Touchdown Boy

Chapter Twenty-four

Tom woke up to an irritatingly loud beeping noise. He reached out his arm and blindly fumbled to find the button that turned off his alarm clock. Once he succeeded and the beeping stopped, he rolled over onto his stomach, planning on getting an extra five minutes of sleep before he had to get ready for school. Then everything that happened last night came back to him in his half-asleep state. Tom quickly sat up in bed once he realized Addison wasn't next to him.

He hadn't meant to fall asleep last night. He must have fallen asleep right after Addison did. All he could remember was singing Addison to sleep and noting how peaceful she looked when she was curled up against him. There hadn't been any pain or sadness on her face that Tom had seen earlier when she first came into his room.

Tom looked around the room for any signs of Addison with no luck. He felt a surge of panic flood his body, hoping she hadn't left in the middle of the night. She could have gotten hurt. She wouldn't have just left right? She would have left a note or something. With that thought Tom began to rifle through the bed sheets, thinking Addison may have a left a note on the bed if she had left during the night.

"What are you doing?" a voice giggled from Tom's doorway. Tom stopped searching for the possible note and set the comforter that had been blocking his view of the door down. Addison stood in the doorway, wearing the same clothes she had been wearing last night. Tom was so happy to see her smiling again, even if it was only a small smile, that he didn't mind the fact that he made himself look like an idiot; although that didn't stop his cheeks turning pink from embarrassment.

"Uh, when I woke up and you weren't here I thought maybe you left during the night," Tom tried to explain, inwardly cringing at how much he sounded like the heroine in a chick-flick.

"So you thought I was hiding under the covers?" Addison smirked. She stepped into the room, leaving the door open behind her, and walked over to Tom on the bed.

"No," Tom rolled his eyes in an exaggerating manner. "I was looking for a note."

"Aw," Addison cooed. "That's so cute." She reached down and tousled Tom's hair, making it even messier than it usually was in the mornings.

"Oh yeah?" Tom grinned. "How cute is this?" Addison began to take a step back away from the bed out of caution, but not before Tom wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her onto the bed next to him. Addison let out a small shriek from the sudden movement. Tom began to tickle Addison's sides, something he used to do a lot when they were younger but stopped as they grew up.

"Tom, stop!" Addison ordered. She didn't sound very threatening however since she was giggling so much. "You know how ticklish I am!"

"That's kind of the point, Addi," Tom laughed, but he stopped tickling Addison and kissed her softly instead. Disappointment washed over Tom when Addison eventually pulled away from the kiss.

"The door's open," Addison said as a sort of explanation Tom guessed.

"Mom's already gone," Tom rebuffed. "She leaves for work at 6:50. And Kari's still sleeping; I wake her up in the mornings."

"We have school," Addison added. "And you have to take me home first so I can change and get my homework." Tom groaned, much preferring the idea of staying in bed with Addison than going to school. "Hey, I don't want to go to school either. Or go home for that matter," Addison muttered the last part under her breath. Sadness replaced the glint of excitement that had shined in Addison's eyes when she had been laughing earlier. Tom frowned; he wanted to make her happy again, even if it was only just for a little while.