Morning After The Make Up:

Not a night had gone by since the one where he'd first slept over where Ada hadn't dreamt of Tom. Some sexual, some sweet, most somewhere in between. Her first dream she'd ever had of him was him kissing her after hours at the coffee shop, which had come true. The reality of that kiss had far exceeded anything she could have dreamt up.

But this was the first time she'd dreamt of him as she slept cuddled against him.

Waking up in his arms, however, was a very different experience from her dreams. In her last dream, she woke up naked in his arms after a night of passion. She woke up in his bed, had a round of morning sex, then slid on one of his button up shirts and make him breakfast.

This dream did not come true. The reality of waking up next to him hit her like a glass of ice cold water.

Literally.

The water stung at her skin and soaked into her bones. Ada gasped for air as her body flew up, hearing a loud thud as the final drops hit her.

"Oh good," her father said as he stood above her at the end of the couch. "You're up. You can make me some coffee."

She'd forgotten about Tom until his hand came up and grabbed the pillow, which he brought down to the floor with him. His voice was muffled by the pillow as he spoke against it. "I hate you so fucking much right now."

Her father walked out of the room as he answered, "Yeah, I'm good with that."

Ada glanced over the edge of the couch to get a better look at Tom. She was damp. He was completely soaked.

Tom let out a groan in the pillow before readjusting to look at her with half open eyes. "He's going to torture me, isn't he?"

Ashamed of the laugh that escaped her lips, Ada covered her mouth and nodded. "Looks like it. And here I am already getting stuck in the crossfire."

His expression didn't change and his body didn't move. Considering he must have been freezing, he was in a strange daze. "It's not fair. I can't even hit him. And he knows it too. He knows he can do whatever the fuck he wants, and I can't fight back."

Ada wiped her wet hair away from her face and slid off the couch and down to the floor, pressing her body against his to give him warmth. "You don't have to take it."

Tom's head dropped to the side to look and he raised his hand to place it on her cheek. "If it gets me you, I'll take whatever he dishes out."

It was probably one of the sweetest things anyone had ever to her and Ada didn't bother trying to hide the rosy color taking over her cheeks.

"I should go make some coffee before I get caught doing something worthy of chainsaw consequences." Tom pressed his lips against her forehead.

"I'll make the coffee."

"Nah. I'll make the coffee. I'm pretty sure it's your dad's way of letting me know I'm his bitch. You can raid your dad's dresser and find me a sweatshirt."

Ada gave him a short kiss with closed lips, not wanting to subject him to morning breath, before she pulled herself off the ground.

"Don't you have one of my sweatshirts?" Tom asked from below her as he struggled to get out from under his tangled, soaking wet blanket.

"I have a sweatshirt that used to be yours."

Tom freed himself from the blanket and stood, tossing his pillow back on the couch. "Can I have it?"

Ada shook her head. "No."

"No?"

"No," she repeated. She wasn't about to risk not getting it back. "It's my sweatshirt."

"Pretty sure it's my sweatshirt," Tom challenged with a slight smile on his face. "Has my college on it and everything."

Ada crossed her arms and watched as he slowly approached her. "You transferred ownership to me."

"When the hell did that happen?"

She shrugged. "When you lent it to me."

"Well, that's some bullshit."

Ada closed the distance between the two of them and wrapped her arms around his waist, looking up at him with the most seductive look she could muster. "You know what my favorite time to wear it is?"

She could see his stubbornness begin to fade and curiousity take over. "When?"

"When I get out of the shower at night." Ada kept her voice low, knowing her father couldn't have been far away.

A smile began making its way across his lips. "Oh yeah?" he whispered.

Ada nodded slowly, moving her hand from his waist to his chest. "Yup. I slide on your sweatshirt, just your sweatshirt, mind you, and crawl into bed."

"And what do you do there?" He asked coyly.

"Read," she admitted, the sexiness drifting away.

Tom chuckled. "Hey, I'm not disappointed. Literacy is incredibly attractive."

Unable to resist, Ada's hand travelled down to his lower stomach and felt his breath hitch at the action. "Then you'll be pleased to know that I am extremely literate. I get straight A's in English that are given to me by a very sexy English teacher with very high expectations of me."

"God, I wish I was alone with you right now." He whispered in her ear.

But they weren't alone, and Ada wasn't about to push her luck with her father's version of approval. The fact that Tom was even allowed in the house was a miracle. "I wish we were alone too," Ada admitted.

Tom rubbed at her arms before taking a step back. "But we're not."

Ada shook her head as a response.

"Guess I better go be your dad's bitch."

Ada pressed her lips to his one last time. "I'll go find you a sweatshirt."

Ada followed him into the hallways and when he walked into the kitchen, she continued walking down the hallways and into the laundry room. Her dad never put away his laundry and Ada didn't want too risk finding a porn stash or something equally disturbing by putting it away for him. So his laundry remained on the table in the laurdry room in a tipped over pile that he raided every day.

Not wanting to pick one that her father loved or one that reminded her too much of him, she picked a plain black one and left the room, going back into the kitchen just in time to see Tom turn the coffee maker on.

"Did you want some OJ?" She asked as she opened the fridge and grabbed the carton.

Tom seemed to have the kitchen well memorized and found the cupboard with the glasses on the first try, setting two on the counter. "Yes, please." He then grabbed three mugs and put them by the coffee maker before meeting her halfway and grabbed the sweatshirt from her hands while she continued to the glasses.

"You know," Ada began as she poured, "I was kind of hoping that when I woke up next to you for the first time, I'd at least be able to cuddle with you for a while.

Tom let out and airy laugh, his voice muffled from the sweatshirt he was putting on. "Yeah, I know. Didn't exactly go as planned."

Ada grabbed the glasses and handed him his before taking a drink of her own, sloshing it around to get rid of her morning breath. "Falling asleep next to you was pretty great, though."

"That part was nice," he said with a perfect smile. "Well worth the consequences."

Ada cringed, seeing Tom still stuck in his wet jeans. "I'm sorry about my dad, by the way."

He just shook his head after he finished taking his first drink. "Don't be. I'm pretty sure that was your dad being easy on me."

It was an interesting perspective that Ada hadn't thought of. Her father had been borderline terrifying with all of her sister's boyfriends. He barely acknowledged Ada's one and only boyfriend. It wasn't in a mean way, but just indifferent. She realized later on that her dad probably knew he was gay long before she did.

"All things considered, yes, he could have been much harder on you."

The coffee pot beeped, signaling it was finished brewing, and Tom went to the fridge to grab the french vanilla creamer. He poured an equal amount into both cups before filling the cups with coffee.

Tom's expression changed into one more serious as he walked over and handed Ada her coffee. "You were pretty easy on me too. More than I deserved."

There was no point in denying that. Ada had definitely gone easy on Tom. "It was obvious how bad you felt, no point in making you feel worse."

Like her mother's motto said, life was too short to weigh it down with pain.

Tom's eyes glimmered and a hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips as his hand moved up to her cheek. His thumb brushed against her skin and his eyes focused on hers with a look that could have made her melt right then and there. "Thank you."

She could tell he wanted to kiss her. As his eyes dropped to her mouth, she could feel that desire radiate from him and into herself.

But her father was already gone long enough that Ada didn't dare press her luck. The sound of footsteps in the hallways confirmed she'd called it right and Ada watched as Tom's hand dropped from her face and he took a step back.

Her dad walked in the room, followed by her mom and her mom paused for a moment to look at Tom before she sat down at the breakfast table. "You two want some breakfast?"

It was strange how Ada had always expected her mom to be cool with the relationship and her dad to be this flaming ball of terror, yet her dad was the cool one and her mom's tone expressed she was less than thrilled at the sight of Tom in her kitchen at 6:30 in the morning.

Tom shook his head, seeming to be aware of her mom's discomfort. "No thanks. I should get home. Last issue of the newspaper comes out today, so I've gotta go pick that up."

It broke Ada's heart that she didn't have a single article in the issue. She'd only made it to one meeting in the last month, and it was damn awkward to the point where she only stayed for half of it. Her job as editor-in-chief was at an end and she had nothing in the final issue to show for it.

"I think you'll enjoy Britt's article. Easily front page worthy if it wasn't for this being the graduation issue."

Ada perked up. Britt hadn't told her anything about writing an article, nor had Tom, which peaked Ada's interest more than a little. "What's it about?"

Tom held back a smile, but it was still evident in his eyes. "You'll see soon enough." He turned to her dad then. "Speaking of graduation, I'm guessing it's safe to assume that I'm fired."

Her dad was pouring coffee for himself and her mom when he looked over to Tom, then to her mom. "Is he fired?"

Her mom shrugged. "It's up to you."

He brought her mom her coffee before sitting across from her and looked at Tom for what felt like forever. "Give me the week to think about it."

"That's fair," Tom agreed as he took one more drink of coffee before pouring the rest down the sink. "Anyhow, I should go. I'll see you in a little bit."

She saw him fight temptation to kiss her, instead, brushing his hand against her arm. Not trusting what his touch did to her body, Ada only nodded before whispering the word, "Bye."

Tom left the room just as her sister was coming in and Stevie's head turned and watched him carefully, and she waited until she heard the sound of the front door opening and closing before she turned around and finished walking into the room.

"Alright, I give. What the hell is going on?" Stevie asked. "Please don't tell me the two of you are dating."

'Dating' was not a word Ada was going to use until Tom was no longer her teacher. But they also weren't not dating. "Datingish," Ada finally decided on.

Chapter after the storm:

The rest of the evening was spent doing homework, or grading homework in Tom's case, and playing board games by firelight. With Peter there nearly the entire time, the only thing Ada and Tom shared were stolen glances and a silent understanding. The rest of it was just mindless conversation or trash talk over Monopoly.

As the hour grew later, Peter fell asleep on the loveseat and Tom grabbed the mattress from the futon in the office. He moved the table out of the way and laid it on the floor between the couch and the fireplace.

He said good night and tugged the light sheet closer to her chest. Ada so desperately wanted to ask him to kiss her goodnight, but the liquid courage was gone at that point and she knew he would have declined.

For hours, Ada was unable to sleep. Tom's heavy, rhythmic breaths played her mind and toyed with her thoughts and reminded her of the way he looked at her earlier that evening. Every now and again he'd grown in his sleep, causing Ada's heart to pound.

Her body didn't surrender to sleep until the first hints of morning peered through the window.

The little sleep she did manage to get was anything but refreshing and was interrupted by Peter shaking her awake as if he'd worried she slipped into a coma or something.

Every ounce of light stung at her eyes and immediately she regretted opening them. "Go 'way," she muttered before turning to her side and cuddling into her pillow.

"Power's still out," Peter said, offering up information she didn't ask for, "so school's cancelled. Tom said they think a tornado hit somewhere. Isn't that cool?"

Peter found natural disasters to be fascination, though he didn't quite grasp the damage they really did to people's lives. He was beginning to make the connection little by little, but being in the tiny area they lived in, he was pretty well sheltered from the suffering of the real world.

Ada opened her eyes again and glanced up at Peter. "Anyone hurt?"

Peter shook his head. "Nah. I guess it's just a bunch of old trees that came out of the ground and an old farm no one lives in."

The aroma of coffee began to linger in the air and draw closer to her, it's heavenly scent becoming stronger by the second. Ada leaned her head back further to see Tom walking through the doorway, a cup in each hand.

"How'd you manage that?" She asked before Peter scampered out of the room

He smiled at her, his eyes appearing nearly as tired as she imagined her own to be. "Used the water you had sitting in a pot on the stove. Heated it up on the gas stove and ran it through the filter of the coffee maker a couple of times and viola!"

"I can't image the creamer was still good." Ada didn't bother trying to hide her disappoint.

"It wasn't. Pretty much everything in the fridge is shit now. The freezer, however, had some melted mint chocolate chip ice cream. It was still cold enough where we probably won't get sick."

Tom set a coffee cup on the end table beside her head and went to the other side of the couch. He lifted up her feet just enough to sit under them, then set them down on his lap. "What do you have planned for the day?"

"Mother fucker, I just woke up," Ada muttered, then reached for her cup. She blew on the hot liquid only a few times before going in for her first sip, the deliciousness of it dancing on her tastebuds before warming her throat.

A dorky, sleepy smile took over Ada's face and she let out a satisfactory groan.

"I told him not to wake you," Tom said as she took another sip. "I know you didn't get a whole lot of sleep last time."

Ada's eyes wandered to the other side of the couch where he sat. "How did you know that?"

"Because I was awake most of the time too. Once you finally fell asleep I went outside for a swim just to wake myself up. Been cleaning up the yard ever since."

Ada choose to focus on the fact that he cleaned up the destruction of the storm rather than focus on the fact he'd slept as little as she did. "You're kind of perfect," she said before her eyes drifted closed. She wanted to fight them, but Ada hadn't consumed nearly enough coffee to have the energy required for that kind of a fight.

Tom laughed. "Oh yeah?"

"Yup," she replied with a nod and a smile. "I'm gunna get you a crown. Perfect people who clean up other peoples messes should get crowns."

"Want me to let you go back to sleep?"

"No, just give me a minute." Ada snuggled deep into her pillow. "So why couldn't you sleep last night? Shitty mattress?" Ada guessed.

"Among other things."

It was the tone Tom used that caused Ada's eyes to open and her head to shoot up, causing an immediate headache. "Shit," she muttered as she massaged her temples. She wasn't sure if she'd said it about her headache or the realization that had dawned on her.

Whatever her expression showed, Tom seemed to assume the ladder. "I figured you probably wouldn't want to talk about it."

"But don't you think we should? I mean, you were all gung-ho about sharing shit yesterday."

Tom sighed into his coffee cup before taking a drink and setting it back down on the table.

Ada looked over at her own cup before picking it up again, talking to the object rather than looking over at Tom. "Are you okay about it?"

"About you wanting to kiss me," Tom asked, a subtle hint of surprise in his voice. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because it's us."

"You know I had put that together before, right?"

Ada finally looked over at him just long enough to shoot him a half hearted glare.

He rubbed at his hair. "You're a beautiful young woman, Ada, and I'd be crazy to have a problem with someone like you wanting to kiss me. That's the zero bullshit truth."

Ada accepted his answer with a nod and took a drink of her coffee. "Okay."

"Okay," he confirmed before pushing himself off the couch. "You drink your coffee and I'm going to go outside and get back to work."

She nodded one last time before Tom left the room, pretending as if both of their revealing conversations had never taken place.