I'd Always Do Anything (Sequel to Touchdown Boy)

11. Je Ferais N'importe Quoi Pour Toi

A/N: sorry if the formatting's weirder than usual, half of this was written in a Word document and the other half in the app. Here's a smut warning.

It was Wednesday night and Addison was with a cute boy in his mom's blue Honda he had borrowed just to spend the day with Addison, but she couldn't get Tom out of her head. Being in the car with Pierre just reminded her of last night and driving to the planetarium with Tom.

She'd just had so much fun with her ex, and she couldn't stop thinking about the night they had shared. It wasn't that it had been particularly romantic, although stargazing had always been a popular date idea when she and Tom had been together in high school. Addison had enjoyed it so much almost because it wasn't romantic. The night had reminded Addison of all the times they had shared before they'd started dating, back when they were just two friends spending time together. She missed those days.

But she also missed the days when Tom would tell her that no matter how beautiful the night sky was, it never compared to her. She missed the days where they would lie on the bare grass in the meadow and Tom would hold her hand while using his other to point out constellations. She missed the days where Tom would kiss her and tell her it didn't matter how insignificant she felt because he loved her and she was important to him.

But Addison didn't miss the days where she would struggle to keep her eyes open in her eight a.m. class because she had been up until four in the morning talking to Tom. She didn't miss how left out she felt when her friends talked about all the fun things they did in the city or at the beach over the weekend, while she had missed out because she'd been driving to see her boyfriend. She didn't miss being so stressed out, about losing her relationship with Tom, about failing tests and papers, about everyone making friends around her while she was still clinging onto her high school relationships, that she would break down crying in the dorm's community bathroom, hoping that no one would walk in and find her.

Which was why it hurt so much. Why it was killing her to be with Tom, even though it felt so good in the moments she was with him. Why she kept trying to push him away. Why she spent time with Pierre, because he could help her forget about how much she used to love Tom and how much pain she had endured because of that relationship. Because Pierre made her feel better, care-free and like nothing mattered, even if it was just an illusion.

"The beach?" Addison asked confusedly when she recognized their destination. Instead of parking in the larger section reserved for beach-goers, Pierre had lucked out and pulled into a spot along the street so that they had a view of the lakeshore. "We were just here over the weekend."

"Good memory," Pierre smirked at her before turning the car off. "That was a great day."

Addison blushed, remembering just what had happened the last time they'd been at the beach. That had been a great day. Then she felt guilty for thinking that when she'd just been thinking about last night with Tom. And then she got mad at herself for feeling guilty when she hadn't done anything wrong. So what if she was hanging out with two different guys? It wasn't like she was cheating on them. It was just a triangle of polyamorous relationships where none of them were officially dating...

"This time, I was thinking we could just stay in the car," Pierre informed. He unbuckled his seatbelt and turned around, grabbing from the backseat the Chips Ahoy! cookies they had bought at the store earlier.

"Well that's good because I'm not wearing my bathing suit," Addison replied. She still wasn't quite sure why Pierre had chosen to come to the beach if he didn't actually want to go on the beach.

The two had spent the entire afternoon at Addison's, or rather her dad's, place, playing video games with Jack and Alex. It wasn't until after they had suffered through Isobel's enchiladas for dinner that Pierre suggested he and Addison run out for dessert. Addison just hadn't known that dessert would involve its own miniature road trip.