*Six's POV*
The next day at lunch, Drew and Nate huff as they sit down.
“Rough day?” I ask them.
“Our front man fucking quit the band. And we have a show booked next weekend so we’re basically fucked,” Drew tells me.
“Axle can sing,” I blurt out. I look at him and quickly add, “Sorry that just came out. Probably should have let you offer if you wanted to. No pressure.”
“No, it’s fine. I didn’t know you guys were in a band.”
“Yeah, I play bass and occasionally vocals, Nate plays the drums and then Connor, from the basketball team plays guitar and we had Brent from the football team as our rhyt
*Axle's POV*The rest of the week passes by in a flurry of school and band practice at Nate’s place. It’s currently Friday at lunch and we’re all sitting at our usual table.“So what’s our plan for Halloween? I heard Liz might be throwing a party.” It’s next Friday, the night before our gig.I turn to Six and say, “What time are we bringing Theo trick-or-treating at?”She looks at me in shock, “We?”“Yeah.”“You don’t have to come.”“I want to.” She smiles a little.“Okay, well
*Six's POV*On Saturday, I go watch Paradox play their set. They play at an outdoor venue at some sort offair. Of course they’re incredible. I expected nothing else. The crowd loves them and I’m fairlyconvinced they could actually go somewhere with this. After the gig, he takes Theo and me outto dinner. We’re waiting on our food when my phone rings. The caller I.D. says it’s St.Jude’sHospital and my heart stops. I answer it and say, “Hello?”“Six, it’s me.”“Jordan?” I say, confused.“Jordan?!” Axle says, anger flashing across his face. I ignore him and listen to the words coming through the phone.“Yeah, you need to come to the hospital. Laura OD’d at my house with my dad. I brought her to the hospital but you need to get here.”“I’m on my way,” I tell him and then hang up the phone.“I
*Six's POV*I get off of my chair and move to sit on Axle’s lap. He cradles me close to his chest and I lie myhead on his shoulder and put a hand on his chest over his heart. I’m not sure how long we sitlike that when Jordan comes back over. I lift my head and try to ignore the hurt in his eyes when he looks at us.“Here, I stopped by your house and grabbed you some comfortable clothes and coffees. I didn’tknow what you take, so yours is just black,” He says to Axle.“Uh, yeah, black is good. Thanks man,” I can tell he’s surprised that Jordan thought to get himone but I’m not. Jordan can be really kind and thoughtful when he wants to be.I get up and take the bag to the bathroom to change. I peel off my jeans, remove the pink blouse I was wearing to dinner and throw on the black leggings and pull the purple hoodie over my head. No surprise Jordan picked this one. he bought it fo
*Axle's POV*“Come on, let’s get you home. I’ll drive.” I say, taking the keys from her and slinging an armaround her shoulder. She texts Shaunice that we’ll pick Theo up in the morning and we head up to her apartment.She unlocks the front door and then goes to the left down a hallway and unlocks another door.“You have a lock on your bedroom door?”“Yeah, on mine and Theo’s. I have to keep them locked when I’m not here to stop my motherfrom stealing our stuff and selling it for drug money.”“Oh. I see," I reply, instantly regretting asking the question.She unlocks her door and I see a double bed shoved into the far corner with a nightstand beside it and a desk beside that. There’s a door that I assume is for the closet on the wall to my right and a dresser against the one to my left, opposite the bed. She’s got little lights strung at the top o
*Axle's POV*The next morning I wake up still curled around Six’s body. I brush the hair out of her face andadmire how beautiful she is. She seems so peaceful it’s almost easy to forget all the shit she’sgone through in her life. After a couple minutes, as though she can feel my gaze, she starts tostir and her eyes flutter open. She rolls herself around to face me and says, “Goodmorning.”“Good Morning baby. How did you sleep?”“Surprinsingly good, you?”“Great.” I say and kiss her forehead.“What time is it?” She asks. I reach behind me for my phone, “It’s almost 7:30.”She groans and starts to get up, saying, “I gotta go get Theo. I’ll be back in like 5 mins and I’llmake breakfast. Feel free to use the shower if you want, towels are in the cupboard under thesink.” She pulls on jean shorts and
*Six's POV*The relief I feel that they’re not taking Theo away from me is inconceivable. Just as Abigail isabout to go into her office, her pager beeps and she says, “It would seem your mother isawake.”We head upstairs and I leave Theo with Axle in the waiting room. I don’t want him to see her like this. I go to reception and tell them what Abigail said and one of the nurses escorts me to my mothers room.When I walk in I see her looking very pale and there’s a sheen of sweat on her face.“Hi mom.”“What are you doing here?” She asks, blatant annoyance colouring her tone.My heart clenches. “Do you not want me here?”“I don’t want you to see me like this," she says, looking away from me.My eyes sting as tears threaten to spill out. “Like what, Mom? This is no worse than seeing youstrung out on our couch. This is the first ti
*Six's POV*When we get there, Jameson greets us at the door and fist bumps Theo. He likes Jameson a lotwhich is good considering it’s very probable that they’ll be spending a lot of time together in the future.As we head further into the house, I realize how nervous I’m getting. By the time we reach thekitchen, I feel like I’m noticeably shaking. Axle, however, does not seem to notice anything aswe reach his parents.“Mom, Dad, this is Six and Theo. Six, these are my parents. My mom, Irene who you’ve already met and my Dad, Jack.”“It’s nice to see you again,” Irene says and then Jack says, “It’s nice to finally meet you.”I see where Axle inherited his looks from. I would never guess that he’s got a 19 year old son. I shake both of their hands and Jack says, “Have we met before?” while tilting his head to theside.&ldquo
*Axle's POV*When I get back from grabbing my beer, I’m a little surprised when she wraps her arms aroundme. Don’t get me wrong, neither of us are opposed to PDA at school and elsewhere but I kind of expected her to be more stand off-ish around my parents. She did look pretty pale earlier and she turned down a beer. But she said she was fine. I make a mental note to ask her about it later.I see Theo swimming up beside her and she pulls away and looks at him as he places a handon her side and says, “You’re it!”“What?!” She says dramatically. “Not for long!” She says and ducks lower into the water, swimming behind him at a deliberately slow pace. When she gets close to where Jameson is, she shoots her hand out to hit him in the arm and says, “You’re it!” and dashes sideways before he can react. “Hey! Rude!”He darts after her but she’s fast. She heads my