Chapter 30 – Bonnie and Clyde
Saturday
I was so full. We’d gotten a feast of milkshakes, chicken fingers, and tons of fries. Being this close to Axel again made me feel kind of like a kid. It reminded me of when we’d first dated. Because as much as I liked to tease him, I knew he was my first boyfriend. I remembered all of it.
Sophie sighed and leaned back in the booth. “The only thing that would have made tonight better was if Mr. Halifax had angry banged me.”
“Do you really want your first time with him to be angry?” I asked.
“I’ll take him however I can get him. You know I’ve even been fantasizing about him in the Empire High eagles mascot costume kind of incessantly.
” She sighed. “Feathers really turn me on now. And just fur in general. Do you think Natalivanka’s mom would care if I borrowed her floor length fur coat? ”
Liam scrunched up his face. “I don’t love your segue into that question. Absolutely not.”
I glanced at Jacob who was holding back a laugh.
He smiled at me.
I smiled back. It was strange how normal we suddenly were around each other again.
This whole night felt like old times. Well, minus Liam’s date and Olivia being with us.
I honestly had no idea why Olivia was still here.
I would have felt very slighted if I was her.
Parker being here wasn’t exactly normal either.
She was trying to blow bubbles into her milkshake.
The very big fact that I was finally dating Axel was certainly something new too.
And yet...it still just felt like all of us hanging out. Like always.
I’d been so worried about going off to college next fall.
Worried that we’d all drift apart. But I wouldn’t let that happen.
It would always be the four of us against the world.
Well, really the six of us. Liam and RJ had wormed their way into our four this year.
I was going to miss them when we were a few states away.
I held up my almost empty milkshake. “Here’s to us. And the best senior and freshman years ever.”
“And the best fourth grade ever,” Parker said.
RJ mumbled something unintelligible under his breath.
“And whatever grade those other girls are in I guess.” Parker pointed to Liam’s date and Olivia.
“Hear hear,” Sophie said.
Everyone lifted their glasses in the air and clinked them together.
I took one last big sip through my straw, accidentally making a terrible slurping noise.
Parker laughed and did it too. “I’ve always wanted a sister. And you’re going to be the best sister ever.”
I would have said she was jumping the gun a bit. But her brother had already proposed to me. I kept touching the ring box in his jacket that I was wearing. “I’ve always wanted a sister too,” I said. “No offense, Liam.”
“None taken,” he said. “I did destroy a lot of your Barbies.”
“Gog,” Sophie said.
I laughed and shook my head.
Axel put his hand on my thigh, making my whole body suddenly feel overheated.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to him touching me. Every time felt like a surprise. Like one of my many dreams I’d willed into existence.
“You know...there’s one more thing I want to do tonight,” Axel whispered in my ear. “To officially make it the best first date ever.”
Now my body really felt overheated. I had a feeling I knew what he was talking about. That next first. The big one. That he hadn’t done either. I couldn’t even hide the smile from my face. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Good because our Uber is already waiting outside.” Axel stepped out of the booth and grabbed my hand to help me to my feet. “RJ, get my sister home safe.”
RJ rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you take her, man? I’ve had enough babysitting duty for one night.” He immediately yelped. Parker must have kicked him under the table.
“Sorry, but I’m not going home tonight.” Axel was staring at me instead of at RJ.
RJ grumbled something. But Axel was already pulling me away from the table. We stepped outside and Axel opened the door of the Uber for me.
It was something he’d always done for me. But it felt different now. Axel had always been kind and protective of me. For a little while there, I’d thought it was because he’d thought of me like a sister. I was so glad I was wrong.
He climbed in on the other side and the Uber pulled away from the curb.
I stared at Axel in the dim light the city streets cast into the car. He was still wearing his homecoming crown. And I couldn’t help but think I was in a fairytale and he was my Prince Charming.
“What are you looking at?” he asked.
“For so long I had to hide my glances at you. I snuck them in all the time when you weren’t looking. And now I can stare unabashedly, so get used to it.”
He smiled. “For the record, you never hid it that well.”
I lightly slapped his arm and he caught my hand.
I was wrong. Nothing felt normal about tonight. It felt a million times better than normal.
Axel slid into the middle seat to be closer to me. He put his arm behind me.
This really was the best night ever. I looked up at him. “Did you really tell your whole team I was off-limits?”
“Yes. Because you were off-limits. You were mine.”
I knew that Axel hated my dad. But they actually had a lot in common. Like warding off guys that wanted to date me. I much preferred the way Axel had gone about it though. It was sexy and possessive. Words that Sophie had often used to describe my kiss thief.
“You were much better at hiding your feelings toward me, I guess,” I said.
Axel shrugged. “I was never quite sure how you felt. Especially after you told me you no longer wanted me to take your first kiss. But every conversation. Every innocent touch. I read into all of those. Probably more than I should have.”
“Me too!”
He laughed. “But I had to be pretty discreet. I thought Uncle James was going to murder me.”
I groaned. “My dad is the worst. I’m so sorry. God, I can’t believe what he did...”
“It’s going to be fine,” Axel said. “All that matters is that we’re finally together. We’ll figure everything else out.”
I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I can’t believe you loved me back this whole time.”
“I never stopped loving you, Scarlett. Not for one second of one day. I’m just glad I wasn’t too late in telling you the truth.”
He almost had been. It had been easy to see my future with Jacob.
But Jacob was right. It would have been a mistake.
Because I never would have been sure if he was first, despite how much I wanted him to be at the time.
He’d find his person. Someone who knew without a single doubt that he was the one.
Someone that would give him everything he deserved. Because he deserved the world.
“You and Jacob will be okay, right?” I asked.
Axel nodded. “Yeah. Honestly, it was a hell of a lot harder to be okay with him when his hands were all over you. Why do you think I kept passing the ball in all those games instead of handing it off to him? I couldn’t even look at him.”
“I really should have been able to put all this together,” I said with a laugh. “It seems so obvious now. First there was that stupid pact about not dating anyone on your team. And then that vow of singledom.”
“By the way, you are terrible at keeping pacts.”
“You forced it on me!”
He laughed. “What was I supposed to do? You were slowly killing me, baby.”
I stared into his blue eyes. Staring and not being worried about being caught. I could definitely get used to this. “Can I ask you one more thing about everything that happened?”
“Ask me whatever you want.”
“That first day of school. When I came in wearing heels and a short skirt and contacts. I’d been missing you all summer. I was trying to reinvent myself to get you to finally notice me. And you said...”
“That I liked your glasses better.” He sighed.
“Is that true? Did you like me better before...”
“Scarlett, I love you with glasses. I love you without them. I love you in flannel pajamas and those skimpy bikinis you’ve been torturing me with for years on family beach trips. But seeing you walk down the hall toward me that first day of school scared the shit out of me.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw every guy turn his head and stare at you. And I saw the way Jacob reacted to your new look. I’d been doing my best to keep everyone away from you for years.
But it became very obvious that I’d run out of time on the first day of school.
Because everyone noticed you. And I needed you all to myself because I had to wait until your 18th birthday to propose to you.
Which sounds so ridiculous saying out loud.
I should have asked you out right then right there before anyone else got any stupid ideas in their head that you were available. ”
“So you didn’t hate the new look.” I smiled. I really thought he’d hated it.
“No, I hated that everyone else liked it.”
But he thought that people hadn’t noticed me with my glasses. Which is why he wanted me to wear them again. Hence him doing that thing to my phone I couldn’t figure out how to undo. “So if you actually do like me in contacts too, can you please change my phone so it can unlock without my glasses?”
He laughed. “Give it to me.”
I slid on my glasses to unlock my phone and then handed it to him. “Thank you. Wearing my glasses and contacts at the same time makes me dizzy.” I put them back into my purse.
“Sorry about that. As a last-ditch effort I thought if you wore your glasses again maybe it would undo the damage you did on the first day of school.”
“The damage?” I said with a laugh.
“My whole freaking team suddenly wanting to hook up with you. There.” He handed me back my phone.
It had literally taken him less than a minute to undo what he’d done. “Actually, can we take another picture? I still want to have some kind of security on my phone because my dad is out of control.”
“I’ll take a picture when we get to our destination.”
“Yeah, I guess there’s better lighting in my room.”
He shook his head. “We’re not going back to your place.”
“Then where are we going?”
Axel nodded out the window.