“Sure Axel. I’ve never seen her here before,” Leah continued, disbelieving.
“Well, she works here on Thursdays and Sundays, you’ve never come on those nights,” I continued to explain.
“Don’t lie to me, Axel. I know all about you and what you do and how you treat women,” she said, angry now. What the fuck? “At least I was honest from the beginning of our relationship but you just lied to me and played me for a fool,” she continued loudly. I was in shock and not following.
“Leah, I was never playing you. And Ruby, the girl from yesterday, really is just a friend,” I told her honestly but it was clear she didn’t believe a word from my mouth.
She shook her head. “Axel, I was warned about you and heard enough while you were away. I know we were never official and we never spoke about being exclusive. I was stupid enough to think it was a given,” she said, confusing the hell out of me but making me thankful she’d been exclusive to me as well. “But to learn you’ve been sleeping with God knows how many women, one of whom is a good friend of mine, at the same time as me!” She cried, “That’s not okay with me, if you had at least been upfront about it with me, but you hid it and played me for a fool.” I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about or who.
“I wasn’t seeing anyone else, only you!” I promised but she just shook her head in disbelief. “It’s fine Axel; I know the truth now and I’ve moved on. I met a guy who actually really likes me and just me. Hunter’s a good guy and I’m going to give this a shot. You can continue doing what you do. I made a mistake coming here tonight,” she finished and turned on her heels, leaving me out in the cold still reeling from all her words.
What was she talking about? What friend? She was dating this Hunter guy now? I was stunned and I didn’t know what to do or how to react to all this. I turned to go after her, knowing I had to do something and I’d figure it out as soon as I saw her. But when I found Leah, she was heading towards the parking lot with Hunter. I was too late.
“DO YOU WANT TO TALK about it?” Hunter asked finally, breaking the awkward silence as he drove me home in his car. Jenny and Anne had decided to stay at Duke’s but I had needed to leave after the encounter with Axel. My stomach was in a jumble of knots.
“Not really,” I answered, feeling awful. “I’m sorry, it’s just…” I started, not knowing how to continue.
“You were fucking Axel,” Hunter said harshly, shocking me. I hadn’t expected Hunter to use such crude language and it caught me off-guard. I felt my throat constrict and nodded at a loss for words.
“Is it over?” he asked, his voice a little less harsh now.
“Yes,” I answered, my voice small.
“Okay good,” he said and took my hand in his, holding it tight. “I don’t care about your past, I just care about you and me and our future together,” he said sweetly. “I really like you,” he continued in a quieter voice.
“I like you too,” I told him.
“Well then, that’s all that matters to me.” He smiled, pulling up to my building. “This is your stop.”
“Would you like to come up?” I asked, feeling bold.
“I’d like to but not tonight. Not when you’ve had an upsetting night and a few too many drinks. Another time,” he said, surprising me again tonight.
“Okay,” I answered, shocked and feeling slightly embarrassed.
“Have a good night,” he said, not making any movement to kiss me or get out and walk me to the door. Axel would have done both and the fact that Hunter didn’t made me disappointed.
“Night,” I replied and hopped out of his car and walked up to my apartment. I went to bed feeling knots in my stomach because Axel had lied to my face. Plus, I was still in love with him and not Hunter, even after everything and it all still hurt so much.
Three weeks had gone by since I’d seen Axel. I deleted all my social media accounts so I wouldn’t have to see his posts, but still his beautiful face was etched into my memory and the pictures I had drawn of him. I’d taken to drawing his enchanting eyes once again, never doing them the justice they deserved.
Hunter and I had decided to make it official. It seemed funny to think that he was my first official boyfriend since Chris, who felt like a lifetime ago! I wasn’t the same person I was when I was dating Chris, I felt like I’d grown so much since then. After everything with Axel, it was nice to be official. It made me hopeful that this ache in my chest with the loss of Axel would one day be a distant memory as well, that maybe I actually would be able to move on. I’d moved on from Chris after all and I’d been with Chris a lot longer than I’d been with Axel. I’d been trying desperately to move on from Axel. I’d gone as far as agreeing to be Hunter’s girlfriend in hopes that if I faked being over Axel long enough that I’d actually get over him.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Hunter was extremely thoughtful and very cute but there was no spark, no passion, and no chemistry for me. Whereas with Axel, everything was electric, the passion burned so bright sometimes I felt like it would consume me. I feared I’d never have that with someone again. Give
