In The End

Maybe

"Hey" I called out as I entered the house but was met by silence. "Axel, Isabelle." I called out again but got no response. I muttered to myself as I wrestled with the grocery bags and made my way towards the kitchen. "Isabelle?" I called out again and still no answer. I dropped the splitting bags carefully onto the counter and shrugged off my jacket, chucking it over the stool next to me.
The rest of the week had flown by with things ramping up at work in preparation for the album launch next week and with Axel back and forth between various promotional events he was often gone by the time I'd get back and then I'd be asleep by the time he got home, but I'd finally made it to Friday and now with the shopping and the traffic I had very little time left to prepare for my dinner with Eden and Nate and I was counting on both Isabelle and Axel to help me out.

I sulked to the fridge, putting away some items then poured myself a large glass of white wine and text Axel to see where he was before I began preparing the vegetables. The sound of the ticking clock in the silent room began to annoy me so I connected my phone to the built in speaker system and let Spotify pick my playlist for me. As the beat to dead and gone by TI and JT kicked in the back door flung open and Axel sauntered into the kitchen.

"Hey. I was just in the garage. Did you get everything you needed?" He hovered behind me waiting for a response.

"Yeah, I think we're all good to go." I nodded stepping around him to retrieve a knife from the block.

"Cool, I'm just gonna wash my hands and change this shirt then I'll be straight back to help."

"No rush." I lied through my forced smile as inside a relief that he was here swept over me. "Erm, where's Isabelle?" I asked as he pulled a carton of juice from the fridge and drank from it.

"Oh, I sent her home this afternoon." He paused wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before returning the carton to the fridge. "She didn't want to let you down. Kept saying that she'd promised to help but she really wasn't well, besides I think we've got this covered between us." He offered me a reassuring nod before dipping into the utility room.

I cut the veg and put them in a pot along with some water, oil and seasoning and Axel returned grease free and in a clean white t-shirt, and grey sweatpants. He immediately set to preparing the courgette pakora starter. With Nathaniel being vegan, Axel and myself had extensively researched an easy vegan menu that we could all enjoy rather than us having to make two separate menus. We'd meticulously planned out who was doing what due to both of our lack of experience in the kitchen and with vegan foods. We were attempting carrot and caraway cracker canapés, courgette pakora starter, bang, bang cauliflower tacos and a vegan chocolate tart, which we'd ordered from the bakery, as neither of us were brave enough to attempt a dessert. We settled into a system, seamlessly moving around each other as we worked on our dishes and occasionally bantered over my playlist, especially when I noticed him singing along to Backstreet Boys, As long as you love me.

"What?" He blushed, finally noticing me with my brow arched and smirking at him.

I shook my head and widened my smirk to a half smile.

"Look just because I have a favourite genre, doesn't mean I don't know other songs." He paused and shook his head his head in my direction. "There's a lot to be said for mindless lyrics and a catchy tune."

"Mindless lyrics." I scoffed. "That's a bit pretentious."

He placed the black knife on the chopping board in front of him and turned to face me. "I don't care who you are, where you're from, what you did, as long as you love me." He repeated the lyrics again."Really?" He burst out laughing. "I'll take anyone, from anywhere, eve if you burn baby kittens, but just love me." His eyebrows pulled to the top of is head as he laughed again.