Quentin has barely seen Penny since she has moved to New York. He liked it that way. He did his thing and she did her thing. Anyways, Quentin had a kind of girlfriend. He spent a majority of his time with her and truly enjoyed her company. She was a gorgeous young woman with a fiery personality.
At first, they saw each other as much as possible in a passionate sort of way. They couldn't get enough of each other, as if lighter fluid had been added. Like actual lighter fluid, the fire quickly died down. They still enjoyed each other's company, but the passion had died down. They saw each other less and less, realizing that they needed time apart.
Quentin greatly appreciated it because he wasn't the best at relationship. He always finds a way to annoy the girl too much or ruin it. The time apart allowed those sides of Quentin to be expressed so that no one got hurt.
The truth was that Quentin had ADHD. He was diagnosed when he was a young boy after teachers saw the boys habit of not being able to stop moving, constant outburst, and not paying attention. His parents were not taken back by the news. They knew it was going to be difficult since they had so many other children, but they tried there best.
His grades would be all over the place. Some assignments would be perfect, close to being beyond what his age could do. Other times, the assignment wasn't turned in as Quinn would be focused on other things or not being able to focus at all.
He would also get on all of his teachers bad sides. He was the class clown, annoying students, "bad kid" all roped into one. Somedays he would stare out the window, not bothering anyone but the teacher who tried to forces his attention to her. Other days, we would constantly talk to his peers around him, causing no one to be able to focus.
What was always constant was his right knee bouncing, and never stop bouncing.
While Quentin was able to overcome and manage some symptoms of his disorder, it followed him into adulthood. As a teen and young adult, he became constantly moody and reckless. In college, he would go to parties and drink until he blacked out. When he wasn't drinking, he would be forgetting assignments for class and focusing on something.
The mood swings were horrible, especially at home with his family. He was impatient and constantly argumentative, finding any chance to fight with his family until he was distracted by something else. He would enter screaming matches with his mother, father, and siblings over petty things which resulted in someone storming out of the house. During this time, the family felt as though they were in shambles. Deep in there hearts they all loved each other, but Quentin wasn't able to control himself.
The family was thankful when he left for college, but they were still worried. He was entering a high pressure world without ADHD medication. It resulted in Quentin almost being kicked out freshman year. What got his act together was getting into an accident while recklessly driving alone. Thankfully, no one was killed in the process, but Quentin broke his arm and had a concussion. He finally realized that he needed help on how to manage his life with ADHD. Over the summer, before sophomore year of college, he saw a therapist that helped him manage. He was still reckless, but he learned to take risks that could never hurt anyone. He was able to channel and understand his mood swings. They greatly decreased, but didn't disappear.
Now, ADHD no longer controls Quentin. It is still present in his life though. He can be forgetful, distracted easily, hyper-focused on tasks, and not focused at all. He still has a short temper and fidgets, though. A new task in adulthood that has been challenging is keeping relationships. As a child, he was often ignored by his peers, with the exceptions of his best friend Logan Hill. His high school, he was seen as a "bad boy". Girls flocked to fix him and ended up with broken hearts. Boys wanted to be as cool as him.
Now that he was adult, Quinn tried to move away from that image. From bad boy to responsible business person. It worked. In the professional world, he was often viewed as a good man, well a good businessman. He could be known to be abrupt, impatient, and moody at times. Workers just chalk this up to him being a grumpy. Anyone person in the professional field can look at Quentin and never think he had ADHD.
In personal relationship, that is a different story. Quentin gave a break on date for the rest of college. He had the normal amount of one night stand or more long-term hook ups as any other young college man. After entering an internship at his father's company, preparing to take over, he tried dating again.
It didn't go well. It was like he was back in elementary school when the students would stay away because he was that kid. He would get distracted during dates and barely listen to the women as he had a short attention span. His emotions weren't to the girl's standards as his would be heighten, making his anger seem ten times worse than what it actually is or he would be ten times more passionate. The girls felt overwhelmed and exhausted. Quentin just felt disappointed. He wanted someone to connect with, but he started to believe it wasn't set in the stars for him.
So, he went back to his college ways, one night stands or long term hook ups. His views on marriage and love started to deteriorate into what it is today.
His current "fling" (it started to feel like she was more than just a fling as they have hung out a lot without sex) started to open him up to relationships. She didn't seem to mind him zoning off, focusing on other things while she was talking, and the non-stop fidgeting. Adria was patient and kind. Something that Quentin needed to feel. He wasn't sure if he wanted to started dating again, mostly now that he is married and it ruined everything, but he started to reconsider long term relationship.
Quentin Romano was very busy with working recently. The merger between the Marshall and Romano company has been time consuming, but on one Thursday in November, everything seemed done and in order.
Finally, Quentin cheers in his head, relaxing into his chair and his head falling to look at the ceiling. He took sometime to breath after a long month of hard work. As CEO, he was certainly busy, but merging two companies as CEO is beyond just busy.
Unfortunately, a call on his work phone came in. He groan, letting the phone ring. He picked it up at the last second. It was his secretary, "Sir, Ms. Adria Hook is here to see you." He looked at the time, it was late morning. Maybe she wanted to go to dinner.
"Let her in," was all he said in return.
The door to his office opened gingerly. The young woman opening the door stood confident, as she always did. He gave her a small smile, and quickly rearranged some files and paperwork to make his office a tad bit cleaner. "What are you doing here? Aren't you suppose to be working? It is a little early for you lunch break," He asks in a light hearted manner.
Her face fell a little bit. He looked like he was in such a good mood and she didn't want to ruin it. However, Adria was on a mission that day. She had something to say, something to do and she was going to do it.
"I came here to talk about something serious." The light smile on his face fell a little bit. He didn't say anything in return. He just gestured to the chair opposite his desk and nodded. "I am moving back home, to Georgia. My mother is really sick and there is no one to take care of her. I already quit my job and found one down there. I am sorry for telling so late, but I leave tomorrow. I didn't want to end what we had early, so I just procrastinated."
Quentin was taken aback. Adria's leaving...going back home. He wasn't really prepared for that once she said the dreaded words of "something serious." He was worried it was going to be a break up. Well, this is a break up, but not the type he is use to. She didn't really want to leave, but she had too. In previous break-ups, the girls couldn't wait to get away. Rather than feeling disappointed in loosing another woman, he was sad. Just sad that he was losing a good friend.
"I am very sorry about your mother. I am also sad that you are leaving. I just want to say that I really enjoyed your company. I feel like your friendship really helped me. I wish you luck back at home and at your new job." He stood up and walk towards her, gesturing his arms out for a hug goodbye. Adria quickly picked up on the cue and embraced him.
"Thank you, Quinn."
They let go of each other and she gave a quick kiss on the cheek before collecting her purse to leave. Quentin and Adria gave one last look to the other. Then, he was looking at the door.
He was still at the opposite side of the desk, facing the door. He took little steps back until he touched desk and just put all of his standing weight against it. The gravity of the situation was pulling his down to earth, but the desk kept him steady. His fingers pinch the bridge of his nose and let out a long sigh. He was thankful that his work was finished for the day because it would have been impossible after that interacting.
He sat there for a good few minutes, not really thinking about anything in particular. He slowly slides away from the sturdy desk to collect his things: a winter coat, files, his brief case, laptop, phone and wallet. He double checked his whole office and body to make sure everything was on him. He was planning on taking a long vacation. Next week was Thanksgiving, so everyone got the week off for traveling. Quentin didn't want to go back to the office for something unnecessary.
"I am taking the rest of the day off, as well as tomorrow. Have a good rest of the week and a Happy Thanksgiving," Mr. Romano said quickly to his secretary, as he walked to the elevator.
In his car, Quentin didn't know what to do. He didn't really want to back to his penthouse because there wasn't much to do. He didn't often relax and when given the chance, he doesn't know what to do. He made up his mind when he stomach started to get those familiar pains. He speeds out of the parking lot onto the less speedy streets of Manhattan.