19th June:

I've been real busy, these last coupla days. I had to work again, and nearly got fired cause
I couldn't stop textin' Roxie at every moment I got. During my small breaks, my fingers
were flyin' fast, I can tell you. We didn't really say nothin' important, ya know, just the
usual fluffly stuff that gets said when you miss someone. I know it don't sound like me,
really, but I'm the kinda guy who if I wanna say somethin' real important, I gotta say it
face to face, ya know?
I didn't see Roxas yesterday, because his mom told him he had to stay in and finish
homework, Sunday night. Though Roxas said it was because she knew that he'd be out
with me, and she didn't want that, cause she didn't know me at all. I figure that's fair. I
wouldn't want any kids a' mine hangin' out with complete strangers. I asked him if he
wouldn't mind me going' to his house one day, when I'm not so busy, to meet his mom.
He was like, Axel, you really don't wanna meet my mom, she's embarrasing. I said, well,
if I don't meet your mom, you can't come out and see me. He said, good point.
Today, Demyx gave me some real weird looks. I just ignored him. I don't wanna start a
fight, like I'm known to do sometimes. But I do wonder what his problem is. He better
not be jealous or nothin'. On the plus side, I saw Roxas. He wasn't hangin' out with the
usuals, when I saw him in the mornin'. 'Stead, he came straight over to me, with a
massive grin on his face, that I couldn't help but return. He's got one of those smiles, ya
know?
'Hey, Axel.' He said, and I said hey back. We hung out before the bell for homeroom, and
when it rung we parted like two lovers who might never see each other again. It was a
touch dramatic, I think. It weren't like I weren't gonna see him again, cause I saw him at
lunch, and I sat with him over on a table all by ourselves. Luckily, though everyone
seems to know we're a couple, they keep their mouths to themselves. And they better,
too, if they know what's good for 'em. Any single bad word they any of them say to my
boy Roxie, and it'll be their last. Or at least, it'd be their last for a while, cause they'd be in
hosptial, ya know what I'm sayin'.
Roxas started to get kinda nervous at the end of our lunch break, and he started to fiddle
with a keyring -Fall Out Boy, scene kid, what did I tell ya?- on his bag.
'Uh, Axel?' He was all shaky like, and I smiled softly. 'Yeah, Roxie?'
'You busy tonight? I-I mean, I know you have to work, but I was just wondering...' And
he trailed off, and I was thinking about if I was gonna get fired if I called in sick, or plain
just didn't turn up to work. I figured I probably would, but who cares, anyway? I need a
new job, plus...to be honest, I'd do anything for Roxas, he'd only have to ask. I'm in that
deep, now. Kinda fast, huh? Sometimes I think how on Earth could we have fallen in love
with each other so quickly? Don't it usually take weeks, months, years, in some cases?
It's mystifyin'. Maybe we're soul mates. Yeah, I like that idea. Soul mates.
So, anyway, I just lied, and said, 'Naw, I'm not busy.' I figured I could take a day offa
work. I'm entitled to a break from work. Like I said, who cares? I think he knew I was
lying, but he didn't say anythin'.
'Why?' I asked, and I could hear him shufflin' his feet under the table, so's I poked him
gently.
'Oh, um.' He started turnin' red again, almost same color as my hair, wouldya believe it?
'My mom wants to meet you. As soon as.' And he looked away, embarrassed.
'Oh,' was all I said. I mean, what DO you say to that? I mean...I've never been in this
position before. Okay, so yeah, I've been out with a ton of guys, but never EVER this
deep. I've never met Demyx's parents, and we were close, ya know? Not as close as
Roxie and I, but yeah. So, of course, the first thing that runs through my mind, is, OMG.
Sure, I was nervous. I was silent for a bit, just thinking, then Roxas started to apologize.
'Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up.' He sighed.
'Hey, don't worry about it. I wanna meet your mom, 'kay?' I said. Which was kinda true.
But mostly only cause she said that Roxie couldn't come out with me if she didn't meet
me first. Of course, I'm gonna agree, huh? 'Look, you said that your mom was
embarrassin', right?' He nodded mutely. 'Well, in that case, I won't give her any excuse to
be embarrassin'. I'll be honest, polite, smile a lot, say 'yes' to everything she asks, and if
she offers to get out the baby pictures, I'll just say that it's not fair to see yours first
without you seein' mine.' I winked. That was fair, right? Roxas blushed; I'm kinda sure he
heard the double meanin' in that. 'Or, if you want, Roxie, I'll bring mine along, then you
won't be embarrassed. Cause honestly,' I rolled my eyes. 'I sure was an ugly baby.'
Roxas protested. 'I'm sure you weren't!' He shook his head. 'No, I've got to see the
pictures now. You weren't. Axel, if you were such an ugly baby, how could you have
grown up to be...to be this?' He gestured from my head to my feet.
'Ah, Roxie. It's magic, to be sure.' I joked, in a poor Irish accent.
It made me feel good to see that he'd cheered up about me meetin' his mom.
Unfortunatley, it did mean that I had to find my own baby pictures. That was the only
thing I wasn't lookin' forward to.
So, at the end of the day, 'stead of us walking with each other, we went seperate ways. I
told him, I gotta sort out some of my best clothes, if I've gotta impress him mom, but
neither of us were happy that we had to split up for a bit. So I said, 'Cheer up, Roxie. I'll
be with you in a few hours.'
Then he kinda whined, which I'd not seen him do before, 'Yeah, but I wanna be with you
now.' Aw, ain't that sweet. No, that's not sarcasm. It really is. I kissed him softly. 'I'll be
thinkin' of you every second til then, Roxas.'
'I'll be thinking of you every nanosecond.'
'Alright, smart Alec!' I laughed and squeezed his hand tight. 'See ya later.'
When I got home, even though there were two hours before I was to go to his house, I
was in mad rush, tryna get everythin' sorted out, so I didn't have to rush when it was
nearer the time. I managed to get a hot shower in, some quick microwave dinner, found
some baby photos, got dressed in my smart-ish clothes (just black pants, white shirt and
black tie, but it's formal enough, I guess), tried to tame my hair into something less
offensive - cause my hair often frightens pensioners, I'm told; gave a feeble excuse to the
parentals (with whom I had to put up with jokes about a 'girl'. They don't know I'm gay,
see.), and left within an hour and half. Plenty of time to get there, since Roxas had texted
me a Google Map of directions straight from my place to his. Got it memorized. Took
twenty minutes, and I was so damn nervous. I didn't know if his mom would think that
my bein' early would be impolite, so I waited a couple minutes before jogging up the
little steps with my album of embarrassing photos in it, and ringin' the doorbell.
From what Roxas told me, his mom don't much like accents, so on the way I mumbled
under my breath, tryna make myself sound less...well, me, I guess. Roxas said never
mind, if she don't like me for who I am, then that's her problem. But I wanna do this right,
don't wanna mess nothin' up.
When his mom opened the door, she gave a timid little smile that I recognised - exactly
like Roxas'. He's so much like his mom, that it might be insultin' to say that.
She said, 'Hello. I suppose you're Axel?'
I nodded once and held out a hand. 'Yes, Ma'am. Pleased to meet you.' I was tryin' so
hard not make that sound like; 'Pleased ta meetcha.' I think she could tell, cause she had a
knowin' look in her eyes. She took my hand and shook it, smiling a little wilder. 'Roxas
has told me so much about you. I was thinkin', please let it be the good stuff. 'Please,
come in, dear.'
I dipped my head, like I've seen those gentleman do on TV and wiped my shoes -just in
case- before stepping over the threshold. 'Thank you, Ma'am.'
His mom laughed quietly. 'Please, Axel, do call me Crystal, won't you?' She closed the
door, and I instantly felt trapped, outta my element kinda thing. I almost started to panic,
but then Roxas came down the stairs, beamin'. I beamed back, and I got the strangest
feelin'. It felt like a movie, ya know, where it's time for prom, and the boyfriend's at the
girl's house, and she walks down the stairs, beautiful and ready for prom; the protective
father keepin' a watchful eye over the two of them. You know that I'm talkin' 'bout, right?
I also felt somethin' else. I just wanted to leap at my boy and hug him so tight, whisper
into his ear, 'I love you.' Over and over again.
But I kinda couldn't do that, with his mom RIGHT THERE, could I?
'Axel.' Roxas said my name breathlessly.
'Roxas.' I turned slightly, so that his mom, Crystal, wouldn't see when I poked my tongue
at him. He giggled and jumped off the last step, and he noticed my photo album. 'What's
this? Those pictures you were talking about earlier?'
'Yep.' I blinked, and said it again. 'Yes.' Roxas rolled his eyes and tugged the album me. 'I
want to look.'
Crystal stepped between us. 'I'd love to look too. If that's fine with Axel, of course.' I
nodded, a little taken back.
Then she smiled again. 'Well. Then, I think we should wait until we've talked a bit first,
don't you, Roxas, Axel?'
'Uh...' I managed, but luckily Roxie intervened. 'Can Axel sit down first? He's only just
got in!'
'Oh, of course!' Crystal put a hand on my arm. 'I'm so sorry, Axel, that was rude of me.
I'll take you into the sitting room, dear. I should have taken you there first, instead of
standing here in the hallway...' She rattled on a bit, and walked towards one of the doors
in the hallway. Roxas took the opportunity to roll his eyes, and he muttered quietly. 'She's
always like this. Feel free to make an excuse to leave, anytime.' I nudged him, playfully,
and said, 'Hey, that's not nice.' But I couldn't help sniggering. 'Look, this isn't worse that
at my place, 'kay? You're lucky. You don't get addressed as 'boy.' Geez, sometimes I
reckon I know what Harry Potter felt like.' We both snorted at that, and hastily followed
Crystal into the front- sitting room, whatever, when she called, 'Boys?'
Roxas pushed me towards a chair when I wouldn't take one, and Crystal frowned. 'Roxas,
you shouldn't push people.'
'But he doesn't mind. Besides, if I didn't push him into a chair,' He pouted at me. 'He'd
never sit down. He's polite like that.' That was kinda true, I s'pose. I gotta say, the worst
part of the evening was definately the showing of the baby photos. Mine were worst,
though I'd reckon, my boy Roxie would disagree with that. He was a real cutie, when he
was a baby, I'd swear it on anything. Whereas me - God, I looked like a baby pug.
No. Wait. The worst part a' the evening was when I had to go. It was near 11, and his
mom started to get just a little firm. 'It's a school night, Roxas.'
'But Mum-!'
'No buts. You will see Axel tomorrow at school, I'm sure, and it's not the nd of the world.
There are other days too, you know.'
He gave a sad sigh, which damn near broke my heart, and we were both glad when
Crystal left us alone to say bye. 'Good night, Axel. I suppose I'll see you another time.'
She said as she left. And I added politely, 'Maybe, Crysal, Ma'am.'
Roxie poked me when she left. 'You don't need to call her Ma'am. I bet it makes her feel
old.'
'Yeah, but it's polite, ain't it?' I instantly went back to my accent, and I could see Roxas
was pleased with that.
'I guess...' He leaned up and kissed me, and I kissed him back, and we melted again with
each other. I know for sure that I was trying so damn hard not to moan out loud, or to run
off into the night with him in my arms, take him down to our park where we could just
make out for the whole night. And by the way Roxas' face was red, and the way he was
pantin' after we pulled apart, I'm guessin' he kinda felt the same thing.
I kissed him again, sweeter that time. 'G'night, Roxas.'
'Good night, Axel. I love you.' I couldn't help it when I kissed him again, I took him by
surprise. He wrapped his arms around me, and I did the same, pulling him closer to me so
that he could feel my heart beat faster. It's embarrssing to say this, but I'm pretty sure
that's not the only thing he felt, if ya know what I mean.
'Roxas?' Crystal called from inside the house, and he sighed again. 'Coming, Mom!'
'I love you too, Roxie.' I said, as I walked down the steps backwards, bein' careful not to
trip. 'See ya tomorrow.'
'Tomorrow.' He promised, and I winked, as he closed the door.
I can say somethin', I'm NEVER bringin' my boy Roxie to my house. He thinks his
mom's bad?
Psh.