Chapter 14
Oliver's POV
Axel was practically bouncing.
"How much caffeine did you drink?" I asked him. His head turned to me, eyes wide and bright.
"Huh? No caffeine, none at all!"
Right. I believed that.
I turned to Van, raising an eyebrow innocently. He gave a little sigh and a 'beats-me' shrug of his shoulders.
James was humming along to the radio as he drove the car, and Jayy sat silently in the passenger seat beside him. Van, Axel and I sat in the back, in that order from left to right. Axel was fidgety, hyper and even more annoying than usual.
I turned to look out the window, my overnight bag sitting on my lap. It was Thursday after school and I was going to stay the night at Axel's to work on our project. This was the biggest part of it, worth a fifth of our grade. It would only be another two or so weeks before we finish, and the deadline was two months away. That would be one problem solved.
Trees, grass, houses and stores passed by as James drove us down the main road. I finished school early on Thursdays, so I went home to pack my bag for the night and went back to school until they all finished.
I made a mental list on what to do: first, when we got to Axel's home, I'd make a list on the things we needed to buy. I already had a rough idea, but this would make sure I wasn't missing anything. Then, we'd have to go get the things we needed. When we got home, we'd have to write up our hypothesis and procedure and then do the experiment, which would take a lot of time since we had to do every test three times, and each test took a lot of time and had to be done individually. After that we'd have to take pictures, clean everything up, write up our observations, analysis, report, and whatever else we had to do. We'd have to make a model and presentation of our results, but that could be done next week.
So, I wasn't going over to spend time playing in Axel's pool or 'getting wet' for him, I wanted to get the project done.
After a long while of listening to James blabber on about some gossip he heard at school and singing along to the radio, we reached Axel's place.
Axel was literally hopping as he got out of the car. I didn't understand why he was so hyper. What was he so excited about? Did he find another conquest at school, another hole to fuck, since he seemed to not care about the gender of those recently? His behaviour was strange and annoying.
We entered the house and I looked around, hoping my favourite little one—Annabella—would be around. Unfortunately, she wasn't, and I let out a small sigh as I peeked behind corners in hopes she would be there.
"Annabella is with the other children," Van told me, watching me and realizing who I was looking for. "Aunty Cindy wanted her to interact with other children."
So she forced Annabella to play with them? I tried not to frown. Not everybody was a social dog. Some people were independent cats. There was nothing wrong with it. At least Mrs. Reaper was making an effort, I supposed. If I saw Annabella, I'd be sure to rescue her.
Axel and I made our way upstairs, obviously using the elevator, but when we exited the elevator James, Jayy and Van were already up there.
Um.
How did they get up there faster than us? It wasn't just a floor or two, we're talking 12 flights of stairs here, how did they get up 12 flights of stairs faster than a super high tech elevator?
They must have another secret elevator, I determined. It wouldn't make sense otherwise. I was mildly curious where it may be hiding.
James, Jayy and Van were going into what I recognized as Van's room. I had never been in there and didn't really see any need to, but I was slightly curious as to how it would look like. I imagined Van's room would have more personality than Axel's, simply because he as a person had more personality. It was probably neater and simpler than Axel's, too.
I dropped my backpack on the floor against Axel's wall and grimaced, stretching my back. I brought all my homework because I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to sit for 3-4 hours on just my Chemistry shit, I'd get bored of that, so my other homework would be for me to switch over when my brain was starting to hurt of Chemistry.
I had half-developed a routine at Axel's: drop my bag, take my shoes off, find a comfortable spot on the floor, maybe sitting against the wall or with my legs crossed on the carpet, open up my laptop and playing my 'ignore Axel' music, work on homework until I needed to pee, have a small break, find Annabella and play with her, continue working, have dinner, maybe see Annabella again, continue working, and then someone would take me home when I was visibly tired.
Of course, I had to spend a significant portion of time talking to Axel when doing the homework, or otherwise sitting beside him, elsewise I could have just done it alone at my house. We had plenty of discussions about things, he didn't like something I wrote, I didn't agree with the way he wrote something, but at least he was able to keep things focused most of the time.
However, this time I was staying the night. Since we had more time, from the afternoon up until late afternoon the next day, I decided to stop working for the day after dinner.
The stuff I was doing had to be done with Axel, so instead of playing my music and getting to work independently I took a seat in the middle of his bed and spread out sheets in a half circle with a radius of a full metre.
Axel had enough common sense not to move my papers. He sat at the edge of the bed—his own bed. I felt a glimmer of satisfaction seeing him behave so submissively even in his own bed. I've trained him well, I thought, pleased.
We got to work, and eventually I had a list of things we'd need to do the project. Axel changed his clothing from a brand name shirt and jeans into gray sweatpants and a tight white tank top that hugged his every muscle, displaying his abs even through the shirt.
I stared at him when he turned around to throw his clothes in the closet. He looked good. The tank top was very snug and I could see his nipples and the lines of his abs through it easily, not to mention his arm muscles. His V line was prominent and when he moved I saw his back muscles flexing.
He would have been really hot had the smirk on his face not been present.
Yes, Axel was purposely flexing and shit. How did I know? Because every time he did he sent me smug looks. He was still going on about that bet he made when we were locked in the closet, about 'making me wet' for him or whatever.
Hah.
Even on the occasion that I was enticed by his physical appearance (because obviously I would never become attracted to his personality), I had enough restraint to retain my common sense.
All that bullshit in the stories about losing yourself in love and not being able to control yourself around the person you love was exactly that: bullshit. That would never happen to me. Say, hypothetically, I did fall in 'love', I'd still be able to control my decisions, my reactions and ability to think, just not my emotions. Lucky for me that I was never controlled by emotions to begin with.
When we agreed on what we needed to buy to actually hold the experiment tomorrow, we went down to the front yard, where Axel's car was parked at the side of his super long driveway, in a way that other cars could easily get in and out if they needed to. I had never actually seen the end of the driveway, because it was inclined downwards, presumably to the entrance of their underground garage.
By god, they were wastefully rich.
Getting in the car, Axel put on his shitty pop music and I rolled my eyes. He seemed to know where we could get all the stuff we needed to get and within a couple of minutes we were at a shopping centre. I was glad he wasn't desperate to make conversation. It seemed that he was taking the project seriously again, and I was truly grateful. It made my life so much easier, and made me hate him a lot less.
"There's Loblaws over here, so we can get the food samples we need," he told me, standing behind me, leaning down to talk closer to my ears and pointing over my shoulder to guide me in the right direction. "And to the left in the mall there is a science store, they sell, like, science shit."
I stepped away, but Axel didn't try to encroach on my space bubble again. Was that not an attempt to flirt with me? I looked away. It was maybe a bit embarrassing to overreact if he truly didn't mean anything by that. I shouldn't overreact to his presence, but I was hyper-vigilant of his behaviour towards me.
Damn, I cursed. Axel—Van, probably—had successfully made me conscious of Axel. Was that my loss?
We split up, and after a while of searching around I found all the things I had to get. Axel insisted on paying, and I had no reason to disagree, if he wanted to pay that was more than fine with me. I had extra money left over and decided to buy some snacks. Mrs. Reaper and the other ladies who cooked would have a heart attack if they knew I was going to eat something other than the food they prepared, but if I kept eating like the way they were trying to make me eat I'd become obese in no time. Instead, I'd have unhealthy junk food, which would obviously keep me from getting obese and was clearly more nutritious than homemade food.
After we bought everything we needed, we went back home—Axel's home, not mine. The next couple hours passed quickly as we got to work, and I was surprised to see how much time had passed when we were buzzed down for dinner.
Mr. and Mrs. Reaper were all dressed up, for some reason.
"You look beautiful, Mrs. Reaper," I complimented her smoothly. She blushed. I had to admit, she was attractive.
"Thank you dear. Greg and I are going out tonight, I just wanted to say hi before we left. Today is something of a parent's night out, I'd say," she explained that a large portion of the older people living here were all going out tonight to celebrate a good business deal or something. After giving her polite compliments and remarks we sat down to dinner.
Annabella, Chase and Brett were no where to be seen. Cameron seemed to think that since his parents were out there was no need for him to use any manners whatsoever and wolfed down his food before leaving in a matter minutes.
Axel took his food up since he had to talk to Van about something so it was just me and Hannah sitting at the dinner table.
"Wow," I said, trying to start a conversation so we wouldn't sit there in awkward silence. "It's so quiet."
She nodded. "The kids are all eating together with the people who stayed in a different room."
"How many kids live here?" I asked, curious. I hadn't seen many.
Hannah counted on her fingers. "Well I know that there are over 6 kids that are under the age of 1, 9 under 2, 14 under 3 and like some more aged 4-6. Most of the people here like to have kids at the same time so that they grow up together in generational cohorts, which is why there are so many of us in high school together," she explained.
I thought about it. "That's smart. Are there more kids Brett and Cameron's ages?"
She nodded. "Whenever mom and dad have a kid, the other parents like to follow. I don't think you've even met all of us in high school, have you?"
"I know Mia, Mila, Minerva, Roman, Kai, Zoe, Luca, Ella, James, Jayy, Axel, Van and you," I listed. "There are more?"
She nodded. "Excluding Axel, those guys are the nicest. The others aren't bad, but some are just, ugh. Do you know Stacy?"
Stacy? I recalled a couple. "Yeah, which one?"
"The one who got a breast enhancement recently," she elaborated.
"Oh." Yeah, I remembered the school—and Axel, specifically—taking an interest in her after she came back from her implant surgery. Axel had gotten tired of her within a few weeks, and Stacy had gotten really upset about it.
Hannah made a knowing noise. "Yeah. She lives here too, as do some of her friends."
"That's cool," I nodded. "On a completely unrelated note, are sexually transmitted diseases airborne?"
Hannah looked at me, surprised, before she snickered. "I don't know, you might get chlamydia if you go up to their floor. Best to stay away."
I hid a smile. Hannah was good. I liked her.
We ate the rest of our dinner together, snickering and making offensive remarks as we talked in more subtext than actual text. She liked the anime I did, and wasn't offended when I implied something not perfectly polite. It was kind of refreshing, especially because I could tell she didn't have any real interest in me. Still, I didn't let out too much. She was probably reporting back to Van, after all.
Eventually Axel came back, and Hannah and I returned to innocent and polite chatter, acting as if we were talking about school and not making fun of the rumours surrounding Axel's ridiculous hookup stories.
"Hey Oliver, are you done?" Axel asked after I finished. I nodded, already raising my guard, face carefully arranged to be neutral. I just couldn't relax around him, damn it. Axel saw me sitting with his sister, and after a moment of silence where he weirdly just stared at her, he nodded. "Okay, good, come upstairs when you're finished." He went up the stairs, and after saying bye to Hannah, I followed him, taking the elevator.
I was mildly shocked to see him at the top of the 12th story staircase already, waiting for me, just like Van, James and Jayy earlier in the day, even though it only took a handful of seconds to get up here in the elevator.
It wasn't humanly possible to go up 12 flights of stairs in that little time, and not even be out of breath! Axel wasn't even sweating a tiny bit. There really must have been a secret elevator, but I had seen him go to the stairs...? Perhaps the elevator was on the second floor, so he'd walked up to there and then switched on...?
I stared at him, confused, but he didn't seem to notice. "Oliver, want to take a shower?" he asked as we made our way to his room.
I didn't like showering outside of my own house. I'd 'showered' in sinks, but that was just out of necessity. In the cold, you'd be surprised how long you could go without showering, actually. But I didn't want to look gross, so I agreed anyways.
"Okay," I agreed. He led me to his washroom and after he showed me where the towels were, he stood there.
"Yes?" I asked. Did he think he could watch me shower or something? Reluctantly, he left. I made sure to double-check the door was locked and put a couple things in front of the door so he couldn't break in.
When I finished, my hair was wet and the cold water from my shower dripped down my neck, but my curls only got more frizzy if I blow-dried them, so I let it be. Axel was in his closet when I exited the washroom, and I didn't see the need to check in with him as I made my way to my overnight bag to put away my clothes, shampoo and stuff.
"Hey Axel," I called, trying to find my cell phone charger. "Where should I hang the towel?"
Suddenly, I was pulled up. I blinked as Axel forced me onto his bed. My body fell limply against his mattress, and I took a second to appreciate the softness of the covers. It was actually really comfortable. If this was my bed, I'd never want to get up.
Axel crawled over me, staring intently at me. He straddled me, grabbing my wrists to hold them together just above my head.
Laying on the bed, I stared at him. I tried to pull my wrists out of his grasp but he just held them tighter. "Axel, stop it. What are you doing?" My voice was sharp, but he didn't seem discouraged.
His eyes seemed to glow. I wondered if he was wearing contacts or something.
"Don't call me that," Axel's voice was low, husky. "Not Axel," Axel continued, as if that was a reasonable thing for him to say. "Alex."
"Alex," I repeated, doubt obvious in my voice. Why was he calling himself a different name now? Was that a kink of his? I'd understand if he was like 'call me daddy' but what the hell was up with Alex?
I wasn't too bothered by the position we were in right now. Axel may have had my hands bound in his grip above my head, but I could easily kick him in the balls if he got too frisky. I figured this was another one of his 'Seduce Oliver' tactics. Next he'd be whispering semi-dirty and erotic things in my ear.
"Olive smell so good," he growled, leaning down to run his nose along my neck. I hesitated for a moment. He never called me 'Olive' like that. Axel had only called me that once, and it seemed to be have been a mistake, because he was embarrassed afterwards. He wasn't embarrassed right now.
In fact, he was so shameless I felt that I was more embarrassed of the two of us, and that made me shift, uncomfortable. I didn't like losing my edge. He wasn't supposed to get under my skin. I needed him to stop.
It wasn't like what he was doing was especially bad, though.
"Please get off me," I said evenly.
He let out a grunt-growl, but not a very intimidating one, just one that had me rolling my eyes in annoyance. He sounded like a child.
Want to see a grown-ass man revert to age 5 behaviour? Just tell him 'no'.
"Axel," I started. "Just stop this, it's not going to work. You can't—Axel," I snapped, squirming away when he licked my neck.
Axel lifted his head, frowned at me. "Alex," he insisted.
"Axel, Alex, I don't care," I huffed. "Just get off me," I shifted underneath him, but his hold on my hands was too tight. "Stupid brainless mass of muscle," I muttered, annoyed at his brute strength. I wasn't a fighter. I fought with words, not fists, but clearly, I'd fucked up if I'd got myself into a position where I was so defenseless.
He frowned at me, almost pouting. "Axel is stupid," he growled.
"I know," I snapped immediately. Then, I thought about it. "You know you are Axel, right?" I asked cautiously, wondering if he'd hit his head while I was in the shower.
"No," Axel repeated. "Not same."
I was beginning to get tired of this. Being held under Axel, pressed against the bed with no way to get out, I was more than antsy. "I don't care if you're stupid or if you have multiple personalities. Whoever you are, I want you off!"
Axel sat up slowly, letting go of my wrists. I immediately sat up, scooching backwards to press my back against the wall. It was always safer to keep your back to a wall if you were in a dangerous situation.
I scowled at Axel, annoyed at whatever failed seduction scheme this was supposed to be, but Axel stared at me earnestly, a sad, sincere pout on his lips. He watched me almost obediently, like an overgrown puppy that was sad to have gotten scolded.
"What's wrong with you," I asked more rudely. Axel drooped.
"Olive is special," Axel said softly, sadly. "Olive is... want Olive," Axel scooted up to me in a flash, and I held my breath. Axel grabbed my wrist, pulled it away from my body, so gentle that I wasn't startled enough to smack him, and I frowned but let him have my arm.
He brought my wrist up to his face, and closing his eyes, he nuzzled his face against it, inhaling deeply.
"Olive," Axel murmured, voice husky. His eyes suddenly shot open, and keeping his bright, blue eyes connected to mine, he placed a slow kiss to the inside of my wrist, letting his lips hover over my skin.
I hated that I shivered. The intense look in his eyes was almost too much to handle. I suddenly understood why he was so confident he could seduce me in bed.
I tugged my arm away, and Axel let me, but kept his fingers clasped around my wrist. "Olive," he murmured again. "My ma—"
Footsteps thundered down the hall and before I could even blink, the door to Axel's room was thrown open with a bang.
"Get off Oliver," Van demanded, not a second of hesitation as he glared at Axel.
I turned to look at Van as he stormed over us on the bed, jarred by all the sudden occurrences. Van's hair was down, and he was in nothing but shorts and a tee. But the look on his face was so domineering it made me do a double-take. I'd never seen him so... demanding. Sure of himself.
"Axel, get off him right this instance. What do you think you're doing?" He demanded, standing behind Axel and trying to pry him away from me by pulling at his shoulder.
Axel was visibly irritated. "Mine," he snarled. I tensed when he suddenly encroached in on my space, bracing his arms on the wall on either side beside me, almost covering me with his body as he glowered at Van.
He bared his teeth at Van as he snarled. "My right," he claimed, almost defensive. What, to talk like a caveman?
I looked between the irate Axel and the stressed Van. Van's eyes met mine, and a multitude of complex emotions passed over his face. Anxiety, annoyance, worry, bitterness, I almost couldn't make sense of it. Van gave me a tight grin, but turned his attention back to Axel.
"You know you can't do this," Van argued. I didn't like the sound of that. Did he mean 'can't do this' as in referring to Axel pushing me down and...?
Was Axel trying to force me to do something? I didn't think he would stoop that low, but the mere thought of it made me anxious.
"Axel," I said, unintentionally quiet. "Please let me go."
Van's look towards me was conflicted, but Axel seemed shocked. He looked me up and down, and he must have seen something in my tense body, because he suddenly backed off, looking at me with wide, desperate, hurt eyes.
"Olive," he pleaded. He raised his hands as if to hug me but then stopped, looking upset as he realized I wouldn't like that, and looked even more upset. "Not going to hurt you—"
"I-I know." I looked away, unable to look into his eyes. I didn't think he seriously meant to hurt me. Even Axel was better than that, and I knew that even me thinking he might was something that seriously offended and upset him. "But, um, I think we should, um, start working on the project again," I diverted his attention.
Axel frowned, but seemed to calm down. Van looked at me with a frown, but there was almost something like guilt in his eyes, and he looked away from me. "Axel, you should go take a run outside to calm down," he told Axel.
Dejected, Axel got up. He sent me one last sad look from the door, but I looked away, not sure what to say, and he left.
There was a pregnant pause as Van and I regained our bearings. Immediately, I was embarrassed to have been caught in such an unfavourable position. I hoped Van didn't look down on me for that.
I got up off the bed, trying to regain my dignity as I busied my hands with my towel, the one I was asking Axel where to put before he got all weird, and I was still not sure where to put it but I didn't want to show Van any more weakness so I just folded it and put it over my bag.
Van was quiet, and the way he let me fiddle with my stuff was almost pitying. I hated it. I got up and gave him a half smile.
"Well, that was unexpected," I tried to laugh it off.
Van hummed. "Axel... has momentary lapses of judgment," he tried to explain, almost apologetic.
"Where he calls himself 'Alex'?" I asked lightly, curious, but not sure how deep I could pry. I was just pushed down by him, so I should be allowed some answers, right?
Van nodded slowly, hesitant. It seemed he wasn't happy to have to give me answers, but he knew I deserved them as well.
"Don't... think too much of it," he tried to brush it off. "Sometimes, he gets too excited, so..." Van seemed to remember something, and he cocked his head lightly, frowning. "But hey, Oliver," he hesitated. "You know that Axel wouldn't ever... actually force you... right?" he stared at me, serious.
I hesitated, not liking him talking to me about that. "I mean," Van interrupted me before I could continue.
"Seriously. Axel's a lot of things, but... a rapist is definitely not one of them," he shook his head, repulsed by the mere thought. "He seriously would never. Sometimes, he gets excited, and loses his head, but... You really don't have to worry about something like that."
The image of Axel, shocked and hurt at the realization that he was scaring me flashed into mind. He looked very upset at the insinuation that I didn't feel safe.
As if to echo Axel's sadness, a loud, lonely, upset wolf howl rang out from the nearby forest. Van flinched and seemed to wince. I guess he was worried about how close it was.
"It was just unexpected," I said neutrally, trying to cover my discomfort.
"He'd never hurt y—" Van hesitated, an unhappy look passing over his face before he reluctantly continued. "He'd never hurt others," He amended.
I found it curious. 'He'd never hurt you'. Van didn't like admitting that Axel wouldn't hurt me, so he changed his phrasing to something more general. Was that his own jealousy? It made me want to smile. I'd use that against him, but right now, I didn't want to play with Van. I wanted to understand what the hell was up with Axel.
"Oh?" I asked. "I've heard stories..." I trailed off. "I don't suppose he gets into fights with himself," I said vaguely. Axel had come to school many times with bruises, and it was well known he was prone to starting—or perhaps ending— fights.
Van took a moment to understand. He'd just claimed that Axel would never hurt others, but there were tons of stories to prove otherwise. "Well, he'd never hurt anyone like that," Van amended, shame-faced at Axel's sins. I suppose he felt responsible for them.
"Hmm. Violence isn't a good thing," I said generally in a tone suggesting I was agreeing with him, but I making my feelings on the matter clear.
Being a violent ass wasn't okay just because you weren't going to be violent sexually. Axel didn't get a free pass just because he was the bare minimally decent.
Van's look was conflicted. "It's not what you think—" he stopped. "Axel's actually taking, well, frequent self-defense classes," Van tried to explain. "It's, well, he doesn't meet with you after school on Mondays and Wednesdays, right?"
I nodded slowly. So Van was saying that Axel wasn't just a violent bully, but in reality, he was in self-defense classes, and that the rumours of him being an asshole bully were just that—rumours?
"There's a bunch of other kids in his classes, and sometimes the fights leave the—the training class," Van stumbled over his words, and I resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow and call him out on it, instead just noting it. What type of self-defense was it? I'd assumed it was something that could be done in a dojo, but Van's fumbling made me question that. "But it's just arguing between friends... even if it sometimes leads to bruises," he finished lamely.
Or broken bones. Or irreparable damage. I raised an eyebrow. Van looked like he didn't know how else to justify it.
It kind of made sense, given that there were so many students in the same high school living in the building. Especially considering how clique-y and influential some of them were. If a group of rowdy and ego-tripped guys on a sports team got into fights, I could see how that would turn into school drama and rumours, especially if most people didn't know they lived together.
There were a lot of holes, but I supposed Van didn't see the need to fill them in for a reason—he thought whatever I assumed would be a good enough explanation. It was weird, but ultimately, I didn't want details, anyways.
"Well, that's good," I smiled at him, ending the conversation. "Glad to hear nobody's really getting hurt."
"Yeah," Van nodded. He looked out the window, squinted at something, and then took an awkward step back from me. "Well, Axel's probably gonna be back soon... Don't give him too much of a hard time for losing his marbles, okay? He probably forgot to take his meds," he joked awkwardly, only I wasn't sure if it really was a joke or not.
"Will do," I nodded. Van left, and I was alone in Axel's room. When I was sure he was gone, I dropped back down onto Axel's plushy comforter and stared up at the ceiling.
Axel kept creating more and more questions. I still wasn't sure what he truly wanted from me, but I supposed that there was one thing I could try to feel better about: it seemed that they were telling the truth when they said that Axel didn't want to hurt me.
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Chapter Wordcount: 5220
Total Wordcount: 68 773
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Storm//Axel realizes he's got a lot of work to do, but at least Oliver's not fearing for his safety. Baby steps?