December Boys (BxB) | ✓

Chapter 21 - Let's Talk

"Are you going to sleep?" Axel asked. From the sound of his voice, he was still somewhere close to the window. The darkness was almost complete aside from a few scattered lights from computers and streetlights outside. The clock on the wall was backlit, and the neon green exit sign by the door served no purpose.

"Ouch," I hissed, hitting another corner as I moved. "There's nowhere to sleep here," I said, looking in the general direction of where I thought Axel might be. Something moved by a window, confirming my hunch.

"Hmm," Axel's shadow hummed. "I guess you're right."

I found my previous seat - an achievement considering the situation - and slumped back into it. The seat was hard plastic, built to support students' backs, not to be slept in. I glanced at the wall clock as it all began to sink in. It was barely past 7 pm. The first employees wouldn't show up until 6 am at the earliest. We'd be stuck here nearly twelve hours.

I sank further into the chair. It was like all the air had been let out of my exhausted body. What in the world would I do with all this time? Axel had asked me about sleep, but even that seemed far off. 7 pm was early, especially by teenager standards. There was no way I could just conk out and wake up in time for 1st period.

"Hey," Axel said, interrupting my slow descent into madness. "About what you said earlier."

I blinked against the darkness. Had I said anything? Everything had been enveloped by the horror of the lock-in. What was Axel talking about?

"About Fort Violet," he continued.

I shut my mouth, which had been wide open without my permission. My cheeks burned at the memory of my outburst. Right. Fort Violet. The dam that had burst and bathed me in a healthy dose of humiliation. 

Axel remained quiet and annoyance pricked at me. Did he bring up my anger just to embarrass me? Or...

"I didn't know you were thinking that way," he said at last. His words seemed far away, even though he was just a few feet to my right. I kind of wished I could see his expression.

"It's... I'm sorry about that," I mumbled, scratching the back of my head. "I've had a shitty past few days, so I got kind of heated. Didn't mean to let it out on you."

Axel didn't reply to that, but apologizing made my shoulders feel lighter. Axel got on my nerves, true, but he didn't deserve the way I spoke to him earlier. It was weird, but hanging around him made me do weird stuff. I got annoyed with Seth and my brother all the time, but I'd never exploded like that before. It felt unnatural.

"...Did you want to?" Axel's voice sounded again. He dragged his words — they almost sounded uncertain.

"Huh?" I said, turning my head. My eyes were getting used to the dark. I thought I saw Axel's silhouette by the window.

"Talk," he replied. "Did you want to?"

My mouth fell open again. His words hung between us, question dancing in the stagnant air. Did I want to talk? To him? I'd spent the last month trying to achieve conversation with him - unsuccessfully, at that - and now he asked me if I wanted to talk? Just, out of the blue like that?

"I... Talk about what?" I said stupidly.

"Fort Violet," Axel said. "Your girlfriend, the fighting..." He paused, hanging on to his words. "...My dad."

I frowned. I'd been so worried about saying the wrong thing, inciting Axel's rage and getting my ass kicked... The prospect of "talking it out" with him was an odd one. Was he really just socially inept?

"Well," I made up my mind. "We've got plenty of time, so I don't see why not."

Axel made a sound, and then he seemed to be removing himself from his window seat. Slowly but surely his shadow moved through the room, navigated past the lethal edges of tables and chairs, and reached my seat. A scraping sound hinted to his retrieval of a chair, and then the school delinquent sat down next to me. The room grew so silent I could hear the clock ticking on the wall.