How It Began (Axel x Olivia)

Chapter 11

Axel's PoV

"And she just walked away!" I threw down my hammer and scowled at the loose board that I was supposed to nail down. Jesse looked at the board and without a word, he swung his hammer once and the board fit perfectly in place.

"Look Axel," he said as I looked at the floor we were hammering in the treehouse. "Love is like..." Jesse gestured to the board. "It's stubborn and stuff but with the right time and..." he laughed. "Patience, you'll get what you want."

I looked at him. "Seriously? I didn't understand what you said, Jones." I said as Jesse punched my arm. "Fine. Love can take a long time to grow...uh.. but with patience, anything can happen." Jesse looked at me, waiting for me to understand. "Nope." I teased and he rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Love is complicated. Done." Jesse grinned and hammered his last board into the tree. "Say," I said, suddenly wondering if I was going a little senile. "Would the tree get hurt if we hammer nails into it?" I asked, a little skeptical.

Jesse rolled his eyes again and tapped on the tree. "Why don't you ask it?I don't have the power to communicate with trees, Axel." He said and I laughed. We packed our things and decided to head home. "Why don't you tell me where you live?" I asked, as we made our way back to the entrance of the woods.

"It's.. complicated? Or I don't want to say. My home is a little busy everyday." Jesse said, his face suddenly looking a little tired as the sun started to set. And I noticed something else. "Are you sure.?" I asked and he raised his arm to scratch his head, "Yeah."

I reached out to take his wrist and I felt scars. I looked at him and he looked away, all the playfulness gone. "Jesse. What's wrong?" I asked, worried as the lines on his wrist prominent on his pale skin. "It's.. nothing, Axel. Nothing." Jesse snatched his arm away from my hand and backed away.

"Jesse, sorry." I said, as he shook his head and turned to leave.

-End