Chapter 28 – Naturally Amazing?
Saturday
I threw my hands in the air and spun around.
“You have no idea how many times I dreamed of us dancing like this,” he whispered.
I smiled and did one of the moves I’d learned from Sophie. I bent forward and then arched my back as I came back up.
Axel’s fingers tightened on my hips. “What are you trying to do to me?”
I tilted my head back to look up at him. I actually wasn’t sure what I was trying to do. But I’d really love to redo some of the things we’d done in closets. “Well...what else have you dreamed of doing with me?”
“I’ve told you.” He kissed the side of my neck. “Stealing all your firsts.” His lips fell to my shoulder, making goosebumps rise on my skin.
I somehow managed to turn around to face him. “Should we go find a closet?”
“I’m not stealing this next first in a closet. Actually, I’m hoping not to steal it at all. I’m hoping you’ll give it to me.”
“All my firsts are yours.” It was true. Every single one. I’d wanted to give them to him. And I was so glad I hadn’t messed it all up after all.
“And you said you wanted to start from the beginning.” He smiled down at me. “There’s no rush. We have our whole lives now.”
I smiled up at him.
“Besides, you said you didn’t want to miss the dance. How about I go get us some punch?”
“That sounds perfect. Make sure it’s not spiked though.” I didn’t want to forget one moment of this night.
He laughed. “I’ve got you.” His fingers fell from my hips and he disappeared into the crowd.
“Best night ever!” Sophie yelled at the top of her lungs.
I’d been so lost in my little bubble with Axel that I’d forgotten we were surrounded by our friends. I couldn’t have agreed more with Sophie’s proclamation.
“Yeah it is!” I shimmied at her and she shimmied back. And then we all started jumping up and down again.
The song changed to a slower one and she grabbed my hand. “It’s time for Operation Drug Bust.”
“No,” I said. “Don’t give it a name.”
“Yes.”
“Soph.”
“Scar!”
I laughed. “This is a bad idea.”
“Hookups usually do start with a bad idea.” She pulled me off the dance floor. “So what are you thinking? Should I pretend I found the drugs and am turning them in like a good girl? Or should I let Mr. Halifax pat me down and find them like a bad girl?”
“Neither?”
She groaned. “I just can’t get a read on him. Does he like bad girls or good girls?”
“Is Mr. Halifax even here?”
“Like a good teacher, he showed up. And if he’s good, maybe he wants someone good.” Sophie pointed to Mr. Halifax standing in the corner. His eyes were scanning the students. And he looked super pissed.
“Um...Soph? I feel like he’s taking your drug deal tip very seriously. He looks angry.”
“I know, right? He’s going to spank me with his ruler so hard. Which means he likes bad girls. Damn it, I’m so confused.”
“I think we need to flush the drugs.”
Sophie shook her head. “But Operation Drug Bust.”
“Is a total bust.”
“I’m going to be the good girl. Maybe he’ll reward me with a quick fuck in the auditorium.”
“Soph.” I grabbed her hand before she could walk over there and get arrested.
“How tragic,” someone said from behind us.
No, not just someone. I knew that voice. I turned around to see the Triple Gs. Gigi had her arms folded across her chest and a smile on her face.
“What’s tragic?” Sophie asked. “George’s outfit?”
Georgia looked down at her skin tight leather outfit that looked a lot like Sophie’s. “Why does everyone keep calling me George? And I’m wearing the same thing as you.”
“Not as well though.”
Georgia frowned.
Gemma laughed and Gigi slapped her arm.
“What I was saying,” Gigi said. “Was that it’s tragic that the two of you came to the Sadie Hawkins dance solo. Especially our senior year. How pathetic. Did everyone you ask say no?”
“We both came with dates, troll,” Sophie said.
Gigi looked around. “Don’t tell me you have secret boyfriends from Canada.”
“No, they’re real.”
Gigi rolled her eyes. “As if. What province are they from then?”
“I didn’t mean we had real dates from Canada,” Sophie said. “I just meant we have real dates. Scarlett is actually here with Axel. Right, Scar?”
I nodded my head.
Gigi laughed. “Well I definitely doubt that. Axel is still hung up on me.”
I was pretty sure the dating Gigi thing was just a last desperate effort by Axel to make me wake up. And I was done letting Gigi mess with me. Axel was mine. Not hers. “He’s in love with me,” I said.
Gigi looked surprised that I’d even spoken. “That’s not what he said the other week when he was making love to me.”
What? My stomach churned.
Sophie pretended to gag.
I thought about all the girls that Axel had dated over the years.
And his big box of condoms that wasn’t even half full.
I’d always assumed he’d done things with all his girlfriends.
But with Gigi? Really? Axel had said he only dated other people to make me jealous.
So why was he making love to Gigi behind closed doors?
And how many girls had he had sex with exactly?
He’d dated so many people. Had he screwed all of them?
For someone so obsessed with stealing all my firsts, he didn’t seem to care much about his own.
“Your face is priceless,” Gigi said. “Did Axel not tell you?”
“No...he...um...” I stuttered.
“I think telling women that he loves them is just his line. Probably how he got half the cheerleading squad to sleep with him.”
Half the cheerleading squad?! I hoped bitch wasn’t contagious, because if it was there was no way Axel hadn’t contracted it.
“Don’t listen to her,” Sophie said. “Axel wouldn’t have screwed this witch.” But she didn’t sound that sure.
“Oh, he screwed me real good.” Gigi bit her lip like she was remembering every second of it.
Ew.
“Anyway, I gotta get back to my date. Since I actually have one, Sophie. Have fun enjoying my sloppy seconds, Scarlett.” Gigi blew me a kiss and then turned on her heel and walked away. Her minions quickly followed.
Sophie shook her head. “I know that she knows I’m here with Eli. What is her problem?”
“Do you really think Axel slept with her?”
“No. Never. He was just dating her to make you jealous. It was all fake. Like everyone else he dated.”
“But...was it all fake? You saw that box of condoms in his room.”
Sophie was quiet for a moment. “You were dating Jacob and you knew he’d been with other girls. And you were okay with that, right?”
I slowly nodded. “Yeah, but Jacob wasn’t obsessed with stealing all my firsts. He didn’t manipulate everyone around me to make sure I couldn’t date anyone else. While he was off screwing half the school.”
“Does Axel having sex with a hundred girls really change how you feel about him?”
“A hundred?!”
“I was exaggerating. Obviously.” Sophie stared at me. “But based on your face, I guess that does change how you feel about him?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“You know Axel was experienced with how good of a kisser he was as your kiss thief. Experience is a good thing. That’s why I like older men.”
I nodded. “I guess.”
“Scar.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “I get it. I know what it’s like to see the person you’re in love with every day not loving you back. But Axel did. And that’s what you should focus on. Please, leave the past in the past and just be happy. You gotta let that all go.”
I took a deep breath. “Yeah. Of course.” My words sounded a little more confident than I felt. “But what if I’m bad at sex?”
“Which is where his experience will be a good thing.”
“But what if I’m so bad at it that he doesn’t want to be with me anymore? I was so bad at everything I did with Jacob at first.”
“Scarlett.” She put her hands on my shoulders. “Axel is in love with you. And he’s been in love with you his whole life. A few bad days of sex won’t change that.”
“So it will be bad?!”
“Deep breaths, Scar.”
I followed her instructions.
“You said it yourself. Axel is obsessed with stealing your firsts. He knows you’re not experienced. That’s what he wants. It’s fine.”
“I guess.” But now I was wondering how many other girls’ firsts he’d stolen.
Axel saying he wanted to steal all my firsts had seemed so romantic a couple months ago.
He’d made me feel special when he was my kiss thief.
And it was hard not to think that I was one of many now. That didn’t feel very special at all.
I took another deep breath. It was fine. We’d just do it tonight and I could rip the Band-Aid off and we could move forward. I’d put so much weight on all my firsts. But maybe I was the only one who cared about stuff like that.
“Mr. Halifax is on the move,” Sophie said. “Are you okay if I...”
“Go,” I said. “Just don’t get arrested.”
“If Mr. Halifax puts me in a cage I will literally die of happiness.” She hurried off.
I watched her walk up to him.
He kept staring at the students dancing instead of staring at her as she spoke.
But then she opened her purse.
Mr. Halifax’s eyes bulged out of his head as he stared down at the obscene amount of drugs. He said something to her and she closed her purse. Mr. Halifax looked around the cafeteria, grabbed Sophie’s wrist, and pulled her through the doors into the hall.
Huh. Maybe he would spank her with a ruler. Go, Soph!
“There you are,” Axel said. He held out a glass of punch for me. “Not spiked. As promised.”
I took a sip instead of responding. My eyes fell to his lips. I knew he was experienced. Of course I knew that. But how many girls exactly? Were there just a few notches on his bedpost? Ten maybe? Really 100? I tried to shake the thought away.
Axel had already stolen first, second, and third.
And I’d loved every single second of it.
Getting to home wasn’t a big deal to him.
And maybe it didn’t need to be some big grand thing for me.
He’d stolen a lot of the bases right here at school.
Why not the last? I just wanted to get past this first so we could start experiencing new firsts together.