Sometimes, bad things happen to good people.

And sometimes...good things happen to bad people.

I didn't allow myself to dwell on it for to long. I meant what I had said to Sora, he needed to move on from what had happened, and so did I. When I got back to my apartment I changed into some sweats and a hooded muscle shirt. I pulled on my running shoes and grabbed my head phones. I hit play on my phone as I did some warm up stretches on my porch.

The music paused as my phone signaled that I had a text. When I saw Axel's name I couldn't help but smile a little.

Oh indeed!Be prepared for the time of your life.

I laughed a little at the cockiness but also blushed because my mind went straight to the gutter.

I await the night with bated breath.

I sent the text quick, before I could take it back and then headed out for my run. I got a few blocks down when the music paused again as the new text came. I slowed to a fast walk as I pulled out my phone to check the message.

I like the idea of you with bated breath for me.

I stumbled for a moment as I read and reread the text, my face on fire. This man would be the death of me. I was acting like some blushing virgin just at the implications of sex with him! I slid the phone back into my pocket and took off at a fast jog.

I had a strong urge to just keep running until I could run no more. Run until I knew no one and no one knew me. My chest was heaving, my heart pounding, music pulsing in my ears as I stopped at an intersection, waiting in the crowd of people for the signal to allow us to cross the street. I caught a flash of red out of the corner of my eye and did a double take.

Across the street at the out door cafe sat Axel and two other red heads. It had to be his brother and sister, they were laughing at something Axel had said. The brother said something in return and I could see Axel roll his eyes all the way from over here. I tugged at the hood of my shirt, making sure it covered my hair, as the light turned and I crossed the street with the other people.

I kept my head down as I started to jog again. I concentrated on my breathing as I came up on the cafe. I had every intention of passing right on by, but I made the mistake of looking up. My eyes met green and I saw his face shift into that smile, the smile that melted my insides. I started to slow down, my own smile forming in response to his when a hand on my shoulder spun me around.

I came face to face with a very different pair of green eyes. This particular pair set into the angry face of Seifer, an ex of sorts.

"Where the fuck have you been?" He snarled at me as I pulled my head phones out of my ears, my eyes already glaring at him.

"How the hell is that any of your god damn business Seifer?" I hissed at him, I knew Axel was watching. I had to get Seifer to go the hell away, I could feel panic starting to rise a little. Seifer grabbed my arm and I knew this was going to get bad.

"Don't fucking talk to me like that you stupid whore. I've been calling you for days." he snarled at me.

"Hey!" I heard from behind me and I closed my eyes as dread took over. I yanked my arm from Seifer just as Axel got to us. I placed a hand on Axel's arm to keep him from stepping between me and Seifer.

"Who the fuck is this?" Seifer asked, pointing a finger at the red head. I stepped between the two of them.

"Once again Seifer, none of your god damn business." I snarled. "Take a god damn hint for once in your life. Leave me alone."

"You bounced back from Riku pretty quick then." He said with a half laugh as he eyed Axel. "Watch out ginger, this one is nothing but trouble and good for nothing other then a good fuck." I felt Axel move as if he'd go around me to get to Seifer but I beat him to it. I cold cocked him right in the nose, he stumbled back, blood gushing from his face as he yelled at me. Thankfully you couldn't understand a word he said.

"I think you should go get that looked at." Axel said in a calm voice as he placed a hand on my shoulder and pulled me away from Seifer. My chest was heaving, my breathing coming in angry puffs as Axel stirred me away. He stopped us by the cafe, his hand still on my shoulder as he turned to face me. "You alright?" He asked, his face full of worry. I closed my eyes and clenched my fist for a moment before I let out a deep breath and relaxed.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good." I said. "Sorry about that." He glanced over his shoulder then back to me.

"That's alright. An angry ex I take it?" He asked as he slid his hands into his pockets. I looked away for a moment then back.

"Yeah." I said with a huff.

"That was an excellent shot." came a voice from behind Axel. Axel stepped to the side to revel the two red head's he had been having lunch with. The man is the one who spoke, he came to stand next to his brother and gave me a charming smile. "I'm Reno, Axie's older brother." he said offering his hand. I shook his hand, giving the blue eyed red head a smile.

"Roxas." I said as my eyes went to the girl who offered me a small smile as well then her hand.

"Kairi." She said as I shook her hand.

"It's nice to meet you both." I said as I turned my gaze back to Axel to find him smiling softly at me. I felt myself blush and tried to hide it with a cough but didn't quite succeed if Kairi's soft giggle was anything to go by. "I should get going though." I said, my eyes darting away and back again.

"We'll be in the car." Kairi said, grabbing the eldest brother by the arm. "It was nice meeting you Roxas." She said as she drug the taller red head away.

"Kaiiiii" they could hear Reno whine. Axel chuckled a bit at his siblings before he turned his gaze back on me.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he noticed me glance down the street once again.

"Yeah, yeah." I said as I gave my full attention to the beautiful red head in front of me. "It's just been a hell of a day so far." Axel looked worried but didn't press any more.

"We're still on for tonight right?" He asked and I rubbed at my face.

"God I hope so, I need something to look forward too." I said and it scared me how true the statement was. Axel chuckled and I found my eyes locked on his face, trying to remember every detail of it. He reached out and brushed the back of his hand on my cheek.

"Then I'll see you at 6." he said. I felt the smile form on my face before I could stop it.

"Yeah." I said and he chuckled.

"Enjoy the rest of your run." He said as his eyes slid up and down my body. I had to fight down the shiver that threatened to shake me. Two could play at this game.

"Oh I will." I said as I started walking backwards, towards my apartment. I lifted up my shirt, using the bottom to wipe my face and exposing my toned stomach and chest to the red head."I love activities that leave me sweaty and breathless." I said with a cocky smirk as my eyes locked with his. He had a smirk of his own as he watched me.

"Good to know." he said. I flashed him another smile before putting back in my head phones and turning around. I took off at a fast jog and the smile never went away.

Six o'clock found me freshly showered and sitting in the middle of my bedroom amongst a huge pile of clothes. I was staring blankly at what basically amounted to my entire wardrobe and I was still no closer to knowing what to wear.

My phone chirped from somewhere on the other side of the room. I pulled myself out of the mess of clothes and stumbled over to my bed side table.

Hear your going out with our Axel tonight. It was from Larxene.

Thats the plan. I sent back before going back to stand over the pile of cloths. Maybe going simple was the best plan here. My phone vibrated again.

You know you're one of my favorite people but you better play nice with him. I smirked.

I plan on playing very nicely with him. I sent back. I pulled on a pair of low slung black jeans and my studded belt. A tight fitting gray shirt, my black leather jacket and I called it complete. Another vibrate from my phone as I set on the bed to put my shoes one.

I'm being perfectly serious here Roxas. Axel can't just be another notch in your belt. Now I felt my temper rising.

It's nice of you to assume that that's all I want from him, but regardless- we are both adults. I'm pretty sure we can figure this out with out your interference. I shot back before scowling down at my shoes for a moment. I understood where she was coming from on this, I knew she was just worried about Axel. But maybe I was the one who needed protecting here?

I looked around my room at the mess I had made in my panic of trying to find something to wear. When was the last time I gave a shit about what I would wear on a 'date'? When was the last time I felt nervous or squirmy around someone? Hell when was the last time I had been on a proper date?

My phone vibrating pulled me from my thoughts. I had half expected it to be Larxene again but was pleasantly surprised when I saw it was Axel.

Ready?

I felt the stupid smile stretch across my face for a moment before I groaned and rubbed my face. I was in so much shit.

Yeah. I sent back before pulling on my shoes and heading for the door. I stepped out onto the porch to see Axel leaning against his car in the parking lot. I turned away to lock the door and to try and keep the stupid smile to a minimum. I decided the stairs and felt his eyes one me almost as soon as my feet hit the sidewalk. I couldn't fight the smile as my eyes took him in.

He was wearing well fitted blue jeans and a dark green button down that was rolled up to his elbows. The top few buttons on the shirt were undone and he was most certainly not wearing an undershirt. I wanted to pin him against his car and let my hands explore what was under that shirt and those pants. He pushed away from the car as I got closer, his eyes locked on me and his smile in place.

My heart was doing strange things in my chest.

"Good evening Roxie." he said as he moved to open the passenger side door. I felt the blush on my cheeks already. "May I say you are looking particularly delicious this evening." My face had to be beat red but I tried to play it off with a smirk as I stepped up to him to get into the car. I paused, our chest almost pressed against one another. I looked up into stunning green eyes and had to remember to breath for a moment.

"Not so bad yourself." I said with a smile before sliding into the waiting seat. He closed the door and the smile never left my face. He slid into the drivers seat with ease and the car purred to life.

"So did you manage to have a decent day?" He asked as we pulled out of my parking lot and headed for the free way.

"Nope. Got a lot pinned on this date thing." I said with a smirk and I was rewarded with his startled laughter. His laugh washed over and through me in ways I had never known a voice could.

"So no pressure then." he said with a heavy dose of sarcasm. I reached over and patted his hand where it lay on the stick shift.

"I'm sure you'll do fine." I said with a bored tone. He shot me a smile that had my face burning up again.

"Oh I'll do better then fine." he said and I had to look out the window to hide the redness that I was sure was staining my face.

"Speaking of which," I said, clearing my throat. "What do you have planned for the evening?"

"There's an outdoor festival going on at 2nd Street park. I figure we'll start there and then see what we feel like after that." he said as he merged seamlessly with the traffic on the freeway.

"Sounds like fun." I said and felt myself start to relax. This would be fun, just a normal night out with a good looking guy, I could do this. "So how was your day?" I asked after a few moments of mentally coaxing myself into a semi relaxed state.

"Pretty well, got to spend some time with my siblings- as you know." he said with a smile. "We don't get to see each other all that often lately. We have pretty opposite schedules."

"What do they do?" I asked, anything to keep him talking.

"Reno runs his own finance business. Boring shit, if you ask me." he said and I agreed. "Kiari is in her senior year of college and works part time at the cafe you saw us at earlier."

"You all are very busy." I said with a smile.

"And your brothers?" He asked, his eyes sliding over to me, gauging my reaction.

"My oldest brother, Cloud, he runs a local motorcycle garage and Sora is a computer nut, he somehow turned that into a job." I said, trying to keep the bitterness in my chest down.

"It's always nice when you can turn what you love into a career." Axel said as we exited the free way, headed for the downtown area.

"Yeah." I said but said nothing else. The remainder of the car ride was filled with silence, not necessarily strained silence on my end, just thought full silence. I could tell that he wanted to ask, he wanted to know what I had done to piss off my family but I could also tell he was much to polite to ask me directly.

We found parking pretty quickly and stepped out into the cool evening air. I started to walk toward the festival lights that were a little ways down the road when Axel grabbed my arm. I stopped and turned to face him.

"I didn't mean to upset you." He said, a small frown on his face. I felt my heart squeeze painfully at the expression on his face. God! It looked so wrong to see that expression there, especially when I had been the cause of it.

"You didn't." I said with smile. "I was just thinking is all." I pulled my arm away from him but laced my fingers with his before it could fall back to his side. "Come on! I was promised a good time if I remember correctly." I knew I was blushing but I turned away from him and dragged him toward the festival. "So no more pouting!"

"Hey!" he said with a laugh as he tugged on my hand. "I was not pouting!" I laughed as he finally caught up to walk beside me, our hands still intertwined. I felt as if my heart would burst from my chest as we walked, our shoulders bumping playfully.

How could I have ever not known this man? I thought to myself as I gazed up at him. He was laughing at the man on a dunk tank who had just fallen into the cold water below him for the first time that evening.

We spent the entire evening wondering around the festival, stopping to watch a band or buying something to drink or snack on. At one point we stopped and had our picture taken next to one of the blooming apple trees and I was brave enough to kiss his cheek just as the camera snapped the picture.

All and all the evening was shaping up to be the best night of my life and there was no alcohol involved! I couldn't believe I was here, enjoying this with a man I had never slept with. A man I wanted to sleep with, sure but it was only one thing, on a list of things, that I wanted to do with him.

I wanted to learn about him, what he liked, what he disliked, what made him mad...

I was losing myself in him, I could feel it happening. Part of me was terrified, trying to tread water, keep a float from all the emotions that were trying to take hold of me, and the other part had already slipped below the murky surface, surrounded by the warm glow that Axel had lit in my chest.

I was so royally fucked.

A few hours later we headed back to the car, chatting about college life and how much we both hated it.

"I think the only thing I got out of the whole ordeal as my best friend." Axel said, our hands laced together once again.

"All I got was a worse reputation and a few new scars." I said with a laugh. Axel raised his eyebrow at this.

"Sounds like a story for another time." he said as his free hand brushed at my cheek softly. I smiled and bumped our shoulders together.

God this man was too damn good to be true.

"Someday." I said out loud but internally I said over my dead body.

"How bout dinner?" he asked as he pulled me to his side and slipped his arm around my shoulders, my arm automatically went around his waist. I was momentarily rendered stupid as I was pulled into his scent bubble. He smelled like heaven. I almost let out a very loud moan but managed to fight it down.

"Dinner.." I said, very intelligibly. "Dinner sounds good." I finally got out.

"Good, there's a really good place that's close by." he said and I saw the lights flash on his car as we got close. He held the passenger door open for me and I gratefully slipped into the seat. Glad to be able to think clearly once again.

I'll say it again, I was so royally screwed.