Chapter 19: The Rules

I experienced a flaw in my plan the following day. My mother was home and I completely forgot that she had the day off. I walked downstairs at 11:45 to find her in the kitchen, drinking coffee with her purse on the island. By her appearance, I could tell she was getting ready to go somewhere.

"Hey mom," I greeted her, sitting down and tapping anxiously. According to Sam's GPS, he's scheduled to arrive in ten short minutes.

"Hey, hun," she responded as she scrolled on her phone.

"Where are you going?" I asked, watching as she sipped her warm drink.

"To the grocery store- I've got to pick up some candy for tonight," she responded. She gets candy so late because if she lets it sit in the house for more than a few hours, it's all gone thanks to Dylan.

"Do you think you can grab some chips?" my brother's voice called from the living room. My eyes widened and I felt my stomach clench. Why is he awake?

"Yeah," my mom responded.

"The guys are coming over later," Dylan answered as he entered the kitchen.

"When don't they?" my mother replied, placing her phone in her bag. "Anything else?" she asked, looking at me and my brother. I shook my head quickly. Dylan, who had his head in the fridge, nodded.

"Soda?" he asked.

"Keep eating so much junk food. It's going to catch up to you sooner or later," she retorted, shaking her head.

"So...are you getting soda or...?" my brother trailed.

My mother rolled her eyes before looking at me. "Are you sure you don't want anything?"

"Positive," I blurted, mentally urging her to leave. My phone vibrated against the table and I glanced at it.

Your house is the red one, right? Sam's here. Oh, no. A few seconds later, he sent another message. Never mind, your truck's outside.

My mother was approaching the front door when the bell rang. "Are either of you expecting someone?" she asked as Dylan followed behind her into the living room, dropping onto the couch with a half-eaten bag of popcorn.

"The guys would just walk in," Dylan answered.

She opened the door and Sam was standing there, looking extremely nervous. I guess he'd heard Dylan's voice. "Hi..." he said quietly. My brother looked at the door before looking at me with raised eyebrows.

"Sam, come in," I insisted, praying my mother wouldn't recognize his name.

"Sam?" my mom asked, staring at the redhead that was now standing in our home. "You're Sam?"

"Y-yes," Sam answered as he looked at my mother with a friendly smile. "You're Mrs. McAllister, right?"

"I'm the sister," my mom joked and Sam looked horrified. This reaction caused my mother to laugh loudly. "I'm joking, Sam. I'm Mrs. McAllister."

Sam sighed in relief as he nodded at her. "It's nice to meet you." He extended his hand for her to shake and when she did, my mother looked at me.

"You're here for Lex, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, we're working on a project," I quickly intercepted.

"You know the rules," my mom told me and I knew what she meant. No boys in my bedroom unless Dylan is upstairs, which he is not. And if he is, I have to keep the door open.

"Yeah, mom, I know," I nodded. "Don't you have to go to the store?"

My mother narrowed her eyes at me. "Yeah I do. I'll be back soon." Grabbing the keys from the bowl beside the door, she nodded at us. "I love you guys."

"Love you," I muttered while Dylan mumbled something unintelligible. He was looking at me, expecting me and my friend to sit down in the living room.

"Do you want anything to eat? Or drink?" I asked Sam but he shook his head. I noted the water bottle in his hand and I nodded, leading the way to the stairs.

"Lex, where do you think you're going?" my brother asked.

"Upstairs," I called from the kitchen.

"You know the rules," Dylan called.

"So do you," I retorted, recalling the time he said the same thing when he had a girl over not too long ago.

"Whatever," my brother trailed and I lead Sam upstairs to my room. I opened the door and told him to come in.

"Where should I sit?" he asked and I shrugged.

"You can sit wherever- chair, bed, floor, ceiling," I trailed and he chuckled, though it sounded forced. I grabbed my bag, which I tossed near the closet when I came home yesterday. I noticed that Sam was sitting on the floor I so decided to join him. He had the poster paper (that I'm guessing he purchased) rolled out on the floor, using four textbooks to keep the edges down.

"So we're doing Guatemala, right?" I asked him.

"Yeah," he answered. "We can just look up the basics and fill it in on the outline."

I nodded, looking up the capital. I told him and as he began writing it, I looked at my messages. My brother had texted me. Is this why Axel isn't supposed to be here until four? I quickly responded, asking him politely not to tell Axel about Sam. It's not that Axel doesn't like Sam; I'm pretty sure he does. It's just that I don't want Axel thinking I'm leading Sam on again. If he just saw the way Sam acts around me, he'd know for a fact that Sam is aware of my lack of romantic feelings for him. I just want Axel to think that I'm staying away from Sam outside of school.

"What's their currency?" Sam asked and I proceeded to look it up.

+++

When the clock struck 3, I received a text from Axel. Sam was gluing the pictures I printed onto the paper so I was able to text back. I'm at the gas station. Do you want anything? My eyes widened. The gas station is only twenty minutes away! We're almost done but we definitely can't finish in twenty minutes. Actually, less than that, because I want Sam out of here before Axel even arrives so I can get rid of all traces of him.

No, I'm fine. Thanks though. I stared at my phone, waiting for a response.

Alright, well, I'm almost there. Oh no. Oh no.

"Is something wrong?" Sam asked, pulling my attention away from my phone. He was rubbing glue on the back of a printout of the Guatemalan flag.

"Uh, no," I shook my head. "Just excited to see the final product."

I'm not finished with my work, though. I stared at my messages, waiting for a response. When one didn't come I realized that he was now driving towards my house.

"Well, we just need to write a paragraph about their culture and then we're done," he explained. A paragraph?

"That's all?" I asked. "I can do that."

"Wait..." he trailed as his eyes skimmed the paper. "We also need a paragraph about famous people from Guatemala and a bibliography." I wanted to scream. There's not enough time! I'll have to ask Dylan to stall. "I'll do the famous people paragraph and you do the culture paragraph?"

"Yeah," I answered, trying to remain as calm as possible.

"And then we'll just work on the bibliography together?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered, glancing at my phone to see that Dylan hadn't even looked at my message yet.

We were working on our separate paragraphs in silence and I was mentally cursing myself for not taking his offer on getting started on the project at an earlier time. The silence was broken by someone up the stairs as well as someone rapping on my door. The door was shoved open and Axel appeared, looking from me to Sam and back again.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm here and I'm ready to leave whenever you are," he replied.

"Okay," I answered quietly. He glanced at Sam and nodded, which surprised Sam. The redhead beside me nodded back, though. Axel closed the door after looking at me yet again. Sam glanced at me and I could tell he wanted to ask me a question, or maybe more than one.

"Do you want me to take it home and finish it?" he asked curiously and I shook my head.

"No, let's just finish it now," I responded.

About a half hour later, Sam and I finished the project and I told him that I'd keep it here until Friday so it could dry. He agreed and packed his things. "Is Axel mad at you?" he questioned.

"No," I responded. He's probably upset that I didn't just tell him the truth yesterday but I don't think he's mad. At least I hope he's not.

"Did I interrupt your date or something?" he asked.

"No," I told him with a laugh. Me and Axel on a date...psh...in my dreams. "We aren't dating."

"But you guys kissed..." he trailed as he stood up. I followed suit, wiping off the back of my pants.

"Yeah but he doesn't like me," I told Sam.

"Oh..." he responded and I just nodded in response, opening the door and leading the way downstairs. Axel and Dylan were in the living room and I glanced at them before walking Sam to his car.

"Get home safe," I told him.

"Have fun," he smiled at me. "I'll see you on Monday."

I nodded as I walked back up to my house, waving as he drove off down the street. Upon entering the house, I made eye contact with Axel. Pointing to the stairs, I opened my mouth. "I'm just going to grab the movies and stuff."

"I'll help," Axel insisted and I didn't bother to tell him not to, knowing that he wouldn't listen. As we reached my room, he glanced at the poster, which was still on the floor. "Why didn't you just tell me you were doing arts and crafts with Sammy and that's why you didn't want me to pick you up until four?"

"It wasn't arts and crafts," I responded, hearing traces of annoyance in his voice. He was staring at the poster. "It's a project for Spanish class." He was now reading the packet that explained the project.

"I don't see anything saying it was a partner project," he retorted.

"We had the option to have a partner or not," I responded as I snagged the scary movies from the shelf below my TV. "So Sam and I decided to work together."

"Why?" Axel drawled and I turned to look at him with raised eyebrows, holding the stack of movies with both hands.

"Why does it matter?" I asked Axel and he just shrugged, dropping the paper.

"It doesn't," he retorted as he sat on the bed.

"Then why are you getting so upset?" I asked him.

"I'm not," he replied before lying down on my bed. I dropped the movies beside him and he sighed.

"Alright, well, what else should I bring?" I asked him.

"Are you spending the night?" he questioned causing me to stop what I was doing. This would be the first time that I'd be spending the night at his house since we've renewed our friendship.

"Yeah, I guess," I told him, grabbing a random bag from my closet. I like Axel's house. It's a much quieter version of mine. His parents are extremely nice but they're a bit stricter when it comes to sleepovers. They have a guest room and whenever I spend the night, I have to sleep in there. I don't mind. I usually stay up with Axel until my eyes are practically closed before heading to the guest room to sleep.

"Evan's going to be happy," he mumbled as he sat up, grabbing the movies for me. He grabbed my phone charger from the wall and watched as I shoved pajamas and a change of clothes for tomorrow into my bag. Once I finished, I handed him my bag and told him to put it in the car while I go talk to my mom.

As we left my room, we headed in two different directions. He walked down the steps while I headed to the right, towards my parents room. My mom was in there, typing on her computer. "Hey mom, do you mind if I spend the night at Axel's?"

"Are his parents okay with it?" she asked.

"Yeah," I answered. Actually, I don't really know. I mean, they've never had a problem with it before.

"Alright," she replied. "You're going to be home tomorrow?"

"Yeah," I responded. "I love you."

"Love you, too," she mumbled absentmindedly. I walked downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing a bag of potato chips for me and a bag of ranch Doritos for Axel. As I was walking towards the front door, my brother stared at me.

"Where are you going with my Doritos?" he snapped.

"Axel's house," I retorted.

My brother just glared at me as I stuck my tongue out at him, waving the Doritos as I closed the door. I walked down the steps and approached the car, where Axel was tapping away on his phone. I slapped his window and instead of jumping like I expected, he slowly turned and nodded at me. I rolled my eyes, walking in front of the car. He slammed his hand down on the horn and I jumped, dropping the bag of Doritos as a result. He was laughing so loud that I could hear him as I leaned over to grab the chips.

I opened the front seat to find my bag in the space where my feet would go. Placing my phone on the seat, I grabbed the bag and opened the back door, shoving it neatly on the floor. I placed the chips on the seat as well. As I was making sure nothing would fall, the sound of my phone ringing filled the car. "Who is it?" I asked Axel and a few seconds later, he scoffed and I had a feeling I knew who it was.

"Sam," he answered. The laughter from the chip flinging scene had gone and annoyance filled it's place. I closed the back door and got into the front, grabbing my phone. "Oh but you rush for him..." he muttered.

I shot him a glare before answering the phone. "Hey," I greeted Sam as I buckled my seat belt.

"Hey, Lex. I hope I'm not interrupting but I think I left my Chemistry textbook in your room," he told me. So those were his textbooks that he used to weigh down the poster.

"I would check but I'm in the car," I told him.

"With Axel?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah," I answered. I looked at Axel, who was sitting with the keys in his hand, refusing to put them in the ignition. I have a feeling we're going to have to talk before we go anywhere.

"Are you sure he's not mad at you?" Sam asked and I glanced at Axel, noting the slow blinks of his narrowed eyes.

Yeah, he's mad at me. But why worry Sam and say yes? "It's fine," I told him. "Think I can bring you the textbook on Monday?"

"Yeah," he answered. "I'll see there."

"See you," I told him. After hanging up the phone, I looked at Axel in an attempt to smile but he didn't even glance in my direction. I wanted to sigh loudly.

We drove to his house and whenever I tried to start a conversation, it would die out fast. "Are you mad at me?" I asked him finally. I didn't even need to ask but that seemed to be the only thing that could get the conversation rolling.

"No, why would I be?" he responded, barely glancing at me.

"I don't know...because I put off our plans for Sam?" I replied.

"No," he responded and I knew that he was lying. "I just don't see why you're hanging out with him and talking to him on the phone if he still likes you."

"Because we're friends," I retorted. Just like I like you and we're going to your house, where I'm going to be sleeping over.

"Whatever," he responded.

"You're still mad at me, aren't you?" I retorted.

"No," he answered.

"Yeah you are," I replied with crossed arms.

"No, I'm not!" he responded bitterly, staring out the window at my house.

"Yeah, you are, I know when you're lying!" I retorted.

"And I know when you're lying but you still lie to me," he rejoined.

I stared at him with narrowed eyes. "Is that what this is about?" I asked. "Me lying to you?"

"Yes," he answered curtly as he jingled the keys in his lap.

"Look, I only ever lie to you to keep things from getting awkward," I started.

"What would be so awkward that could possibly cause you to lie to me?" he asked.

Everything regarding my feelings for you. "I'm not just going to tell you—," I started.

"Alexis are you serious?" he asked and I stared at him. "You ask me if I'm mad and when I tell you what I'm mad about, and it's something you actually have the power to change, you disregard it completely."

"I only lie to you to avoid making things awkward, Axel," I told him.

"Yeah, I know; you said that already. And I asked what's so awkward that you have to lie to me about it?" he retorted. I was silent for a few moments and he looked at me. "Alexis."

"I lie..." I trailed as I rolled my hands together on my lap, "about things that can be traced back to my feelings for you." My face was bright red and I felt the urge to sink lower in my seat.

"Why?" he asked. "I already know that you like me."

"I like to avoid shining light on the subject if I can," I muttered.

"But I don't make you feel uncomfortable about it," he responded. When I didn't reply, he glanced at me. "Right?"

He's getting on me about lying to him, so I might as well be honest. "Recently, yes."

"I am?" he asked, widening his eyes. I sheepishly nodded and he furrowed his eyebrows before turning to me for a second. "Do you mean the kiss? Because I apologized for that and I really meant it."

"I know you did," I told him. "But it's not only that."

"What else?" he asked. When he saw me hesitate, he sighed. "Alexis..."

"When we were 'practicing for our play' in the kitchen," I blurted, using the terminology he used. The occurrence left me confused and unsure for the rest of the day. I don't know what he was doing and I'm still wondering what would've happened had Dylan not been there.

"Oh..." he began but didn't know how to finish.

"See what I mean?" I muttered. "Awkward right?"

"I don't know what that was," he explained, providing me the explanation I expected from him. "I just...I had the intentions of turning the stove on but I guess I got sidetracked."

I wanted to ask how he got sidetracked—how he could've possibly gotten sidetracked. I was just standing there beside the stove looking at him. That's not a rare occurrence. I stare at him quite a lot. What, in that moment, drove him to approach me and corner me like that? "How?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"How what?" he asked.

"How did you get sidetracked?" I inquired.

"I...I don't know, Alexis," he answered. Yet again, the answer I expected.

"Okay," I responded, crossing my arms.

"Alexis..." he mumbled and I could tell that he knew what I was getting at.

"I just don't understand why you do some of the things you do," I started and before I could stop myself, I was glaring out the window. "I mean, you yell at me for leading Sam on yet here you are, literally making out with me in the back of the truck and cornering me in my kitchen."

"Alexis," was the only thing he was capable of saying.

"And you can't even provide me with an explanation for your actions. See, if you ask me why I kissed you, I would say because I like you. If you ask me why I rejected Sam, I would say because I like you. If you ask why I sometimes blow off my friends to hang out with you, it's because I like you. Yet you can't even provide me with a decent reason for leading me on. I just don't think you have any right to put pressure on me to reject Sam and completely cut him off when you're leading me, your best friend, on," I snapped. I could tell that he didn't know what to say. He stared at me, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly and I just looked at him. "And you know it's true."

"Alexis..." he finally managed. I turned away from the window to look at him and he avoided my gaze. "I'm sorry that you think I'm leading you on—."

"You think differently?" I asked him.

"I just—," he started, swallowing nervously.

"You are leading me on, Axel," I responded. "You may not think so, but you are. You kissed me and you're flirting with me, even Isaac says it."

"Isaac said that?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows. When I nodded, his head jerked back a bit. "When did you start going to Isaac for romantic help?"

"Since you started acting all weird," I retorted.

There was silence throughout the car and he looked at me after a few moments. "So are you mad at me?" he inquired and I wished I was. I wish I had the ability to remain mad at him for longer than an hour.

"Stop acting weird and I won't be," I told him.

"Acting weird as in..." he trailed. Is he serious? After that verbal rampage, he's really asking what I mean by acting weird. "Specifically...so I know what not to do."

"Rule number one: no more kissing me. Rule number two: no more touching me to get a reaction because I know you've been doing that. Rule number three: no more innuendos or flirtatious insinuations. Rule number four: no more getting all close to me like the other day in the kitchen," I retorted. "And rule number five: whenever you sleep over, you can't sleep in my bed."

"I got it," he replied.

"Why can't things be like how they were before we stopped being friends?" I asked him, following my statement with a loud sigh. "When we became friends again, you even said that nothing would change."

"I'm sorry, Alexis," he muttered. "Things will go back to how they were, I swear."

"Good," I nodded as I looked out the window, listening to the car start up.

"And Alexis?" he asked as I looked at him. I was surprised to see him wearing a smirk. "What happened in the back of the truck- that wasn't making out. You haven't seen me make out."

I stared at him with raised eyebrows. "Did we not just go over this?" I asked, though I was wishing I had experienced actual making out with him.

+++

We arrived at Axel's house, flipping on the lights. I was shocked at the scene to say the least. Evan was sitting on the couch with a girl and they were practically slobbering all over each other. "Evan!" Axel snapped from the doorway.

The two preteens separated and I noticed that Evan pulled his hands from underneath the girl's shirt. Oh boy. Evan looked triumphant as he turned around to face his older brother. "What?" Evan asked curiously as he wiped his mouth of the girl's spit. She was now on her cell phone, grinning down at her messages.

"I leave you alone for an hour and a half and I come back to this?" Axel asked in annoyance. "Who even is she?"

My first reaction to the kissing couple was: wow, two thirteen year old kids are getting more action than I've ever gotten. And then, why is Axel acting like a girlfriend who'd just walked in on being cheated on? "Brittney," Evan spoke and the girl looked up at him with a wrinkled nose.

"My name is Brianna," she responded.

"Where are your parents? How did you get here?" Axel asked her.

"She lives down the street," Evan grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Can you go home?" Axel retorted and she looked at Evan. I think she expected him to tell her to stay because when he didn't say anything; she scoffed, got up, grabbed her purse, and left. Axel turned to his brother once she was gone. "What's wrong with you?"

"Don't be mad because I get more action than you," Evan laughed at his brother. I stifled my laughter and Axel looked at me.

"Don't encourage him!" Axel retorted and I shifted my laugh into a cough.

Well, I mean, it's true. At least for me, it is. "Sorry," I mumbled.

"You're thirteen years old," Axel informed his younger brother. "You should be playing with Legos or something, not feeling up a girl in the middle of the living room."

"Whatever," Evan announced as he stood up. "So are you going to tell mom?"

Axel looked at me and I shrugged. "Just go to your room," Axel told his younger brother.

As Evan was walking past, he looked at me. "Are you spending the night?" he asked, noticing the overnight bag on Axel's shoulder.

"Yeah," I responded and he nodded with a grin.

"Nice," he answered before heading up the steps. Axel looked at me and shook his head with closed eyes. A few moments later, after grabbing a drink from the fridge and asking me if I want one, Axel led the way to his room.

"He's so bad," he informed me as he closed his bedroom door.

"He definitely gets more action than me," I muttered. Axel turned to look at me and rolled his eyes. "Tell me, Axel, was that considered making out?"

"Yes," Axel answered as he dropped my bag, "a gross, slimy version of it, but yes." When he saw me standing there thinking, he looked at me and wrinkled his upper lip, letting out a nose of disgust. "Are you really thinking about them making out?"

"What? No! Ew," I retorted. I'm thinking about us making out. But I'll never tell you that, I thought.

"Then what were you thinking about?" he asked me curiously and I shrugged, shaking my head.

"Nothing," I told him as I dropped back onto his bed. He looked at me with a quirked brow. "What?"

"Nothing," he responded.

"What?" I repeated, watching as he pulled his sweater off of his back, wriggling out of it.

He turned to look at me. "Were you just saying that to avoid awkwardness?" he asked me. I stared at the ceiling, contemplating his words. In other words, he's asking if I was thinking about making out with him, seeing as how I referred anything regarding my feelings for him to lies, which is what he's assuming I'm doing. He's right, of course. But should I let him know that?

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He opened his mouth before sighing. "You know what I mean."

I grinned up at the ceiling. I'm so clever—setting up a rule to keep him from making any romantic gestures and insinuations against me. I'm a genius. Someone give me an award already. "I don't, which is why I'm asking," I replied, hiding a grin.

"You're a jerk," he retorted as he climbed onto the bed beside me. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and he stopped moving. He backed up and sat at the end of the bed, bringing his knees up and wrapping his arms around them loosely.

"I know," I grinned. "I know."

+++

Once we finished our first scary movie, the doorbell rang and Axel looked at me, getting up and grabbing the bowl of candy beside the door. "Trick or treat!" a chorus of kids said and Axel conversed with them for a moment before the door closed.

He looked at me and sighed, dropping down on the couch. "We're not going to be able to get through ten minutes of a movie without having to get up and give out candy."

"Why don't we just sit on the porch?" I asked him and he looked at me.

"Do you want to?" he inquired.

"Would I have suggested it had I not wanted to?" I retorted.

"Do you have to be so difficult?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered. "Yes I do."

As he got up, I extended my hands and he sighed, yanking me up. I walked over to the door and opened it. "It's cold out there," I noted. I turned to see him pulling on a hoodie from the rack beside the door.

"Take the green one," he told me and I grabbed it, pulling it on above my head.

We sat on the dimly lit porch, handing out handfuls of candy to kids as they walked by.

"When's your mom coming home?" I asked curiously and he shrugged.

"Not until tomorrow," he replied. "She's working the night shift."

"And your dad?" I replied.

"Night shift, also," Axel explained.

We sat in silence for the most part, aside from our complimenting of children's costumes. As time passed by and the trick-or-treaters stopped coming around, we headed inside, putting on our second movie of the night. We shared the candy we didn't give away as we watched the movie and I couldn't help but sigh in content. This is just like how it used to be.

It was around midnight that we decided to head to bed. I walked upstairs, changed, brushed my teeth, and told Axel goodnight before going to the guest bedroom while he went off to his own. I lay in bed for twenty minutes in the dark, staring at the ceiling. I tossed and turned, sighing as I stared out of the window into the darkness. I got up and decided to check if Axel was awake. I opened his door and saw that he was lying in bed with his eyes closed.

As I was about to turn to leave, he mumbled something. "Huh?" I asked quietly into the silence.

"I said 'what?'" he replied as he sat up.

"I can't sleep," I told him as I stood in the doorway.

"What do you want me to do about it?" he retorted. I hesitantly entered his room, inconspicuously closing the door with my foot. I crawled onto the edge of his bed. I sat down and he stared at me in the darkness. I waited for him to ask me if I'd like to sleep in here. I definitely don't want to be the one to do the asking, especially not after I specifically told him that we couldn't share a bed anymore. "What?"

I moved a bit closer and he watched me as I crawled to the space beside him. I sat there with my knees facing upward and my arms wrapped around them. "Can I sleep in here?" I asked when I realized he wasn't going to be the one doing the asking.

"Rule number five: no more sharing a bed," he retorted.

"Actually, I said that when you spend the night at my house, you can't sleep in my bed. I never said anything about me sleeping in your bed," I responded.

"What if I have rules?" he asked me.

"Well, do you?" I asked. I'd like to know what he thinks we should and shouldn't be doing.

"No," he replied quietly.

"So can I sleep in here?" I asked sheepishly.

"Okay," he responded and I lifted the blanket, lying down. I expected him to wrap his arm around me and pull me to him so when he didn't, I glanced at him. He was sleeping facing the wall, away from me. I stared at his clothed back as I breathed in and out, trying to fall asleep. After another twenty minutes, I was sure that Axel was asleep by the change in his breathing. I hesitated before moving closer to him, lying on my back. As I was inching towards him, he adjusted his position and elbowed me in the head.

"What?" he mumbled again.

"I didn't even say anything," I retorted.

"You moved a foot closer to me," he muttered into his pillow.

"Did I?" I asked, though I knew the answer already.

"Yeah, Alexis, you did," he responded.

"Maybe it's because I'm cold," I murmured. "And you're warm."

"Rule number four: respect your personal space," he replied.

"Axel..." I trailed.

With a sigh, he looked at me with slightly opened eyes. "If you wanted to cuddle, you could've just asked." He reached out and grabbed me around the waist yanking me towards him. He placed his head on the crook of my neck, keeping his arm tightly around me. I sighed in content as I stared at the ceiling. There's really something wrong with me.

+++

I woke up the next morning to the sound of the door flying open. I first thought that it was Axel's mother, coming to yell at us for breaking her rules. However, it was Evan, demanding to be fed. "You can feel up girls but you can't make yourself breakfast. Your priorities are definitely in check," Axel muttered as he sat up.

"What's this?" Evan asked as he looked at the two of us. "Did you guys—?"

"No," Axel told Evan. "Get your mind out of the gutter."

"You know what would be a shame?" Evan asked.

"What?" Axel responded as he rubbed his eyes. He held his hand out to me and I looked at the table beside his bed, grabbing his glasses. I handed them to him, watching as he slipped them on his face.

"If mom found out about...this," Evan muttered as he waved his hand around Axel's bed.

"It'd also be a shame if you went back to the trashcan where we found you," Axel retorted.

"Can we make a deal?" Evan asked Axel, who looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"About what?" Axel snapped.

"You don't tell mom and dad about Brianna; I won't tell them about this," Evan explained. When Axel scoffed, he held his hand up. "Think about it like this. If you tell mom that you left me alone for nearly two hours, she's going to be very upset; she'll blame you for what happened with Brianna. And she'll be mad that you shared a bed with Alexis despite the fact that you both know the house rules."

"Get out of my room, Evan," Axel muttered as he lifted his glasses, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms.

"Do we have a deal?" Evan inquired as he backed away towards the door.

"Get out!" Axel snapped.

"I'll take that as a yes," Evan retorted before winking at me and closing the door.

I looked at Axel and he shook his head. "See, Alexis, you always seem to get me into trouble," he joked. "You just couldn't sleep alone last night, could you?"

"No, I guess not," I mumbled. Axel got out of bed, leaving his bedroom. I remained there, putting my head in my hands as I sighed loudly.

"Are you coming?" he asked from the doorway and I looked up at him and nodded.

"Yeah..." I answered as I slowly got up.

"You okay?" he questioned.

No, not really. I like you so much that it's scaring me. "Yeah, I'm fine."