Chapter Fourteen

I brushed down the front of my dress nervously. Axl had invited me to the school prom and while I was excited to go, I was incredibly nervous. My mom was probably more excited than I was, she was bouncing on the balls of her feet and holding a camera in her hands. She was waiting for me to finish getting ready before snapping pictures of me with my first boyfriend, at my first dance.

I sighed before turning to face her. "Smile!" She shouted, snapping the first picture. This was going to be a long day. "When's Axl coming over?" She asked, having met him a few days previous she had taken to him like he was one of her own. It made me very happy to see the two people I loved most getting along but at the same time I knew that when he next came over she was going to break out the embarrassing baby pictures like a true cliche mother.

I shrugged in response to her question. "I don't know, you made me get ready too early." It was only seven and the prom didn't open it's doors until eight. That meant Axl was probably coming over around half seven.

She huffed and put her hands on her hips, camera loosely dangling from one hand as she scowled at me. "I just wanted you to look beautiful." She smiled then, blinking to try and keep the tears that I could see in her eyes back. She waved a hand in front of her face rapidly. "And you do." Her voice cracked, I rolled my eyes and went over to hug her.

"Thanks mom, I really appreciate you helping me out."

She waved a hand. "Don't be silly. Do you know how long I've waited for this?" I didn't, and I didn't want to know either. She pushed me away gently. "I don't want you to wrinkle your dress."

I smiled warmly at her, feeling deep affection for my mother. The strongest and most beautiful woman I knew. "Thanks mom." I was horrified to find there were tears threatening to spill from my own eyes.

She saw them too and hurried forward. "Don't you dare cry. I spend ages on your makeup." I chuckled, sniffling lightly to try and stop them. "Now come on, I want more pictures."

I rolled my eyes but posed for her nonetheless, at one point we started taking selfies in the mirror. Because that's just how we roll. Half an hour passed quickly and before I knew it Axl was knocking on the door.

Mom squealed and bounced from foot to foot, hurrying me back up the stairs because apparently I was going to dazzle him as I walked back down them. I didn't want to ruin this moment for her and although I wanted to do this less than I wanted to have my teeth pulled, I let her have it and walked up the stairs. I heard her open the door. "Hello Axl, Frankie and Mike, good to see you again. She's just finished getting ready." I chuckled softly to myself before slowly walking down the stairs, my eyes instantly connecting with Axl's.

I saw them widen and his jaw dropped before he could control it. He gulped before smiling softly at me. I heard Mrs Heck talk with my Mom but I didn't register any of her words as Axl walked forwards to take my hand as I stepped off the bottom step and he leant forwards to press a gently kiss to my cheek. "You look beautiful."

I couldn't help the blush that overtook my cheeks, and I was saved from replying as a flash blinded me. Mom and Mrs Heck were both holding up cameras and smiling tearily at us. "Picture time!" Mom trilled.

"I'm sorry about this." I whispered to Axl as we were forced to stand and awkwardly pose for the two escatic mothers.

He chuckled and brushed another kiss on my cheek. "Don't worry, my Mom would have made us do exactly the same." I grinned at him and then looked over at our mothers, who were comparing pictures.

I rolled my eyes in amusement. "They've got exactly the same pictures." I complained. "Can we stop now?" I asked a little louder. Mom looked slightly disappointed and quickly snapped another before nodding.

"Alright, but I want a professional one when you get there." I nodded reluctantly. "Good. Now come here." I unwound my arm from Axl's, watching as his Dad pulled him to one side to whisper something in his ear.

Mom pulled me into a hug, kissing my cheek and slipping something into my hand. "I know we haven't really talked that much since we moved here. But I want you to know that even though I'm not here all the time. I love you. I love you so much. And I want you to be happy. But I also want you to be careful."

"Oh God." I shook my head frantically. "Please don't do this to me." I knew where this was going.

She looked at me earnestly. "I want you to be safe. When I was your age-"

"No, no, no, no." I plugged my ears. "This isn't happening."

She continued on. "When I was your age, me and my boyfriend's were starting to... experiment with-"

"Please stop. Please stop. Please stop."

She tugged on my arm but I wouldn't take my fingers out of my ears. "I just want you to be safe. I'm not ready to be a grandmother."

I gulped and stared up at her in pain. "You don't have anything to worry about." I snuck a glance at what she's given me and gulped. "Axl and I haven't... we haven't. You know."

She blinked slowly. "Oh. Well." She curled my fingers over the condom she'd given me. "Just in case."

I shut my eyes and willed the blush on my cheeks to go down, before taking a deep breath. "Can I please go now?"

"Oh yeah, sure." She grinned and pushed me gently towards Axl who also had red cheeks. I shared a sympathetic look with him. I felt his pain, quite literally. "Have fun you two!"

I grabbed Axl's arm and dragged him outside where his car was sat waiting for us. I had put the condom in my purse so he couldn't see it and slowly sank into the comfortable seat. "Did you-"

"Yeah."

We glanced at each other and burst into laughter. "I hate when they do that." He spoke, calming down and putting the car into gear before driving to school. "Pick a better moment."

"I know what you mean." I muttered, before grinning at him. He put one arm on my thigh as he casually drove. "Are you looking forward to Prom?" I asked, not really expecting an answer.

He shot a glance at me and grinned. "Yeah. I am." We pulled up and parked before heading into the hall.

"Whoa." I gaped at how our school had managed to transform the very bland looking hall into something straight out a story. "I wasn't expecting anything like this." I admitted. Axl looked around, also looking fairly impressed.

"Yeah the prom committee actually did something awesome for once." A passing girl shot him a dirty look before clinging onto her date. I raised an eyebrow at Axl who merely shrugged sheepishly.

"Stop insulting people." I teased, jabbing him in the side before grabbing his hand and leading him to the dance floor. A slow song came on almost immediately after we began dancing and I tentatively placed my arms around his neck as he placed his on my waist.

"Relax." He mumbled, reaching down the nuzzle my hair.

I let out a breath and did as he said, feeling a lot better. The night went on in this manner, our friends came and joined us at one point but Axl and I never strayed too far from one another. There came the moment however, when Prom King and Queen was called. Axl had been nominated and I hadn't, I knew he was going to win and I wasn't sure how I was feeling about his dancing with another girl.

"And Prom King is..." The Principle undid the envelope slowly before speaking. "Axl Heck!" I cheered along with everyone else and gave him a quick congratulatory kiss.

"Well done." He grinned at me before going up to receive his crown.

"Yes well done Axl." The Principle took another envelope which he opened slowly as well. "And Prom Queen is Judith Maze!" I wasn't really surprised, she was on the cheer leading team with Ashley and Brittany. She didn't like me very much however, I didn't know why either.

At least until I saw her giving Axl a flirty look. I bit my lip in jealousy and felt my stomach constrict in knots. Something bad was going to happen. I really didn't want him to dance with her.

He gave me a soft smile before slowly turning to her, at least I knew he didn't want to dance with her either. "And now the King and Queen will dance -" Axl cut him off.

"I'd rather dance with my date actually." Judith gave him a look that could kill but my heart leapt with joy. I saw that Judith was planning on dancing with him, or even kissing him if she felt cocky enough.

"You won't dance with your Queen?" She batted her eyelashes at him but he didn't even look at her.

He nodded and jumped off the stage. "I will dance with my Queen." He walked over to me and offered his hand. I smiled brightly up at him as I took it.