54. Tyler and Addi: Minute By Minute

The warmth of Florida was a stark contrast to the coldness that consumed New York. Despite the fact that it was the middle of March, New York was thawing out slower than a frozen chicken, whereas Florida seemed as if "winter" and "cold" were two words that simply didn't exist.

"Are you excited, Addison?" My Papa asked me as he looked at me through the rearview mirror. His voice, however, was low seeing that Azalea, Adryan, and Emerson had just gone to sleep after waking up impossibly early for the plane ride.

"Yeah," I said as I looked out the window. The look on Papa's face told me he didn't 100% believe me, and I couldn't blame him. Of course I was excited to be in Florida. I'd never really been anywhere other than New York and South Carolina, so anything would be a welcomed change of scenery, but I felt a tug of guilt in my chest. Florida was Tyler and I's dream, together. But, I hadn't heard much from him since the court stuff with his mom kicked off. It even got to the point that our "I love you" texts went from nightly texts, to every other day, to barely twice a week. I tried not to take it personally, God, it would be selfish of me if I did, but I couldn't help but feel like we were being pulled apart by the ever-present hands of the universe.

But, since I didn't have the option of going to visit him in Louisiana over spring break, I choose the next best place that would make me feel close to him, especially to celebrate the great news that I'd been accepted into Northwestern, the best school out of all of the schools I'd applied to that released their decisions thus far, with a pretty hefty scholarship.

In an effort to distract myself from the whirlwind of thoughts that were ripping me apart inside, I took in Tampa's beauty. Everything about it felt so familiar yet so foreign. The tall buildings and people walking the streets reminded me of New York, but the beautiful clear sky and tall trees felt oddly... fantastical. It made me want to explore every nook and cranny of the city and make it my own as I had in New York.

Maybe that would be something Tyler and I would do together one day.

Before long, we pulled into the driveway of the house we'd rented for the duration of the break, and my God, it looked luxurious. The outside looked huge, even for a family as big as mine, so I bet the inside looked even bigger. A pleased look flashed across my Padre's face and I couldn't help the grin that tugged on the edge of my lips. My Padre always loved to do the most, and I couldn't fault him for it.

Padre turned to me. "Hey, Addi, wanna explore inside?"

I nodded before I unbuckled my seatbelt, careful not to nudge Azalea who was still very much knocked out. I hopped out of the car with him and we walked inside. He looked at his phone before punching in a code on the keypad next to the door. As soon as we walked in, my breath caught in my throat, causing Padre to chuckle. "You like it?"

I mutely nodded, still in awe. I was right: it was bigger on the inside than on the outside. From the foyer, it seemed like there was an infinite amount of directions I could walk in, so I simply started by walking straight. By the time I was done exploring, I found that there were 8 bedrooms, a whole theater room, two kitchens, a video game room, a living room as big as the kitchen and dining room of our apartment combined, a swimming pool that overlooked the bay, an outdoor entertainment set up, and a treehouse. Though I was grateful that my parents had put in so much work and effort to get us a place this nice as a celebration for my accomplishment, I was floored. Why was it so big? There was no way that the 6 of us alone could fill up all this space.

After I spent about 10 minutes trying to find my way back to the foyer, I made it as my dads were bringing in our bags with my still groggy siblings following closely behind. As soon as Adryan walked in, his eyes lit up, all dreariness absent from his eyes. "This is where we're staying?" He asked, his eyes full of wonder as he looked around.

"Yeah, little man, it is," Papa said with a smile, causing Emerson to share the same look of amazement.

"Wow!" was all she could say before they wandered in further, likely to explore as I had.

"If this is the reward, I'm gonna get into an Ivy-league adjacent school too," Azalea joked as she lightly elbowed me. I chuckled before I followed my fathers out to finish unloading the rest of the car.

"Addison, you get to pick your room first. You can choose any of them other than the one next to the kitchen. That's where your father and I will be," Padre said, causing me to nod as I grabbed my bags and headed up the stairs, instantly knowing which one I wanted. "Also, listen out for the doorbell. I ordered our groceries so we can just relax for the rest of today!" He called up after me.

It didn't take me long to reach the one I was looking for. It was the size of almost three of my rooms back home combined and it had a beautiful view of the ocean. There was a huge flatscreen TV mounted on the wall and the bed was big enough to swallow me whole without anyone being the wiser. I just hoped it felt as soft as it looked.

I momentarily set my stuff down before I wandered over to the corner where a record player sat next to a box full of old records. It was a modern record player, meaning that it played records but also connected to a phone through bluetooth. I looked through the records before I decided on Michael Jackson's Thriller, a classic.

I carefully put the record on before I dropped the pin, a delicate craft that I'd learned from Kyra way back when. Once the music started filling the air, I started unpacking my belongings, spreading them out throughout the massive room to make it feel less big.

I just finished sliding the last of my underwear into a drawer when I heard the doorbell ring, sounding grand and melodic. Man, even the doorbell sounded expensive.

Not wanting to keep whoever was delivering our groceries waiting, I hurried out of the room, momentarily getting disoriented by the endless hallways before I went down the stairs.

The doorbell rang again. "Coming!" I yelled, approaching the door just as it rang again, causing me to become a bit irritated. "I'm here, I'm he–" I said as I threw open the door, but my words died on my tongue as my irritation instantly melted away.

Standing in front of me was no delivery person. Instead, it was him. I blinked a couple of times making sure that my mind wasn't playing tricks on me, but every time I opened my eyes, he was still standing there, a smile on his gorgeous face and his signature dimple making its presence known on his right cheek.

Tears blurred my vision as I brought a shaking hand to my mouth. "I...Is this real?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

His smile grew as tears of his own sprung to his eyes. "It's real, Romeo."

Without wasting another second I threw myself into his arms, holding onto him as tightly as humanly possible, letting my tears freely fall. His familiar scent filled my nose as every nerve in my body ignited, being reintroduced to his body after so long. I still couldn't believe I was holding Tyler after being apart for three months.

I felt like I was home.

After a few moments, we pulled apart and looked each other in the eyes. We probably looked like idiots smiling at each other as hard as we were, but I didn't care. All I cared about was the boy in front of me with tears streaming down his face. "Oh, baby, don't cry," I said with a small chuckle as I used my thumb to brush away his tears.

"I missed you so much," he whispered, his voice barely above a whisper. "So, so much."

He pulled me into another embrace, and only then did I hear the sound of clapping around us. I pulled away once more to see my fathers, Azalea, and Mr. Barnett– who was holding Serenity with a few suitcases next to him– cheerily clapping at our reunion.

I waved to Mr. Barnett before I looked at our fathers. "You guys did this?"

"We pulled it off, but it was Tyler's idea," Mr. Barnett said after no one said anything, and it suddenly made sense why we got a house so big so that it could accommodate both of our families while allowing each to have their own privacy. I looked up at him as he smiled sheepishly.

"I heard your good news of getting into Northwestern, and I had some good news of my own, so I thought it would be best to celebrate together."

"Wait," I said looking between Tyler, his father, his sister, then back to Tyler. "You mean–"

"My father got full custody!"

Something that mirrored a scream escaped from my lips before I embraced him again, causing him to laugh. "That's not all," he said as he loosened the hug and looked down at the sweatshirt he was wearing, causing another gasp to escape from my lips. He was wearing a Northwestern sweatshirt, something that I'd definitely be stealing.

"You got in too?"

"Full ride, baby," he announced with a smile. And with that, despite the fact that our parents were watching us, I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him into a kiss. His lips tasted sweet and soft as they perfectly pressed against mine, and despite how badly my tongue wanted to get reacquainted with his mouth, I didn't let the kiss go any deeper than a simple peck.

Tyler grinned against my lips before he slightly pulled away. "I was wondering how long it would take you to do that," he softly joked before he pressed one more kiss to my lips. I was perfectly content standing there kissing him when a small voice gasped.

"Tyler!" A voice that I instantly recognized as Emerson's cheered before I felt pressure around my legs. I broke the kiss and looked down and sure enough there she was with her arms tightly around our waists. "You're back!"

"That I am," he said as he bent over and gave her a hug as Adryan rushed over.

"Good because Addison was really sad without you," Adryan added, causing me to blush and look away.

I could see Tyler smile out of the corner of my eye. "Well, I was really sad without him too."

A small grin tugged a the edge of my lips as their hug broke.

"Go ahead you two. You have some catching up to do and Mr. Barnett and we need something to drink," Papa said as he waved Tyler and me off, causing me to smile as I laced my hand with Tyler's and drug him all the way into the theater room, big and secluded.

As soon as we got in there, I pushed him into a giant reclining seat before I climbed on top of him and kissed him, the way I'd wanted to for a while. He grinned against my lips as his hands secured themselves around my butt.

My God, I loved him so much.

Our mouths got reacquainted with each other as his hands reintroduced themselves to my body. I felt like I was on cloud nine, in absolute paradise in the arms of the boy that I loved, but before we could too heavy, I pulled away.

We both smiled at each other as we tried to catch our breath before I laid on top of him with my cheek on his shoulder and my arms around him in a hug. "I'm so proud of you," I whispered into his ear. "You're the strongest person I know, you know that?"

He merely hummed in response before he kissed the side of my neck.

"I honestly can't believe it," he whispered after a few moments of comfortable silence. "I...I was so scared, Addison. Between the testimonies and counseling, I felt like I wasn't even in the real world. They...They diagnosed me with bipolar disorder as well as PTSD and depression. I always knew that I had something off, but having all those labels put on me right before the biggest moment of my life was terrifying and really messed with me. And now I have to do even more mandatory therapy and I just–"

"Baby, baby," I softly said as I sat up and held his face between my hands, looking him in his eyes, "those things don't define you. You're still the same Tyler now that you were at the beginning of the school year, the same Tyler that I fell in love with. And don't think of them as 'labels' with a negative connotation, but more of a tool. Now that you know exactly what you have, you have a better idea as to how to deal with it, that's all. You're still perfect." To seal it, I placed a gentle kiss on his nose, causing him to grin. "And, now you never have to deal with your mother again if you don't want to."

"And that's exactly how I want it. I'm so proud of my dad. All of his hard work has paid off and that woman..." He shook his head with a sigh. "She's just a person that I used to know."

I nodded in understanding. "Your dad is an incredible man," I agreed."So, now that we're in Florida, what's the first thing you want to do?" I asked as I gently caressed his jaw with my thumbs, trying to lighten the mood.

"I want to go to Disney World, duh! Have you not been paying attention at all during this relationship, Addison?" Tyler lightly joked, causing me to laugh.

"Yeah, that was what I was assuming. You can show them what a true king looks like; you're way better than all of those posers."

"Yeah, but those posers are still hot," Tyler pointed out, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Not as hot as me though," I countered, causing him to lean in.

"Nowhere near it." With that, he pressed his lips against mine once more. At that moment, with Tyler's lips pressed against mine, everything fell into place. We were going to be together for the rest of the school year and as it looked, there was a huge chance that we would be going to college together.

We'd made it through and were victorious against the universe's cruel attempts to strike us down.

"Tyler?" I murmured into his lips.

"Hm?"

"I love you."

"I love you more."

I smiled against his lips, knowing that it was true. The love that we shared was pure, unconditional, unbreakable love. The kind that keeps you warm at night and pushes you forward when you feel like there's nowhere left to go. The kind that, despite our young age, I knew that I'd never find in another person ever again. And I didn't want to. I had the man of my dreams in my arms that I belonged to in every way, and he I. I had the man who made me laugh on my worst days and made me feel like I could do anything, no matter how hard. I had Tyler the one I prayed that I could spend all of my forevers with.

And now, I was never letting go.

***

Ahhh, yes the babies are reunited! We only have one more chapter of the main book (the epilogue) before we get into the character Q&A and the bonus chapters! The epilogue is already available on Inkitt if you want to check it out. Furthermore, did you catch the easter egg from Tear In My Heart in this chapter? If so, comment it down below! Have a great and safe New Year's!

Love y'all– Jordan :)