I awoke with my arms around Tyler and our legs tangled with one another as we laid in his full-sized bed.
His bare back felt warm against my bare chest and his chest was rising and falling in a steady pattern. The sun was lazily spilling in through his window and was partially being blocked by his curtains. The screensaver for his TV was flashing across the screen since we'd fallen asleep watching Netflix together the night before and the air was still.
It felt like a scene straight from a movie.
As I looked at the sleeping boy in my arms, I was reminded of the night before: the tears, the confessions, the "I love you"s. The kisses, the touches, the magic that existed only between us two. But I also remembered the pain in his eyes. The helplessness I was drowning in, the fury. Anger festered within me at the memory. If I ever saw his mother in person I'd...
I forced myself to calm down knowing that I wasn't the best at managing my anger before I placed a gentle kiss on his shoulder blade. I carefully turned over in the bed and grabbed my phone from the nightstand, being cautious not to wake the sleeping angel next to me.
I rubbed my eyes as I thumbed through my notifications and lowly cursed when I saw I had a dozen missed FaceTimes from Ian and twice as many texts. I completely forgot about his date with Lelani and how I was supposed to help him. I set a mental reminder to apologize to him when I had the chance, but I made no move to do anything at the moment. All I wanted to do was remain in the peaceful bubble Tyler and I had created for ourselves.
I also saw that my Papa has texted me asking where I was since the school was blowing up his phone. I checked the time and sure enough, it was a bit past 10:30, and there was no way I was going to wake Tyler up just to drag him to school. I couldn't disturb the beauty that was Tyler asleep.
I quickly typed back that I had a rough night and crashed at Tyler's and Papa almost instant responded.
Papa (10:34): you two are back on good terms huh? It's alright but let us know before hand next time, we were worried. Ur lucky we had ur location on or there would be a full search party looking for you as we speak. As for you and Tyler there better not be any–
I averted my eyes before I read the rest of the sentence, not needing to read the rest to know where it was heading. A blush burned my cheeks as I texted back.
Me (10:34): ok dad I will, and it's still not like that. Gross.
He sent back a laughing emoji before I turned off my phone and slid it back on the nightstand. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught my pants discarded on the floor alongside my shirt, socks, and shoes, leaving me only in my briefs. Tyler was no better, the only difference being that he was wearing boxers instead.
And he looked amazing in them.
I rolled back over and secured my arms around him once more and closed my eyes, 100% content with sleeping the day away with the boy in my arms. However, just as I closed my eyes, I felt Tyler stir beneath me as a groan was pulled from his lips.
I peeled my eyes open as he sat up, causing my grip to fall from around his stomach to his hips. "Good morning," I said, my voice scratchy as he stretched.
His eyes met mine and a grip spread across his face like food dye in water. "Good morning." He leaned down to give me a kiss, and I was more than willing to accept it until I remembered something. My hand shot out and covered his lips, stopping him in his tracks. He quirked a brow, his lips parting beneath my hand to ask me the question, but I silenced him by pushing my hand firmly against his lips.
"You can't kiss me yet. Not on the lips anyway."
"Why?" He asked, his voice muffled against my hand.
"Because I haven't brushed my teeth yet, Ty, and I just got you back. I don't want to scare you off again with my breath. Tell me where the bathroom is and after I brush my teeth, I'll kiss you."
He chuckled as he gripped my wrist and pressed a kiss to the palm of my hand. "Alright, come on follow me." With that, he hopped out of bed and grabbed some things from his dresser drawers.
I finally sat up and stretched, causing a few of my bones and joints to pop and crack causing Tyler to cringe. "Dude."
"Sorry, babe, I can't control my body."
He rolled his eyes before he extended a hand for me to take. I threw the covers from around my waist before I got up and laced my fingers with his. He looked me up and down and I couldn't help the slight blush that stained my cheeks not necessarily because I was embarrassed but because now things were...different. We had a different dynamic now. We'd told each other we loved each other, so things felt...different.
"Hey, sir, my eyes are up here," I softly joked.
"That they are," Tyler smirked before he looked me up and down one last time. "The rest of you isn't too bad either." I scoffed as he made a move to open the door, but I reached out and stopped him.
"Wait, what about your dad. I don't...I don't want him finding out about us while I'm in my underwear." It was already awkward enough for me to slip into the apartment while Mr. Barnett was watching TV, and the last thing I needed was for him to see me and his son walking out together almost naked.
"Addi, my dad's not here. He leaves early in the morning to get to work. He'll probably be home late tonight."
"Your dad is a hard working man, Tyler," I said as I removed my hand so he could open the door.
"He is. He has to be so he can support me and himself and pay his half of child support for Serenity. He's trying to get full custody of her, though. He's been trying since he got me out of that God forsaken place. He has to prove that he has enough income to financially support us all, and living in such an expensive city doesn't really help. But I love him a lot though. Even though he only came into my life two years ago, he's been more for me than my mother could've dreamed of being. He's supportive and loving, and though he's gone a lot, he makes up for it. It feels like I've known him my whole life in a way. "
I ran my thumb over Tyler's knuckles as he led me into the bathroom. It wasn't my place to say anything else. "Alright," he said as he put the clothes in his hands on the toilet lid before he let go of my hands and started rummaging through a few drawers. After a few moments, he emerged with a toothbrush in one hand and some towels in the other. "Here. Help yourself to the toothpaste and stuff. While you brush your teeth," he ducked into the shower and turned on the water, "I'm going to shower."
Heat rushed to my cheeks as I broke eye contact. I saw an amused grin take refuge on his face. "You look so cute when you blush, Addison."
I shook my head as I turned away from him in an effort to hide my flustered state. "I'm not cute," I grumbled.
"You definitely are," he defended. "Adorable even. But there's no need to be bashful, Addi. It's just like the locker room showers– I mean, unless I make you uncomfortable, in that case, I can definitely wait until you're done before I–"
"No, no, no, you're fine," I said, not wanting him to think he made me uncomfortable in any fashion. I actually felt safe and confident around him, especially when he looked at me like I was the most important person in the world.
He grinned. "Well alright then. Or, we could shower together, you know, save water and the earth and stuff."
I narrowed my eyes at him, seeing through his poorly hidden attempt at being flirtatious. "Non adesso. Dopo (Not now. Later)," I said, repeating the words I'd said when he came over for the dinner with my family, not expecting him to remember it.
He groaned. "You're right. I do hate that phrase. But, what I'm hearing is that there's a chance for later?"
"Tyler, just take your shower," I said, trying to inject as much faux annoyance into my tone as I could before I turned back toward the sink and grabbed the toothpaste. My hand shook as I applied it to my toothbrush and my heart raced as Tyler chuckled. Steam quickly started filling the mirror, but not enough that I couldn't see Tyler shamelessly strip out of his mere boxers before he hopped into the shower and out of sight. I felt my body relax, no longer tempted by his greek statue of a body.
As I brushed my teeth, Tyler lightly started humming a song that I didn't know, but between the soft pitter-patter of the shower and the euphoria that made up his voice, I found myself getting lost.
Before I knew it, Tyler was climbing out of the shower, the water droplets sprinkled across his mahogany skin. I suddenly became hyper focused on rinsing out my mouth as Tyler's glory was on full display. It took every ounce of self-control not to turn around and drool all over his heavenly body.
We'd gotten to the point of saying I love you to one another, so surely we could handle seeing each other bare, right? Well, actually in the year or so Kyra had said I love you to one another, the closest to seeing one another bare we'd ever gotten was being in our underwear and even then we were too busy making out to really observe one another.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when he bumped my hips with his. "Here, your turn." He offered me a new set of towels, but all I could focus on was the towel that was hanging lowly on his hips.
One wrong move and it would be over for both of us.
"Addison," he said in a singsong voice as he said as he used his finger to tilt my head up so I was looking up at his eyes. "My eyes are up here."
"I...Sorry," I quickly apologized as I took the towels from him.
"Those clothes are for you," he said motioning to the pile of clothes that he'd brought in.
"What about you?"
"I prefer to stay as naked as possible for as long as possible," he nonchalantly said.
"Oh," was all I could say before I hurried toward the shower, feeling uncharacteristically shy beneath his gaze.
"Addison." His call stopped me right in my tracks before I turned back to him. He had an adorable lopsided grin on his face as he leaned against. "Ti voglio bene (I love you)."
I felt my heart melt in my chest and seep all over my other internal organs, filling my whole body with sickening puppy love. "I love you too."
I quickly striped and hopped into the shower. I took my time washing my body and trying to shed the weird shyness that I saw suddenly feeling around Ty. We were okay. We were more than okay. We were happy.
So why did I feel like we were in the stillness before the tornado?
"Hey Romeo, don't use any of those hair products in there if you value your hair," Tyler called.
"Why?" I asked as I looked at the shampoo and conditioner that hung on the shelf under the shower head. I hadn't been thinking about washing my hair, but now that he brought it up I was curious.
"It's not made for your hair type."
"Oh."
"Yeah, so don't use it. If not for yourself, avoid it for me. I like running my fingers through your hair and it would be a shame if you lost it all being hard-headed."
I scoffed as a grin tugged at the edge of my lips. "Alright, fine. Only because you told me not to."
Tyler chuckled. "Alright, I'm going to get started on breakfast."
I peeked my head out and shook my head. "You don't need to make anything. I'd be fine with cereal or something."
"Addi, it's only fair. You made something for me the last time we were together, so it's only fair that I return the favor."
I wanted to argue, but I knew there wasn't a point. "Alright."
Satisfied that I gave up so easily, Tyler walked over to me and pressed a gentle kiss on my lips. "I'll see you when you're done."
"Okay," I said before I bit my bottom lip to contain the huge school girl smile that was threatening to spread across my lips and expose exactly how head-over-heels I was for him. I watched him walk out of the bathroom with the towel still hanging around his waist and I was secretly hoping that he didn't change out of it.
After he was gone, I ducked back into the shower and leaned against the wall, allowing my dopey grin to spread across my face.
I couldn't help but wonder how I was deemed worthy to be in this position; to have Tyler's affection, to feel his lips on mine. But before I could fall too deep into the rabbit hole, I simply thanked God that I was and continued washing, all but rushing to get finished and get back to the one I loved.
***
"Coach is going to kill us, you know that right?" I said as I leaned against Tyler. We'd spent our day in his apartment and now we were back in his bedroom with me situated on his lap and a midi keyboard in my lap. He was attempting to teach me the basics of making a beat in the computer program he used for school, but my brain had checked out a long time ago. I was just going with it so that I could keep having his hands on me as he guided me over the keys and buttons.
He groaned. "Babe, don't remind me. I just want to live out the rest of this day in peace."
I chuckled. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But you can't act too surprised if he straight up stabs us as soon as we walk into practice tomorrow. I mean now we only have one practice until our game and you know how much he hates it when we miss practices before big games."
Tyler nonchalantly shrugged. "He'll survive. Besides, he can't kill both of us or else who will carry the team?"
"Harry and Yusef?"
He scoffed. "They're good, but Coach wouldn't trust them to write their names in Sharpie, let alone carry or lead the team."
I chuckled. "I guess you're right."
"Yeah, if he was going to kill us, he'd only choose one and, I hate to say it, it'd be you."
"What the hell, Ty?" I asked as I hit him on the arm.
"Hey, hitting me won't stop you from dying."
"But I'm hurting you before I go, so it's still a win," I said with a childish pout.
"Awe, don't be like that." In an effort to sway me, he placed a series of kisses on my cheek, and despite how hard I tried to maintain my tough facade, I cracked and started laughing.
Tyler effortlessly removed the MIDI from my lap before he tackled me, pinning me between him in the bed. "See? This is why Coach would kill you first."
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, Tyler, that was cheap."
He shrugged. "Maybe."
He leaned in and pressed one lingering kiss onto my lips before he pulled away again and looked down at me, a new expression on his face. "What?" I asked.
"What are we going to do about Kyra?"
The playful mood I was in was quickly squished. "Oh."
"Sorry to kill the mood, but she is still very much a threat and we need to figure out how we're going to handle her."
"No, no, you're right. You're right. It was just sudden, that's all." I crawled from underneath him and sat across from him with my legs crossed. "I've just been letting her think she's won. That she'd torn us apart beyond repair. Even when I was trying to find ways to get back to you, I played along. I just didn't want her to become unsatisfied and name drop us, you know?"
He nodded before he bit his bottom lip in thought. "Is it true what you said to me that day?"
"What?"
"About how you...How you'd be okay with coming out if you did it with me?"
I nodded. "Of course. Like I said, you've helped me accept and understand this part of myself, so as long as I have you by my side, I honestly don't care who knows. I mean, obviously being outed isn't an ideal way of doing it, but if I had you in my corner, it would be okay. At least for me anyway, I don't want to force you into a position that you might not be ready for yet."
He nodded. "I...I agree. I'm tired of hiding from everyone. I want to be able to hold your hand and kiss you and make jokes that make you blush. So I guess...I'm ready to come out if you are."
"Really?"
"Addi, what is it with you and making me repeat myself all the time?" Ty asked though there was a playful edge in his voice.
"S-Sorry, it's just...wow, okay. Yeah, let's do it, but it can't be rushed."
"What do you mean?"
"We have to think about this. Find the right time around the right people, you know? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd stand on top of the empire state building and scream to the world that I'm in love with the hottest, most funny, most caring guy in the world, but I want to make sure we're in a safe space, you know?"
"Well, the empire state building seems like a pretty safe bet because not that many people will hear you anyways." I punched Tyler's shoulder, causing him to rub his arm. "Okay, okay, please stop hitting me."
"Please stop saying stuff to make me hit you," I mocked. "But let's just...let's just think on it for a second, okay? Then after that, we can come up with a plan. Until then, let's keep avoiding Kyra and keep this under wraps. I don't think the studio is enough to hide us, maybe we can confine our relationship to here and my house, just for now until we figure this out. Because after we're out, trust me, you won't be able to keep me off of you, I'll be so annoying."
"I don't think I'll mind that. I like it when you're all over me."
I rolled my eyes before I leaned in to kiss him, but he put his hand over my lips, mirroring what I'd done this morning. "Non adesso. Dopo (Not now. Later)."
I tried my best to be annoyed, but all I could focus on was how hot he sounded speaking my language, no matter how much he butchered it. "Sta 'zitto (Shut up)," I said as I removed his hand from my mouth and kissed him. He chuckled as he let me push him down, his legs wrapping around me, and his wordless love shielding me from the harsh realities we would have to face the following day.
***
Ooh, are we having back to back updates again? Someone better stop me before I disappear for weeks at a time. But I hope you guys enjoyed this cutsie little chapter, and trust me, the next one will be even cuter. I'm just kind of making up for the lost time between Addi and Tyler while they were broken up. But don't worry, there's still some more drama on the way.
Let me know what you think in the comments because I honestly love reading y'all's comments. They make me smile and they're honestly the best part of this job so keep them coming. Also, just out of curiosity, would y'all like me to make a Spotify playlist for this book? I know that I typically attach songs to the top of the chapters but I wanted to know if you wanted a full playlist as well. Let me know in the comments! As always, the next chapter is available for free on Inkitt right now, simply tap on the link in my Wattpad bio to check it out!
See y'all next time and remember to stay safe and healthy!
Love y'all– Jordan