Tomboy

#19. Worthy Of Her Love.

Axel

I held her in my arms, as tight as I'd hold my teddy bear of many years. I held her close as I ran a hand through her hair, massaging her arm with my free hand.

I used to think that to be a man, I had to sleep with a hundreds women, but now I know that to be a real man was to fight for that one girl even when ninety-nine others were chasing after me.

I could walk forever and a mile with one beautiful girl and here she was now. With me. In my arms. There was no Finn, no Amber, no Cash. Just her and I. Just us.

All I had to do was keep this us. I had to be the one to prove that not all guys were the same even if they acted like it. And maybe I could be the guy that changed because of a girl who stood tall even when things were bad.

Because I could be commited in a relationship. The two other times I had been in a particular relationship that was not a one night stand, I was what you would call boyfriend material. But that never lasted because they wanted not me, but the image I created of myself. I couldn't blame anyone but myself but now I wanted someone who would take me for me. Without the fake smiles and the perfected stance. The attitude that was calm before the storm and cheekiness that was my self defence mechanism.

I wanted a girl who would love me for Axel Carter, stripped naked of all the self practiced façade.

I wanted to be Axel Carter for a girl like Lyric Oakley.

Getting a lot of girls wasn't something to be proud of. Keeping one girl is. And I wanted that girl to be Lyric. The girl who laughed for real when she thought not many were watching. The girl who stood strong and never gave up because giving up is easy, but staying strong when everyone would understand why you fell was incredible.

And that's what she was, incredible and that was just one of many words that couldn't give her justice.

I wanted to say I was confident in us but I wasn't. I was so insecure because I knew there was someone out there who could treat her better, who could care for her better, but I wanted to be worthy.

"I dare you!" They chanted across the bench. I shook my head vehemently, looking away only to see her innocent frame reading a book on the other side of the court. I couldn't do this to her.

"You're such a wuss. You cant do anything and you'll never get any girls Carter." Brody laughed. He was much bigger than I, had four older brothers who were all junkies and a biker for a dad. He was intimidating, even for me.

"No I'm not!" I defended. "I could do it any day, unlike you." I said, tilting my head up in defiance. Year eight was one of the worst years of my life but I never let it make me fall.

"Go ahead then, Carter." He smiled wryly, "Show us what you got." He said, now grinning wickedly.

"How would you do it?" I asked Brody. "How would you make her fall in love with you?"

"Easy as pie." He shrugged, "Make a girl laugh and she'll be head over heels for such a nice guy." He cooed the last bit.

"So what am I supposed to do? Just make her fall in love and then dump her?" I asked incredulously. "That's dog."

"Yeah well she's a bitch anyways." He laughed.

Brody liked Ric, he didn't make it obvious but sometimes he'll catch himself slipping. Sometimes he'd stare at her for minutes on end and when she looks up he'd blush and turn away. Making sure no one would see, but I always did.

He was always in the background whenever I teased her, never backing us up and acting innocent in front of her whenever we fought even though he always instigated the fight.