Bruised Knuckles

31. one month and two days

Is being an adult really as glamorous as it seems when you're a child? No.

"Get a job!"

I hear Axel's dad scold him from the living room. Patiently, I wait inside his room and pretend that I don't hear anything of what is being said just one floor below me.

Axel's bed is warm and I'm able to toss a rubik's cube in the air while I wait because I've given up on solving it. All those colors cant possibly end up together on one single face.

As I snoop, I can't quite tell what Axel's saying because his voice is much softer than his father's. The TV show April has playing adds an effective muffle to the conversation as well. It's almost like they did it on purpose so I wouldn't be able to hear a word.

After a few more moments, and a few more tries to solve the rubik's cube, Axel comes back into his room and plops down next to me on his bed. He looks winded.

"How did it go?" I ask him, setting the cube down on his bedside table.

"Okay. I don't know. I need to get a job since graduation is a month and two days away," he tells me as his arm slips around my abdomen.

I smile at the feeling of his arm around me. I don't know why it makes me so happy, but I feel like I'm in a different world. It's something so small but it makes me feel safe.

"You could always just become a stripper," I offer as my lips curl into a teasing smile.

Axel perks up a bit, like I've activated a switch inside his brain, "I was actually thinking of that."

"You were?"

"Yeah, I was. It's easy money," Axel explains as he moves his arm from around me and sits up cross cross on his bed, "I can just sneak out at night or something. I'm an adult, you know, I can do what I want to."

I looked at Axel like he just proposed a plan for world domination.

"You're stupid," I bluntly tell him, "I'm not letting you become a stripper either."

I can tell Axel is let down by my statement, but I can't help not chuckling at the thought that the idea to become a stripper was floating around in his mind.

"But," he says as he tries one last time to save his argument, "people will throw money at me and everything."

I reach down to cover his mouth with my hand. He's speaking gibberish to me and I actually start to laugh at this whole conversation.

"Don't laugh, Orion. You're a bitch," he tells me as he forcefully pushes my wrist away so my hand can uncover his mouth.

"I'm a what?" I ask him, my lips forming into a grin now as I position myself to push his shoulders down against the bed.

"A bitch," he repeats as his eyes stare up into mine, challenging me.

I see his lips curl into a smile as I hover myself over his body, my hands planted on either side of his neck. His eyes are always glistening when he looks at me.

"Fuck you," I whisper, leaning in closer so I can plant a kiss against his lips. I hear him chuckle as I give into him, but I guess he doesn't understand how easy it is to do so.

"How about we just makeout until graduation and forget about adult responsibilities?" He whispers against my lips softly so I can barely hear what he's saying.

"How about..." I begin, but a knock on the door causes us both to jump.

"Fuck," Axel whispers and I roll onto the other side of the bed, throwing my arm over my forehead.

"Bad timing," he quietly adds as the door begins to push open.

April looks nervous and the smile on her lips completes the look—it's both awkward and fake.

"I want to talk to you, Orion," she says as her lips curl into an even taker smile.

"Why?" Axel asks as his hand slips into my hair, playing with it delicately. In a way, it felt like he was trying to protect me from something.

"Axel, just let me talk to him," she says again with a heavy sigh.

I reach into my hair and remove Axel's hand, shrugging as I climb off of the bed and make my way towards the door and April. She leads me down the hallway but stops right before the staircase.

"Listen, Orion," she begins with her eyes glued to the floor beneath our feet, "I like you but I think it's time you go back home."

The words kind of stung, but at the same time I knew that this wasn't my home. I had a family in a different house with different personalities and different everything. I had to face the truth at some point. Maybe this was all another part of growing up and becoming and adult.

"Okay, I'm sorry if I've outstayed my welcome," I tell her as I begin to head back towards Axel's room. I didn't feel like saying anything extra and I'm glad she ended the conversation there when I hear her feet patted down the steps.

"So, what's up?" Axel asks me as he sits upright in bed.

"I think I'm supposed to leave today and go back home," I tell him with a blunt expression.

I see his face drop with sadness and I wish I could make it better.

"I'll see you at school... and you can visit me whenever you want to basically," I tell him as I crawl back up to bed, "I'm only a few minutes away."

He nods and my arms wrap around his waist to pull him into a hug.

"I'm staring to believe that you're home," he whispers in my ear as we hug.

I'm starting to believe that you're home, too.