I stopped, feeling eyes on me as if a laser was burning into the side of my face and looked over. I felt myself freeze as I took in all 6’6” of Axel. God, was he sexy. His hair had grown a bit and was falling onto his forehead and his beard hadn’t been shaved, leaving him just the right amount of scruff. He looked amazing as usual. God, why was life so unfair to me? He walked straight over to me and put his big warm hand gently on my arm, sending tingles throughout my body.
“Hey.” He smiled down at me, his smile warm and genuine. He was smiling so big and goofily, that against my better judgement I couldn’t help but smile back.
“Hey,” I said back lamely, trying to hold myself up straight, even though my knees were shaking slightly, from both nerves and arousal.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked me with his smile still spread wide. I shook my head no at him. This was not a good idea; I had to get out of here.
“No, I’m actually leaving now,” I answered. “I’m just looking for my friend to tell her I’m going,” I told him, feeling hot just from being near him, I needed to get some distance between us but for the life of me I couldn’t move my feet, they were frozen in place.
“Oh,” he said his brilliant smile fading. “Well, I’ll wait with you until you find her,” he stated, sounding a little unsure.
“Okay,” I heard myself saying as I scanned the crowd, not finding her blonde head anywhere. Dammit Chelsea!
“How have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while.” He chatted like we were friends and not just a very bizarre one night stand in a completely different country, somehow seeing each other again.
“Good, I’ve been busy with exams and school,” I offered, feeling uncomfortable with this small talk. I didn’t know how to interact with him. This was all unknown territory that I had no clue how to navigate.
“School?” he asked, looking more cheerful all of a sudden. I nodded, confused.
“What school do you go to?” he questioned me, fully invested in our chitchat.
“University of Florida,” I told him, not sure if it was a smart move on my part but it was a big school, so it seemed pretty safe to divulge this information.
“I went there.” He smiled brightly. “I graduated a few years back,” he continued. I merely nodded my head, wondering now, how old he actually was. That thought hadn’t crossed my mind before. At that moment I spotted Chelsea, who had forgotten Curly and was now with some other guy, Lanky I decided to name him. Thank the Lord!
“I have to go!” I told Axel, making my run for it. “I see my friend,” I explained, finally getting my feet to cooperate with me.
“Can I at least call you a cab?” he asked, his face looking pained. This guy had been nothing but sweet to me and I felt bad for being so cold towards him. The trouble was how I felt around him was dangerous. I had a boyfriend and I needed to keep away from Axel.
“No, it’s okay. I can manage,” I told him, leaving but then stopped. “Thank you though,” I said, genuinely meaning it, it was a sweet gesture. He smiled a small smile back at me. It didn’t quite reach his eyes and I felt a bit disappointed.
“See you around,” he said as I made my way over to Chelsea. I didn’t dare look back, knowing if I did, I probably wouldn’t leave those magical green eyes and contagious smile. I could hear the disappointment hidden in his tone and felt it too but it was better if we just steered clear of each other. I felt myself being angry with Chelsea yet again for putting me in this situation, because now I was even more sexually frustrated and confused. I was also mad at myself for agreeing to come in the first place, I should have known better. I was clearly asking for trouble and it found me.
“Chelsea,” I said loudly, getting her attention. She looked at me, surprised and then smiled wide, seeming to have forgotten she had left me behind as usual.
“Lee,” she giggled, clearly having had a few more drinks in my absence. I ignored Lanky, who was clearly checking me out, even though he had his arm around Chelsea’s waist.
“I’m going home. Have fun,” I said and then turned to leave. I didn’t care that I was being bitchy, I was pissed and I knew she wouldn’t remember anyways. Her drinking over the last five months had gotten a lot worse, and now if she wasn’t blackout drunk it was a rare occasion. I didn’t know what was going on with her but I didn’t like it.
Chris picked me up after clinical. I got into his car hoping he wouldn’t mind staying in tonight. Not only was I tired but I could use some one-on-one time with him, it had been a while and I really needed to release some of my sexual frustrations.
“Hey baby,” he greeted, pulling away from the curb before I even had my seat belt fastened.
“Hey.” I smiled back at him. “How was your day?” I asked.
“Good, I just woke up a little while ago,” he told me. I felt jealous of him and his extra sleep. He was majoring in Economics but was really just goofing off. I didn’t think he actually planned on making a career out of it, not that he needed to. It was strange that both he and Chelsea came from such different worlds than me and yet they were the two people I was closest to in my life.
“Late night?” I asked
