Six Like The Number

I Want You

*Six’s POV*

“So we’re already late for Calculus, so we should just do something else instead,” Axle suggests as he holds me tight against him.

“What did you have in mind?” I ask, giving him a cheeky smile.

“My car has a very spacious back seat,” he says with a wink. I smile and say, “I wonder what we could do with all that space?”

“Shall we find out?” he asks me. I nod and he opens the door for me, squeezing my butt when I climb in. We definitely found out what we could do with that space, and we will most definitely be having a repeat performance at some point.

Afterwards, we just sit there for a bit, me straddling his legs with my head on his shoulder. I feel like maybe this could actually work. He hasn’t run away screaming yet so that’s a good sign. I definitely didn’t expect him to react well to the whole “I’m basically a parent to a toddler” thing. Usually guys in high school don’t want to go anywhere near that.

We get dressed and head inside so that we can make it in time for second period and he tells me he’ll meet me at my locker before lunch. As promised, he’s already standing there leaning against it, and smiles when he sees me coming. He gives me a quick kiss on the forehead and then I grab my food out of my locker.

He wraps an arm around my shoulder and we walk together into the cafeteria. We find everyone already situated at our regular table and when Jameson sees us, his head perks up and then Cam and Ethan follow suit. I can see they’re fighting the urge to ask us a million questions.

“It was my brother guys. Geez.”

“Ah. Well, we’re all idiots. So then who was the dude?”

“His name is Jordan and you did get that bit right actually, he’s my ex.”

Cleo perks up at that and says, “As in the ‘everyone at WestSide is scared of him’ ex?”

“That’s the one.” I confirm.

“I understand why they were afraid of him, that guy makes Axle look like a choir boy,” Jameson says.

“I feel like you’re exaggerating. There’s no way a 17 year old looks that scary. Show us a picture.” Cleo says, the disbelief evident in her features.

“He’s 20 actually. He started school late and had to re-do a couple grades.”

“Seems to be something you’re into,” Jameson says with a smirk. I give him a glare.

“Wait, I still want a picture though. I’m curious.” Cleo whines at me.

“I’m not sure if I have any, I deleted most of them after we broke up.” I pull out my phone and start scrolling through the pictures, most of them are of Theo, Kayla, Shaunice and myself. I find one I took shortly before the break up. We were at Jordan’s playing video games and, naturally Theo wanted to play so Jordan sat him on his lap and let him “help.” I smile a little at the memory and then hand my phone to Cleo.

She takes it and zooms in on him, “Holy s**t, I apologize Jameson. You were not exaggerating. Jesus. He’s huge. And check out that ink. Are those actual prison tattoos?” She asks me.

“Some of them, yeah. He was in a few times,” I reply with a shrug.

“Let me see!” Luna says and grabs the phone. “Forget the ink, look at those muscles. And that jawline. This guy is seriously hot. You know, in a dangerous kind of way.” I roll my eyes and reply, “There are more like him at WestSide. I’m sure I could find you one.”

“Oh, no, I would never actually do that. My parents would disown me. How did you get away with that? Weren’t you like 14?”

The phone gets passed around the table as I explain, “My dad’s not in the picture and my mom knows his dad. Besides, he hadn’t been to prison yet when we started dating.”

Cleo says, “Wait, can we go back to how exactly you two met this guy and didn’t get your asses kicked?”

Jameson proceeds to explain the story as I munch on my sandwich and when he finishes his story, Cleo says, “Wow, you know, if jumping to conclusions was an olympic sport, you guys would definitely get medals.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jameson says.

“Although, um, I would like to add something on that subject,” I say hesitantly.

I glance at Axle and he says, “You don’t have to,” and grabs my hand under the table.

“I want to though. It’s gonna come up at some point and I’m done skirting around it. Theo is biologically my half-brother but neither of our dads are in the picture and our mother is a crack addict. I raised Theo myself and he actually calls me mommy and when I turn 18 in January, I plan on applying to be his legal guardian.” I brace myself for their reaction.

“That’s so awesome Six, seriously, that kid is lucky to have you,” Cleo says.

“Yeah, that’s super cool that you’re doing all this for him,” Drew adds.

I look around and see general agreement from everyone and I’m shocked that they all seem so unconcerned about the whole thing. The sudden wave of relief has a lump forming in my throat that I swallow down before replying, “Thanks guys, your support really means a lot to me.”

After school, I walk out to my car with Axle and the guys, since he’s parked close to me. He walks me right to my car and says, “I was wondering if I could meet Theo. You don’t have to say yes, I get it if that’s not something that you want.”

I try to hide my surprise. “You want to meet him?”

“Yeah, I mean, I wasn’t lying when I said I’m not going anywhere. I want this. I want you. And he’s such a big part of you so I feel like it’s important for me to meet him. But I get it if it’s too soon.”

“I want you to too, but are you sure? This is a lot of commitment and I know in the past that hasn’t really been your thing.”

“I’m more sure about this than I have been about anything else in my entire life,” he says, placing his hands on either side of my face, “as far as I’m concerned, you’re the only girl I need and want.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I don’t want to see other people or be with anybody else, I want to be more than just f**k buddies. I want you to be my girlfriend.”

“I would like that,” I whisper and he kisses me gently. I pull back and say, “If they can get home without you, you can come meet him.”

He smiles and says, “Really? Right now?” I nod. “Okay, one sec. Don’t move.” He jogs over to his car and hands Jameson a set of keys, then comes back and gets in the passenger seat.

I drive us both to my apartment building and tell him to wait outside. I don’t want him to come inside. I know he knows where I live and about my mom, but me saying it to him and him actually seeing it are two different things. I head up to Shaunice’s apartment and tell her I’m going to bring Theo to meet Axle.

“When do I get to meet him?” She asks me.

“We’re just going to the park if you wanna give us 20 minutes and then subtly make your way over,” I say with a wink.

“Deal,” She replies. Just then, Theo runs over and hugs my legs. “Hey buddy, get your shoes on. We’re gonna go to the park for a little bit, okay?”

“Okay!” He shouts and slips on his shoes. I carry him down the stairs and then put him down when we reach the bottom and he puts his little hand in mine.