A/N: Here's what you need to know: This story was posted under the same title quite some time ago, and upon reading it over again recently, I decided to rewrite it. The original has been deleted (although I still have it, of course). It will follow the same line, but it'll just be, well, better.
For those of you who never saw my writing before, enjoy. You're getting the second generation work. It's better, believe me.
-1-
'Lean Back'
When the doorbell rang out through the house, I didn't bother to glance out the window. I knew who it was at the door and all I cared about was answering so I could break the monotony and silence in my home. I swung the door open to find Axel leaning on the wall, hands tucked in the back pockets of his tight-fitting jeans. He grinned at me and stepped inside, kicking his shoes off in the hall. I snapped the door shut and led the way to the living room, kicked back on the plush, white couch, and waited for Axel to settle in. He fell back on the other end of the couch and glanced over at me with a light yawn.
"So. Whaddya wanna do, Rox?"
"Hadn't thought about it yet."
His eyes swept the room, stopping on me again.
"Awful quiet around here," he remarked.
"I already told you my parents are gone. Business."
"Oh, right..."
We fell into a lazy silence and I reclined against the back of the sofa. It was a hot day out, right on the tail end of the school year. My parents had been called away for business, which wasn't unusual. On any typical Friday night, I would be with Pence, Hayner, and Olette, but not this time. Pence and Olette were studying for finals. Well, so was Hayner, but definitely not by choice. He would have been livid if he had known I wasn't sitting around moping, waiting for him to be set free by his mother.
Hayner was never a big fan of Axel. It was easy enough to get on Hayner's bad side, and Axel had certainly done that without even trying. I had gotten quite an earful by this point just because I occasionally ate lunch with Axel or talked to him in the hall; forget about hanging out beyond school. I had the feeling Hayner didn't like the idea of me having more than one 'best friend'. But he'd never admit that, so I just let him rant until he ran out of fuel, then things went back to normal.
My parents weren't exactly thrilled about Axel either. My mother had initially thought he was one of those kids who had been held back a number of times just because he looked older than most of my friends. Even after I had proven to her that he was way smarter than me, she was still wary of him. She didn't approve of some of the crude remarks he made, though he always apologized when he realized he'd let something slip. My father was generally quietly disapproving, but stayed out of it. He knew I was getting enough guff from my mom for the both of them, and he didn't usually trouble himself; he was certain I was more careful than most kids. And I knew that my parents weren't going to love everyone I associated with (although my other friends were treated like my siblings).
The thing that really got my mom was the way he looked. She wasn't even too approving of my hairstyle, let alone Axel's wild mess of red hair and the small tattoos on his face. She hated the way he dressed too; to her, it spelled out troublemaker. Any reason to accuse him, she had it in her arsenal. All of these things combined meant I didn't really hang out with him much, but when I did, I always had a good time; even my parents couldn't deny that they were happy to see me out of the house having fun.
Axel's stomach growled and drew me back to the present. I smirked over at him.
"Hungry?"
"Certainly seems that way," he replied.
I thought for a moment, but came to the conclusion that there wasn't any real food left in the house. My parents had already been gone for two days, and I had eaten my way methodically through everything with Hayner and Pence while we studied. But there was cash in the kitchen, which my mother had handed over with a reluctant "Take your skateboard and get some groceries, but be careful!" I got to my feet and motioned for him to follow me. He perched on the counter top as I grabbed the cash and counted it. Axel caught on easily.
"The usual place then?" he asked, slipping off of the counter and heading for the door.
"Sure," I answered as we put our shoes on. I let out a relieved sigh as he wrestled his car keys from his pocket and stepped outside. I didn't bother to lock the door; my home was in a nice neighborhood and I wouldn't be gone long. The beat up red convertible was parked haphazardly in the driveway. The top was already down so Axel vaulted himself into the driver's seat and I clambered a little less gracefully into the passenger seat. We took off at an unbelievable speed before I could even reach for my seat belt. I gave up and laughed to myself at the look on Axel's face as he tore out of my neighborhood. He always looked so alive when he was driving.
I relaxed into the seat, thought it was way too far back for my usual comfort. But at that moment, I didn't care. It'd been an exhausting day of review and prep at school, and an even longer afternoon with Hayner complaining about his mother ordering him to stay home and study. I knew I had at least fifteen minutes before we'd reach the diner which was our usual haunt. I stretched and yawned as I leaned back in the seat. I briefly wondered who has sat here last, knowing that Demyx had been gone for a while now on vacation, but then again, Axel wasn't exactly known for staying in on school nights. I assumed he'd been out partying; something for which he was definitely known. I shut my eyes as Axel turned up the already blaring music and revved the engine.
When I opened my eyes again, I realized I had drifted off for some time, because we were sitting in the parking lot of the diner and it was already much darker outside. Axel had a cigarette in one hand as he looked over at me.
"Nice of you to join me," he commented as I sat up, bleary-eyed and surprised.
"Why didn't you just wake me up?"
"Mm, I'm in no rush."
I yawned and got out of the car as he tossed his cigarette aside and slipped over the door on the driver's side. We were greeted by the hostess, who knew us well enough by now. We were brought to our usual table in the back, and another familiar waitress took our orders as we settled in.
"So, you had any luck with Naminé?" he asked as he settled back.
"Not really."
It had been the general consensus for some time that she and I would be perfect together. But for one thing, she didn't always keep my interest like she used to, and for another, she turned me down any time I asked for a date.
"She keeps telling me she has her reasons but she won't tell me what they are. Girls..."
I shook my head tiredly and Axel smirked at me.
"I think I know what she's talking about," he remarked, smirking wider.
"Huh?"
"Nah, forget I said anything."
Right as I opened my mouth to retort, our food came and my overwhelming hunger won out. Naminé could wait; I was just too damn starved to care. We spoke very little as we ate, mainly about school and plans for the summer.
Axel was on the brink of seventeen, wrapping up his junior year, and I had just turned sixteen, looking forward to my junior year. Despite our age difference and our very different taste in friends, we had become tight in no time at all (much to Hayner's dismay). I had initially spent more time hanging around town with Axel until Hayner got wind of it, at which point I'd gotten a lecture. I didn't hang with Axel as much, but nor did I spend that much time at the usual spot anymore. It didn't seem fair to spend more time with one than the other. So I basically admitted defeat and backed away from all sides. But I had to admit that from the minute I met him, it was like I'd known Axel for years, while I still spent half my time trying to figure Hayner out, and I'd known him all my life. And Axel was definitely a lot more chilled out.
Axel was particularly looking forward to the coming school year. While he acted like a delinquent and perhaps looked like one, he'd already gotten all of the credits required except for two, and both were total no-brainers. I was set on the same track, more or less, except I wasn't looking forward to the next school year so much as I was to finishing it. Junior year for the AP students was the absolute worst, but I knew I would be set once I finished up. Axel had colleges begging him to attend already and I wasn't far behind, academically.
After I had sat contentedly for some time, having practically swallowed my food whole, we split the tab up, left a nice tip, and walked out with a wave to the hostess (she'd always been rather taken with both of us). We hopped back in the car and sped away again.
"So, where to now?"
It was good to be out of the house and not listening to Hayner rant or studying obsessively.
"Where ever you want," I replied, shrugging.
Just as Axel gunned it again, my phone started to vibrate. I slipped it out of my pocket and checked the ID.
Calling...Mom
I rolled my eyes and got Axel's attention.
"Slow down a minute."
He nodded and reined it back in a little.
"Hello?"
"Hey, honey, I just had a few free moments and wanted to check in with you."
"Hey, mom. Everything's good here."
"Where are you? It sounds windy."
"Uh, just on my way home from Hayner's. We were studying. I'm on my board."
That should do it...
"Oh, well, I don't want to distract you. I'll talk to you later, honey. Love you, bye!"
"Yeah, you too, mom. Bye."
I snapped the phone shut but saw a message had come in while I was talking to my mother.
One message received
I flipped the display open again and went in to my messages. It was from Hayner.
'Dude, my mom is driving me crazy. Come study with me.'
I sighed and tried to stop myself from feeling guilty. I let out a growl of annoyance, closed the message, turned my phone off, and shut it. Axel glanced over curiously, at which I just rolled my eyes and shrugged. He grinned, stepped on the gas, and cranked the music again. I leaned back in the reclined seat again and let myself relax. Hayner would never know any better, and frankly, I didn't care. I was just ready for summer vacation; some fun, friends, memories, all the things everyone wanted. No room for bullshit, not here, not now.
Axel had started up an unfamiliar road. It looked like one of the unfinished neighborhoods that had been forgotten about when there was something of a population boom in the area. A lot of new subdivisions and apartment complexes were started, but after a while, the rush slowed, and a lot of construction stopped. A few minutes down the road empty lots began to come into view, surrounded by patches of trees where fences might have stood if the place had been finished. A good number of the street lights here were either disconnected or smashed. I didn't let it trouble me. This was a pretty safe town, from my experience, and I knew Axel wasn't going to put me in any danger. He turned into one of the lots with practiced familiarity and parked the car before taking the keys from the ignition. He lit up a cigarette and relaxed into the seat looking thoughtful and a little troubled.
"And what're we supposed to do here?" I asked, quirking my brow.
He shrugged and glanced at me dismissively.
"Okay..." I muttered, glancing around. Axel smoked in silence for a few minutes, not avoiding my gaze, but seemingly unaware of me. I'd never seen him looking so wrapped up in his thoughts; his brow furrowed very slightly, fingertips to his mouth. I resigned myself to the situation and let the lazy summer sounds engulf me; the warm air breezing over my skin pleasantly. I almost felt I could fall asleep when Axel finally spoke again.
"I used to come here a lot. When I was a kid, to think about things."
I frowned slightly. Nothing had seemed different about him until now. The entire day had passed normally. Why this, why now? I was sure we would make our usual rounds; dinner, a movie, a friend's place.
Apparently not...
I tried to force my mind to switch gears. I had never really heard anything about Axel's childhood. I had always assumed that meant it was probably pretty standard. But maybe I was totally wrong, if he would come to a place like this to think things over. I heard him shift beside me, looking towards the sky as his cigarette burned down.
"Never brought anyone here with me."
It was Axel's voice, but not his tone. Something was so off here, and I had no idea what.
"Well, I guess that's not true. My mom brought me here the first time, told me we were going to have a nice house up here, but that I should come here on my own when things got bad so I had some place of my own. She never came with me after that, so it was all mine. But it was lonely."
I looked away from him, picking out small details in my attempt to keep calm. I noticed the way everything was overgrown, except for the spot where the car seemed to fit perfectly on the packed earth. How often did he come up here?
"So...Why did we come here?" I prompted quietly, watching him with caution. He still hadn't met my eyes.
"No one likes being lonely," he replied, as if it was obvious. He finally looked at me, but I had averted my eyes now, focusing hard on anything but him.
Now that I thought about it, I had never met Axel's mother. And he only ever talked about his 'old man'. But that didn't necessarily mean a thing. Maybe I was just thinking too hard on this. Maybe he just trusted me.
"You said you came here to think when things were bad. So why?" I pressed uncertainly.
"Because things are bad. So much worse than I thought."
This wasn't Axel. This wasn't how he spoke to me; this wasn't what we did. I gulped and met his gaze. He was watching me with an expression that held both pleading and pain.
"What're you talking about?"
I tried to relax, hoping he was just opening up to me. I was never good with this kind of thing, but I could try.
"I think it would be a hard thing to put into words," he answered simply, and I looked away.
That was a mistake, because I didn't see him slipping smoothly from his side of the car over to mine. It happened so quickly, so seamlessly; I didn't have time to react. When did he manage to slip over and straddle me like that? When did he have time to lean in so close and catch my eyes again? And why was he doing this? Why did he have a hand on my face? When did we get here?
Throughout the whens and whys, I was frozen. I pressed back in the seat as he moved towards me. My mind flickered back to the way the seat was inclined; a perfect way to almost lay down and sleep. It briefly crossed my mind that sleeping was not what this seat had been meant for when it had been pushed back. But there was no time to dwell on this, nor did I need to. My suspicions were more than confirmed as I felt him pressing close to me. Then I felt his lips pressed to mine, and it was confirmed all over again.
Yeah, that explains the seat, I guess...
My hands gripped the edges of the worn leather seat but slipped. My palms were damp with sweat and I could feel my breath catching in my chest as he pressed closer. My eyes were shut tight, but I could picture it in my head, and I felt a squirm in my stomach; not unpleasant, but not reassuring.
But I still had a question.
Why wasn't I doing anything about this?
A/N: There you have it. Chapters one and two of the original put together and rewritten ever so lovingly. Or something. And yes, I name things after songs. It's simply my way. Sure, it's not a life-changing piece of writing. But it amuses, no?
[[[Peace Out]]]
[Simple-And-Clean-Passion]
