Chapter 3

The next morning, I woke up to my mom shaking my arm "Addison?" I rolled over "I'm not going." She pulled the blanket off "Jackson is leaving." I grabbed it back "Cool. I already told him goodbye." She sat on the bed "What's going on?" I sat up "I just have bad cramps today okay? He already knows that." She stood up "Alright. I'll bring up some medicine before I leave." I got up and went to the restroom, I was in pain but the heating pad helped a lot.

I came out and Jackson was waiting on my bed "Cramps huh?" I got agitated "I thought you were leaving." He stood up "Brought these up for you." He handed me Tylenol and another box. I looked at it "What is this?" He exhaled "Plan B. Just in case." I gulped "Well enjoy California." He nodded and left.

Later on that afternoon, I went with my friend, Shelby to run errands. We were in the clothing store finding her some outfits. She grabbed a dress off the rack as I told her what happened between Jackson and me, she threw it on her arm to try on "I could see you guys being a thing. I think he mainly fears it because you've been friends for so long. A relationship could ruin it or make it better. He just needs to understand what he feels."

I followed her to the dressing room "This is new to me too. I didn't plan on sleeping with him. But I can't hide or lie about how I feel now." She came back out "I don't blame you Addison. He took your virginity then claims he shouldn't have? He knew what he was doing." I grabbed the hanger "He thinks I regret it and I don't but a new door of feelings has opened for me." She frowned "I think he has feelings he just isn't ready to admit otherwise he wouldn't have kissed you first." I sighed "Maybe it's best to pretend it didn't happen until I'm actually to a point it doesn't. Just another thing in my life." She smiled "Just imagine Callie's face?"

I turned toward her and laughed "Worst comment at the moment." She shrugged "No disrespect to Jackson but you got what she's always wanted." I looked down "Not really." She grabbed the clothes "Honestly I hated all of these. Let's get lunch." I laughed. We went to the local cafe where everyone goes for their coffee addictions. We ordered and sat at the table. The waitress brought our order to us and put a piece of paper on my side of the table "The young man at the counter said to give this to you."

I looked at Shelby and she smirked "Not me doll." I opened it and read it "Let's grab lunch sometime" with a phone number. I looked at Shelby "You can take this one." She shook her head "No this one is yours." I looked around and caught eyes with the only person facing my direction. Michael. He stood up and came over, I covered my face embarrassed "No." Shelby smirked "He isn't bad looking."

He sat down "Hey Addison." I looked in his direction "Michael." Shelby smiled "So you've met." I was about to talk when he spoke "I returned her phone after she dropped it on accident." I looked at Shelby who was smirking, she looked at him "Join us?" I shook my head no but he responds "Sure." I sat quietly while they talked. Shelby got up "I'm gonna get a refill."

After she left, Michael looked at me "So Jackson left?" I glanced up at him "Aren't you his friend? You should know." He sighed "Addison I want to start over. I'm not sure what I did wrong but I'm sorry." I looked up "You didn't do anything to me. I'm used to guys just wanting to sleep with me." He leaned back in his chair "Except Jackson? Or do you guys have something more no one knows about? Do you just keep your relationship a secret?" I laughed "Jackson has and will never be more than my best friend." He leaned toward the table "So what you plan to be single forever?" I gulped nervously "Not forever just until I figure out my life." He smirked "One of those."

I felt annoyed again "I'm not a joke." He shook his head "Not what I meant. I appreciate you're willing to wait till you have your life together." I felt sadness overcome me but Shelby came back before I could say anything.

Over the summer, Michael and I began hanging out; I spoke to Jackson almost every day. It was fun having someone around while he was gone but it was fun in a different way than with Jackson. I tried changing things up, making new friends; being more open with my heart. I got close to Michael by the beginning of the school year. He made me feel like I was his universe and went out of his way to do things. We weren't dating but some days it felt that way. He made me forget the feelings I thought I had for Jackson.

The weekend before school started again we went to the bridge near the train tracks and talked. I never stopped at this bridge with Jackson so it was new to me. We walked through the woods along the tracks. He looked up at the trees and at me "Hear that?" I shook my head "I don't hear anything." He stopped walking "The trains coming. Place this on the track." He reached into his pocket and pulled out two pennies. We laid them on the track and sat down on an old fallen tree, waiting for the train to pass.

He looked down at the mulch and then at me "I wanted to ask you something. You know I'll understand if you say no. I don't want to hold this in anymore." I smiled "I'm sure by now you know you can tell me anything." He looked up and turned to me "The last few weeks have been amazing and I'm glad we were able to put everything behind us. What I'm saying is would you be my girlfriend?" I turned to look forward to the train passing by, he turned to it once it passed we stood up and grabbed the pennies.

I looked up at him "I actually thought we were already dating." He smiled "Well now it's official." He hugged me and we walked back to the bridge where his car was. We got dinner and he took me home. I sat on my bed and called Jackson. It went straight to voicemail. I frowned, I sent him a text to call me back. I laid down and ended up passing out. He never called or text me back.