Mistakes Made ✅

Chapter 9: New Living Space

[Luca Fersko as Axel]

He's uncomfortable.

Those words kept repeating in Jordie's head throughout the entire drive to his own apartment. Errol hadn't uttered a single word ever since they both got into Jordie's car, clear now that the blond boy's rental car wouldn't be of much use. The boy simply remained silent, his attention trained on the window, watching lights from small pubs blur past, painting yellow and white strips against the inky black sky. But there was no ignoring the building tension there, radiating off Errol's body and causing the air between them to grow dense.

Jordie could just make a decent speculation on what was probably going on in Errol's head. He didn't dare mention it aloud, however, afraid that it would trigger something between them. It was a treacherous lane that he was treading right now, but what else was he supposed to do? Despite having chewed over the past event, Jordie couldn't help but feel that he still had to make it up to Errol.

He couldn't care less on what Errol had to say about it. He didn't care about what the boy said a few days ago in the parlour. All that Jordie was aware of was that he couldn't - wouldn't - leave Errol to stew in affliction. Because, regardless of what he'd done, he had a feeling that this wasn't just about the supposed scandal between them. This was something whose core was deeply implanted in Errol's system, something more personal.

For some reason, he could pick that Errol needed help.

Am I pitying him? he thought distractedly, realising that he was just as horrible as the generalising community. What the hell am I doing?

For every second that passed with which such thought occured in his head, Jordie felt more and more obnoxious to an extent. He was a deranged mess himself, not knowing how else he was supposed to present himself in front of Errol without turning out like a complete buffoon. Not that the boy was intimidating - despite his towering height, that was. It was more towards how Jordie felt like he was inspecting a sleeping exotic animal inside a cage, admiring a beauty that cloaked an indeterminate idiosyncrasy.

It was a known fact to Jordie that Errol made him really nervous - if not thoroughly skittish. It didn't matter what state they were in, but one swift glance from Errol, and Jordie was hurled into this haphazard bedlam, as though every part of his brain was instantly engaged in a ceaseless battle, constantly flinging sentences even Jordie was too afraid to voice aloud. Thus acting like an eccentric goon, he thought to himself. It wasn't anything new, really. The mere presence of Errol tended to make Jordie lose his sense of prudence.

It could be due to the fact that Errol was indubitably fetching, or it could be due to some other ambiguous factors that kept adding up to Jordie's already-packed surmises.

Jordie felt a groan threatening to escape his mouth, only to exhale through his nostrils instead once he realised he wasn't alone in his car. His eyes swept over the digital clock embedded in the dashboard, which showed that it was already past twelve in the morning, before chancing Errol a brief glance in the passenger's seat beside him. The boy currently had his forehead rested against the window, not moving a muscle, left for the gradual rise and fall of his chest.

"Hey," Jordie spoke, training his attention back on the road now that his apartment was looming into view.

"What?" came Errol's reply after a while in which Jordie had assumed that he was asleep.

"Nothing," he said. "Just checking to see if you're still awake."

"Still fresh,"

"Okay,"

"Need to know where we're headed, see, in case you try to do something,"

Jordie whipped his head around, frowning at Errol, who was still slumped in his seat. Did he seriously—?