Never Have I Ever

Chapter 26

um it gets a little steamy just warning the youngins' lol COVER YOUR EYES KIDS

Chapter 26

Hack. Hack. Hack.

His bare back was wet with sweat, his muscles tensing and relaxing as he swung the axe back and—

Hack.

The wood chopped in half, and he took one heaving breath before he swung the axe back again and repeated the process. Over and over, he swung and slammed the axe down against the log of wood, his shoulders hunched forward. He paused to wipe the sweat from his forehead on his forearm, and returned to hacking away at the wood. 

I'd never seen someone look so angry, calm and tortured all at once. His eye twitched as he stared down at the pieces of wood that he'd already chopped in half. Some were completely destroyed, chopped into pieces so small they looked like twigs. It looked like he'd just swung at them until they couldn't even be called logs of wood anymore.

He inhaled sharply, held it in for a long moment before exhaling, pushing it all out in a rush. Out of breath, he ran a hand over his face. 

I was watching all of this from the fence of his backyard. I had come to his house to apologize for my confession, or change my words so it didn't scare him away. Blurting out I love you to Nash wasn't one of my smoothest moments. I winced just thinking about it. Thinking about the way his whole body froze, his face dropping from shock...or horror. I swallowed roughly. Humiliated. That's what I was. I couldn't let him run away just because I'd slipped. 

His mother had answered the door and let me in surprisingly. She still eyed me longer than necessary. Her eyes had shifted from my face to run over my outfit, which was jeans and a maroon tee. I had crossed my arms over my chest, not wanting to look defensive but I couldn't help it. His parents bugged me. I clenched my fists a little. They more than bugged me.

Anyway, his mother had found me standing in their driveway. I'm pretty sure I'd stood there for more than ten minutes, hesitating. Should I go in? Should I just leave it alone? I stared at her, helpless. Should I just leave?

She'd decided it for me, saying, "Nash is in the backyard." She'd then shown me to the back door which led straight to the backyard.

And that was how I found myself watching him with only jeans on and no shirt, hacking away at wood, completely oblivious to the world around him. His chest was heaving up and down from the toll it took on his body and I wondered briefly how long he'd been out here. How long he'd been swinging that axe like he'd done it a million times before. Which he probably had, judging by the sureness he seemed to feel, comfortable with the weight of the axe, confident with each swing he took.

Their backyard was pretty small, which I hadn't expected due to the size of their house. Nash was near a shed that was surprisingly sweet—painted a dark red, it looked like a small barn. He still hadn't noticed me. I wanted to walk up to him and demand he show some type of reaction to my confession. 

I groaned, humiliated again. My horrible confession. We weren't even boyfriend and girlfriend. What did I freaking expect? For him to be overjoyed at my little slip of words? He was probably trying to figure out right now how to tell me he wanted this to be less serious.

I noticed the sound of wood breaking had stopped. I looked up to see him. Closer than expected, I took a step backwards. His axe was forgotten, dropped next to the pieces of wood. His eyes were just fucking beautiful. Liquid blue. The color of the ocean. I was left wondering why he'd picked me. Sweat dripped down his face, running from his hairline.

His hair looked different, not falling into his forehead anymore because it was dripping with sweat, so he'd pushed it back away from his face, slicked back. He looked beautiful, and boys weren't even supposed to be beautiful, but he was to me right then.