Addison stretched in her seat but didn’t make a move to get up. She was by the window, which mean no one was trying to get past her, so there was no rush to join the other people trying to deplane. After spending five hours on a plane, the last thing she wanted to do was to join the shoving match that always ensued after a landing

She sighed heavily as she rolled her shoulders and rubbed her aching neck. She hadn’t slept well the last couple of nights she’d been in Georgia because she had been up late with Grace and her mom, reminiscing and hanging out. It felt good to be back in the place she’d pretty much grown up, be back with people she pretty much considered her only family. It sucked to leave, but she knew Grace and her mom needed space to really sort through things and figure out their next steps. Grace had tried to convince her to stay, but Addison knew it was time to go. So, with a heavy heart and some tears, she said her good byes, promised Grace’s mom she’d be back for the holidays, and boarded the long-ass flight back west.

Now, she got to deal with this whole date thing.

She still wasn’t quite sure what had made her say yes to actually doing this with JC. Hadn’t they tried this enough times to know it wouldn’t work? She kept thinking about the last time they’d gone out, what had happened that night. Please don’t let this be a repeat performance, she kept thinking to herself as she finally stood up and slid out of her aisle. As she grabbed her bag from the overhead compartment and started exiting the plane, she felt her phone buzz in her clutch. Figuring it was Grace making sure she’d made it back, she picked up without looking at the Caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Ads? You’re back?” She froze in the middle of the aisle, almost causing the flight attendant behind her to bump into her. She turned quickly to mouth a silent apology, then quickly hurried off the plane.

“Josh?! I - I wasn’t expecting you to call!” She tried not to sound like a frazzled teenager whose boy toy crush had called out of the blue, but she was doing a horrible job at that. She took in two deep breaths as she stepped to the side of the terminal and willed her racing heart to slow the hell down.

“I know, but - I just wanted to make sure you came back. Heather said you’d be back today, but I didn’t know what time.” Despite her butterflies, a smile slid across Addison’s face. He was thinking about her. Awesome.

She took in one last deep breath to steady her nerves, then continued to walk to the main hub of LAX. “Yeah. I just got off the plane.”

“You still wait until the plane clears, huh?” His chuckle went straight to the pit of her stomach, and she fought the urge to bite her lower lip.

“Yeah yeah. Shut up. What’s going on?”

“I just wanted to make sure you hadn’t changed your mind about tomorrow night.” Addison could almost hear the plea in his voice to not back out, which made her grin like a Cheshire cat.

“Of course I haven’t changed my mind. You flew across the country on a redeye for me. The least I could do is let you pay for my dinner.” There it was again - that damn chuckle that had her remembering the fun things that chuckle used to lead to. Get your mind out of the gutter, Addison told herself sternly as she kept walking, trying to keep her focus and not run into anyone.

“Well, glad you feel that way. But I want to take a different approach. I want to make you dinner instead of take you out.” Addison froze again, but she was luckily near a non-congested gift shop and didn’t take anyone down. She felt her mouth go dry at the thought of being in JC’s house. Alone.

“Seriously? I mean, I’m fine going out -”

“Look Ads,” JC cut in. “I don’t want anyone to know. We already risked it once, and the place we want to go to is a little high-end. Someone’s going to snap a picture, and it’s going to get out. And Heather isn’t here; she had to go away on business again. Just come over, I’ll make a pasta dish or something, and we’ll just hang out. No pressure.”

How can he say no pressure? she thought frantically as she fought to calm her racing heart yet again. I’m going to his HOUSE. ALONE. “Well, you make a good point about the public thing. Fine - I’ll meet you at your house. Tomorrow at 8?” She heard JC sigh with relief, but she didn’t feel the same way. Her nerves were now officially shot.

“That sounds great. And don’t bring anything - I’ve got it all covered. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Addison hung up and leaned against the nearest wall, trying not to hurl. She had felt so confident about this whole date thing, but now that she was getting him one-on-one, she was nervous as hell. How was she supposed to keep calm when she’d have JC solo?

“You should be asking yourself how you’re going to keep your clothes on,” she muttered under her breath as she pushed herself off the maroon-carpeted wall and started walking again. The attraction between her and JC was completely obvious, and this dinner date could throw it back to the old days. He used to cook, and she used to bake - then they’d get it on on the nearest clean surface. But she couldn’t let herself get dragged back to those days. She couldn’t.

Addison took in a deep breath, held her chin high and squared her shoulders back, putting a little bit more confidence in her step. She was in control. She had this. No pressure.

---

“You got her to agree, huh?” JC couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he plopped his phone on the open cushion beside him.

“Yup. Now I just have to figure out if I should make -”

“Man, fuck the menu,” Justin interrupted, strumming some chords on his guitar. “You know you just want to get her in bed. Don’t bother with the food.” The duo were getting together with some friends to do a jam session in JC’s home studio, but they were the only ones there. JC threw a glare at Justin, wishing others were there to break up Justin’s honesty.

“I did not ask her over here to have sex. It’s better for us to have dinner in, where no one will see us.” Justin shook his head and chuckled, continuing to look down at his guitar as he strummed away.

“I don’t get why the hell you two have such a secretive thing going on. It’s stupid. You need to take her out, you need to come clean, then you won’t have to hide anymore.”

“I am reeeeeally starting to regret asking you to come out today,” JC muttered as he leaned back against the black leather couch and closed his eyes. “This is the way that works for us.” Justin stopped playing, causing JC to look up and catch his glare.

“Works for the both of you, or works for you? I think this is more for you and saving your ass if you fuck up. Again.” Exasperated, JC threw his arms up and stood up, storming out of the room and to his nearby balcony. He took a minute to calm his irritation and take some deep breaths to get back into control.

Justin had always insisted that they go public and stop hiding behind people’s backs, “because that’s when shit happens,” according to him. He also kept pushing the issue on JC’s dirty little secret, but he wasn’t ready to come clean on that one either. He knew it would be over before even had a chance to go anywhere if he even thought about coming clean; he was willing to risk the remote chance that she’d find out through someone else and just not say anything on his own.

As JC watched the warm California sun sweep over his neighborhood, he couldn’t help but think of the possibilities? What if things went well - would they get back together? Would she want to get back together? Could they make it work a second time? This was the side of JC that he hated: the side that overanalyzed every damn thing. Why couldn’t he just be happy that Addison was willing to give him a second shot?

“Because she’s the only girl that could break your heart,” he muttered to himself with a sigh. The doorbell rang at that moment, shaking JC out of his reflective state. He had to quit dwelling before it drove him crazy. It was just a date - dinner. That was it. No pressure.

---

Of course traffic would be a bitch on a day that she was actually trying to get somewhere on time.

“Whyyyyyy traffic gods, whyyyyy?!” she screamed as she banged her head on her steering wheel, listening to other cars around her honk unnecessarily at one another. Horn honks wouldn’t move them from this standstill they had been at for at least 20 minutes.

She had already texted JC to let him know she was more than likely going to be late; trying to talk on the phone with all the blaring horns and her spazzy nerves was a bad idea. He’d assured her that he’d keep dinner warm for her if she was super late, but the closer to 8 o’clock it got - and the less she moved - the more she wanted to just find the nearest off-ramp and turn around. All this sitting in the car was making her second-guess this whole dinner thing.

To take her mind off things, she flipped down her sun visor and checked herself out in the tiny mirror, messing with her hair and eyeshadow for a few seconds. She had tried to dress down without dressing too casual, throwing on a strapless orange and white flower-print dress with an ivory scarf and flats. She thought she looked hot when she walked out the door, but she now had time to scrutinize her look and thought that maybe she’d made the wrong choice. Awesome.

As her car continued to inch forward through the horrendous traffic, Addison had a stern talk with herself.

What the hell are you doing Addison?

What do you mean, what the hell am I doing? It’s just a date.

Psht. That’s what you told yourself the last time you guys dated. And you see where that wound up - he broke your heart.

Well, yeah. But that was ten years ago. Things are different.

Are you sure things are different? I mean, he’s still attractive as all get-out and ridiculously sweet, but you still don’t have a good reason why he broke it off.

Why does it matter? It was over then, but it’s not over now.

Now frustrated, she sighed and banged her head on her steering wheel. She needed to stop thinking. She always overthought things and, as a result, almost always talked herself out of things. That’s how she almost talked herself out of dating JC the first time. She was honest enough to admit that she still wasn’t quite sure why things had ended in the first place; from her point of view, things had been going great before JC had mysteriously broken it off. But things had been going so well so far, and, for crying out loud, JC had flown across the country to be by her side at the funeral. That was not something she could just overlook.

“And you are obviously falling for him again,” Addison muttered under her breath, shaking her head. It was true; he was all she thought about nowadays. Even if this ended badly again, she knew she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t give this another shot. He was the only man she had ever been stuck on, and she either needed to find a way to let him go or find a way to be with him. She was hoping this date gave her an idea of which way to go, because her heart and brain were telling her two very different things.

Her phone vibrating in the console cup holder shook her thoughts and brought her back to reality. She groaned as she looked at the Caller ID and let it go to voicemail. Addison hated keeping secrets from Grace, but she couldn’t risk telling Grace what she was up to. The last thing she wanted to do was catch hell from her best friend about playing with fire twice, and that would happen if she let anything slip.

Addison crept along impatiently for five more minute before she finally hit the all-clear and gunned it. She forced herself to clear her mind and not think about anything but enjoying the quiet time she was about to have with JC. She could think about potential consequences later.