Chapter Twenty-Six
Axel's Point-of-View
"Fuck!" I shout while punching my fist into a wall in my bedroom. I shake my hand out to alleviate the stinging. I pace the room, dragging my hands through my hair. I growl angrily. "What the hell am I supposed to do now?" I shout to the empty room. Renton will just tell me he told me so. I snort. Well…he did. I need someone who will be on my side. I pull my phone out of my pocket and scroll through my contacts. No. No. Oh, hell no. No. No. No. Why do I even still have his number? No. No. Who is that? Finally, I settle on Zexion. I don't have much of a choice, though; he's the last person in my phone. The phone rings twice before he picks up.
"Hello?" he answers.
"Zex. Hey. I need you to come get me and take me somewhere to get really, really drunk," I say seriously.
"Um… how drunk are we talking?" he asks.
"So drunk I might drown in a puddle of my own vomit by the end of the day."
"Alright, so this is bad. I'll be over in twenty minutes. Is Iris coming?" I snort derisively into the phone and hang up.
In the hallway, Iris's door is still shut. Renton has already cleaned up the broken vase. I know the mess in the dining room is probably already cleaned up too. I head downstairs and find Renton in the living room, dusting.
"Hey, Renton, I'm going out with Zexion. Do me a favor and keep an eye on Iris, alright?" I say, hoping more than anything he keeps his witty remarks to himself.
"Of course, sir," he replies, answering my prayers.
"Thank you," I say. I'm about to walk out the door to wait for Zexion at the gate when Renton speaks up again.
"Sir, if I may-" he starts.
"No, you may not," I interrupt harshly before storming out the door.
"Wait a minute. So you're telling me she never actually knew what happened, and you never told her? I thought she knew the whole time. Why didn't you tell her?" Zexion hisses. So much for someone being on my side. I roll my eyes and down another shot. The room is comfortably blurred.
"I don't know, Zex. I thought it might be better for her to not know. That was she could, like, move on or something," I mumble. The look in Zexion's eyes is not comforting.
"Are you stupid, Axel?" he asks, and I take a drink of my beer.
"Yes, Zex, I am. I am a stupid man. I'm also a bastard and disgusting and vile and a pathetic excuse of a person, as Iris informed me this morning. Now how do I fix this?"
"How the hell am I supposed to know? I've never been in this type of situation. I don't really think there is a way to fix it. From what you've told me, she's royally pissed." I grin.
"Good pun."
"Oh, shut up," he hisses. I scoot closer to Zexion and throw my arm around his shoulders.
"Zex, come on, man. I need advice! I need your advice. You're the only friend I have that gives me good advice. I need your good friend advice, Zex!" I say, basically repeating the same sentence over and over. He removes my arm from his shoulder, and I grin sloppily.
"I can't help you here, Axel. You got yourself into this; you can get yourself out," he says. The smile doesn't leave my face. I'm probably too drunk to really understand what's happening.
"Well, then, if that's how you're gonna be," I start before turning to the bartender. "Hey, hit me again!" Moments later, I down another shot…and another…and another…
"Iris!" I call in a sing-song voice while knocking on her door. "Iris, babe, let's talk." I giggle and sink down onto the floor, still smacking my hand against the door. "Don't do this to me, Iris. I love you!" Her door swings open violently. I look up and grin, but stay on the floor. "Hey, babe!" She glares down at me.
"It is one in the morning, Axel. What the hell are you doing? Are you drunk?" she asks. I touch my finger to my nose with a stupid grin to signal yes.
"Yes, I am! I am very, very drunk. You, though, you are very, very pretty!" She scowls.
"Get up," she orders. Shakily, I get onto my feet, but stumble forward. She catches my arm and manages to keep me up. I look into her eyes and just keep smiling. After a moment, her eyes soften just slightly and she sighs. She pulls my arm over her shoulders. "Come on. Let's get you to bed," she says quietly before leading me down the hall. It's a long and tedious task, but she eventually gets me to my door, kicks it open, and leads me to the bed. She drops my arm and I stagger back onto the bed with a sigh. I sit up and try to grab her wrist to make her lay with me, but she steps back. I pout at her dramatically.
"Babe," I whine. She shakes her head.
"Just lay back and go to sleep, Axel," she says in a no-nonsense tone of voice. I flop back down. I hear her start heading back to the door. "You're right, you know," I call softly.
"What?" she asks testily, stopping at the door.
"You're right. I suck. I suck in every conceivable way," I mutter. She sighs and walks back over. She looks down at me and runs a hand through my hair. The gesture makes me feel worse about everything. Even now, after finding out I lied to her and everything she thought she knew is wrong, she manages to be compassionate. I close my eyes, unable to look at her.
"You don't suck. You're selfish and inconsiderate and many other things, but you don't completely suck. Now go to sleep," she says. Her hand disappears from my hair and she leaves.
There are a few blissful moments when I wake up in the morning where I don't remember anything that happened. It all comes crashing back to me along with the worse migraine I've ever had soon enough, though. I groan and pull the pillow over my head. I don't know if I'm trying to block out the light or suffocate myself.
Maybe both.