Chapter Twelve
Mrs Heck was obsessed. That was the only thought that ran through my mind as I watched Axl unwrap her package which turned out to be some Royal Wedding crockery. "Wow Mom, just when I thought you couldn't get any lamer." Axl laughed, pretending to drop the plate.
"Axl! Give that back." She grabbed the plate from him and hugged it to her body.
"Hey Dad!" Mr Heck had just walked through the door. "Look what Mom bought."
Mr Heck sighed. "Frankie, did you really waste money on this?" He picked up a cup from the box, giving it a disgusted look and turning to his wife with an incredulous expression on his face.
Mrs Heck huffed, snatching it away and placing it delicately back in the box. "Shut up Mike, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Think about it, we're going to witness a historical event, a peasant becoming a princess." She sighed dreamily.
"Um, Mrs Heck?" I piped up. "Kate Middleton isn't a peasant, she's actually rich."
She either didn't hear me or she was too wrapped up in her daydream to pay attention to me. I grimaced at Axl as she looked dreamily at the picture of Will and Kate on the plate.
"Come on, let's go to my room." I followed Axl to his room, where Brick was once again sat on his bed reading a book. "Get out dork." Axl demanded, shooing Brick out. He gave me a sad look before leaving the room.
"You didn't have to do that." I said quietly, because Axl had grinned at me and any other thought had rushed out of my head as soon as it began. His expression changed as he looked at the necklace he'd given me, reaching out a hand to gently pick it up. He smiled up at me before leaning in and giving me a sweet kiss.
"Do what?" He asked when he pulled away.
I shook my head and brought his head back down so I could kiss him again, I felt him smile and that prompted me to smile as well. "I love this." I admitted, stroking the curls on the back of his neck.
He grinned at me and pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. "So do I." I looked up at him as he hovered over me, the two of us just staring into each others eyes as cliche as that sounds. I was about to kiss him again when someone banged on the door loudly.
"I'm sorry to interrupt." Sue began. "But Sam, I really need your help with something." I blinked at her and then up at Axl who had closed his eyes in an attempt not to shout at his sister because he knew I didn't like it.
"Oh, okay Sue. I'll be there in a minute." She grinned and nodded before flouncing away.
Axl breathed out unsteadily, prompting me to run my hands up his back in an attempt to calm him. "She isn't that bad." I spoke gently, rubbing my hands in circles. "Off you get." I smiled and patted his side, he reluctantly rolled over, bringing me with him.
"I don't want you to talk to her." He whined. "I want you all to myself."
I laughed and sat up so that I was in a more comfortable position. "I'll be right back." I promised, hopping off of him, ignoring his groan of protest and went to find Sue.
She popped out of the bathroom, making me gasp as she made me jump. "Oh sorry Sam, I know you'd rather be with Axl but I really need your help with something." She took my hand and led me to her room. "I want to try out for the news team, but I need someone who knows what they're talking about to help me. Mom and Dad are no help."
I nodded and sat on her bed. "Okay, show me what you've got."
After an excruciating five minutes later, she was done. I was looking at her slack jawed in amazement at how anyone could be that bad at simply talking. She was quite a talker usually but as soon as she was trying to impress someone she started stuttering and over emphasising random words. When she was done she smiled at me brightly, waiting for criticism.
"Okay, we have some work to do." I muttered quietly. "Okay Sue. Um, you have a few problems that I think you should work on." Her smile faded. "It's nothing big. I just think you should try to maintain eye contact instead of looking at the sheet, maybe not blinking as much as you did. It looked a bit strange." It looked like she had something stuck in her eye. "And try not to stutter." I smiled, trying to look as enthusiastic as she did.
"Thank you so much." She gushed. "I can't wait to try out, Carly wasn't at school the other day and that's when I got the idea."
"That's great Sue, why don't you go practice on Brick. Maybe he has a few other ideas."
"Great idea!" She scampered off to find her brother and I let out a sigh of relief. Sometimes she was a bit too much for me, I needed someone a little quieter. I walked back into Axl's bedroom to find him strumming his guitar. I walked behind him quietly and wrapped my arms around his shoulder, planting a kiss on his cheek.
"You're back." He grinned, standing up and putting his guitar down.
"I wasn't gone for long." I chuckled, sitting on his bed as he came over to me. He knelt in front of me and took my hand in his. "Are you okay?" I asked.
He had a funny look on his face. "Yeah, let's go out and do something." I shrugged and together we walked back into the front room.
"You two, wait there!" Axl groaned as his mother called out after us. "I need you to come with me to the mall."
"What for?" He asked huffing.
She motioned towards the television which had a fat white stripe going up the middle of it. "We need something to fix that before the Royal Wedding."
I decided this didn't sound like such a bad idea. "Hey, maybe we could leave your Mom in the store and go to the food court or something?"
Axl brightened. "Yeah, sure Mom that sounds like a great idea."
"Sue!" She shouted, Sue came running out of her room and looked at her Mom questioningly. "We're going to the mall, grab your jacket." Brick apparently didn't want to come or didn't hear because he was sat on the sofa with his father reading his book. I swear that's all he ever did.
We climbed into the car, Sue in the front and Axl and I in the back. I looked out of the window until we got there and when we did, we headed straight for the electronics store where Mrs Heck was stuck with where to go.
"Over there is the customer support Mrs Heck." I pointed to a counter in the corner of the store, trying to help her out. She nodded and marched over, stopping here and there to stare at the new technologies of this age.
"Shall we go?" Axl asked.
I nodded, but stopped. "Wait, does your Mom know we're leaving?"
He shrugged. "We'll be back before she leaves. She takes forever to do anything." I grinned up at him and we headed over to the food court. I recognised a few people from school, a couple of cheerleaders were chatting to one another. I saw a group of nerds sitting in the corner, comics spread out of the table as they were obviously debating about something. One of the nerds was sat apart from the rest looking at his camera sadly.
Axl and I didn't pay attention to any of this as we headed to a burger place. He paid for mine, using the money he still had from his movie theater job.
"I'm thinking about getting a new job for the summer." He said, taking a bite out of his cheeseburger.
I swallowed my own food before replying. "Oh, where?" I smeared ketchup all over my burger before taking a bite of it.
"At the pool. You're boyfriend is going to be a lifeguard." He kissed one of his biceps, smirking at me.
"Wow." I laughed. "A lifeguard. That's pretty impressive."
"I know right. All the chicks are gonna-" He stopped talking when he remembered who he was talking to.
I gave him a look. "Is that why you're going for this job?"
He shook his head frantically, trying to backtrack from his mistake. "No. Of course not. Past me with no girlfriend would have. But I have you now, and I know how much you love to swim and since you're not part of the swim team anymore you'll be coming to the pool all the time."
I smiled at him. "Nice save." He sighed in relief and took another bite of his food. "But I'm serious if I catch you with another girl, you are gonna be in a lot of pain." He started choking on his food, I chuckled before helping him out.