*Six's POV*
When I walk down the hall and see Axle coming out of the closet with that girl from the party, my heart clenches, but I just keep walking. I knew what he was like before I even met him, so this doesn’t surprise me. What does surprise me is how much it stings.
The walk to class gives me enough time to place a mask of cool indifference on my face that I use whenever shit seems to be going downhill in my life. Thanks to my mother, I've had lots of practice with it.
When he sits down beside me, I say, “Supply closet. Classy,” before I can stop myself. Using sarcasm as a defense mechanism is also something I do often.
“Are you jealous?”
I laugh and say, “No.” I can’t say anymore than that because then he’ll know I’m lying. I look him in the eye and find hurt flash across them. What’s that about? He’s the one who just fucked some girl in a closet.
“Well, good,” he says, sounding super pissed off. I raise an eyebrow at him but decide to change the topic because if we keep discussing this, I’m not going to be able to maintain my facade.
“So should we discuss the last couple chapters?” I ask.
I spend the rest of the day contemplating the situation with Axle. He gave me probably the best orgasm I’ve ever had, and he only used three fingers. And then he just disappears from the party and the next time I see him, he’s just fucked some girl in a closet?
I mean, it really shouldn’t surprise me. That’s just who he is. And he’s not good for me. It doesn’t matter how much my body seems to crave his, I need to just pretend like Friday never happened and go on with my life.
After school, we’re headed to the parking lot when Cleo asks, “So did you talk with Axle about what happened Friday?”
“No. And I don’t plan to. He made it pretty clear that it was just a one time thing when he fucked a girl today at lunch.”
“Seriously? How do you know?”
“I saw them coming out of a closet together.”
“Oh fuck. Sorry, dude. That’s super shitty.”
“No, it’s really fine. It’s not like I was expecting him to change or anything.”
“You are handling this impressively well. Gold Star for you, girl.”
I laugh at her and say, “You’re such a dork.”
“You love it,” she says and bumps her shoulder against mine.
I head home and collect Theo and when we get into the apartment, I hear a man’s voice coming from inside the house.
“Theo, go to your room and lock the door please.”
“Okay.”
I put my bag down and make sure my phone is in my pocket. I cautiously round the corner into the living room and find some scrawny looking dude with bad tattoos and scratch marks down his arms with his back to me and my mother on her knees in front of him.
“Are you fucking kidding me with this?” The guy turns around as my mother scrambles to her feet.
“Oh, hi baby, you’re home. Shouldn’t you be at school?”
“It’s 4pm. How many times do I have to tell you, do whatever the fuck you want, but do it before 3pm. What if I hadn’t heard you and Theo had walked in?”
“Watch your tone with me. Don’t forget who the parent is here. This is my house!”
“Who the parent is? We both know that hasn’t been you in a long time. And you, what the fuck are you still standing there for? Get the fuck out!”
“I’m not done. She owes me 20$ or the rest of my blowjob.”
I roll my eyes and take a 20 out of my wallet and hand it to him and say, “Now get the fuck out.” He grabs his t-shirt and buttons up his pants and walks out the door. I go lock it behind him and then head back to the living room.
“You could have just let me finish, you know. You didn’t have to give him money.”
I let out an incredulous laugh. “You’re unbelievable,” I say and then walk to the kitchen to make lunches for tomorrow and throw some chicken nuggets in the oven as I cut up some veggies and put rice in a pot on the stove. When I grab one plate to bring to my mom and when I come back into the living room, she’s snoring with her head on the back of the couch. I leave the plate on the table. She’ll eat it when she wakes up.
I go get Theo from his room and we eat at the table and then go and play in his room for a couple of hours before I put him to bed. I spend a couple hours on camera before finally calling it a night.
*Six's POV**3 years later*After doing summer courses and studying my ass off, I’m finally graduating from nursing school in the top of my class and I already have job offers from the local hospitals. It’s been a hectic 3 years trying to keep up with school, Theo and Axle and spending time with our friends. We’re still really close to the whole high school group. Paradox took off faster than anyone was expecting so they’re busy constantly and have their first tour planned for next year.It's a little sad that I won't get to go with him because of Theo's school and my job and whatnot, but I'll use as many vacation days as I can and we'll fly to see each other as much as possible. It's definitely going to be difficult, but we've overcome so much shit together already that I don't think doing l
*Six's POV*About 15 minutes after the band leaves to go set up, we all head out to the dance floor right in front of the stage to secure our places before the hoard gets too large.The head of the prom committee comes on stage to introduce them and then the curtains open. Axle looks down and winks at me so I blow him a kiss back.They start their set and do several songs that are definitely more on the pop end of the spectrum than I’m used to hearing them play. That was probably intentional seeing as most people here would not be into hearing some of their more obscure music. I wonder if the committee had a say in these song choices.Everyone is singing along and dancing and at the end of one song, Axle goes right up to the mic and says, “Alright
*Axle's POV*In the last couple months since Laura died, things have been busy, but thankfully uneventful. Paradox has been practicing a lot and doing gigs all around town and everyone has been studying like crazy to make sure we all graduate, and for Six, to make sure she keeps her scholarship. We’ve all finished our exams and tonight is prom night, to be followed a few days after that by graduation.It’s decided that we’ll all get ready at my place and early afternoon everyone shows up and the girls retreat upstairs. Apparently hair and make up is a big production for them. My mom offered to let them all use her room and the ensuite and even said she would help them out. I think she secretly always hoped for a daughter. Her and Six have been getting really close, which makes them and me happy.
*Six's POV*“What now?” Axle asks me.“Home. I need to see Theo.” My car is still at school but I’ll deal with that later.He brings me to the apartment and when I knock on Shaunice’s door she’s obviously surprised to see me since I’m supposed to be at school for another 2 and half hours.She invites us in and then we hear little steps running down the hall and Theo launches himself at me so I pick him up and hold him tight, thanking anyone that’ll listen that I got custody of him before she died. I was worried for a long time that if I lost her it would mean losing him too. I hug him for longer than usual and he starts to squirm so I put him down and he runs off.
*Six's POV*When my phone starts ringing, I pull it out and see the caller ID and my stomach drops out of my body. They never call.“Hello?”“Hey, Six. It’s Pete. Can you come down the station as soon as possible?”“Did you find her?” He pauses and the dead air over the phone all but confirms my thoughts.“We think so. I can’t say much over the phone, though. Do you have someone who can come with you?”“Yeah," I say, completely numb to emotion.“Okay, see you soon," he tells me.
*Axle's POV*When I wake up in the morning, I realize I’m pressed very close to the wall and I understand why when I lift my head up to see Theo on the other side of Six, snuggled into her side. She did tell me he does this sometimes.I lie my head back down and attempt to go back to sleep, but not long after, I feel movement in the bed. Six feels pretty still so it must be Theo. I look over just in time to see him stretch and smack her right in the face with his hand by accident. She wakes up, startled and moves his hand back down to his side. I gently rub my hand up and down her leg and she says,”How long have you been up?”“Not long. Maybe 5 minutes. Just long enough to see him assault you in his sleep," I say jokingly.“Yeah, he ca