Addie’s POV

I wake up on Tuesday morning, get ready for school, and when I’m about to leave the house, I see Aggie coming down the stairs. I didn’t see her yesterday in school, she wasn’t sitting with her ‘crew’ at lunch, and I didn’t pass her in the hallways once. I look at her and she looks..well..not like herself.
Her hair is not in those flawless curls she does, its a bit messy, and all over the place, and it’s at an awkward length. She really needs to dye her roots as well. She is dressed in jeans, which look a bit loose and big, and an old shirt I haven’t seen her wear in forever. She has next to no make up on her face, and basically…she looks like she rolled out of bed.
“Um, you going to school today?” I ask her, putting on my shoes.
“Yes?” She says a bit confused, putting on her shoes as well.
“You just…don’t look like yourself” I point out. She shrugs as if she doesn’t know what I’m talking about, and then we go outside, locking the door behind us.
She starts walking, and I see Cal come outside of his own house. He grins at me, and waves, his car keys hooked around one of his fingers.
“Do you want a ride?” I ask Aggie. She looks at me, and then nods.
We walk up to Calum. He doesn’t say anything when Aggie enters the backseat.
Even though we had that talk yesterday, and some things cleared up between us, like the fact that I’m NOT dating Michael, there is still some weird air between us. When he pulls up in school, Aggie thanks him for the ride and gets out first, and then walks inside without waiting for us.
“She okay?” Cal asks. None of us made a move to get out.
“I don’t know” I say, looking in the direction Aggie went “She doesn’t look like herself. I think it’s the lack of socialisation she’s been doing. She’s been avoiding Marissa and her friends I think.”
He nods and we sit in silence. When I make a move to get out he starts speaking.
“So, listen” he says “I was thinking, after school, um…maybe we can hang out?”
“Can’t, I’m grounded” I say automatically. He nods and mumbles something like “oh yeah, you told me.” and leaves the car.
Was he…was he asking me out? Was that Calum asking me out on a date?
“But” I say, exiting the car as well “We could hang out at mine? My mom never said anything about bringing people over?”
“Yeah. Cool” he says to that, and then we walk to school.
At lunch, I’m the first one on our table, and it’s like an unspoken thing - everyone has their own tables, but when I reach it, I see Marissa sitting there.
“Can I help you?” I say, putting down my bag.
“Oh” She looks up at me, startled “Um, no. I was just…I wanted to talk to Calum”
All the anger I have for her starts simmering.
“Can you do that, like…not here?” I say. She looks at me and I realise - I could actually take her, if it was one on one. If she didn’t have Ashley, or Stephen or Chris, or one of the other nameless, faceless people that hang out with her. I think she realises that too, because she gets up, and leaves without another word.
“What. Was. That” Mikey sits next to me.
“No clue” I say, opening up my sandwich.
Calum arrives next, and sits across from me. I haven’t said anything to Mikey about Calum being mad at us for assuming that we’re dating. Which, come to think of it, why would it upset him so much? Unless he was jealous. I mean, he did ask me out this morning. Was he jealous? I need to talk to Lucy about this. I need her input.
I’m about to tell Cal that Marissa wants to talk to him, when Luke shows up.
“Lucy is in a mood. No one mention it” He says, and not a moment later, Lucy sits down next to Calum, and angrily drops her bag.
“What’s up” Mikey says to her. She glares at him. “Oooookay. Someone else try”
“I’ll tell you what’s up. Somebody thought it would be funny to hide my clothes during Gym. It’s not bad enough that I have Gym second period, while I’m still half asleep, but I had to walk around with shorts and that stupid shirt until I found them. In a trashcan.” She answers, her hands outstretched like claws.
“What?!” I say, and look at Luke, who nods.
“Oh yeah. And I have a pretty good idea who it is” She then turns around to glare at Marissa’s table, on which everyone seem to be talking to each other, and no one is gloating or smug.
“That’s so petty” Cal rubs Lucy’s shoulders. She is raging.
“They are pushing my buttons, and I am about to detonate” She says through clenched teeth.
“Well, not to worry” Mikey says, putting an arm around my shoulders, and my eyes fly to Cal’s. He looks down. “Because Addie and I have an idea”
He then goes into the idea of the bed bugs, and infesting the four of them, Marissa, Ashley, Chris and Stephen. Lucy is liking this idea, Luke is a bit sceptical, and Cal and I have a staring contest. He nods and sometimes looks away, but his eyes always find mine and they dart between me and Michael.
I give him a look that says ‘seriously?’ and he gives me an apologetic one, as if to say ‘sorry, I can’t help it’
After lunch we get back to classes, and the day is agonisingly slow.
I get held up in English, because my teacher doesn’t understand something about my essay, so I bullshit my way through it, and get a B- instead of a C which I guess I deserve.
When I go outside the classroom, there is hardly anyone in the hallways. I see Lucy coming down the stairs.
“Why are you still here?” I ask, falling into step with her.
“My Gym teacher wanted to know if I was okay. He heard about my clothes being stolen” She says, rolling her eyes “You?”
“Didn’t bullshit my English essay as well as I thought I did” I answer, and she chuckles.
“I think I might join the female lacrosse team” Lucy says, as we exit the school. “I need to join some clubs. Looks good on a college application”
I nod, and we start walking towards the parking lot.
“Ughh, I have to walk home aloneee” Lucy whines and reaches for her headphones in her bag.
I look at the cars, but I don’t see Cal’s.
“Turns out…me too” I say a bit confused.
“Did Cal leave?” She asks, equally confused, searching for his car as well.
“Yeah…” I say. “We were suppose to hang out after school…” I look around to see if he is waiting by the street or something. He’s not.
“Like a date?” Lucy’s eyebrows fly up. I blush.
“I don’t know. Maybe?” I smile.
We start walking, and before I can even make the decision consciously, I am walking Lucy home.
So I start telling her about Sunday night, and more importantly, yesterday afternoon - how Calum was mad at me and Mikey because he thought we were dating, and how he went to see Marissa.
“Hold up!” She says “He went out with Marissa yesterday? After Ash’s?” I nod. “Wow, okay. Why didn’t he tell anyone again?”
“He said he didn’t want the rest of the guys to give him shit or something. I think he just wanted to figure it out.” I answer.
“Okay, so, after that you were at his place?” She adds.
“Yeah” So I explain in detail what we talked about, and how both of us were angry and how I didn’t exactly tell him why I was mad at him. “And then this morning he was a bit awkward in the car when he asked if I wanted to hang out, but then I told him I was grounded, so he can come over because my mom never said anything about me inviting people”
“Loopholes. Yes” She nods and smiles.
“Exactly. And I thought he was gonna drive us home and then hang out but…” I pause for a moment “He probably just thought I was out early and went home or something.
“Call him” Lucy says casually.
“I can’t just call him” I say, and as I’m saying it, I am realising how stupid it sounds. Lucy gives me a look that says ‘Dude, come on? Seriously?’ “I’ll call him” I laugh and take my phone out.
It rings a couple of times before it goes to voicemail
‘Hey, it’s Calum. Can’t come to the phone right now. Don’t leave a message because I never check my voicemail. Text me or something, and I’ll get back to you’
“Goes to voicemail.” I hang up. So I do as his voicemail says and text him.
‘We still hanging out after school?’
“He’s so weird” Lucy laughs and I do too.


Calum’s POV

“Do you have somewhere to be?” Marissa asks, as I get a text message. We are sitting in my car, after she showed up again, wanting to talk to me. I am parked in front of her house, waiting for her to get out.
“Kind of” i say. I feel horrible ignoring Addie’s phone calls and texts.
“I wanted to talk to you during lunch, but I was kicked out by Addie” She says her name as if it’s poison.
“We talked Marissa.” I say, avoiding talking about Addie…who didn’t say anything to me about Marissa wanting to talk to me. “I don’t see how this is going to change things.”
“I just…I know I’ve been a jerk and-“ She starts.
“You said that. You apologised, and I said fine, but I don’t…” I don’t even know where this sentence is going.
“Just…I miss you okay? I miss you a lot. It’s not the same without you. You have no idea how much I’ve been wanting to talk to you, or how many times I’ve almost called you because something exciting happened and I wanted to share it with you! How many times I’ve watched a stupid movie and been like ‘Calum would actually enjoy this’ or how many time i’ve thought to myself ‘Cal would find this hilarious’! I just…I miss you. So. Much” She’s on the verge of tears, and I don’t know what to do.
“Please don’t cry” whisper, avoiding her eyes.
“We get each other. I was there when you wrote your first song, and I encouraged you to share it with your boys. And I’ve always supported you in soccer, in your music. And you’ve done so much for me - you were there when my mom almost walked out, and when my Nana died, and when that stupid hairdresser cut my hair wrong” I laugh at the last one, and so does she. Her haircut was ridiculous that week “And you always defended me when i couldn’t do it myself. But you also taught me to be more confident. You know what I was like before we started dating. You told me to not be afraid of what people think, and to always fight for what I want and what I believe in” Tears are probably blurring her vision. And one by one, they spill out. She wipes them off quickly.
I do remember all of this. And that last one was one of the reasons why I liked her so much - she got out of her shell.
“You were my best friend and..I lost you. And it’s my fault” She then buries her face in her hands.
“Look” I take one of her hands. “I know..I know all of this. I miss you too sometimes. And it hasn’t been hard just for you. But I can’t…” I take a deep breath and then continue “I don’t want to be with you anymore. You cheated on me, Marissa. And you lied to me. And I don’t think I can trust you again” Her chin quivers a little bit, but she doesn’t deny any of it. “I want to be able to forgive you, and I want to…I want to be one of those people who give another chance, but I have given you chances…to change or whatever. And-“
“Is this because of Addie?” She cuts me off, but her voice is small.
“She has nothing to do with it” I say, keeping my voice even.
“Everything fell apart when she moved here” Marissa says, accusatory, and maybe a little angry.
“Things were falling apart way before then” I say, and she takes her hand back. “I felt trapped in our relationship. So I’m really sorry…but I…I can’t be with you.”
She nods and takes a deep breath.
“I hope we can still be friends” She says after that “I want to be friends with you”
“Maybe” i say, now my voice is small. I don’t want to say yes, but I also don’t want to say no.
She nods, as if that’s good enough answer for her. And then she hugs me, and I hug her back. We stay hugged for a couple of seconds, and when I lean back, she kisses me. I sit frozen, not really understanding what’s happening and then i gently push her away.
“Last time” she smiles, but it’s a sad smile, and then she leaves the car.
I take a deep breath, feeling like i can breath again, and when I look out, I see Addie and Lucy, standing across the street. Lucy’s jaw is dropped, and Addie looks like I’ve just ran over her with my car.


Addie’s POV

I stare at him. But my brain is not in the present. It’s in the past, a minute ago, when they were kissing in his car. I’m…I
He looks at me as if I just caught him burying a dead body, and gets out of his car.
“Addie” He says, and starts crossing the street.
“I don’t want to talk to him, I don’t want to talk to him” I whisper fast at Lucy.
“Go inside” She gives me her keys “I’ll handle this”
And so I do, I hear him say something to me, and then Lucy stopping him. I close the door behind me and I feel like I’m hyperventilating.
I’m exaggerating. I’m over exaggerating. But I can’t control my reaction. I just can’t.
What does this even mean. What is even happening? I don’t actually have the right to feel this way - he isn’t my boyfriend, we’re not even dating. I keep repeating this to myself, as if that’s going to change the way I feel. it doesn’t. Not in the slightest.
I sit on a chair in the dining room, which is just ahead, and I pay no attention to Lucy’s house. I actually don’t remember if I’ve ever been here. I was once, for dinner, when they moved in, it was nice. But it all seems so unfamiliar to me.
Lucy walks in after I don’t know how long - I’ve been trying to focus on the interior design of the house.
“Addie!” She calls and I think i say ‘here’ or maybe I don’t. But she finds me regardless “So um…okay. He is insisting that it was nothing…” She says, hesitantly.
“But he’s getting back together with her” I say. It makes sense.
“Addie-“ Lucy begins, but her tone is full of pity, I don’t want to hear what she has to say.
“It’s fine. I’m fine. I kinda expected this.” I say, and nod “It’s what he wants. It’s fine. I can’t force him to do anything.” I feel like I’m talking to myself.
“I’m sorry” Lucy sits next to me and takes my hand in hers.
We sit in silence. She offers me ice cream, and then we eat ice cream. She also texts my mom that I’m staying over at hers, because I’m helping her with some project she need done by tomorrow, and I’ve promised that I’d help. My mom texts back that I just lost my Friday night out privilege for the week and that I’m on laundry duty this weekend.
Lucy then puts my phone away and we go into her room when my aunt and uncle come home. Lucy tells them the same thing - I’m helping her with a project due tomorrow for science - so the story can be consistent.
We have dinner in her room (due to the urgency of the project) and it turned out that she does have a science project due tomorrow, but she doesn’t actually need my help for it. I help her anyway, just to get my mind off of Calum and Marissa, and she respectfully avoids the subject.
My phone rings twice, and I get texts from Calum. Lucy reads them out to me
‘Can you please pick up?’
‘Addie I just want to talk to you. It’s not what it looks like’
‘Are you home? Can I come over?’
I don’t reply to any of them
Michael calls me after that, and Lucy answers, in case it’s Calum calling from Mikey’s phone. It’s not. It’s just Mikey, so she hands me the phone.
“Hey so” He starts, after I say hello, “I was thinking about the bed bugs and how to actually infest them. Now, I can do Chris and Stephen - I can just slip the bugs in their gym bags or something, but you’ll have to probably do that to Marissa and Ashley. Don’t know if you have gym with them. Do you have gym with them?”
“I don’t” I say. And he sighs.
“Okay…well…We can just put them in their bags, right? But there is no way for us to get close to their bags. Damn. What do you think?”
“I don’t know” I say. My voice is monotone, and there is silence on the other end.
“You okay? Are you sleeping” He asks, a bit concerned.
“I’m fine” i say, still zombie like. Lucy is making the powerpoint presentation for the project.
“Are you sure? Do you need to talk abou-“He stops “Hold on, other line”
And then I’m on hold. He comes back after a moment.
“I have to take this. Cal’s being weird. Text me if you want to talk, mate. I’m here for you” And then we hang up.
I don’t want to think about it, so I climb in Lucy’s bed and I fall asleep almost instantly.
Wednesday morning, Lucy wakes me for school. I borrow some of her clothes, so i don’t look like I’m having the walk of shame, and we head off to school. I brush my teeth with my finger and some toothpaste, and I make a mental note to leave a toothbrush at Lucy’s. She hasn’t mentioned what happened yesterday.
When we get to school, I see Calum park his car and Lucy and I rush in. I get to my class, and I’m Calum free (dodged him twice in the hallway though) until lunch. When I get to our table, Luke is the only one there.
“Hey” He says cheerfully.
“Hi” I greet him, zombie like.
“You look like you’ve had a rough night” He chuckles, and I sit across from him. Lucy joins us, and sits next to me, which Luke looks a tiny bit offended by - she always sits next to him if she has the choice. And I make another mental note - ask Lucy about her and Luke. I’ve been a horrible friend, focusing on my adolescent drama, and not the tiniest bit on hers.
“We stayed up late. She was helping me with a Science project” Lucy covers.
“Oh okay” Luke shrugs. “I’m gonna get some food. Do you guys want anything?” Lucy takes out two sandwiches from her bag, that she made this morning, and Luke smiles “Alright then”
We are left alone.
“Just act natural when he comes by. Don’t show weakness. Be a shark!” She snaps her teeth at the end which makes me laugh, and it does lighten me up.
Michael and Calum show their faces halfway through lunch. They stop at the threshold of the door, and talk. I expect Cal to go over to Marissa, who is watching by the way. He doesn’t though. He follows Mikey to our table.
“Hellooooo” Mikey says, clearly in a fake-cheerful mood, sitting down next to Lucy. Cal sits next to Luke.
“Were you guys doing it in the boys locker room?” Luke asks, faking seriousness “It’s okay you know. We’ve assumed for a while now…it makes sense-“
“You’re so funny, Hemmings” Mikey throws a french fry at him and they laugh.
“I was about to head to the library, Addie, wanna come with?” Lucy stands up, and I am thankful that she is getting me out of here. Calum says nothing, and just follows us with his eyes. Mikey then gives him a look that he probably thinks I didn’t see. But before he can say anything to stop us Lucy says “Later guys” and we’re off, up the staircase and into the library.
“You’re welcome” She says, hooking her hand around my shoulders.
We sit in the library, Lucy actually looking something up when I go to the bathroom. After I pee, and am almost done washing my hands, Ashley comes in. She scoffs and rolls her eyes. I completely ignore her and wash my hands. When I’m headed for the door, she purposefully moves her body and I bump into her.
“Excuse you” She says, flicking her hair. I am not about to have a cliche bathroom confrontation. Nope.
“Fuck off” I say, because I cannot just not say anything.
“Slut” She murmurs when I open the door. I pause and turn around, slowly.
“What did you say?” I ask, letting the door close.
She has a satisfied smirk, and I realise I played into her trap. “You heard me, now move, I don’t want to catch an STD”
“That is so factually incorrect I don’t even know where to begin” I say, looking at her blankly.
She smirks again, as if she is winning this…whatever it is. “Whatever” She moves past me, bumps into my shoulder, again, and leaves.
When I go back to the library and tell Lucy what happened, she laughs.
“Oh my god, that bitch!” Lucy says while laughing.
“ShhhH!” The librarian shushes us. I give her an apologetic look, and hit Lucy on the arm so she shuts up, or at least lowers her voice.
“No but that is like really pathetic” Lucy whispers, stiffing her laugh
“I knowww.” I try not to laugh as well.
The bell rings, and we head off to class. I dodge Calum only once after lunch, and it made me late for class. In classes though, I don’t actually pay attention. I’m laughing at my own irony that is my life. The moment things are good with Calum, and we’re moving forward, and we talk and we just..we get on the same page, the moment it happens, something has to ruin it. And it’s so miserably hilarious, I almost laugh out loud. Like literally two days ago we made everything good, and we were kinda gonna go on a date yesterday and this shit-storm happened. And I know, I am freaking aware that I have no rational reason to be mad at him because it’s his life, but I just really don’t want to be around him. I don’t want to talk to him, at least not now.
I get a text during class from Mikey.
‘What you up to after school?’
‘I’m grounded. So probably reading at home or something’ I text back. I haven’t been reading that much, and I kinda miss it as soon as I mention it in the text.
I don’t get a reply from him. They’re probably going to Ash’s. I do not like being grounded, but it’s a perfect excuse not to hang out with them, because hanging out with them will require Calum being there. And I don’t want that. Not right now. I need to calm myself down, and let myself process this so I can put on a brave face and act like nothing is bothering me.
So after class, Lucy tells me they are going to Ash’s and asks me if I want her to talk to Calum, and I tell her no. She nods, and then leaves with Mikey and Luke who are waiting at the end of the hall.
I go in the opposite direction, towards my locker, to leave some stuff from my heavy bag that I really don’t need to be hauling with me.
“Hey” i hear Cal’s voice while I’m emptying my bag and I make myself busy, pretending I didn’t hear him. “Addie?” He says, but it was more of a question.
“I have to go” I say, closing my locker. “The others are waiting for you outside” I say and start walking away. I hear his footsteps following me.
“Um, I’m not going to Ash’s” He says, and I speed up the tiniest bit. I think he notices.
We get out of the school, a cold wind blows my hair, and makes me shiver a little, and when I turn right, to walk towards home he says “I can give you a ride. I’m going home anyway”
I take a breath, turn around, smile my most everything-is-fine-and-I-am-not-mad-at-you-at-all smile and say “That’s okay. Thanks anyway”
“Addie” He says, but doesn’t continue the sentence, because I don’t stop, or turn around. “Can you just…wait” I hear his footsteps behind me.
“Look” I turn around and he stops abruptly, inches away from me. I take a step back “You don’t have to give me rides anymore and…we don’t have to force this okay? As I said when we met, I really don’t want to cause problems, which I did unknowingly anyway, so I’m sorry about that. But I won’t anymore, I promise. So” I take a quick breath and before he can say anything I continue “I’m gonna stay away from you, and you are going to stay away from me, and this time it’ll work out. I’m sure” And then I am on my heals, and walking away.
“What are you talking about?” I hear his footsteps again “Addie, wait!” I feel his hand, take a hold of my left forearm, and i jump back, the bruise on it still not fully healed. He remembers as soon as I flinch, and quickly pulls his hand back.
“Wait for what, Calum?” I ignore the small jolt of pain I still have on my arm “I don’t want to wait for anything, or anyone, okay? And I’m sure she won’t like you talking to me, so do us both a favour and just….go” I say, but I don’t turn around to leave. I don’t want him to go. I don’t want to say the things I’m saying. And I feel like I’m about to cry, and I also don’t want him to see me cry.
“I’m not with her Addie!” He yells, as soon as I finish, and I flinch. “I didn’t get back together with her, and I don’t want to either! I don’t want her! I don’t want the lying and the cheating and having to think about it, and feeling trapped, and controlled! I want something easy, and effortless and something that will keep me up at night, but in the best way possible and-“
“Really? Because it sure as hell didn’t look like that yesterday when you blew me off to go make out with Mariss-“ I explode. I don’t like yelling, especially not in public, but there aren’t that many people around. Thank god.
“She kissed me! She wanted to get back together with me, and I told her I didn’t want to be with her, and she was crying so she kissed me, and I pushed her away!” He says, trying not to shout as loud “And I would’ve told you that if you talked to me yesterday! Jesus, Addie!” We fall in silence, but he isn’t done. “I went over your house and you weren’t home, and you’ve been avoiding me all day, and just…We were finally in a good place, and you weren’t dating my best friend, and I don’t have Marissa and…I fucked it up somehow.” He rungs his fingers through his hair, and pulls at it a little bit. I’m just standing there, my mind blank “I’m sorry, Addie. I am. I really really am.”
“I….” I say but I don’t know what I want to say. How the hell did everything become so complicated
“The thing is Addie” he says, pulling at his hair again. It’s sticking out, but in a cute way. “I…I like you okay?” he looks at me, and I must look shocked. “I like you a lot. And there was never…It was never a good time to tell you and now everything got very complicated and weird and the moment we were in a good place, something fucked it up and I just…” He looks down again, takes a breath and looks up at me. “I like you.”
We stare at each other. This is exactly what I wanted to hear. So why do I feel like I want to cry? Am I PMSing?
“Can I please give you a ride home?” He asks me, when I don’t say anything back. Why am I not saying anything back? I nod, and we walk to his car, in awkward silence. I see Ashly exiting the school, and rolling her eyes at me, but I am not in the mood to deal with her.
We get in Cal’s car and I can see he’s really nervous and anxious. He glances at me, and he squeezes the steering wheel tighter than necessary, his knuckles going white.


Calum’s POV

The whole drive home the only thing that’s on my mind is She didn’t say it back. She didn’t say she liked me or had feelings for me, and I’ve made this awkward and I’ve made a fool of myself, and she didn’t say it back.
When I park the car in my driveway, we get out and I don’t know what to do. It started raining, and I know we won’t be able to talk outside.
“I’ll see you tomorrow” I say, and walking to my door as she walks to hers. She didn’t say it back.
When I get in I go up to my room and I just…I just sit there. So I call Mike because I really don’t know what else to do.
“How’d go?” He picks up.
“Not how I planned” I say. “Where are you?”
“Bathroom. Peeing. What do you mean? What happened? What she say?” He says fast.
“Nothing” I answer, and stare at my feet. “She literally said nothing”
“But you explained? The whole Marissa shit? And you told her, right? You told her you like her?” He is a bit confused.
“Yeah. It didn’t start off well, but it was…it was okay and then when I told her I liked her…she didn’t reply. And she said nothing on the ride back.” My voice breaks a tiny bit, and I hope MIkey doesn’t notice.
“What?!” I hear water being flushed on the other end “I don’t get it”
“Me neither” My vision is getting blurry. Why am I not good at rejections?!
“Mate…I was sure she liked you. Like a 110% sure.” He sighs. “I can talk to her, see what’s up”
“No!” I quickly say “Just…just leave it. It is what it is” My voice is small and quiet.
“I’m sorry Cal…” I know he doesn’t know what else to say, so i take a deep breath and I smile, as if he can see me moving pass this already.
“It’s alright. At least I got that out of the way. No need to wonder anymore” I say this, and I really hope it sounds like the truth to Mike.
“Do you wanna come over later?” He asks “We’re not doing anything. Don’t have our bassist” I hear the smile in his voice and I know he is trying to cheer me up so i chuckle.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll see you tomorrow. Do you want me to pick you up? I don’t really want to sit in awkward silence in the car with Addie”
“Yeah sure. I’ll see you then. Call if you need anything” He says and after we say bye, I hang up.
It’s downright pouring outside. I am fiddling with my old guitar and writing something down that could potentially be a song. The house is quiet, so I have to be too. I open the window because it’s a bit stuffy. My phone vibrates, but it’s on the other side of the room and I’m in the zone so I decide I’ll call whoever back tomorrow. It’s probably one of the boys. Probably Michael checking up on me.
I write down two versions of the chorus and i can’t decide which one is better, or if it would be ideal to somehow merge them together, when a small rock flies in through the window. It lands near my bed, and I look at it in confusion when another one, this time with something tied to it, flies it. I leave the guitar on the bed and take the small rock.
I untie the piece of paper that’s tied with a hair tie and read it.
‘I want to talk to you’ And then I scan to the bottom where it says ‘Ps: this would be only cool if you were awake. Otherwise it’s lame lol’
I walk to my window and I can’t even believe what I’m seeing. Addie is wearing a grey hoodie, hood on, black leggings and rain boots.
“Hi” she waves. I stare at her confused. “Um…can we talk?”
I nod and hastily put on a hoodie and as quietly as possible put on my shoes downstairs, and then exit my house, my heart slamming in my chest. The clock read a little pass 1am.
Outside is raining like it hasn’t rained in months. She is still standing under my window, her hoodie almost soaking.
“What are you doing?” I ask her, and it comes out harsher than I wanted it. Hurt flashes in her eyes, but it’s gone as soon as it appears.
“I’m…I’m sorry” She says, looking at me, her eyes wide. When I look at her a little confused, she elaborates “For not saying anything earlier. I was…I don’t know why I didn’t”
I stare at her, speechless, and she continues.
“I’m sorry I was mad at you and didn’t tell you why yesterday. It wasn’t just because you were mad at me.” She says.
“Then why were you?” I ask her. There is a cool breeze which makes us both shiver, and the rain doesn’t help with that. But I don’t care. I look at her intently and she takes a deep breath.
“Because you were…I don’t know. When we talked that day at my house and you mentioned Michael…and then..you had sex with that girl in your car, which I kinda saw” I am mortified but she quickly adds “I mean I didn’t see you…do it….I just saw that you guys left together, and then your car was all…yeah”
“I….” No words come out
“And you get with girls every time we go out and you just assumed I liked Michael and you never tried anything with me” She says and then looks away “And at first it was obvious why, because you had a girlfriend, and I was causing a lot of problems and I tried to keep my distance, I really did, but I liked hanging out with Mikey and Luke and Ash and…you. I’m sorry about that.” I notice we both started walking toward each other, my hair completely wet at this point.
“So what I’m trying to say” She takes another deep breath “I’ve been just bottling everything up, and yesterday was just..the cherry on top. Because if you got with Marissa then that would mean we’d have to keep distance again, and I didn’t want to do that, because…I like you too” She looks at me, and she looks scared and she is shaking, probably from the cold. We are standing at arm’s length.
“I’m sorry I didn’t say it earlier” She whispers, and I almost don’t hear her “I was just…I didn’t expect it, and I’ve wanted you to say it for so long and it was just…too much” We both let out a laugh “Sounds lame, I know. All of this probably does” She looks down.
And I don’t know how it happens, because the next time she looks at me, one moment we are looking at each other, and the next she is in my arms and I am kissing her. And it’s sweet and wet (from the rain mostly) and urgent, and I squeeze her because I want her closer than I can have her right now. I feel like my heart is going a 100km/h.
“Not as lame as kissing you in the rain” I whisper when we break away, breathless. She laughs and we kiss again, but this time it’s less urgent, and softer and slower and it drives me crazy.
“So what does this mean?” She whispers, our foreheads touching. There are rain drops on her face.
“That we should’ve done that a long time ago” I laugh, and she joins me.
“Not that, dummy” I kiss her again, and she smiles against my lips.
“Means we are doing this” I say finally. “If you want to”
She nods and kisses me again.
“For the record” She pulls away “Your window’s should’ve been closed, so that stupid note was lame improvisation”
I laugh, and it feels like I haven’t laughed in so long. She laughs too, and I cup her face, but I don’t kiss her. I gaze at her, and she smiles, gazing back.
“We are such a cliche” I say, and she laughs. I can’t get enough of her laugh.
“We should go” She says, after another minute of kissing. It feels like I can’t have enough “Before we catch hypothermia”
“Okay” I say but i don’t let her go. She hugs me, hooking her arms around my neck, and I wrap mine around her waist. She is shaking, and I realise I am extremely cold as well.
When we finally pull away, i kiss her a couple of times more, and she walks to her door, while I walk to mine. She is smiling, all of her front teeth showing, and I can’t help but smile back.
We eventually get back to our homes, and after I dry myself off, and change, I fall asleep with a smile on my face.

Notes

EYOOOO LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!!!
You must be wondering "Dear God! Why the hell are there like 3467 chapters and they are STILL not together!"
Well! LEt me answer your question, petals! It's because I like build up ok? And I've been writing this chapter for two days almost, trying to get it right (Yes, I spend waaaaay too much time on this fanfic sometimes) and I think I figured it out. This was the best I could do (It's super corny, I know, but i love it) and yeah!
So hope you liked it, hope it wasn't a disappointment to all the build up and all the stupid random problems they had for not being together. Could've done it sooner, I know, but it was bitter-sweet when it almost happened but then it didn't. So yeah.
Thanks for reading btw, you da best. More chapters to come ^^