The next morning, Addison awakes before Joe. Although surprised that she did, she sneaks out of bed with Porky and takes him downstairs, letting him out back to use the bathroom. Joe had taken him out throughout the night and let her sleep, which she was grateful for.
Noticing the nice weather, Addison decides to leave the back door open, letting the California breeze drift through the house as she runs upstairs, grabs her phone and returns to the kitchen.
She puts together a quick breakfast casserole that she found online and puts it in the oven for her and Joe to eat once he wakes up. Meanwhile, she taps her Instagram app to see that she had gained thousands of followers, even more comments and... to put it simply, her Instagram had blown up.
"What the?" she whispers, scrolling through a few comments and seeing Joe's name pop up quite a few times.
She blinks, typing in Joe's username and going to his page to see exactly why her profile was now being seen.
"Joseph Adam..." she says, pressing her lips together and shaking her head, although her lips soon curve into a small grin.
As they do, her phone vibrates, a text from Hope coming through.
She taps it, reading the message.
Ummm you guys are public now?!
Addison laughs a little, typing a quick response.
I didn't know we were but I guess so!
A response.
What do you mean you didn't know?!
Addison laughs once, answering.
I was asleep when he posted it. I just woke up to my instagram blown up lmao
Hope answers quickly.
whoa! Are you cool with that? Him not asking you?
Addison answers.
I mean we've talked about it before. I didn't had a problem with us becoming public recently. We've been together a while.
Addison and Hope talk a few more minutes and Addison gets the casserole out of the oven once it's done.
Then, as if on cue, Joe comes around the corner.
"Someone's been up for a while," he says groggily.
She looks over, grinning. "About forty five minutes. Porky had to go outside. How'd you sleep?"
He grins. "Good, you?"
She nods. "Good. Hey, do you mind telling me why my Instagram blew up overnight?"
"I would..." he chuckles. "But I'm sure you already know and are asking me to ask me."
"I thought we said we'd talk about it before we made it public." she says.
He sighs, leaning against the counter. "We have talked about it. Loads of times. And then we never do it. And I'm tired of hiding us. Hiding you."
She grins.
"You're not mad?" he asks.
She shakes her head, laughing lightly. "No. Not at all, actually. I thought I'd care more but I don't. Although there are some awful comments."
"Yeah, I'd stop reading comments if I were you," he says, giving her a weird look.
She nods. "Noted. Want breakfast?" she asks, pointing to the casserole.
"That looks good."
"I hope so, I kinda just tapped the first recipe that came up on google."
He chuckles, grabbing two plates and putting some on both before handing her one as she hands him a fork.
"Thank you," they say in unison.
As they sit and eat in silence, Addison can tell Joe is thinking of something, something he's nervous about.
"Okay, what's up?" she asks.
He looks up, giving her a confused look.
"Something's wrong, I can tell."
He sighs. "Nothing's wrong."
"Okay..." she says, narrowing her eyes at him.
"There's this celebration thing."
"Celebration thing?' she asks.
He chuckles. "My family. They want us to come to Jersey for the weekend to celebrate my birthday. Even though it's late."
"Oh. Us."
Joe grins, nodding. "Yes, us."
She gulps. "So like, me meeting Nick and your parents... and Frankie."
Joe nods. "Only if you're ready. I don't want to pressure you."
"No, I want to." she nods. "I just... I'm nervous at the same time."
He licks his lips, grabbing her hand. "They already love you from everything they've heard from me and Kevin and Dani and the girls. You have absolutely nothing to worry about."
She nods. "I know. I just... y'know."
"I do know." he nods.
"So, when do we leave?"
"Today?" he says.
"Oh." she says. "Well, what about Porky?"
"He's coming with us," Joe smiles.
She smiles. "Good."
He chuckles. "Go ahead upstairs and start packing. I'll clean up down here."
"You sure? I made the mess."
"You cooked, I clean," he says, kissing her and tapping her ass to get her to move.
She rolls her eyes, grinning. "Fine."
Addison goes upstairs, showering quickly before packing her things and then doing her hair, just putting light waves into it.
Joe comes upstairs with Porky, packing his things too before they pile everything into the car and climb in too.
Later, as they arrive at the jet, their bags are brought on board as they wait, then board themselves. The both of them post on Instagram, sharing new Porky pictures to the world.
Once landing in Jersey, the two of them, and Porky of course, get off the jet and into their car, driving to Kevin and Dani's before entering the house and greeting Valentina and Alena immediately.
Then, Joe and Kevin take off for a bit, doing their own thing as the girls play with Porky and Dani and Addison sit at the center island.
"So, how have you been?" Dani asks. "After your dad and all."
Addison sighs. "Well, turns out he wasn't my actual dad. Him and my" she pauses, using air quotes. "Mom abducted me when I was a baby. They stole me from their own friends."
"What?!" she exclaims.
Addison nods. "Yeah. But, I did some research and found my real parents. I met them too. They're amazing. I have two little sisters. And one on the way."
"That's insane. But like, in a good way," Dani says, grinning.
Addison nods. "Yeah, seriously. I was heartbroken but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I mean, I look nothing like David or Jaclyn or Liam and Stella. I always thought differently and although I was good at everything I was being taught from them, it never felt right. I never felt like I belonged or I should've been there, y'know?"
She nods. "That's understandable. At least you know the truth now and reconnected with your parents."
Addison nods, smiling. "Yeah, seriously."
The two of them continue talking, Addison excusing herself after a bit, becoming more and more nervous as she knows the time Nick, Frankie, Denise and Kevin sr were going to be arriving. She goes upstairs and paces the floor a few times, taking deep breaths and trying to calm herself.
Wanting to call Hope to snap her out of it, Addison grabs her phone, starting to dial the number when the bedroom door opens and Joe walks in.
She sighs, plopping on the end of the bed and looking at him.
"Please don't tell me you're up here stressing that my parents and brothers will be here soon."
"I wouldn't say stressing..." she starts. "I'd say, overthinking."
He sighs, crouching down in front of her. "Okay, Addison Marie Morris."
"Technically my last name is Reed."
He gives her a look.
"Just saying," she shrugs.
He rolls his eyes. "Addison Marie Reed. I need you to get out of that pretty little head of yours."
"Why?"
"Because it's dangerous," he says.
She smirks.
He chuckles, grabbing her hands. "Seriously, babe. You are absolutely amazing. You're stunning, smart, too smart for your own good, really."
She gives him a look.
He shrugs. "Just saying."
She rolls her eyes.
"They already love you. They've been dying to meet you for months now. Not so they can judge you. Not so they can come to me afterwards and tell me that they don't like you. They want to meet you because they want to see for themselves why I'm so utterly obsessed with you. Why I can't stop talking about it and telling them how happy I am that you're in my life." he explains.
She bites her lip.
"Don't do that either," he says, reaching up and detaching her teeth from her lip.
She laughs lightly.
"You're absolutely amazing and if they change their mind about that after meeting you we can get on a jet within an hour of deciding and go the hell home."
She grins. "Okay."
"Okay?" he grins.
She nods. "Okay."
The front door opens and shuts downstairs, Valentina and Alena squealing loud enough for Joe and Addison's eyes to widen.
They laugh. Joe stands and offers his hand. "Are you ready, my love?"
"No," Addison shakes her head, standing and kissing him. "But now I am."
He grins, kissing her head and starting towards the hallway, her following right behind.
***
another chapter already?!?
look at me y'all!
lol I felt like y'all deserved another one ASAP. thank you all so much for being so patient, supportive and loving, it truly means the world to me ❤️
all my love,
shan:)