Forgetting Axel |✔️

••• TWO •••

My sharp knocks can be heard as I let my fist meet with the oak door one more time. As I retrieve my hand, my eyes roam over the house as I step back, taking in the new paint job. It's one of those cute little houses with a front porch that also wraps around the whole house, a bench swing near the kitchen window, and yellow rose bushes before the porch as you drive in. The house is two stories, a smaller size, and baby blue paint over the house.

Right as I check my phone, the door pulls open, my eyes meeting those blue eyes, the ones so pale yet holding the boldest colors of the ocean. Smiling, I greet Gege, Axel's grandmother and a woman I've turned to as a role model. "Winifred, how are you?"

We greet one another on the porch, Gege hugging me as she leads me in, telling me that she will go and brew some tea. I'm led to the same living room, the cream walls filled with family pictures, many of a boy I've tried to forget. Taking a seat upon the couch, I hear her working away in the kitchen, trying to get us some of the usual fruity tea.

"How is the family?" I ask, checking my phone for any new texts, anything on what I read last night.

"Doing well," Gege begins as she walks back into the room, pinning her silver and white hair back into a bun. For an older woman, she's still in good shape, not having gained any of that extra weight and still likes to go for long morning walks. "Axel is home. I know you don't want to hear that really but I'd rather not keep it from you." I nod, understanding her as she sits across from me. "How is Charlie?"

Another smile kisses my lips as she also smiles, happy to know that I'm pleased and thankful for the relationship I am in. "Great! Really are enjoying all the time we have this summer."

The topic of Charlie easily fades as my eyes look past her and to a picture of Axel, one more recent, maybe a year ago or something. He's smiling as usual, with a group of friends, visiting Roman ruins as he looks great. I won't deny it, the boy I lost really had a good puberty outcome.

"When was the last time you saw him?"

I look to Gege, my heart feeling clenched as she asks that question. She takes the hint, disappearing to the kitchen to grab the ready tea as I sit alone, thinking about Axel.

"Four years ago, just as we finished middle school," I reply, watching as she moves across the room, grabbing the tea cups. Her face shows concern, knowing that whenever I discuss Axel, a piece of me always feels lost. "I got a text from a friend a day ago, saying that he was back in town."

She nods, putting the tea into a cup, her pale blue eyes, just like his, pale and blue as the ocean, watching me.
"He's back, yes, for good. To take over his father's business."

I nod, crossing my legs as I see a picture of him with his parents. "She said he changed," I explain, remembering the text from this morning when I woke up, hearing the news that he was spotted and really looked good.

"Don't we all?" She asks, handing me the tea as my memories of us pop up, from the first meet, to the first kiss, to when we parted ways and he was taken from me, never expecting to return. "We all change at some point in life."

Sighing, I take a sip of the drink and get ready for my next words. "I know I've changed."

"How so?"

My body becomes hot as the nerves go off within me. "I won't be someone he loves and then never contacts again. I've put him behind me, Gege, and I hope he has done the same as well."

But have a I really forgotten my emotions for him?

He's changed...but something tells me it's not for the best.