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“I play a hell of a lot of hockey — I practically live on the ice, actually. It took me to college for a few semesters on a full ride scholarship, but I came back early to help out when my father’s lumberyard was in trouble.”
At this point in the story Axel couldn’t help but frown. I knew how much he loved being away at school, and how great he was at what he did. But his loyalty to his family was stronger than anything, including his own interests.
“We did what we could,” he floundered, “but at that point the business was pretty much finished. There uhh… there wasn’t anything to do but…”
I listened as he explained what I already knew: Axel’s father was buried in debt, and had been for years. Even with his son putting in sixty-hour work weeks and not taking a paycheck, he couldn’t get out from under the bill collectors. It was just too little, too late.
“Anyway, a guy named Rocky bought the yard from my dad and settled everything up,” Axel finished. “I still work there, only now I actually get a paycheck, so that’s nice. Plus, Rocky isn’t so bad.”
Now it was my turn to squeeze his hands. When I did, his smile returned.
“I know all this already,” I told him bluntly. “We lived through it with you, remember?”
Axel’s normally hot, panty-dropping smile was unusually lukewarm and subdued. He was still smiling, though. Maybe because I was breaking the fourth wall of our ‘date’.
“Why don’t you tell me some things about you that I don’t know?”
Axel sipped his beer from the fancy glass they’d given him, looking thoughtful.
“Here’s one: my mother could never read.”
I blinked. “Wow, seriously?”
“Yup. Up to first grade I didn’t realize it, but once I began learning she made me read stories to her every night. Book after book, she’d fall asleep in my bed with her head on my shoulder.”
“That’s… that’s actually adorable.”
Axel’s grin was suddenly handsome again. “I know, right?”
“What else?”
“Let’s see…” he tapped his finger. “Oh, one time I drank ants.”
“Eww! You did not!”
My friend nodded and shrugged. “Paul Bunyan Day Camp. The kids there could be brutal at times. I can’t remember if they were hazing me or it was just some cruel joke, but I was dying of thirst and they handed me a can of warm soda with a hundred ants floating around inside.”
“Axel, yuck!”
We both laughed, and for the first time all night our eyes locked. His eyes were amazing. I couldn’t believe how incredibly blue they looked, even in the dim electronic candlelight.
“One more.”
He leaned back again, resting one arm casually on the back of his chair. “Okay, how about this… I had a crush on you when we were younger.”
His words took a moment to register.
“What!? When?”
“All through middle school.”
I had to pick my jaw up from the table. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Axel gave a shrug of his beautiful shoulders. “Because we were good friends, and I didn’t want to screw that up. And then of course there was Tyler, and Zane. They might’ve killed me.” He scratched at his chin. “No, they definitely would’ve killed me.”
