I am sincerely sorry for the late update!

Anyway, I really hope you like this chapter, since you had to wait so long for it.

I'll try to get the next one up faster.

I walked back into Justin's house to collect my things so Pattie wouldn't know I had been there. As far as she knew, I hadn't even left Atlanta in the first place. Caitlin was letting me stay at her place until I decided to fly back to L.A.

Thank God summer was finally over. A lot of kids from my old school in Eureka had summer homes in L.A. and I was getting sick of bumping into them everywhere. The girls who had snickered behind my back before I moved were now under the delusion that we had been besties, and my vicious enemies from middle school were now stalking me, dying to snap a picture that would ruin my rep and earn them a quick buck. Once I had even passed Madeline Abbott's house. I had been driving to this cool new coffee shop that Maura had told me about when my phone rang. I had pulled over by a little pink beach house to answer it, and then I looked up and saw Madeline standing on the balcony of the pink house, staring intently at the car like she could see right through the tinted windows. Then I realized that the windows were rolled down. That ringing phone? That was the first call I got from Bryant. And looking back on it, I have a feeling—no, I'm sure—that she knew. She knew what was going on. She knew that Bryant had been trying to contact me. I looked at her, accidentally making eye contact, saw that oddly mysterious look of knowing, although at the time I didn't know what she knew, and rolled the windows up and sped away. What did she do? She simply tucked a strand of beach blonde hair behind her ear and smirked. It scared me in a strange way that I didn't understand, but regardless, I had never been more creeped out in my life. I never drove by that neighborhood again.

"Hey Addison! Are you ready?" Caitlin called, "Pattie's going to be here any second!"

"Yeah, hold on!" I dashed out of Justin's bedroom, lugging my bags with me.

"Here, I'll take some of those!" Caitlin offered, grabbing one of my bags, "Just hurry!"

We shoved my bags into the trunk of her car, so that if Pattie were to drive up right this second she wouldn't be able to see them.

I dashed back inside the house, "Bye, babe!" I said to Justin, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, "Dinner. Tonight. We need to celebrate the tour!"

"Okay, sounds good," he nodded, "How about Olive Garden?"

"I was thinking more Red Lobster. I'll text you, okay?"

There was a honk, "Addison! Hurry up!"

"God, Caitlin, I'm coming!" I said, rolling my eyes. "See you tonight." I kissed him one last time. "Bye Justin!"

I hopped in the backseat of Caitlin's car, "Took you long enough." Maura muttered.

"Shut up."

"What are you going to wear?" Caitlin sighed. Dinner was in a few hours, and I had just gotten out of the shower, and still had no idea what I would be wearing.

"I have no idea! Oh God, what if I'm not ready in time?"

"You guys are insane!" I heard Christian say from outside the door, "It's four thirty!"

"What?" I shrieked, "That means I only have two and a half hours to get ready!"

"So?"

"So?" Caitlin groaned, exasperated, "She still has to get dressed, put on makeup, blow dry her hair—"

"Actually," I interrupted, "I'm going to skip blow drying my hair." I remember Justin once telling me how he liked the way it looked when it dried naturally.

"Okay." Caitlin shrugged in a "hey, it's your funeral" kind of way. I just rolled my eyes.

"Can I go?" Christian asked.

"No!" Caitlin snapped, "Since Maura is refusing to help, you have to help Addison get ready!"

"Well then, will you let me in?"

"No! She's not dressed!"

"Caitlin," I sighed, putting on my underwear under my towel, "Just let him in. It's not a big deal."

"Fine," she rolled her eyes, "Don't rape her or anything." She said sternly to Christian.

"Um, okay."

"Cool. I'm going to go get some cute necklaces from my room. I think some of them would look good on you."

"Okay . . ." Christian muttered awkwardly.

"Don't stare!" I snapped.

"Sorry." he mumbled, staring at the ground. "So, like, are you going to borrow something from caitlin to wear, or what?"

"Nope. I have some nice dresses in my suitcase."

"Really? What did you think you would be doing here?"

"I like to come prepared—stop staring!"

"Sorry."

"Let's see . . . oh my God, this is perfect!"

It was a great idea, if I do say so myself. Two hours later, I was standing in front of a mirror, wearing an outfit that was sort of a representation of me and Justin's relationship. I was wearing the dress I had worn on our first date. The necklace and earrings that he had given me for our one month anniversary. The shoes that I had been wearing the night we first had sex. My hair was tied up in a bun, and there was a large clip with a rhinestone J. On our first date, he took me to dinner. I hadn't meant to fall for him. It was just a date. I wasn't even too thrilled about going on it, but he won me over with is charms, and gentlemen behavior. He asked me to be his girlfriend. He told me he cared about me and wanted to be with me. I told him I wanted to be with him too. After dinner, he took me to a small jewelry store. He told me I could buy anything I wanted; he would pay for it. I saw the hair pin and told him that the rhinestone J was the only thing I wanted. I told him that I really liked him, and that I had been hurt before, and if he gained my trust and betrayed it, I didn't think I could handle that. I asked him if he was ready to deal with everything that came with being my boyfriend. He told me that he was. Then I told him that whenever I wore this hair pin I would think of him. Cheesy, I know, but I liked cheesy things, and besides, I knew Justin would be happy to see me wearing it.

"Addison! He's here!" Caitlin squealed with enthusiasm.

I took a deep breath and looked at myself in the mirror one last time. Every piece worked perfectly together. I was never big on superstitions, always letting the emails and texts warning me to forward them to ten people or else a demon will come to take my soul in the night rot in my deleted folder, and I wasn't one to see signs where there were none. But tonight, seeing how each individual accessory and article of clothing that had never been worn together before somehow fit perfectly together seemed to be a sign that Justin and I were a perfect fit. Our relationship wasn't perfect of course, and following the events of the last two months I'd be crazy to think it was, but we were perfect together. The way my silver colored sandals seemed to complement the dark blue, off-the-shoulder, slightly-above-the-knee dress, and how that dress went perfect with silver necklace and earring set, that contain several pearls and large teardrop shaped rhinestones, and the way that rhinestone J pin seemed to tie the outfit together seemed to symbolize that Justin and I were meant to be.

"I'm coming!" I called, "I'll be right down!" I bounded down the stairs and rushed into Justin's arms, "Hey baby!"

He stared at me in awe, "Wow," he breathed, "You look beautiful."

"Thank you handsome!" I giggled, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"I'm serious. I have never seen you looking more beautiful than you do now. You're gorgeous baby." He took my head in his hands, "You know I love you."

"I love you too, baby." I blushed, "More than anything."

Justin looked over my shoulder at Caitlin and Christian, who were looking at us like they were watching a sappy romantic comedy, i.e. Caitlin had that "awww" face on, and Christian looked half bored, half confused.

"Umm, we should get going. Bye you guys." Justin opened the door to the range rover like a gentleman.

"You know, I really am a natural blonde."

"Huh?" Justin looked at me questioningly.

"I know it's random, but I just thought you should know. I died my hair brown in middle school. Everyone in California has blonde hair; I just wanted to be different. It was stupid, looking back on it, but it was who I was back then. I stopped dyeing it brown for the show."

"I don't think it's stupid. I think it's cute."

I smiled.

The night could not have been more perfect. Justin would not stop telling me how beautiful I looked, how my eyes sparkled, how my hair looked perfect, how much he loved my dress, how he thought it was so sweet that I was wearing the earrings and necklace that he got me, and how cute I looked when I blushed, which I did after each complement.

I hardly paid any attention to the food. I was fully focused on Justin. We walked out of the restaurant, and I looked up at the stars, into what would probably the last warm summer night in a while.

"Goodbye, summer." I whispered.

The new chapter will be up soon!

And then, I should be posting my new story, One of the Boys soon, kay? Be sure to read it!

xoxoxoxo!

NDG aka Phoebe!