Six Like The Number

Indifferent

*Axle’s POV*

At lunch Tuesday, I sit down and almost immediately Ethan says, “So have you heard about Emmett and Six?” My head snaps up.

“What about them?”

“I heard from Liz who heard from someone on the football team that he asked her out and she said yes.” I consider momentarily that it could be a rumour. But why does it matter? I am trying to convince myself that I don’t care when Jameson says, “Bro, you’re gonna break a tooth if you keep clenching your jaw like that. If you care this much just go talk to her.”

“I don’t care,” I say as I glare at him.

“Who are you trying to convince? Us or you?”

I give him the finger and he puts his arms up in surrender and says, “Alright, geez dude. Chill.”

When I sit down beside her in class, I can’t help myself. “So you and Ashford huh?”

“Wh- how did you even- you know what, that’s not really any of your business,” she says with fire in her eyes.

My jaw tenses but I don’t answer. “Right then, if that’s all, let’s get to work,” she says, eyes still burning with anger.

We spend the rest of class reading. When the bell rings, I see her going to the girls bathroom and I can’t stop myself from following her. I go in and lock the door behind me and when she comes out of the stall she yelps a little and says, “Axle, what the f**k are you doing in the girls bathroom?”

I pull her into me and crash my lips into hers. I can feel her control slip when she wraps her arms around my neck and she starts kissing me back. I put my hands under her bum and lift her up as her legs wrap around my waist.

I carry her over to the counter and set her down, running my hand under her shirt. The feeling of her grinding against me is so incredible. I move my hand down and unbutton her jeans and slip my hand into her underwear and find that she’s already wet. She hasn’t even touched me, yet hearing the little moan that escapes her mouth is almost enough to make me lose it.

As I slip a finger inside her, I feel her unbuttoning my jeans and she slips a hand inside my underwear and takes me in her hand, rubbing up and down. “Holy f**k,” I say against her mouth. I add in a second finger, curling them to the front and circling my thumb around her c**t. She swirls her thumb around my head and just as I feel her clench around my finger, I come in her hand.

We stay there for a few breaths before I back up and do up my jeans as she hops off the counter and buttons hers. While she’s washing her hands, I come up behind her and whisper in her ear, “Do you think Ashford can make you feel like that?”

At that, she whirls around, the fire burning in her eyes again and says, “I don’t know. Guess I’ll have to find out,” and then storms out of the bathroom. I stand there for a couple minutes trying to control my anger before deciding to just go home for the day.

When Jameson gets home, he grabs a beer and then sits beside me on the couch.

“I see you skipped class.”

“Yeah, I did. What’s it to you?” I spit out angrily.

“Woah, I was just making conversation. Did something happen?”

“No. Just didn’t feel like going.”

“Okay, sorry.”

I go up to my room and pick up my guitar and start playing for a bit when I’m interrupted by my father.

“Come eat dinner with your mother and I.”

I roll my eyes. Great. I follow him downstairs and Jameson and my brother are already seated at the dining room table.

“So,” my mother starts, “How is school going?”

I just give her a look. “Why do you care?”

“Don’t speak to your mother like that,” My dad says and I just look down at my plate and pick at my food.

“School is going well,” Jameson says, always the mediator.

“That’s good to hear,” Mom says, giving him a small smile. We proceed to sit there in awkward silence for the rest of the meal. I don’t even know why we bother with family dinners. There’s nobody around to pretend for.

Later that evening when I’m heading to the bathroom to brush my teeth, I hear them having another screaming match in their room. I wonder idly what this one is about. It could be anything from ‘you didn’t put your clothes in the basket’ to ‘you told me you were at work when you were really at a strip club.’ I decide it’s not worth it to try and figure it out.

As I lie in bed, I ponder what happened between Six and I today. I have no idea why I find myself so drawn to her. I should just let her go be with Emmett and move onto the next girl. That’s what I always do; move on. So why can’t I get her out of my head?

The next morning in calculus she’s back to her cool indifferent self. How does she turn it off so easily? Does she not feel the same things I feel?

I spend my whole morning thinking about this and when it’s finally time for English Lit, I’ve managed to convince myself that the only choice is to just match her cool indifference. I need to move the f**k on. It’s not like anything was going to happen anyway. I don’t do relationships.

“Hi,” I say to her as I sit down. “Hey,” she replies. We start working on the project and her phone rings, she looks at the caller ID and I see a look of panic cross her face. She runs out of the room as she answers the phone, ignoring Mrs. Murphy yelling after her.

I follow her out and when I go into the hallway I look left and right and find her pacing back and forth while talking on the phone. I can’t tell what she’s saying, but she no longer looks like she’s panicking.

After a couple minutes, she hangs up and when she notices me, she clenches her jaw and then walks towards me, or rather towards the classroom.

“Are you okay?” I ask her.

“I’m fine,” she says, tone unreadable.

“You didn’t look fine when you were running out. I just-”

“I said I’m fine Axle. Just let it go,” she says as she walks past me into the classroom.

As she passes Mrs. Murphy, who is obviously about to scold her, she says, “Sorry, family emergency,” and continues to her seat, not giving her a chance to reply.