Boy Next Door||Axl Heck

Valentine's Day

    It had been four days and I was still stuck in the hospital. They had tried to get ahold of my mother but there was no luck so far. Tomorrow was Valentine's Day and Rick was upset that we couldn't spend it out and about, but we still had a cute date planned we could do in the hospital.

   Axl still visited me daily, and had plan of his own for Valentine's Day.

   He had found a few college girls to take out with Sean and Darren. I didnt wanna burst his bubble, but the whole thing sounded too good to he true.

   I hadn't missed too much schoolwork, however I feared I was missing important social events. It seemed all my friends were doing things and I was stuck in the hospital. I wasnt even that hurt anymore, if only my mother would answer her phone.

   It was no secret that Rick was a social guy, he liked having a girlfriend that was present and hanging on his arm at parties. I knew this, and it wasnt something I was proud of, but it just felt good to be needed.

  I was well over Axl by now, I didnt want to be with him again persay, but it would be nice to have a boyfriend who actually cared about me.

   When I woke the next morning I had only a few hours before Rick would be stopping by. This was the first time he would be seeing me since the accident and I wanted to look nice, especially if he really was seeing Deb on the side.

   A few hours went by and there was still no sign of Rick. I left him a few messages but he still hadn't gotten back to me.

  When my phone finally did ring, it was Axl that was calling.

   "Hello?" I answered.

  "Hey what are you up to?"

  "What am I always up to?" I sarcastically responded.

  Right uh.. mind if I stop by?"

  "Yeah, come on over Ax." I smiled into the phone.

   Axl was there within ten minutes. He took his usual seat by the bed and turned the TV on to a basketball game.

  "So no Rick then?" He asked after a while.

  "Nope, he um... something came up. Really last minute. You know how it is." I laughed awkwardly.

  "Yeah..."

  "No college girls then?" I asked.

  "Nah they're playing hard to get. You know how girls are. They'll call though, how could they resist the Ax-man?" Axl informed me.

  We sat in silence, watching the game.

  "Rick didn't come, he hasn't answered any of my calls either." I spoke when the commercials came on.

   "The college girls kinda ditched me." Axl said.

  "Some valentine's day huh?" I laughed. "Remember in third grade when you got me that box of chocolates, but you ate all the good ones before you even gave it to me?"

  "Yeah. Remember in seventh grade when our moms made us go to the dance together?"

  "Yeah. Life was so much easier then." I said.

  "Yeah."

  We spent the night talking like we always did. When Axl finally decided to leave it was quite late. When he was gone I felt different.

  I couldn't explain it. Maybe it was finally realizing Rick wasnt all that, maybe it was finally realizing how lonely I was, or maybe it was finally realizing that my feelings for Axl never really left. I was always going to be in love with that stupid curly haired boy next door.