Vanessa

I forgot to tell you; I didn't fail my History test. Haha. It was close but I pulled through with a solid 68.

I couldn't stop the grin from overtaking my face as I read the latest incoming text from Matt. We had been messaging back and forth for hours which had become our routine as of late. As a giggle escaped my mouth, Addison glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes from where she was sitting next to me on the bed completing homework. "Are you two still going at it? V, you have been texting him nonstop since you got out of school." She picked up her phone and checked the screen. "It's seven o'clock now. Give it a rest and maybe start on your school assignments before you end up flunking because of some boy."

I rolled over onto my stomach, ignoring her. "What do you think of the name Vanessa Jones? Personally, I find it to have a nice ring. It just flows."

Addison rolled her eyes again. "I think it sounds like you've gone off the deep end." She looked down at her textbook as she bit her lip. "Speaking of Matt...listen, V, there's something I want to talk to you about."

I giggled as a new message from him lit up the screen. Watching this new reality TV show and it's been nonstop fighting. And that's just the first day.

She let out a loud sigh. "Earth to V, I'm trying to tell you something."

Laughing, I typed out my response. We will have to watch it together. Sounds too good to miss.

"Vanessa," Addison burst out. "Can you focus for one second on what I need to say?"

Finally glancing up at Addison, I frowned when I caught the somber expression on her face. "Sure," I said placing the phone down gently on the bed. "Is everything ok?"

She stared down at her comforter and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know how to break this to you but I think there's something you should really know..."

My heart started beating triple time as I sat up straight. The buzzing from an incoming text on my phone pierced through the quiet tension that had begun building up in the room. "Addie," I asked softly. "What is it? You're scaring me."

Different scenarios began racing through my mind. Did Matt have a secret girlfriend? Had Addison caught him doing something with that red-haired girl he was dancing with at Prom? He had disappeared for a while. Although, I had seen her around during the time that he was gone so it couldn't be that. Maybe it had nothing to even do with him. Was Addison sick? Were her parents getting divorced? Were my parents splitting up? I chewed on my lip contemplating all the unknown tragedies that were about to turn my entire world upside down.

Addison took a deep breath. "You see...the thing is...Matt asked me...well, he asked me...um...he asked me not to come over on Friday," she finished in a rush of words.

A giggle escaped my lips. Was that all? "Is that all? You had me terrified for a moment that he asked you out on a date or something." I tapped my finger to my chin. "I wonder why he would say that though. You almost never come over on Fridays anymore."

She shrugged as she focused on studying her neon green fingertips. "Maybe he wants to be alone with you," she muttered. "Who knows with Matt? That boy is so odd; I don't question anything he does anymore."

Hugging a pillow to my chest, I beamed at the idea of Matt wanting me all to himself. Maybe he was hoping to make a move. I giggled as another thought occurred to me. "Maybe the last horror movie you made us all watch was so bad that he needs time to recover from it."

Addison smiled as she tossed a stuffed sloth at me. "Hey, you used to love watching those films with me. I think that boy has rubbed off on you."

Laughing, I went back to texting Matt incessantly all the while ignoring Addison.

After several minutes, she scoffed as she yanked the cell from my hands. "That's it. Give me that thing."

"Addie," I shrieked reaching over the bed to grab it back from her as she stood up and moved away.

"Dear Loverboy," she began dramatically as her fingers tapped furiously on the screen. "The next time you see me, I want you to rip my clothes off, toss me onto the bed, and make passionate love to me."

I crawled across the mattress in record speed, grabbing at her arm as she laughed and held the phone out of my reach. Darn my being so much shorter than her. "Addie," I screamed. "Do not send that to Matt."

She giggled as she turned her back towards me. "Oops. Too late."

All the color drained from my face and I was certain that a quick WebMD search would confirm that the tightness I was suddenly experiencing in my chest was a heart attack. "Addie! You didn't!" I could barely get the words out before my horror turned into full-on murderous rage towards my best friend. "I could kill you," I yelled as I scrambled off the bed and grabbed her to me by the sleeve of her shirt, hearing the sound of ripping threads.

"Oh my god, V," she said shrugging me loose and straightening out her top. "I was just messing with you. There was no need to go berserk on me."

Taking a deep breath, I sat down on the bed, my hands trembling as I fumbled for my phone to confirm that Addison had indeed not sent that message. She hadn't. Phew. "Why would you scare me like that? That was a horrible prank," I asked looking up at her.

She sighed. "I'm trying to make a point here, V. You have been obsessing over Matt for nearly three years now without doing a single thing about it. This is getting past the point of ridiculous. Either tell him how you feel already or move on."

Widening my eyes, I gasped. "No way! Unless he says something first, I will never admit that I have a huge, giant, great big crush on him."

Addison rolled her eyes. "You're hopeless then. Has being my friend taught you nothing?"

Smiling, I returned to messaging Matt. Perhaps I was but if not admitting my feelings to him could keep what we currently had going, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

***

Matt

At the end of the school year, Addison realized she was missing one of her textbooks as she dumped out the entire contents of her book bag onto her mattress. Beauty products, a change of clothes, and her headphones spilled out over the linens but nothing relating to school was anywhere to be found. "Aargh," she shrieked. "How could I have lost it?"

Vanessa shrugged. "I just don't understand how you didn't notice it was gone sooner. Didn't you need it for class?"

Addison waved her off. "Pssh. It's a science book. Anything I didn't know I Googled." She moved over to the bean bag chair in the corner of the room, shoving aside piles of bright and sparkly clothing in the hopes of unearthing the textbook. When nothing turned up, she flopped down on the now empty space dramatically. "It's just not here." She sighed loudly as she eyed Vanessa. "Have you seen it at your place?"

She rolled her eyes. "Please. You know my mom will ground me if I don't keep my room spotless. If there is so much as one speck of dust on my dresser she doesn't let me leave the house until it's gone."

Addison groaned before turning her sights on me. She narrowed her eyes. "What about you? Your Dad doesn't make you keep your room clean. It's a disaster. Anything could be lurking in there, really. I'm surprised I haven't seen a rabid critter at this point."

I balled up a bright pink t-shirt that had made its way onto her bed and threw it at her. "I know you're not judging me for the state of my room when yours looks like a tornado has passed through but sure, you can come over tomorrow and have a look around if you want."

Addison made a face of disgust. "I'm not going to discover anything gross, am I? I don't think I can handle finding any nudie mags in your room or a special sock for that matter."

I stared at her. The girl could be so blunt sometimes. "No, I don't have any nudie mags," I replied before breaking into a slow grin. "It's not the stone age. We have the internet now."

"Ew!" She yelled. "You're so nasty."

I just shrugged my response. Addison may have been working herself up to find the stereotypical items a teenage male might hide in his bedroom however, neither of us were prepared for what she actually would find.

***

The next day after school, Addison headed over to my house to search for her textbook. "I sincerely hope you at least cleaned your dirty underwear off the floor," she said as she gingerly picked her way through the crumpled clothes strewn about on the carpet. "Actually, you know what? You can have floor duty. I'm sticking to surfaces."

She turned her attention towards the desk. "Maybe it's in here somewhere," she mumbled to herself. She rifled through a couple of drawers before she noticed the framed picture of me and Vanessa from Prom displayed on top. She picked it up from its place on the desk and studied it. "Oh. This is cute."

She started to put it back down before realizing something. "Hey, wait a minute. Why don't you have the one of all three of us?" She turned to look at me, a slightly hurt expression crossing over her face.

I was rummaging under the bed to see if I could spot the book in a sea of belongings I had forgotten I even owned but glanced up to see what she was talking about. When I noticed she had the picture in her hand, I leapt up and grabbed it from her. Crap. "Give me that." I opened up one of the desk drawers and stuffed it face down inside.

Addison frowned as she stared at me. "Why are you acting so weird? Is it because of the tux?" She rolled her eyes. "Matt, you look fine." She reached to open the drawer to get another glimpse of the photo but I stopped her, placing my palm firmly on the drawer and holding it shut tightly.

She looked down at my hand and then back up at me. "Move your hand, weirdo."

"Just leave it, Addison," I said sternly. As I held the drawer shut, I could feel the sweat begin to pool on my palms. Addison was the last person in the world that I wanted to figure out that I had a crush on Vanessa.

She laughed. "What, are you hiding something?" The smile on her face told me that she was just joking around but when she saw the panicked expression on mine, she grew serious. "Wait. You actually are hiding something. What's wrong with the picture? I thought you and Vanessa looked lovely together. Of course, it would be better if I was in it too but whatever, that just seems to be par for the course with you these days. You just love acting like I don't exist anymore and that Vanessa's the only girl in the world. If I didn't know any better I could have sworn, Nah, forget it. It's just too crazy." She waved off the thought with her hand.

I stared at her helplessly, knowing that she was closer than ever to working out the truth and this time, I knew I wouldn't be able to deny it.

She narrowed her eyes at me, refusing to let it go. "Let me see the picture, Matthew." She held her palm out expectantly.

Feeling like I was about to crack at any minute under the pressure and not knowing what else to do, I relented and moved aside so she could open the desk drawer.

She quickly snatched up the frame before I had a chance to change my mind. She shrugged. "Yea, as I said, it's a lovely photo." She started to hand it over as I breathed a sigh of relief but yanked it back at the last moment. "Wait a second." She looked down at the photo and then up at me before returning her gaze downwards.

"What?" I asked biting my lip as my heart thudded so wildly I thought it was going to pop right out of my chest.

She waved me to her. "Let me see the other pictures from Prom. Where are they?"

Shifting from foot to foot, I pointed to the desk drawer and she rummaged through it until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out the photo of me and her together, holding it up and studying it. Eyes growing wide, she gasped. "I can't believe I never noticed this before!"

"Noticed what?" I looked over her shoulder to try and see what she was seeing but I didn't get it.

She shoved the photo of us together in my face. "You're looking at the camera."

I shrugged. "Well, yea. That's what you're supposed to do." I still wasn't following where she was headed with this.

"Except in this case." She held out the photo of me and Vanessa. My gaze fell on myself. I wasn't looking at the camera in that one. My attention was only on Vanessa as I gazed at her adoringly with a wide grin plastered onto my face, the dimple in my cheek prominent. Cringing, I realized it was evident for all to see just how smitten with her I really was.

Addison looked at me, her eyes growing misty. "You love her," she whispered.

Shit. "No...nnno... I don't," I stuttered, my cheeks turning red.

"Yes, you do. " She pointed at me. "It's written all over your face. How have I never noticed the way you looked at her before?" She covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh, Matt, this is incredible," she breathed.

A strangled laugh escaped my throat. "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't look at her any differently than I do anybody else."

She stepped a little closer, ignoring me as she still tried to piece it all together. "When? How? I can't believe this." She jabbed her finger into my chest. "You told me you weren't interested in anyone. You lied to me. I'm hurt, Matt. Hurt!"

I sighed. Knowing that there was no sense in denying it any longer now that she had figured it out, I came clean. "I don't know. It just happened. It's like I woke up one day and started seeing her differently." Addison didn't need to know the details of exactly when I started viewing her in a new light but she had all the information that truly mattered.

She squealed as she flapped her hands and began jumping up and down. "This is so exciting! Tell me more. I'm dying to know everything!"

I pointed to my bedroom door. "Do you want me to go get the Ben and Jerry's and I'll give you the 411 while I brush your hair?"

Rolling her eyes, she punched me in the arm. "Be serious Matt. I need to know. Are you in love with her?"

I sighed again. I really didn't want to talk about this with her but at the same time, it was nice to finally have someone to be able to confide in. "Yes. But that's it, Addison. That's all you're getting."

She shrieked as she threw her arms around my neck. "I'm so happy for you."

She opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off, not interested in another round of her interrogation. "You can't say a word of this to Vanessa," I warned. "I don't care if she is your best friend and you tell each other everything. You can't tell her this. I mean it, Addie. This is one secret you can't spill. "

She waved me off. "You have to let her know Matt."

"No, I don't."

Narrowing her eyes, she placed her hands firmly on her hips. "Why not?"

I exhaled loudly. What was it with this girl and her constant line of questioning? She would make a great detective. "I don't know, Addie. Maybe it's because I like being her friend and would rather not mess that up."

She pressed on. "But what if she feels the same way?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Does she?" If anybody knew the answer to that question it would be Vanessa's best friend.

Addison turned her attention back to hunting for her book, avoiding eye contact with me. She shrugged. "I don't know."

"How do you not know?" Now it was my turn to grill her for information.

She pretended to search through a pile of clothes even though she had already just searched there not two minutes prior. "You've just never come up."

I moved to stand in front of her, forcing her to look at me. "I don't buy that for a second. You two gossip about me when I'm sitting right there and you expect me to believe that you don't talk about me when I'm not around? That's crap and you know it."

Addison straightened, looking me dead in the eye. "No, Matt. You've never come up. I have no clue how she feels about you." She turned away, grabbing her purse off the bed. "Well, I give up. My science book clearly isn't here. Looks like I owe the school eighty bucks."

I bit my lip. "Addie, you're not going to say anything, right?"

She rolled her eyes. "No. Although I really should. You're such a liar telling me you didn't like anybody. "

I threw up my hands. "Fine. I'm a liar. Whatever. I just need you to promise me that you won't say anything."

She crossed her arms as she studied me. "Yea, I promise if it's that important to you but listen, Matt, I really think you should tell her how you feel."

Eager to end the conversation, I decided it would just be best to give in and appease her. "I'll think about it."

She squealed again, at this point starting to sound like a pig.

A/N Things are heating up. Now that Addison knows about Matt's feelings for Vanessa, what do we predict will happen next?

Next update Friday 03/11.