ADDIE WOKE UP HALF AN HOUR BEFORE HER ALARM. It was Monday morning, and on any other day she would've gone back to sleep until her alarm actually woke her up again, but today she got out of bed right away. She knew she'd be too excited to go back to sleep.
After the party, and after she spent the night at Billy's, things felt... different. They hadn't actually done anything more than kiss, but then Addie fell asleep in Billy's arms.
Billy on the other hand, hardly slept at all. He was constantly looking at the girl in his arms, wondering how he got so lucky. Just a few months ago, before his dad decided to move them all to a town that Billy had never even heard of, he didn't think anything like this would happen.
Sometimes he still felt like it was too good to be true. Like he somehow wasn't going to get his happy ending.
And so he laid awake for another hour, gently running his fingers through Addie's hair, and he thought about what the future might hold for him. For them. When he caught himself thinking of a future with Addie, it scared him, more than just a little.
But he remembered what she said. He was allowed to feel. And so he let himself think about the things they might do someday or where they might move. Billy really did eventually want to go back to California, and maybe he'd get to take Addie with him.
When his alarm rang at 6, he spent a good 10 minutes convincing Addie to get up, who groggily mumbled "let my mom send a search party, I'm tired". But true to his word, he had Addie home just after 6:30. After that he drove home and slept for a few hours, and Addie was right, Joyce didn't come out of her room until just after 7.
Billy ended up coming back later and they spent the day together in her room. He patiently helped her with school stuff for a couple of hours, and a few times, Addie found herself wondering the same things that Billy wondered the night before. How did she get so lucky?
He left before dinner, but said he couldn't wait to see her at school the next day. And so for the first time in... well, ever, Addie and Billy were both looking forward to getting to school on a Monday.
While Addie was looking through her clothes and trying to decide what to wear, she spotted a shirt hanging on her desk chair. One that she recently acquired, and had washed yesterday in order to return it today.
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