Touchdown Boy

Chapter Thirty-five

As Addison sat nervously at the kitchen table, wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans, she was suddenly grateful that Tom had woke her up last night when his mom got home from her date, and driven Addison home. At the time, she had just wanted to crash in Tom's bed, but now she realized Tom had been right. Addison didn't need her mom to be mad at her when she was about to tell her mom about her secret (at least to her mom) relationship with Tom and tell her they had been invited to spend Thanksgiving with said secret boyfriend.

"Thank you for making dinner, Addison. I had a long day of work and I really appreciate it," Addison's mom sighed. Addison nodded, even though she thought her ulterior motive to butter her mom up might diminish the thoughtfulness behind the meal. "So how did babysitting go last night? How's Kari?"

Addison spun her fork, wrapping spaghetti around the utensil. "It went well. Kari's good," Addison answered. "She got all her homework done for the weekend."

"It's so nice of you to help Tom out like that," Mrs. Webb commented. Addison fidgeted, knowing this was as good an opportunity as any to bring up the subject of Thanksgiving.

"Yeah, well Tom's a close friend," Addison said. Alice snorted before coughing to cover it up as the girls' mom gave Alice a curious look. "And I've known Kari since she was born," Addison added, ignoring her sister. "But, um, there's actually something I wanted to talk to you about."

Her mom paused eating, giving Addison a patient look, waiting for her to continue. Addison's stomach clenched from nerves. Why was she so nervous anyway? Who cared if her mom approved of her relationship with Tom? They weren't really together anyways.

"Tom and I are kind of dating," Addison confessed as she looked directly at her plate of food. Addison cautiously glanced up her mom. Instead of seeing anger written on her face, there was just a small smile and a quirk of an eyebrow.

"I suspected something was going on between you two. You've been spending a lot of time with him lately. I figured you were either dating or Tom was failing all his classes and in jeopardy of being kicked out of school," her mom chuckled.

"So you're not mad at me?" Addison clarified, setting her fork down on her plate. Her mom gave her an "are you kidding me?" expression and shook her head.

"Of course not," Mrs. Webb answered. She took a sip of her water. "You two have known each other for as long as I can remember. It's not uncommon for friends to develop feelings for each other."

Addison shifted awkwardly in her seat. She knew that Tom hadn't developed feelings for her, and she was constantly wishing that she wasn't developing feelings for Tom either.

"And you're old enough to choose who you want to date, Addison," her mom added. "So, how long have you been seeing each other?"

"A little over two months now," Addison answered. She picked up her fork and resumed eating now that the imminent danger of her mother's possible wrath had passed.

"I'm happy for you, sweetie," Mrs. Webb smiled. Addison tried to return the smile, but it came out as a grimace. She knew this was a bad idea to tell her mom about Tom. It would only get her mom's hopes up; Addison had finally gotten a boyfriend and it was somebody her mom actually knew and liked. Her mom would be crushed when they inevitably broke up.

"Thanks," Addison mumbled. "Um, there's something else. Ms. DeLonge invited the three of us over for Thanksgiving. But we don't have to go," she quickly added. She suddenly felt nervous about her family joining the DeLonge's for the holiday, even though she had been somewhat excited about it when Tom had invited her. It just felt too real, like it would make their relationship seem more official. Addison wasn't sure if she could handle that. She knew it would only end up hurting her more in the end.