughed to himself. "I was drunk when the whole thing happened. Alcohol really makes you act before you think, and this was one of the bad times to do so."

Adrian looked back at Elliot sceptical and confused. "You were drunk in the middle of the afternoon? I don't believe you."

"I was with Kelsey before I was at the mall. She had an open bar at her house so before had our bit of fun, we were doing body shots off each other before we actually had sex several times over the few hours." Elliot mentioned.

Adrian stopped him before he described everything even further with more detail. "Okay stop. I heard your story, and I still don't believe you."

Elliot took a step closer while Adrian took a step back. Putting his hand back up to show how he was listening to Adrian's warning, "You don't have to believe me, but you have to believe that I want to apologise at least. That has to mean something, giving me the benefit of the doubt and all that."

The logic wasn't completely flawed as Adrian tried to get his head around the idea that Elliot was throwing out. How much of an ego does a person have to have and not attempt to apologise?

Elliot spoke lowly, with his emotions being carried through with his words . "I just hate that I gave you the wrong impression, that guy back at the elevator wasn't the real me."

Adrian looked into Elliot's eyes and he did look sincere. Elliot didn't blink when he said all of that, there were no involuntary twitches of any kind which would suggest he was lying. And his speaking pattern was completely stable too.

But Adrian didn't want to be played as a fool either, so Adrian listened to him with a grain of salt.

"Fine." Adrian then gestured towards the door behind him. "Can I go now? Or are you going to trap and man handle me again? I mean it's not like it's the first time this has happened."

Elliot laughed it off, ignoring how Adrian wasn't actually joking. "I knew that's why I like you. Pretty, witty and the fun kind of snarky."

Elliot stepped forward again so Adrian stepped back, trying to keep distance between them. However he was stopped as Adrian's back was now pressed against the wall. He then became trapped as Elliot put both of his hands on the space on the wall beside Adrian's head, asserting his alpha dominance and presence.

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret though. If you ever really were trapped with me, then only I would get to say when you leave. You think that I didn't let you go back at the elevator? I chose to let you go back then, like I am doing now."

"Huh?" Adrian was sure the several beatings he delivered was the reason things didn't get further in the elevator, and not because Elliot let him leave.

Elliot then dropped one of his arms and gestured towards the door, leaning on his other arm that was still stretched by Adrian's head, and cheekily smiling at him.

Adrian didn't hang around any longer as he left the gym without looking back.

~~~~~~~~~~

It was lunchtime when Adrian was joined by his friends for the first time that day. He sat down by Brody who offered him a gentle smile before he turned back to his book, still revising for the midterm exams.

Adam and Ashley looked up when Adrian sat down at the table. They had greeted each other before Adrian started picking at his sandwich.

"Before you guys forget, you all need to come to Stonebrook by 7pm tonight." Ashley said as she began scribbling onto the clipboard in front of her.

"Wait why?" Adrian asked.

Ashley looked at Adrian dumbfounded, before she turned to the rest of the guys who were equally confused. "The fundraiser we're holding for the school? You know, to raise money after everything that happened with the school and everything."

It still didn't ring a bell to the group as Adam voiced their shared thoughts. "Still doesn't mean much to me."

"I literally reminded you guys on the weekend. Either way, since you're all involved it's important." Ashley told them with authority in her voice.

"We are?" They all asked harmoniously.

Ashley brought the clipboard up to hit herself on the forehead. "Guys, come on now. You all signed up!"

Ashley showed them all the clipboard she was holding. As part of the school committee, Ashley was helping run the event that had been planned for weeks. The silent auction was a bit of fun, to raise morale for the school after the whole money scandal incident. It was all going to a good cause, to help show community support and finish upgrading the school.

"Oooohhhhhh, now I remember. Alright then."

"Cool."

"Wait I didn't sign up for this!"

Adrian looked back at Ashley confused as he was sure he never did such thing.

"Your name's on the sign up sheet, you volunteered like the rest of the teams to become personal assistants for the day." Ashley told him.

"But I didn't!" Adrian exclaimed. "I don't even have much to offer anyway!"

Brody was grinning as he began laughing out loud. "Yeah, now I definitely remember. That was my doing."

Adrian immediately shoved Brody who was still laughing. "Why would you even do that and not tell me?"

"I thought it would be funny."

~~~~~~~~~~

The silent auction had already begun as it was later in the evening when Adrian walked into the school with Brody besides him.

The list of available items varied from large to small. There were bigger items like personal shoppers for those who needed a new wardrobe, a day out in the sea on a private boat, and a wine vineyard tour with free wine tasting and cheese.

And then there were smaller things like tutoring sessions, personal assistants for the day, and even free meal coupons at Abigail's diner.

Both of the Eagles and the Ravens were nominated to act as personal assistants to their highest bidders. Those who chose to sign up had a sweetener to the deal, with it counting towards charity work and therefore looking good on their personal records.

"Here, write your name on this for me." Adrian then passed Brody one of the ballots slip for the silent auction. He wanted to rig it so that Brody won him instead of a possible stranger. That way the requests were guaranteed to not be anything creepy or disturbing.

Brody smiled when he looked at the price Adrian wrote down on himself. If Brody was drinking something then he would have spat it out at how ridiculous it was.

"$200! That's insane."

Adrian pretended to look hurt. "You don't think I'm worth that much?"

Brody pinched Adrian's cheeks as he began to talk like a baby to him. "Aren't you precious? I couldn't put a price on you."

Adrian took the ballot back and added an extra $50 to the sum. "Yeah you can, and now it looks like it's $250."

"No way I'm paying that much just to have you around for the day, I get that for free! Someone else can put up with you for the day." Brody joked.

Adrian didn't laugh back as he was still being only slightly serious, whilst also still playing with the whole idea. "I'll make it worth your while." Adrian gestured in a low whisper.

"I get that from you for free too." Brody winked back.

==========