“Bacon?” he asked, lifting his head sleepily off my pillow. “Yeah, I made you a plate,” I told him, as he rubbed his eyes and stood up with a stretch. I only realized then that my bed was kind of short for me and he must have been terribly uncomfortable each night. He got up, not bothering to put on any clothes and remained just in his boxers. I tried not to stare at the gorgeous body in front of me. Axel sat down and started eating, moaning audibly in delight.
“Thanks for breakfast.” He smiled sleepily, his eyes still squinting adorably.
“It’s no problem but I have to get to class now,” I told him getting up. He caught my wrist as I turned to go and pulled me back over to him. Axel pressed a single kiss to my lips softly and then let his go of his grasp on me.
“Have a good day,” he said, smiling sweetly.
“You too,” I called over my shoulder, realizing how truly screwed I was.
“Hey girl!” Jenny called to me as she sat beside me in the library.
“Hey,” I smiled back at her. We had become a lot closer since our night out at Duke’s and hung out on all of our breaks together now. Her friend Anne occasionally joined us as well.
“You okay?” she asked, looking me over with a scrutinizing gaze. “You look stressed,” she decided.
“Yeah, a little,” I admitted, my cheeks warming with embarrassment. I’d never been in a situation like this, nor did I ever think I would have been.
“Is it Hottie McSexy?” she asked with a knowing smile. Jenny didn’t know the whole story about Axel or anything about our first encounter. She just knew that he was hot, he drove me home and we fooled around. That was all I had felt comfortable sharing, for the time being.
“Yeah, he came over yesterday to watch a movie and we fooled around a bit,” I downplayed. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in excitement as she squealed in delight.
“You go girl!” she exclaimed proudly.
“No,” I laughed, shaking my head. “It’s not a good thing,” I told her grimacing.
“Why the hell not? You got Mr. Sex On A Stick warming your bed, I wouldn’t complain,” she said,
“He’s making me confused,” I explained.
“You’re making me confused,” she laughed at me.
“I think I’m starting to have feelings for him,” I divulged. She looked at me like I was having a mental break. “I don’t want that,” I clarified. “I’m not ready to get back into a serious relationship after the whole Chris and Chelsea thing,” I admitted, saying their names out loud in the same sentence for the first time. Jenny patted me on the arm looking sorry for me.
“Then just have fun, have a rebound,” she suggested positively. “You’re in college. After all it is the time, you deserve to have some fun.”
“But what do I do about the feelings?” I asked her, not knowing how there was any way this could have a good ending.
“Ignore them,” she shrugged. “They say fake it until you make it,” she offered. That didn’t feel like very helpful advice but at least it was off my chest and I felt like I could breathe a little easier now.
“Do you want to go out again this Friday?” she asked hopefully.
“I would love that.” I could really use some fun to distract myself from all of my mixed emotions and internal conflicts.
“Yay! Girls’ night!” she cheered. “I’ll ask Anne if she can make it as well,” she said excitedly.
“Sounds good.” The more, the merrier. I could afford to make some more friends and so far, I had gotten to like Anne. When I got back to my apartment Axel was already gone like I assumed he’d be. But he surprised me once again with a handwritten note left on my table.
I felt my heart pounding fast in my chest, this man was going to be my undoing. If he couldn’t melt my frozen heart and break through all my barriers, then no one could. I couldn’t get over how sweet and thoughtful this man was but more importantly why? Why was he so sweet to me? It made no sense; I did nothing but push him away and use him for sex. I didn’t deserve his kindness. I walked into the kitchen to make myself some dinner and was shocked to see all the dirty dishes from the night before and breakfast were gone. I opened the cabinets and was stunned to find, that Axel had not only washed them all but he’d spent the time figuring out where they all went. He had to stop being so kind and making me feel all these emotions. If Chris had even done this once, I would have been so over the moon. Axel did this when he owed me nothing and didn’t act like he expected or wanted anything for doing it, I was floored. He just continued to surprise me. I texted him a quick thank you for doing the dishes. It was the least I could do; the small gesture really warmed my heart.
We texted on and off at night, until I fell asleep and then, off and on throughout the next day. I didn’t tell him the girls and I had planned on going to Duke’s; that was a surprise I intended to keep to myself. We dressed at Jenny’s apartment, which was also on campus, because mine was a little too crowded for three. We got our pre-drink on, letting the vodka get us
