Adrian was the only child of George and Mary Ross. He was raised in a middle class suburb. His father sold insurance whilst Lara was a stay-at-home mom. Jim had a happy childhood, he was particularly close with his mom who thought the world of her son. As a result he was rather sheltered and awkward as a kid, when others would be outside playing, Adrian would either be reading a book inside or playing video games.
As he reached puberty, the young boy started to change dramatically. For one he shot up in height rather dramatically, towering over his peers, giving him some new-found confidence. More importantly however, it was around this time that Adrian found out his dad was cheating on his mom. He never told her, not sure why, it was difficult for him to even process it.
His mother was the kind of woman to dedicate her life to her family, she forewent her career, her ambitions, even her family as she had to move away to live with her husband. Watching her trust in her husband betrayed in that way gave young Adrian a rather cynical view on life, particularly relationships. He came to learn that he needed to be able to rely on himself and himself alone, there was no guarantee that someone else would be there for him.
The adolescent Adrian started to work out regularly, his bookworm personality was discarded for someone who went out regularly, partied regularly, broke the rules and slept around. It was quite a shock to Lara when she found her son in flagrante delicto with a cheerleader in his bedroom, but it wasn’t going to be the last.
His earlier flings, mostly due to his inexperience were like mini-relationships. He was dating Stacy or Susan now and that was known around the school, they were a mini couple. However beyond the physical intimacy, Adrian never really connected with anyone and it was around a couple of months later that either he or her decided to call it quits.
Moving onto college however, Adrian abandoned such notions of commitment. He made it clear to anyone that he was young and being tied down was the last thing he wanted. As a result Adrian allowed himself to indulge in reckless fun almost to an excessive degree. He’d even built up a reputation around campus as a f***boy, which did repel quite a lot of girls looking for something serious, but then again plenty others who were down to have fun with no strings attached knocked on his dorm.
It’s now the third year of his university degree. It’s customary for Finance students to get a summer internship placement on their third year so as to have secured a job once they graduate. Adrian forewent the fun and dedicated himself to applying to some of the most prestigious firms. He was keen to not return to the sleepy hometown he grew up in and live independently in the big city. This internship would be his ticket to that life.
. . .
