Enough sad stuff.
I’m going to be happy today.
I’m with a handsome man and we’re going on a- “Is this a date?” I blurt out the question.
Axel takes a long moment to reply – like he hadn’t really thought of it, “I guess it is.”
I bite my lip to keep from smiling, “A date to the phone store.”
“I’ll admit, I’m a little out of practice.”
Even biting down harder doesn’t stop my smile from growing.
He glances over, his own lips quirking at my expression. “That makes you happy?”
“Yep!” I pop thep.
Axel squeezes my hand. “That mean you’ll quit with the fucking dating app shit now?”
“Uh huh. I won’t even put them on my new phone.”
Axel grunts his approval and I start to get excited about the prospect of a new phone. I’ve been meaning to add some new content to the BeanBag Instagram account and the new phones have such nice cameras, it might actually be fun to take some pictures.
My mind is stuck daydreaming and before I know it, Axel’s pulling off the highway towards a little strip mall.
I glance at the dashboard and see that he didn’t use his GPS to get here. “How’d you know where to go?”
My own sense of direction is so bad I’d’ve needed to search the address even though I’ve been here a half dozen times.
Axel flips his blinker on as we pull up to a red light, “I have the same provider.”
“Oh.” My lips press together as I remember that the town he lives in isn’t far from Darling Lake, so this is probably the closest store for him, too.
I don’t think I’ll ever admit it to him, but I’ve spent a lot of time staring at the photo I took of his driver’s license, wondering how wrong it would be to look up his house on Google Maps.
I decided against it, figuring it was creepy enough that I knew his address, and therefore the town he lived in.
But I still pulled up the image more often than I should’ve. It’s hardly fair that Axel Davis looks hot as fuck in his state issued photo ID. Me? I look like a hungover troll in mine- but not him.
My eyes glance over at the man sitting next to me.
I didn’t expect to see him again, and I was never going to just show up at his house, but it was still comforting to know that he wasn’t far. Like there was some sort of emotional Bat Signal I could’ve sent him if I was ever in trouble.
Axel flips on the blinker and pulls into the parking lot, finding an open spot not far from the door.
“Ready?” he asks, turning off the ignition.
I nod, and we both climb out of the car.
Axel’s long strides bring him to my side of the car before I can close the door, and he does it for me.
His hand is outstretched, palm open, so I slip my hand into his and my heart lets out a little sigh.
This is nice.
A loud truck rumbles past and my brain goes back to the fact that Axel istheAxel.
Squeezing his much larger hand, I look up at the giant silver fox next to me. “So, a Bodyshop, huh?”