In the Rose Garden

Addison walked into the apartment and accidently slammed the door shut. She flinched at the sound and sat at the kitchen table after setting her purse down. She debated calling Lily for a moment but decided not to since it was ten minutes after nine. She sighed and rested her chin in her hand and just stared at the table. After another minute, her dad walked in while straightening his black t-shirt.

"Really, Addison?" he asked.

"Really what?" she responded.

He shook his head. "You're not fifteen anymore. There's no reason to be slamming doors."

"Oh, I didn't mean to do that. Sorry."

"Why aren't you having breakfast with the Jonases?"

"Apparently I smother Joe. Apparently I'm always with him so I spend too much time with him. I mean, that's what he implied anyway."

"I'm pretty sure that's not what he meant."

Addison just shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I figured I'd let him spend today by himself and see if it makes any difference."

"What exactly started this?"

"Lily's been trying to get in touch with me again and Joe's saying I should just do it because her saying that I'm always with him is true and it's a fact."

"Yeah, I think you took what he meant out of context and applied it to your relationship when it didn't need to be," he said as Addison's phone started to play the ringtone version of Jason Aldean's "No."

Could it have been easier? Yeah. A little smoother ride? Maybe so. But lying here with you, would I change one thing about that road? No.

Addison picked it up and looked at Joe's picture before sending the call to voicemail and setting the phone down.

Mr. Turner shook his head. "Don't do that Addison."

"Hey Dad, I think I see your Team Joe shirt peeking out." She got up and left the table and went to her room. She lied on her stomach on her bed and pulled her laptop in front of her. She logged into her Gmail account and saw she had a few new emails. There was one that caught her attention.

From: Krystal Spencer <kspenc@gmail.com>
To: Addison Turner <gotthat.spunk@gmail.com>
Subject: Hey You!

Hey Addison! Sorry I've been out of touch. Life's been really busy lately. Your life must be a lot busier now though given the new company you keep… Anyhow, I've got to get running. Just thought I'd drop a line and say hi. So Hi!

--Krystal

Addison thought that was a little strange and clicked out of it. It had been almost a year since she'd last heard from Krystal. It seemed to be an ongoing thing though. Old friends from the past were suddenly popping up everywhere wanting to be friends again. Even Kyle had reached out to her again since their encounter at the party. She never told Joe any of this though. For now though, Addison wasn't going to worry about the past. She had the people she needed here and now and that was all that mattered. She read through a few other emails she got from Diego and a couple of other people who actually kept in touch with her. She responded to some and made lunch plans with Diego for that afternoon. She was free that day so there wasn't any reason for her not to.

Addison's phone buzzed and she quickly checked it. I got your email. See you at 1!

The moment she set it down, the phone started playing Joe's ringtone again. Just like she had the first time, she sent it to voicemail. She wanted to give in but she just couldn't. She wasn't going to prove Joe right. Not today. Addison sighed and grabbed a notebook, a pen, and her blue 5th generation iPod Nano. She put the iPod on shuffle and opened to a clean page in the notebook. She put the date in the upper right-hand corner and started writing.

I know it's been awhile since I've written in here; a few months to be exact. It isn't that I have nothing to say. Believe me when I say I have plenty to say. There just hasn't been a lot of time. I don't even know where to start. Maybe I should start with the shortest topic of all: my mother.

I haven't seen or spoken to my mother in a while now and trust me, I'm not miserable about it. I don't even know what she's been up to and to be honest, that makes me a little sad. Katie and Mrs. Jonas have been better mothers to me and they're not even my mamas! Katie's not even thirty yet but she takes care of me like she's been my mom her whole life. I must say: she's pretty amazing. Mrs. Jonas is the person I sort of kind of wish was my mother. She's hands down awesome. The boys are lucky to have her as a mom. Sometimes I wish she was my mom but I'm glad she's not. If she were, then I'd be dating my brother and that's usually frowned upon.

Things have been rocky between Lily and me. She said a couple things and I got mad at her. I did a couple things and she got mad at me. She says I spend all my time with Joe but she spends all her time with Garbo so I don't really see why she's getting mad at me. Then she made an implication (I'm not sure that's the right word) that my dad isn't my dad. I don't know if I could ever forgive her for that. There was no reason for her to say something like that. She knows how much that whole situation upset me at the time. Her saying 'supposedly' only hurt me more. She's apologized for everything and according to Joe, it's about time I did too.

There's the possibility that my Uncle Donnie could be my father. We had a paternity test done but I didn't want to know the truth. My dad has been my dad for the past nineteen years and there's no other way about it. I said I didn't want to know the truth because I love Ted as my father and that's that. The truth is what if he's not my dad? If Donnie's my dad, then my dad is my uncle and my cousins would be my brothers and sisters. I'm so used to it being just me. Then it'd be like my whole life and identity is a lie and I know for a fact I couldn't cope with that. It's in the back of my mind every single day and I think about it at least once every day. In the long run, it's not just me it affects. It affects my future, being my husband, my children, and my in-laws. It'd be like a giant snowball effect. That's just too much for me to handle.

Then there's the best thing that's happened to me in a while. Joseph Adam Jonas. He's the most amazing boyfriend I've ever had. I don't know what I did to be blessed with someone like him. I whine about my mom, I whine about Lily, I whine about the world spinning on an axis and he always listens no matter what. I can't believe I screwed it up yesterday/this morning. I don't get why I would take advantage of something this great and screw it up. I love him. I've never loved anyone the way I love him. Maybe I've never loved anyone at all…

Addison stopped writing after that. Her thoughts were running wild and she couldn't seem to sort them out anymore. She shut the notebook and lied back on her bed with her head on her pillow. She glanced over at the time and dozed off.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

When Addison woke up, she realized it was a quarter to one. She was meeting Diego in fifteen minutes. She jumped up out of her bed and quickly ran her brush through her hair and tossed it on the desk and rushed out of the room. She grabbed her purse and keys and was about to run out the door when her dad tried to stop her.

"Addison-"

"Sorry Dad but I'm about to be late!" She closed the door and walked to the elevator. She pressed the down button a couple times and sighed as it took its time climbing to the fifth floor. After what felt like a lifetime, the doors finally opened and she got in and pressed the button for the lobby. She could only hope that she would make it to Ivy in time.

* * *

"Addison!" Diego shouted from across the restaurant as she and the hostess walked toward him. He stood up and held his arms out letting Addison know he wanted a hug. She gave him his hug and they sat down.

"Oh my god, Diego, I am so sorry for being late. Time got away from me," Addison said after letting the waitress know what she wanted to drink.

"Oh, it's all right, darling," Diego said and waved it off. "It happens to the best of us and it's D." The waitress set Addison's Cherry Dr. Pepper on the table and took their order. Once she walked away, Diego rested his chin in his hands and gazed at Addison. "So, how's the man candy?"

"Man candy?" Addison asked and gave him a look. "Joe is doing all right… I guess."

"You guess?"

"Well, off the record?"

"Always off the record unless you say so."

"Well, we're in a bit of a fight. Someone said something and we both have our difference of opinions on it and there just seems to be no agreeing to disagree."

"You better go tell that boy that you will agree to disagree and that what other people think doesn't matter. You know that famous quote: 'Those that don't mind matter and those that mind don't matter.'"

"That doesn't quite sound right for some reason but I hear you."

"Good, then when we're done here I expect you two to kiss and make up."

"Okay, D, I'll make sure it happens just for you."

"Now why do I get the feeling that you're being sarcastic?"

Addison shrugged her shoulders. "I guess we'll see, won't we?"

A few minutes later, their waitress brought them their lunch. While they had their food, Diego had to use the time filling her in on the latest gossip and his favorite subject seemed to be Taylor Swift.

* * *

Addison hugged Diego and said goodbye to him just before he walked off in the opposite direction. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and started going through her contacts to get Lily's number. Just as she hit send, someone called her name.

"Addison!" She turned and saw Garbo and Lily headed in her direction. She turned and walked towards them.

"Hey, I was just calling you," Addison said and held her phone out as Lily's started to ring. "Well duh," she mumbled and hung hers up.

Greg asked, "Where's Joe?"

"At his house," Addison answered.

"Why?"

"I'm not exactly talking to him at the moment."

"Why?"

Addison stared at him for a moment before saying, "It's not important. Besides, I'm sure Joe will tell you sooner or later." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Huh," he responded and scratched his chin.

Lily stepped up to Addison and took her by the arm as she leaned in close to her. "Addison, I'm still really sorry about everything. I'm tired of not being on speaking terms anymore. I miss my best friend. Look, I totally understand if you never want to forgive me for the thing I said about you and your dad. I was being really stupid when I said that and I know it's no excuse but I'm sorry for it."

"Lily, when I really think about it, I already forgave you. It's fine."

"Awe, Addison!" The girls hugged it out.

"Yay!" Greg said and hugged them both.

"So what were you just up to?" Lily asked.

"I just had lunch with Diego and I was actually on my way to go talk to Joe."

"I thought you weren't talking to him," Greg said.

"Maybe I want to be talking to him," Addison responded.

"All right, well, call me later then," Lily said and hugged Addison again.

"I will," Addison responded and pulled away from Lily.

Addison got into her car and pulled away from the curb. She didn't go straight home or straight to the Jonases. Instead, she checked to make sure she had enough gas and headed for the back roads.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Addison listened to the ringing on the other line for another few seconds and was about to hang up when her dad answered.

"Hey, Addison, what's up?"

"Hey Dad, just so you know, I'm at Grandpa Michael's and I'll probably be here most of the day."

"All right, just call me later or something to let me know you're okay."

"I know, Dad. I'll talk to you later," she responded and hung up.

"Oh my god, you're such a daddy's girl," Finn teased her.

Addison turned in her seat and looked at her cousin. "At least my daddy cares."

"Whatever," he responded. Her Uncle Donnie was his father but Finn was living with their grandpa since in the last few years, he started acting up becoming too much for his parents to handle. So they sent him off to live with Grandpa Michael. Addison always found it odd that they were the exact same age with everyone claiming they were a week apart. She had a suspicion that he was more than that. She had a suspicion that he was her brother.