December Boys (BxB) | ✓

Chapter 31 - Terrible Liars

The final week of October panned out just as you'd expect it to. The weather took a turn for the worst, and I was stranded at Seth's place from Tuesday through Wednesday while a storm raided the city streets. The next day was spent collecting debris and trash from the schoolyard, which only delayed our project reports further. Mr. White was stressed and teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown, sending us all on ridiculous errands around the school. Seth had returned to his droopy demeanor despite the concert, and I wasn't much better myself.

Olivia's words had reached deeper than I thought. It had been easy to shove it under the rug while Seth and I devoured junk food and watched his paranormal shows, but not so easy upon returning home later the same night. It wasn't like I'd never screwed up before in my life - I had, on several occasions - but it was worse now, for some reason. I knew I had to make it up to Lily somehow, but talking to Olivia only increased my desperation. She'd put up a wall, and I was sure it would crumble as soon as I dared approach Lily. The problem was that I couldn't do as Olivia had urged me to. I knew that now.

"You're quiet."

Jumping, I turned and stared into the bored eyes of Axel, who was sitting next to me in the media department alcove. We'd decided to avoid the classroom after our unfortunate rappelling incident a few weeks previously, and preferred the coziness of the alcoves now. We were finishing up some editing, and Axel was yawning.

"It's nothing," I said, averting my gaze. 

I'd made an irritating discovery lately. If I stared too long at Axel, my face ran the risk of blushing, which was the least productive thing it could possibly do. I knew talking to Seth had been a mistake, but I was only feeling the implications of those words now. Why the heck did holding someone's hand shake me up like this?

"Sure," Axel said, stretching those cursed hands until they hit the alcove ceiling. "You lie a lot, did you know that?"

I scoffed. "I do not. What makes you think I'm lying?"

Axel leaned forward - a bit too close for my comfort - and tapped his temple. "Because you get a furrow right here whenever you do it," he said.

"Yeah, no, that's stupid. Stop staring at my face."

"Why?"

I sent him a sideways glance - focusing on my laptop was a top priority right now. "It's making me feel gross."

A rough laughter escaped Axel, and his bangs danced in front of his eyes. He wasn't the only one who noticed little quirks and mannerisms these days. I'd discovered that Axel's eyes created these stupidly endearing crinkles near his cheekbones whenever he smiled. It was distracting and quickly becoming the bane of my existence. He was doing it right now.

"Cute," Axel said. He covered his mouth with the back of his hand, trying in vain to conceal his laughter.

"Excuse me?" I squeaked, voice failing me. He hadn't just said that. Right?

"You're cute."

I turned my reddening face back to my laptop, willing the heat to dissipate as quickly as fucking possible. There was an uninspired word document staring back at me, begging me to fill in the report and finish the day's work, but my brain was rather occupied with other things.

This was another problem. If my recent blushing issue was annoying, this other happening was worse. It was no secret that my communication with Axel had been stunted and awkward in the beginning, and that our dynamic had begun to change after Fort Violet and the other incident. Things had shifted and changed, and morphed into some odd existence where we traded jokes and playful chatter - one could even call it banter - and it was spiraling out of control far too quickly for my liking.