8 – Date Night (4)

Sebastian and Ellie arrived at his house. It wasn't the first time Sebastian had brought her over. The previous week, he brought her over for dinner to meet his parents. All had gone surprisingly well.

After exchanging hellos with his parents, they went straight to Sebastian's room. Ellie laid on the bed, her head on his pillows. Sebastian flopped next to her. She stared at him expectantly.

Right. He leaned over, and kissed her lips. Before she had a chance to return it, he pulled away. She frowned at him.

“Sorry. My head kinda hurts,” Sebastian said.

“Your head always hurts. You should get that checked out.” Ellie rolled over onto her side, and placed her head on Sebastian’s chest. Her dark hair fell across him. He ran his fingers through it, wondering if Axel’s hair felt just as soft.

Hopefully his words hadn’t hurt Axel too badly. Sebastian’s heart still stung from what he had said.

He needed to stop thinking of Axel. There was a beautiful woman cuddling up to him. He needed to focus on her.

Elie looked up at him with brown eyes similar to Axel’s. It actually wasn’t that hard to pretend she was Axel. If Axel was a white girl, anyway. Sebastian kissed her forehead. She rolled herself on top of Sebastian, and kissed him.

Sebastian felt no passion. No arousal. No drive to return her affections. He had to force himself to kiss back. A wave of nausea overcame him.

“Are you feeling okay?” Ellie asked. “You look a little pale.”

“I’m fine. We can keep going.”

Ellie wrapped her arms around him, and kissed with enthusiasm. Sebastian closed his eyes. His mind drifted to Axel. He wondered what making out with him would be like.

Suddenly, he didn’t mind kissing Ellie. He kissed back just as fiercely, going as far as to slip his hand up the back of her shirt. Axel’s skin probably didn’t feel as smooth as Ellie’s, but pretending Ellie was Axel… It helped him get through the ordeal. He even allowed her to remove his shirt. She removed hers. Sebastian forced himself stare at her chest and grin for at least ten seconds, lest Ellie get suspicious. Thankfully she kept her bra on.

Eventually, it ended. Ellie left. And Sebastian was alone in his room. Alone with his emotions. Feeling disgusted with himself for having to imagine Axel in place of Ellie. But doing so would only be temporary. Soon, he’d learn to enjoy kissing pretty girls. He’d fall in love with Ellie. They’d get married. People would stop speculating over if he had truly been cured. All his problems would be solved.

But it didn’t stop him from feeling like a terrible person.

~~~~~

Axel didn’t know how it happened. Maybe seeing Maple wide-eyed and out of breath triggered some protective instinct in him. Nevertheless, he found himself driving off in his van, which had three front seats. Jake sat in the middle, and Maple on his right. There wasn’t time to figure out where to go. They just wanted out of there before McNeil could find them. Axel directed his van by saying “left” or “right” at various turns, until they were on a long, empty road.

“Now what are we supposed to do?” Axel asked Jake. “Take her home?”

Maple gasped at his suggestion. “I don’t want to go home. Ever!”

“You’re gonna have to eventually,” Axel said.

“I can’t! My brothers will be pissed and force me to marry that guy.”

Axel felt a twinge of sympathy for the girl. That cop was an asshole. Nobody should be forced to marry him. But what could any of them do? Maple was a girl. Girls had no rights or freedoms. She could only go home and deal with whatever punishment her brothers would give her. At most, Axel could try reasoning with them to go easy on her. But he was reluctant to do that much. Who knew how they’d react to him and Jake. And what if Axel got into some sort of legal trouble over it? He’d rather not go to jail.

“I’m going to run away,” Maple announced.

That was an even worse idea.

“Nice!” Jake leaned over, and ruffled her hair. “Where should we take you?”

“We’re not taking her anywhere but home,” Axel said. “I’m not going to jail for kidnapping a minor.”

“Commer! Did you not see that guy she’s being forced to marry?”

Commer? Was that ESA slang? Axel frowned and glanced over at Jake. “Commer?”

Jake ignored the question. “We need to help her get away from him.”

“I can’t marry him,” Maple said. “Please. At least drop me off somewhere. I can find my own way out of town.”

Jake looked at Axel. “We can do that much.”

On the surface, it sounded like the right thing to do. She’d be safe from that cop. From her pissed off brothers who might be abusive but also might not be. Axel didn’t know her situation. But he did know what it was like to live on the streets. Based off his experiences, and Maple’s gender, being forced to marry McNeil might be preferable.

“Please!” Maple held her clasped hands under her chin.

Axel turned to frown at her. “I’m sorry you’re going through all this. But stop and think for a minute. How are you gonna survive out there? No food. No spare clothes. No money. Do you even have a watch or a phone?”

“I could leave town. Find a job somewhere-”

“What place would hire a woman?”

Maple flinched at Axel's harsh tone, which he regretted instantly. But it was the truth. The van fell quiet for a moment.

It had been a rhetorical question, yet Maple came up with an answer. “There’s teaching. Or something where I could take care of kids. Clean houses or be a waitress.”

“Waitresses aren’t really a thing.” Axel couldn’t remember the last time he saw one. “Neither are house cleaners.”

"They exist," Maple mumbled.

“Barely.” The few positions out there were most likely filled.

“I could still teach or do something involving kids.”

“Who would hire a 17 year old to do that?” Axel asked.

“Someone might...”

“Why are you being such a downer about this?” Jake asked Axel. “You left home at her age.”

“That’s exactly why I’m being a downer. I know what it’s like, living on the streets. Worrying about where I’m gonna get my next meal, if someone’s gonna stab me in my sleep-”

“You could teach me!”

Axel ignored her. “Our situations are different. I was kicked out. There was no running away. My parents weren’t coming after me. I didn’t have cops coming after me. It’s also safer for a boy than a girl. She’ll probably get picked up by someone worse than-”

Sirens and lights flashed behind the van. The three exchanged wide eyes and raised brows.

“Get in the back,” Axel commanded. “Find a hiding spot.” Was there even anywhere she could hide? He could only hope the cop wouldn’t search the van.

Maple climbed over Jake to squeeze through the small gap between Axel and Jake's seat, and slip behind the curtain separating the front seat from the back. Axel noticed an officer approaching in the reflection of his side mirror. Thankfully it wasn’t McNeil.

Axel rolled down his window a few inches, and kept his hands on the steering wheel. Officer Baum peered in at him and Jake. “We have reports of a missing girl. 17 years old. Straight brown hair. Suspected to be with two young men who look like the two of you. Or, shall I say, specifically you two. Axel Bremmer and Jake Williams.”

Axel’s heart raced. This was exactly why he wanted to take Maple straight home. He knew McNeil would have officers searching for him.

“We don’t have her,” Jake said.

“I’ll be the judge of that. Step out of the vehicle. Both of you.”

They got out of the car. Baum ordered them to sit on the side of the road with their hands on their heads. Axel watched Baum walk over to the side of the van, and slide open the side door. He couldn’t see what he was doing in there, but he couldn’t imagine Maple would be hard to find. And she wasn’t. Within ten seconds, Baum pulled her out, his hand gripping her upper arm.

“That hurts!” Maple cried.

“Quiet!”

Axel’s eyes met Maple’s. Her mouth fell, and she looked up at Baum. “Please don’t arrest them. They were only taking me home.”

“Mm-hmm.” Baum dragged her over to a police car. He opened the back door, and shoved her in there. Then, he walked back to Axel and Jake.

Baum gave them permission to stand back up. “You’re all lucky it’s the end of my shift, and my wife has her homemade chilli waiting for me. I don’t have time for any of this shit, so I’m letting you off with a warning. Now get out of my sight, before I change my mind!”