Boomerang // Jack Avery

44

Daniel's POV

"You were selfish then and selfish now..."

"...that girl is with one of your best friends."

Addilyn's previous words keep replaying in my head as I make my way up to her apartment. The way she yelled at Jack seemed like a normal occurrence between the two, like they've done this before. She seemed to know too much about him in the little time I've introduced them. I know there has to be more to the story than I know and I am about to find out.

I knock lightly when I reach Addy's apartment and soon hear noises coming from behind the door. However, a girl with long blue hair opens the door.

"Hey, can I help you?" the girl asks.

"Yeah, I'm looking for Addilyn," I answer.

"She's not here right now. She had an emergency work meeting like 20 minutes ago." At first I thought it was just a made up excuse so she didn't have to talk to me. But the stranger seemed to be telling the truth.

"Oh, okay. Can you just let her know that her boyfriend needs to talk to her?"

"Yeah, no problem. Can I get your name to tell her you came by?"

"It's Daniel." As she listened to my name her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Wait a second. Daniel is the name of her boyfriend," she said, pointing out obvious facts.

"Yeah, that's me. I'm her boyfriend."

"But I thought the guy she was with at the boardwalk was her boyfriend. The one with curly hair." My eyes widen in realization. She kept on describing the boy and I had no doubt in my mind that it was Jack. Thoughts of them sneaking around together enter my mind. Before, I would be quick to deny it. But now, I'm not so sure.

"No, that's Jack, but he might as well be her boyfriend." I turned to walk away but stopped to tell the girl one last thing. "Can you not mention to Addy that I stopped by. Just forget I was here." I could tell she felt bad by the way she nodded her head and watched me walk away.

Addy's POV

Weeks.

I've avoided all of the Why Don't We boys for weeks. I've spent my time focusing on more work and laying in bed.

But today, here I am, talking to Daniel. I was going to hold off for a couple more days, but then Wilma casually mentioned Daniel coming by and and getting the idea from her that I cheated. Which I did not do, It's bad enough I'm a liar, but a cheater is something I am not.

At first, Daniel didn't want to talk to me but I finally got him to listen by yelling and announcing to everyone in the household that "I AM NOT A CHEATER!" which grabbed his attention.

I started with apologizing, saying, "Daniel, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for the outburst and avoiding you. I'm sorry for lying to you about not knowing Jack. But I didn't cheat on you. The only reason I was even on that boardwalk was because I lost a bet an-"

"Addilyn, stop! I know you didn't cheat on me. Jonah told me the whole story." My mouth opened a little in disbelief.

"If you knew, why haven't you reached out to me?" My voice is calm and just full of curiosity.

"Like you reached out to me?!" Daniel pointed out. "Listen, Addy, I wanted to give you space. Obviously, you don't know what you want right now."

"Yeah, you're right. That's why I am going away."

"What?! You don't need to leave because of me or Jack." Daniel pleaded.

"It's not because of you or Jack. Well, it is, but it's not." Daniel is even more confused now. "What I am trying to say is that I am going to New York. I would be going regardless if things here were good. But since things aren't good, I can take this time to focus on what I want and come back with a clear decision."

I was looking forward for alone time to just think. Daniel is truly a great guy but we don't seem to have the same connection as Jack and I did. Jack and I had sparks from the very beginning but he has always been difficult. He just makes things harder on all of us.

"How long will you be gone?" Daniel asks, a little sadness stringing in his voice.

"Just 2 months. I'll be back before you know it. Are we good though?" I asked hesitantly. He opened his arms wide for a hug, pulling me in with a tight squeeze.

"I'll see you when you get back, Addy." Daniel whispered into my ear.

"Tell the boys I said bye." I said into his chest. He pulled back a bit to look at me.

"You're not saying bye to them?"

"No, it's easier if I don't. We can all catch up in 2 months anyways." He nodded and finished off the hug. We said goodbye one last time and then I got back in my car. I watched as Daniel became smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror as I drove off.