Eva had just sent Addison into the bathroom to put some makeup on (it was only eyeliner and lip gloss so she figured he could handle it) when there was a knock on the door. She answered it and saw Lyle Prince standing there a look of pure confusion on his face. "Sorry, must have the wrong room," he started to walk away.

"No you don't," Eva yelled quickly, "he's in the bathroom." Honestly, did he not remember her from the Halloween party?

Lyle smiled in relief and followed Eva it the room. It was then that he realized she was the other slutty school girl from the party.

"Make yourself at home," Eva instructed. Lyle gave her a grateful smile and sat down on her uncomfortable dorm room furniture.

"I don't think we were ever introduced properly. I'm Eva," the girl introduced herself coming to sit next to Lyle on the couch.

"I'm Lyle," he greeted even though they both knew she already knew his name.

She continued to stare at him for a while before she opened her mouth to speak, a serious expression on her face.

Oh no, he was getting the talk. "Listen Lyle, you seem like a good guy. I don't believe what the TV says about you," at that remark Lyle grinned, "but that being said, if you hurt Addi I will rip your dick off and feed it to my chinchilla. Addi's had a really crappy life and for him to even give you a chance is huge. Don't you dare fuck up his life because, if you leave him, I'll be the one picking up the pieces that you left behind."

Lyle gulped. He'd never been so terrified of someone so tiny in all of his life.

Just then the bathroom door opened and Addison strode into the room wearing a simple T-shirt and jeans. "You look beautiful," Lyle stammered mouth suddenly dry.

Addison walked over to the couch and offered a hand to Lyle. He helped the man to his feet and didn't let go of his hand. "Not so bad yourself," he purred giving his date a once over.

Lyle just about melted on the spot. Never before had he been so affected by a voice. He felt a certain part of his anatomy start to stiffen with... happiness... and cursed himself for wearing such tight pants.

Think nasty thoughts...

Addison rubbed his thumb gently along the man's hand and pulled him out the door. "Bye, Eva," he called back to his friend, "I'll be back later."

They made it a few feet before Lyle broke down and admitted, "She scared the shit out of me!"

Addison gave him a knowing sideways glance, "She threaten to rip your dick off?"

Lyle nodded, "And feed it to her chinchilla."

Addison snorted out a laugh, "Don't worry, I'll protect your dick."

"My hero," Lyle cheered flatly.

They made it to the zoo and each paid for their own ticket. After that, the next couple of hours were amazing. They walked around looking at all the different animals, went to see a bird show, walked through a reptile house, all while holding hands.

In a particularly tight exhibit Addison had even let Lyle pull him into a hug. He had said it was so other people had more room to move around but Lyle doubted that reasoning a little bit.

They were getting hungry and decided to go order some food from the overpriced concession stand. Lyle ordered a hotdog and Addison had a slice of pizza.

And when Lyle had finished the hotdog and Addison had just about eaten all of his slice the paparazzi found them. They were bombarded with cameras and questions. Addison looked absolutely overwhelmed.

Taking charge of the situation, Lyle got up, grabbed Addison and started leading him away quickly, "Come on, Daniella," he urged as they raced through the zoo.

They ducked into an insect house and were safe, for the moment. "Sorry about that," Lyle apologized. God! He couldn't even go on a date without the paparazzi ruining it! He wanted to rip his hair out and scream in frustration.

To his surprise, Addison just laughed. "So that's what it's like for Lyle Prince in public."

Lyle smirked, "Pretty much." Maybe his date hadn't been ruined.

"Exciting."

"That's one word for it," Lyle laughed darkly.

"But you have others," it wasn't a question.

"Invasive, fucking annoying," Lyle listed off, just to name a few.

"Must be hard being such a popular celebrity," Addison purred inching closer to the man.

Lyle gulped. He was pretty sure he knew where this was going when Addison kept moving closer. And then the man leaned up slightly, pecking Lyle on the lips. Lyle groaned. Never before had he felt lips so soft, and the way they were pressed against his... The way they parted when he licked them, granting him access to explore that sweet mouth more. Their tongues danced around as each sought to explore the other as much as possible. Lyle put his hands on Addison's waist and ground into the man to let him know just how excited he was and he was immediately satisfied when the other moaned.

Addison pulled back from the kiss, "we need to stop," he whispered gently.

Lyle whined.

"I don't want to either, but it won't be easy to explain a girl with an errection," And just like that Addison had won that argument.

They left the insect house.

An hour later, they were getting ready to leave the zoo when Addison decided he had to go to the bathroom. So Lyle waited outside the ladies room for him to come out.

And that's when another unfortunate circumstance happened. The latex cat from the Halloween party pranced up to him and squeezed him tight.

"Oh, Lyle, I found you! It must be fate!"

Lyle untangled himself from the girl. Who the hell was she? "Umm... who are you?"

The girl looked utterly hurt that he didn't know who she was. "I thought you'd know. After all, we connected so well at the Halloween party."

"Uh... no."

"Lyle?" the questioning voice of Addison cut in.

"Daniella," Lyle sighed in relief. He rushed over to his boyfriend and promptly forgot about the annoying blonde.

When they exited the zoo Addison turned and looked at Lyle, "That was my stepsister, Marissa," he admitted.

"Who? That blonde?" Addison nodded. "I'm so sorry."

Addison gave Lyle a gentle smile. "Come on, let's go back to Eva's."

They walked to Addison's friend's house hand in hand. When Addison was safely inside they said their goodbyes.

"Oh, Addison, I almost forgot, my best friend Mel invited you to Thanksgiving lunch."

Addison looked to Eva who was scowling deeply, "Usually Eva and I do something together."

"She can come too!" Lyle quickly threw in.

"We'll be there," Eva said before slamming the door shut in Lyle's face. Then turning to Addison she asked, "So, how was it?"

"Amazing!" he sighed dreamily. "I don't know why I didn't want to go out with him. He's a great guy... and an awesome kisser," he smiled devilishly.

Eva laughed. It was wonderful to see her friend so happy. He rarely was.

Addison changed and the smile vanished from his face as he realized he had to return home.

                                                           ~ARC~

Almost a week later Addison sat up in his room at home. It was a cold day in November and he once again found himself locked in the attic.

Whenever his stepmother was in one of her moods that was usually what happened. She'd wake up early and lock Addison in the attic. Sometimes his door would be locked for days at a time. When he was younger and she first moved his room to the unwanted storage space he learned fairly quickly that when he wasn't locked in the room he needed to get food that didn't spoil easily to store in the space.

That, unfortunately, consisted mainly of chips and other bagged foods.

He had tried soup and canned vegetables for a while, but there wasn't any heat in the attic and the cans would freeze in the winter. Right now he was sleeping with water bottles under his covers to keep them from freezing. That way he'd at least have something to drink.

Long ago, he had learned to escape from his prison without getting caught. It involved rope and his very rickety window. He attached the rope to his bed and climbed down and out the window. Then he'd text Rachel and she'd hid the rope. Later, before he came back, he'd text her again and she'd go throw the rope out for him so he could climb back up.

It was a long process that was hard to coordinate and most of the time Addison found it easier to endure the solitude of the attic until his stepmother let him out. But when they were able to work together and get Addison out of that room for a couple of hours it was wonderful. Sometimes when he returned home him and Rachel would even talk for a while.

Addison was preparing to climb out the window. He needed to meet Eva so they could get ready to go to Lyle's friend's house for Thanksgiving lunch.

He quickly climbed down the three story house and made it to Eva's around 11.00. That was later than he would have liked to get there. They were supposed to be at Mel's at 12.30 and Addison still had to change.

He had to dress like a girl at least until they got to Mel's house in case any photographers happened to be watching. He couldn't take any chances of his stepmother finding out.

Eva answered the door shortly after Addison knocked on it, "She lock you up again?"

"Nice to see you too Eva," Addison feigned cheerfulness. She glared at him causing the fake smile to slowly slide from Addison's face. "Yeah," he admitted softly.

Eva moved aside to let her friend in. "Why this time?"

Her friend would never admit it but being treated so harshly by the only family he had left crushed him deeply. Eva supposed it was because deep down inside he still hoped that one day they'd wake up and treat him like a member of the family. Rachel did, but he missed the love of a parent. The hateful looks his stepmother and Marissa shot him daily, the snide comments, hurtful names and, on occasions, physical violence left Addison feeling small and insignificant.

Then something remarkable happened. Eva could hardly believe her eyes. Addison smiled. He smiled at her after being locked in the attic. "She was angry because Marissa went to the zoo yesterday," Addison's smile only grew wider and Eva found a matching one starting to form on her face. She had a pretty good idea of where this was going. "And, she happened to run into Lyle with his girlfriend."

"Awesome dude!" Eva laughed.

"Yeah," Addison agreed.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but we need to get ready to go to the friend's house," Eva then got Addison some clothing and shoved him into the bathroom to change while she got ready in her bathroom.