I Want Your Love

EIGHT.

The two of them had been sitting in a forced silence without a recollection of how much time had gone past. Axel was confident that it was well after midnight, but neither he nor Meraki moved from their spots and the longer they stayed quiet, the longer Axel could hear his thoughts turning from small whimpers to loud, painful howls like a sad puppy.

"I noticed that you weren't wearing your lucky pendant tonight. You know, the small ace of spade pendant chain that you always wore when you were feeling anxious for events. So I figured that you had idea that you were feeling lucky, that the dinner was what you wanted. I couldn't sit in there and hear you speak in happiness about being with another man, even if it was just dinner:", Axel muttered.

"I didn't want to have to hear your voice saying what I had said, and hear my voice in my head telling me that I missed my chance, all because I was afraid. So I kept it in". Meraki blinked away the sudden tears and cleared her throat. "Kept it in? Kept it in, my voet. You, Axel, basically went off at everyone, even yelling at Astrid before sulking by yourself in the hammock. That's not keeping it in, that's reacting", she remarked. 

Axel's jaw tightened and his nose flared at her quiet reprimand, but Meraki quickly leaned forward and placed her hand on his forearm, instantly calming him. "Why didn't you stop me before I left? Why didn't you tell me that you didn't like me going out on that date?", she questioned softly.

"I didn't want to be selfish. I couldn't blurt out that I was falling for you just before your date. I didn't want to make things more difficult than they apparently seemed", he answered, finally giving her a proper look. Meraki's eyes scanned the slightly red face, his skin tone changing from the amount of alcohol he drank and from how much he cried. She pulled her lower lip in and let out a slow breath through her nose, leaning in closer to Axel. "I would've cancelled that date from the front door if you had told me, and trust me, William would have understood", she whispered.

"Don't pity me Meraki. We both know that it would have been a problem if you did that. You'd jeopardise our accommodation because of me", he whispered back, shaking his head as he moved back. Meraki smiled softly at him, not stopping the lone tear that fell from her left eye. "You wouldn't have known, because I didn't go on a date with him. I had dinner with him and his boyfriend, Kauri", she told him, making his head snap in her direction.

There was the ball drop that she had been waiting to do all night. 

^^^^^^^^^^

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, but there is more coming! 

Love  + light!