Unorthodox Love

》CHApTer SeVen《

I shrieked in surprise at the extremely close proximity our faces were in. In my shocked stupor I stumbled back and lost balance.

I waited for the hard floor to connect with my side but to my utter surprise the crash never came.

I opened one eye to see for assurance but not only did my eyes meet with a hard chest, but I also smelled a pang of cinnamon and a deep earthy scent.

My eyes trailed up from the chest to a neck then a face. And to make things worse Axel did the same thing. He stopped when he was face to face with me.

And when I mean 'face to face' I mean literally face to face.

A part of me screamed that I should move back, but a bigger part of me wanted to stay exactly the same way in his arms.

Maybe it was the way his arms held me protectively, enveloping me in such welcoming warmth. Maybe it was his hands, gripping my waist tightly but ever so gently, as if I were fragile China that was going to break any moment. Or maybe it was the way his eyes held a look I clearly identified just like glass. The look his eyes held both filled me with content and joy, and also fear. So much fear.

His eyes held so much vulnerability that in that moment I wanted to wrap my arms around him and remove such look.

But I couldn't.

I don't know what he's capable of. I don't know if he is a Maverick as his last name says. I don't know if all of this was just an act. I don't know if it's all a joke. I don't know anything about him, actually. He was just a question, a puzzle, or a mystery. An enigma impossible to be solved.

And that's what he really is. Not a bad boy. Maybe a maverick of some sorts. But he's definitely a mystery.

I stared into his eyes questioning manner. As if I was trying to figure him out, even if we both knew I couldn't. It was a task failed before even trying.

Instead he tried to understand me.

His hands left my waist and slowly lifted up to my face. He brushed off a stray strand of hair that escaped my ponytail. His hands remained on my cheeks, holding my face gently.

My hands made their way to his wrists, but didn't make an effort to push him away. By now my mind was silent. No part of me was telling me to stop this non sense, but then again there isn't a part that's telling me to continue. I do know something for sure;

I am enjoying this moment.

Maybe for some weird and twisted reason I found it comforting to be held by this supposed delinquent. But I don't know Axel. The look of vulnerability in his eyes made it so hard to believe that he's the antagonist here. He looked so weak right now like all his guards were down and the walls were off. He looked like he was so deprived of care that he held on tight to anything he could grasp on, and in this situation; it was me.

His eyes flickered to my lips making me stare at him even more, pleading for an answer.

What is he doing?

But the attraction must've been the answer, he leaned in slowly, in doubt that I would push him away. But I felt it too, it was like magnetism. But we were not polar opposites, I knew that even if I had no idea I knew we were the same. Our faces inched closer to each other as I felt his slow and tattered breath hit my face lightly.

"Hey Ava, I forgot-- OH MY GOSH!" a voice I familiarised as Cayenne's screamed from the door.

I immediately stiffened and took a large step back as Axel stood there still staring at me with a stoic expression. I whimpered slightly at how he looked so intimidating and scary. 

His eyes softened their look at me but didn't change that much all in all.

I took another tentative step back in fear that Axel would launch at me and tear me apart. He took the hint and averted his angry eyes at Cayenne who stood in a shocked stupor by the door.

"What do you want?" With a stern voice, he comanded.

Fear struck Cayenne's features in such comical way that I had to bite my lip back to avoid laughter.

"I-I... I j-just f-forg-got my-y ph-phone..." She stammered.

Axel nodded to her and turned his attention back to me. It didn't change though. His eyes still sent the same amount of intensity causing fear to bubble within me.

I pleaded to Cayenne for some help which she came to immediately by grabbing my hand and pulled me out of the room.

"... sorry but I need her to help me, like, right now. We need to go home a-and... SORRY GOTTA GO!" She said in one breath as an excuse.

Once we were out of the room Cayenne looked me in the eye with both fear, shock, and... content?

Her blank face shifted to a cheeky grin. "What was that?"

I knew she was on to something. I knew she was assuming something, I knew from the look in her eyes.

"It was nothing..." I muttered as the heat crept up from my neck to my cheeks.

She smirked.

"Trust me, my friend. It was definitely something."