As Told By Tuck & Axel

Two Mutts

Two Mutts-Tucker

The summer going into our junior year was hard as hell. All we did was work for John Gibbons, the lawyer Leighton got us an internship with. After one case, he hired us full time for the summer. All we did was work, until we left for our third year of school.

Junior year was the year that Axel and I actually had a set group of friends. There were ten of us: three soccer players, four honors college kids, and three stragglers. We lived in a house that everyone called Mutt, because the mix of the ten of us was nothing short of strange. We had found each other through parties and classes and teams, and we all just kind of fit together.

The house was nice, too. Axel and I shared a room with two queen beds and a private bathroom on the third floor. The rest of the guys doubled up or got singles. We had family dinners every Sunday night (my request) and every Friday night, give or take, we pregamed with Fifa (Axel's demand).

Junior year was not just the year of the mutt, however. It was a historic year for both Axel and I. Axel managed to snag his first girlfriend in four years, and I managed to snag one as well. Axel's girl was just what he needed. She was a wickedly intelligent law student with gorgeous brown hair, green eyes, and square glasses that Axel liked to steal from her. Her name was Cameron, and I am still surprised that she put up with Axel for almost all of junior year.

My girlfriend, however, occupied a whole different spectrum.

She was a girl I met at the gym. She was fit, fun, blonde, and smart. She reminded me of Maggie. We started dating around December, and soon after, Axel began warning me about her.

"Dude, any girl that checks up on you this much is trouble. You gotta get rid of her."

At the time, I didn't think Lily texting me once or twice an hour regarding my whereabouts was too strange. I figured it was normal, considering I hadn't had a girlfriend in a while. Axel convinced me otherwise after stating that Cam was happy if she got a text from Axel once a day.

After this, I grew wary of Lily, but I didn't break up with her. I just became more observant. Like, whenever we went out together, she wouldn't drink. She would monitor my alcohol intake instead. At the time, I thought this was just one of those motherly habits women had. Whenever she came over, Axel wasn't allowed to be in the room when we hung out. She said she wanted "alone time" and back then, I figured it was just so we could bang ruthlessly. And we did, for a while. Until I realized she was certifiably insane.

On Valentine's Day that year, after I visited her room with a box of chocolates and some steamy sex, she sat me down and told me she had something serious we needed to discuss. At first, I thought she was pregnant. I remember launching into this whole anxious rant about how I always used condoms and that she was on the pill, but she cut me off.

"No, I'm not pregnant, Tucker. It's something else."

I was perplexed. What else could be this serious in a college relationship, which, frankly, I was only apart of in order to reap the sexual benefits?

"You have to choose between me and Axel. I don't like how much time you two spend together."

At this, I laughed in her face, pulled on my t-shirt, and headed for the door.

"TUCKER! Are you kidding me?!"

I was still laughing as I turned back to her. "There are plenty of nice girls out there, Lily. There's only one Axel. I'll see you around."

She screamed after me once I shut the door, but I figured that was the end of it. A few hours later, I realized I was wrong.

Axel and I were eating ice cream out of the carton and sitting on the couch in our room watching The Notebook, which is why I was quite embarrassed when two grown policemen entered our room.

"Which one of you is Tucker Oaks?"

I stood up, right as Noah and Ally began furiously fucking. "I am," I announced. "Pause it!" I whispered at Axel under my breath, who, in turn, anxiously scoured the couch for the remote. Once he paused it, I turned to look at the officers, genuinely confused.

"Can I help you with anything? Did something happen?" I stepped up to them. They exchanged a look. I didn't take that as a good sign.

"Are you currently seeing a girl by the name of Lily Winters?"

"Uh, I was, up until about..." I paused and checked my watch. "Three hours ago. Did something happen to her? Is she okay?"

The officers exchanged another look. "Mr. Oaks, I'm going to need you to come with me."

That's when Axel jumped out of his seat. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy guys. If something has happened to Lily, Tuck's been here with me since he got back from her dorm. He hasn't done anything wrong."

"Mr. Oaks, if you don't comply, I'm going to have to use force."

Axel gasped. My jaw dropped.

"What? What is this? What am I being charged with, watching a Nicholas Sparks movie without my ex-girlfriend? This is bullshit!"

Cuffs went around my wrists after that. Axel was practically throwing himself at the officers, shoving shoes on his feet and a sweatshirt over his head, insisting he was going with us.

"Son, calm down!" They were talking to Axel.

"You're taking my innocent best friend away in handcuffs, how do you expect me to do that!"

One of the officers snorted. "Innocent? This man was just accused of statutory rape by Miss. Winters."

Did I forget to mention that Lily was 17?

I watched Axel pause, look at me, then look at one of the officers. "Well," he stated, rolling his shoulders back. "If you're going, I'm going too." And then he punched one of the officers in the face.