December Boys (BxB) | ✓

Chapter 20 - We Don't Talk About Fort Violet

As Wednesday sneaked up on me and our project rolled on, I learned several things about my relationship with Axel. One: I worked well with Axel as long as my mood was stable. Two: When my mood was not stable I was prone to irritability and sudden outbursts. Three: When said outbursts occurred, Axel was prone to respond in his usual drone of passive-aggressive behavior.

We were in one of those patterns when Lisa cleared her throat and caught our attention. She was in front of the camera, tucked away in one of the alcoves in the hallway. The sun from the window highlighted her hair, and she wore a troubled expression.

"Do you guys need a minute, or...?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "I was under the impression I was doing you guys a favor."

I squirmed in my spot by the tripod. She was doing us a massive favor, it was true.

"Sorry," I muttered, kicking at the linoleum floor. I side-eyed Axel, raising my eyebrows expectantly. His face was sullen, but he responded as desired.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry," he said.

Lisa was basically the star student in my media class. She'd been hellbent on working with graphic design ever since she enrolled two years ago, and now she had several gigs on the side. Her passion was web design, and she was the absolute best at responsive design. Her mind was something else, and sometimes I wish we were better friends, just so I could pick her brain more often.

She smiled, a flash of white teeth and a single dimple. Lisa's eyes were a golden brown, and her hair was dyed an auburn color, styled in elegant braids. She wore a shirt the color of a sunset.

"Great!" She said. "Let's get this over with so I can get back to work. I'd hate to have William ruin my website."

"Oh yeah, you're with William, huh?" I said, scratching the back of my neck. "That must be... Rough."

She grinned again. She did that a lot, I'd noticed. It was like everything was a secret joke. "You could say that."

Axel prepared his questions, sullen look still pasted across his features. He'd been tense all week, which made zero sense to me. As far as I knew, he was just living his regular violent life. If anyone had a reason to be tense and moody, it was me.

Interviewing Lisa was a success, and it was obvious that her previous claims about being camera shy were a blatant lie. She was a natural with the Canon, and her words cast a rather pleasing light on the media department. I was considering dropping Kurt's interview portion dramatically.

Despite our flow, I couldn't focus fully. Despite Lisa's glowing smile, intelligent responses, and delightful nature, my brain was occupied. No matter what I did or thought, my mind always returned to that text. That text I'd received two days prior.

"Enjoy yourself while you can. You're dead meat."

A million questions bombarded my mind every time I revisited it. Who sent it? What did they mean? Was that last bit an actual threat? Death threats weren't unfamiliar territory for me - I wasn't the December High Dragons' nemesis for no reason - but they were usually harmless and closer to a joke. This wasn't. The message wasn't just disconcerting, it was ominous, and reeked of malicious intentions. Was this someone close to Lily? Had she told people about the way I treated her? Then again, no matter what I did to her, I found it hard to believe she would do that. Lily wasn't that type of girl.

Even if she did send her angry fans after me, was I in any position to blame her? I'd spent the last few weeks tucking that fateful night into a mental drawer, but that didn't change the fact that it had happened. Running away from it didn't mean things were okay.