Chapter 26: Park Around the Corner

As the week played on, I found myself trying to convince my parents that Axel and I weren't a thing. But no matter how much I tried, it seemed as if they weren't believing me. On Friday, when Axel didn't come home alongside us like he usually does, my mom asked where he was.

"I don't know," I answered with a shrug as I went to the fridge.

"Well, is he coming over later?" my mom asked. "Because your dad isn't going to be home until eight and I'm about to leave, and I think Dylan works at five."

"Why does it matter?" I asked, already knowing the answer. That's three hours that you guys could be alone. You know the rules, Lex, you can't be alone with him.

"You can't be alone with him, Lex," my mom responded for what seemed to be the fifth time this week.

"Well, he's not coming over," I told my mom as I closed the fridge with a Dr. Pepper in my hand. I opened the cabinet and grabbed the chips, preparing to go upstairs to my room. When I felt her gaze on me, I turned my attention to her. "Can I be alone with these chips? Or do I have to stay with them downstairs in front of everyone?"

"Watch your mouth, Lex," my mother remarked.

Why? I can just have Axel do it for me, I wanted to say. I simply walked towards the stairs, taking them two steps at a time. The tension in the house is so thick you could cut it with a knife. My anger is directed towards my brother and my parents, and my brother's anger is simply directed towards me. My parents aren't angry at either of us; they were just upset that I didn't tell them about Axel. I was mad at them for believing my brother instead of me. It made me wish that there was nothing going on between me and Axel so they could feel extremely stupid.

The car rides to and from school are tense and so is dinner. The only time I'm not on the verge of hitting something (or someone) is when I'm in my room alone. If I really wanted to be annoying, I'd tell Axel to come over after five and leave before eight but because I don't want to risk getting into trouble in the odd case that someone comes home early, I repressed the urge to do so. Instead, I planned out the event that would be taking place in three and a half weeks.

Thinking about it now, I'd rather have my event on the 22nd to simply avoid any awkwardness that might ensue but then again, I don't know what's going to happen in these next few weeks. Who knows? My parents might start to believe me once they see the completely platonic relationsionship me and Axel are planning to put on for them, and Dylan might actually stop being such a jerk and apologize for putting me in such an uncomfortable situation.

The door to my room pushed open and my brother peeked his head in. "Can I use your charger?" he asked.

"Get out," I responded as I lay on my bed with my phone in my hands.

"Come on, mine only works at a certain angle and I need to get ready for work so I can't keep checking on it," my brother responded.

"Buy a new one," I retorted. .

"Come on, just for an hour and a half," he answered.

I grabbed my charger and connected it to my phone, despite the fact that it was already on 74%. "I'm using it."

"You don't have to be such a-," he started but I looked up at him with a sharp glare. "Look, my phones on 11%. I'll bring it back when I'm done."

"No," I retorted. "Get out."

"You're being overdramatic," he answered. "All I did was confirm something that our parents were already suspicious about."

"Exactly! Now they think we're dating. He can't even come over and hang out anymore!" I retorted, sitting up.

"You guys are dating," my brother noted.

"No, we aren't. And even if we were, it's not your business to go around telling," I responded.

"You're acting like you don't see him everyday already," my brother replied.

"You don't realize that he's my best friend. I can't even hang out with him anymore without someone having to supervise us," I responded.

"Maybe you shouldn't be doing things that you'd be scared to be heard or seen doing," my brother remarked.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "We won't even be able to have a conversation without mom or dad listening in."

"You should have thought about that before you started to like him," my brother replied. Not even grasping his idealogy, seeing as I've liked Axel for as long as I can remember, I scoffed.

"It's fine. I know who I can and can't trust now," I responded as I laid back on my bed, holding my phone in my hands. My brother stared at me with a slight frown on his face before closing my door.

+++

"He's being a jerk," I told Axel over the phone.

"What's he doing?" my best friend asked and I listened as my brother walked down the hall to the bathroom. I looked at my phone screen. Only fifteen more minutes until he leaves and I can go downstairs and get something to drink. I haven't left my room since our little argument in order to avoid another one. If I were to step out and he'd see me, which would most likely happen, he'd make an offhand comment and I'd obviously have to reply.

"He's just being a jerk," I retorted, not really in the mood to explain.

"Do you want me to say something to him?" Axel asked and I snorted.

"No, that'd just make things worse," I responded. "Let's talk about something else."

"Like what?" he questioned and I thought for a moment.

"How bored I am," I replied. "What are you doing?"

"Homework...or at least I'm trying," he muttered.

"I'm sorry. I'm interrupting you, right?" I replied, frowning. "I'll let you get back to that. I should probably do my homework, too."

"We can do our homework together," he suggested before I could hang up. "It's pretty lonely here, too. My parents are at work and Evan is out somewhere with his friends."

I thought for a moment, specifically about my mom's warning. I shrugged after a few seconds worth of contemplation. I mean, the house is going to be empty aside from me for three hours. As long as Axel arrives after five and leaves before eight, there shouldn't be a problem. "Yeah, that sounds good."

"I'll head over soon. I should get there at 5:20 or so," he informed me and I agreed before insisting that he park his car around the corner and walk the rest of the way in case someone gets home early; we wouldn't want them seeing it in the driveway.

Not too long after my brother's departure did the doorbell ring and Axel appeared at the doorstep, damp with rain drops. "Come in," I insisted as I pulled open the door. "I should probably warn you that my mom specifically told me not to have you over, so if someone does pop in before 8, well, you're going to have to climb out the window and make a break for your car."

"I figured as much when you told me to park around the corner," he grinned at me. "So...let's go upstairs."

"I'm going to grab some soda," I said as I began to approach the kitchen.

"Get some snacks, too," he insisted and I nodded. "I have to use your charger by the way."

After grabbing snacks and drinks from the kitchen, I made my way up to my room, shutting the door behind me. Upon my entrance, I saw that he made himself comfortable on my bed. I nearly tripped over his bookbag, which was right in my path. I kicked it so that it was behind the door, right beside his charging phone. With his face buried in my pillows, he began to mumble and I laughed, sitting beside him as I placed the snacks on my bedside table.

"What?" I asked, watching as he twisted around and placed his hands behind his head.

"I said, 'home sweet home,'" he explained as if it was obvious.

"Get your homework," I said, rolling my eyes.

"I don't feel like it," he whined with closed eyes.

"Come on, you have to," I retorted and he gave me a flat look.

"I don't have to do anything," he clarified.

"I'm sorry," I tilted my head, "but I thought we both agreed that we'd do our homework together."

"I think we both know that we didn't intend to get any homework done," he responded with an eye roll. My eyebrows shot up and he snorted. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Then what did you mean?" I asked curiously.

"I meant..." he sat up quickly so that he was only inches away. His eyes scanned my face a few times before settling on my mouth. Slowly, his gaze met mine and he blinked a few times. "We could play board games."

I immediately shoved him away from me, rolling my eyes and scoffing loudly as he laughed. "Get out of here," I insisted as I grabbed my bookbag from beside my bed.

"Get that out of here," he retorted, stretching his leg out and kicking my bag so that it flew about three feet, landing on the floor with a thud. I stared at it and sighed quietly. Oh well. "What'd you think I was going to say?"

I stared at him and scowled as I grabbed my phone, laying down and opening my text messages. He remained in his sitting position as he stared at me. "Alexis?" I proceeded to ignore him and he repeated it over and over again. A few moments later, he settled down beside me and put his head on my shoulder, staring at the screen of my phone. My heart was pounding in my chest at how close he was but I simply continued to scroll through my social media. Every so often, his finger would pop up and double tap the screen and I'd pretend I didn't notice.

When he realized that this method wasn't working to gain my attention, he reverted to whispering my name in my ear as I continued to switch between apps. I had to repress the urge to grin at his stupidity. "Alexis..." he hissed in my ear and I proceeded to occupy myself on my phone. He caught me off guard as his teeth lightly came down on my earlobe. I jumped to the side, looking at him with wide eyes. He smirked at me with a mix of satisfaction and triumph. "Hi," he said innocently as if he hadn't just nibbled on my ear. "If all it took was a little bite, I wouldn't have wasted thirty minutes trying to get your attention."

"What do you want?" I snapped in annoyance as I dropped my phone on the carpet beside my bed. Reaching over, I made a move to shove him out of the way so I could return to my previous position of comfort. Instead of letting me push him, he grabbed my hands and yanked me forward so that I was only inches away from him. "What do you want?" I asked quietly as I stared at him.

I know what I want. Rather than giving in to the urge to kiss him, I trained my eyes on his, trying to gather clues as to what his intentions were for pulling me so close. Does he actually want to kiss me? Or is he just messing with me? He untangled his hands from mine and I took that as a sign of disinterest. As I prepared to roll onto my back and reach for my phone on the floor, his hand shot out and brushed a loose strand of hair out of my face. Okay, so maybe he does want to kiss me.

Silence filled the room and I'm sure that if a pin dropped, we'd hear it. I stared at him, unsure if he expected me to go in for the kiss or if he was going to do it. Slowly but surely, he leaned in, abruptly stopping when he was an inch from my face. Oh no, does my breath smell bad? "What was that?" he asked in a whisper.

"What was what?" I asked. He held up his hand as if telling me to go silent, so I did. I heard a shuffling downstairs and my eyes widened. The sound of someone coming up the stairs grew louder and before I could tell him to go, he was already up and running towards the closet. With a swift movement, he opened and closed the white door, disappearing behind it.

My bedroom door shot open and my brother appeared with an annoyed look on his face. "Give me your charger," he insisted and I stared at him in slight confusion.

"Why are you here?" I asked, still breathless from the near intimacy that took place moments ago. I was sure my hair was a mess and my face was probably bright red.

"I'm on break and instead of getting food like I usually do, I had to speed here to get a charger because my phone died. I don't have time to sit and argue with you, so give me your charger," he retorted.

"Okay," I replied because it was all I could say. I'd normally argue and put up a fight but I'm no position to sit and bicker when I have a boy sitting in my closet and evidence of his presence surrounding me, waiting to be seen. I suddenly glanced behind the door to where my charger was plugged in. Attached to the charger was Axel's phone and right beside it was Axel's bookbag. I felt my heart drop to my stomach as I saw Dylan's eyes scanning the room in search of it. His eyes stopped at the outlet beside my bed and when he saw that it wasn't there, he furrowed his eyebrows. I quickly got up and rushed behind the door, grabbing the charger. He looked at me suspiciously as I handed it to him, gripping the door to ensure that he wouldn't attempt to peek behind it.

"Thanks..." he trailed with narrowed eyes. I nodded and began to shut the door. "Wait." His hand shot out and stopped the door so that it was a third open. I began to panic when I thought of what was behind me that he could be focused on.

"What?" I asked him.

"Why do you have two cans of soda?" he questioned. Glancing behind me, I nodded at the opened one.

"That one's empty and I didn't feel like getting up to throw it away," I explained, giving the trashcan beside the door a light kick.

"Why do you have two of each snack?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"For my snack drawer," I responded. "You should probably be getting back to work."

"Yeah...I should," he nodded as his eyes scanned my room again. He backed up and turned towards the stairs. I watched as he disappeared down them before shutting the door. I listened and when I heard the sound of the front door closing and the car driving off, I moved and opened the closet. Axel was sitting beside my shoes with a smirk on his face.

"Snack drawer?" he asked.

"It's in the making," I shrugged as I reached a hand out and he took it, accepting my help to get up.

"That was a close one," he admitted. "Good thing I parked around the corner."

"Yeah..." I trailed. "Good thing."

+++

I managed to get Axel out of the house before any other close calls could take place. Aside from a call from my father, I went without any other interruptions. Unfortunately, the moment I had with Axel before my brother rudely interrupted ended as soon as he had to hide in my closet. I didn't get to kiss him, unless you count a forehead kiss, and in this case I don't.

Upon my brother's permanent arrival home, he stopped in my room to give me back my charger. "Thanks," he replied as he tossed it onto my bed. I nodded as I looked at him.

He went to leave before stopping and taking a step back. He ducked into my room and allowed the door to close a bit as he rested against the wall. "You know, as I was leaving, I saw a really familiar car. And I mean, it looked practically identical to Axel's. It even had some of his stuff inside."

I stared at my brother, unsure of where he was going with this. "Okay?" I blurted.

"And I just thought it was funny how it was parked in front of that old lady's house. You know, the orange house right around the corner," he replied. "And then, on my way home, it was gone...just like the snacks from your dresser."

"What are you trying to get at?" I asked, though I knew exactly what he was trying to say.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that if, you know, Axel was here, which it seems like he was, I...wouldn't say anything," he admitted and I allowed one of my eyebrows to rise.

"Good thing he wasn't," I retorted with narrowed eyes. He looked down and chuckled, rolling his can of soda in his hands.

"Yeah, good thing..." he nodded before glancing back up at me. Kicking off the wall, he pushed open the door. "Thanks again for the charger."

"Yeah, whatever," I replied, watching as he closed the door behind him. When it clicked in place, I let out a sigh and laid back with wide eyes.