Touchdown Boy

Chapter Twenty-five

Friday was one of the best days of Addison's life. She hadn't had that much fun in a while. It was nice to take a break from life and not worry about school, family, and college. She really appreciated what Tom did for her, especially when he didn't try to make a move. If he had tried to kiss her it would only have reminded her of the bet and made her more upset. But he hadn't. He'd just been there for her, been the friend that she needed. He didn't even try anything after the ice cream cone incident, which Addison found extremely amusing. She hadn't even been trying to do anything, just innocently eating her ice cream, until she realized that Tom was staring at her mouth instead of eating his own dessert. Nor did he try to kiss her on the Ferris wheel, which surprised her, although that probably would have been too cliché for him.

Even when they left the fair and headed back to Tom's house after picking Kari up from school, Tom hadn't tried anything. Instead the three of them watched Disney movies. Addison never realized what a great older brother Tom was. She found it cute how Tom would sing along with Kari to the movie soundtrack just because Kari didn't like singing alone. Not to mention how Tom made Kari's lunch every day, even taking the time to write a little note for her. Tom had been blushing when Addison caught him doing just that earlier in the morning but Addison thought it was the sweetest thing. It was just little things like that that reminded Addison that Tom wasn't just some man-whore that made perverted jokes all the time.

The day had definitely been worth being grounded, which Addison's mom declared once Addison reluctantly went home after having dinner at the DeLonge's. Addison had wanted to spend another night, still not quite ready to go home and face her broken family, but Tom had persuaded her.

"You can't just run away from your problems forever, Addi," he had said. "If you need to, you can stay another night, but the longer you stay here, the harder it will be to go back. I bet your mom's worried sick about you."

Addison knew he was right so that's how she found herself walking through the front door and getting interrogated by her mom.

"I just can't believe you did this!" her mom exclaimed, sounding more frustrated than angry. "Just took off in the middle of the night. I had no idea where you were. Thankfully I called Noelle this morning when I realized you were gone and she told me you were with her. You certainly weren't answering your phone. You could have been dead for all I knew."

Addison made a mental note to thank Noelle for covering for her. "I'm sorry, Mom," Addison apologized. And she was sorry she hadn't told her mom where she was, but she wasn't sorry for leaving. "I just needed to get away from home for awhile."

"Addison," her mom sighed. "I know last night was a very difficult thing to go through. This has been hard on all of us, but that doesn't mean you can just run away from home."

"I wasn't running away," Addison protested. "I just went over to Noelle's and then I accidentally fell asleep. And then I ended up hanging out at her house after school," Addison added, praying that her mom hadn't called the school.

"You should have at least let me have known where you were," her mom gave her a pointed look.

"I know. I'm sorry." Addison did her best to look apologetic and innocent. Her mom gazed at her sternly for a few seconds before sighing.

"Don't let this happen again," her mom warned. Addison nodded vigorously. "I know that what's going on between your father and I, has impacted you negatively but that doesn't excuse your actions. Therefore you're grounded for the weekend. No going out, no friends coming over, and no sneaking out."