My ceiling was therapeutic to stare at.

It was a Saturday, I had nothing to do, I was worried, and I also felt bad. And the only thing that could tolerate having me around was my room. So I stared at my ceiling all day, only getting up to get snacks from the pantry and pee.

The main reason I was restless was Axel. Between last night and this morning, I'd thought about him so much that I'd started to feel bad about the way I acted. Couldn't I have just cooled it for a second and talked to him like a normal person? I saw the look on his face as he walked out of Sprinkles, and I knew he sensed something was wrong.

What if he thought I didn't want to speak to him even though that was the truth?

After going downstairs for my third snack—crackers and a glass of orange juice—I figured I couldn't live with this feeling any longer; I wanted to have my peace back and sleep well at night, and I wanted some weight to leave my shoulders.

So when I got back to my room, I picked up my phone and called him. I imagined him not picking up, because lately everyone had been ignoring my calls, but at the same time, I tried to stay positive.

"Hey," I heard after a few rings, and goosebumps rose on my arms immediately my mind registered his voice.

"H—hi, Axel," I stuttered, after which I drew in a deep breath and told myself to be calm.

"What's up? I wasn't expecting your call."

"Yeah, well." I shrugged, even though he couldn't see me. "I just wanted to ask if you're free to hang out."

There was silence for a while before he asked, surprised, "Now?"

"Y . . . eah. Of course."

I heard him laugh. "Are you sure, Kimie?"

"Hundred percent," I replied, but, really, I was only about forty-nine percent sure.

"Okay. Um, I'll pick you up in ten?"

"Sure," I responded quickly—a little too quickly.

If I wanted to get to the bottom of this, then I had to talk to him. I was unsure of how I'd bring the topic up, but I figured I'd find a way before the day was over. If I knew even a little about Axel, then I knew he'd talk to me. It would be an uncomfortable topic, nothing to deny there, but I was willing to take the risk.

I wore a cute, sleeveless mauve-colored dress, put on white canvas shoes, then tied my hair up in a high ponytail after standing in front of my full-length mirror for two minutes, debating on what to wear.

When I got downstairs, everywhere was quiet, a stark contrast to the way the house was when my mom was still alive. You'd either hear the professional sound of a knife against a chopping board from the kitchen, or Kairi's evening workout music from upstairs.

I quickly wrote a note to my dad, keeping it short and clear, then stuck it to the fridge.

I went out and will be back soon. Love you.

I had just taped the note to the fridge when I heard a honk from outside, and I pulled on my ponytail in an attempt to strengthen it, before making my way to the door.

Axel's silver Toyota Camry waited on my driveway, and when he saw me come out of the house through the windshield, he got out of the car with a wide smile.

"I like that color," was the first thing he said to me, his eyes on my dress.

"You do?"

"Yeah," he answered as he walked to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for me. "It looks great on you."

I didn't want his comment to have an effect on me, trying to keep this as casual as possible, but I still got excited, feeling elated that Axel just complimented me.

"Thanks," I said before getting into the car, warning my smile not to get out of hand.

If someone had told me when I started all this weeks ago that I'd be sitting in Axel's car today, clueless about where we were going, I'd probably have poured ice cubes in their underwear.

We were about a minute away from my house when he spoke again. "So how do you feel about going to my place?"

The first thing I did was freeze, then I turned to him with wide eyes. "Are you serious?" I was expecting him to take me somewhere public, where we could still have our privacy if we wanted, not his house, where there was nothing but privacy. By the way, I wasn't sure how I felt about being in a house alone with Axel—even though I wasn't sure we were going to be alone. What if he had siblings and they were waiting?

"Would you freak out if I say I am?" He wasn't smiling, his eyes focused on the road, and his seriousness made me panic a little inside. "Because I am."

Axel glanced at me, probably to see my reaction, his eyes going back to the road almost immediately.

"Um . . ." I started, trailing off before I knew it, my mind not fully made up yet. Before I could think too much about my answer, I blurted, "Sure."

"Great. I'll have to stop by Punch on the way, though. Do you mind?"

"I don't."

His smile finally returned, and my heart slammed hard against my chest as a voice at the back of my mind screamed at me, telling me that this was a bad idea. I tried my best to ignore it, convincing myself that it was just the paranoia speaking, but the voice didn't go away.

When we got to Punch, he texted someone, then waited for a few seconds, staring into his phone.

"I'll be right back, okay?" he told me before opening the door on his side, and I nodded, giving him the permission to get out of the car.

I watched him through the windshield, and when he stepped through the glass doors, my eyes fell on his glove box. The more I stared at it, the more I got convinced to open it. It wasn't my plan to go through the things he kept in his car, but . . .

I looked up to check if he was in sight, then, when I saw that the coast was clear, I opened the glove box. Some things tumbled out of it immediately, landing on my legs before falling to the floor, and I rushed to pick them up.

Napkins. Random pieces of paper. A business card. More napkins. A bracelet.

I quickly put the other things back in the glove box, not taking my eyes off the bracelet I was holding. It glittered in the light coming in through the window, and my mind raced as I struggled to come up with why Axel had it.

My sister's bracelet.

I'd forgotten to keep an eye on Punch's door, and when I remembered and looked up, I saw Axel walking out of the place with a girl behind him.

It took me four glances his way, as I rushed to put his glove box in order before he came back, for me to realize that I knew the girl he was with.

She was smiling as she talked to him and held her hair away from her face, and he wore a weaker smile, nodding and responding to her. The point where I froze was when Macy looked towards the car and met my eyes through the windshield. Her smile fell, and Axel looked, too, putting me in the spotlight.

I didn't move—I didn't dare to—scared that if I did, he'd know I was just checking his glove box, and that I just saw my sister's bracelet in it.

Macy looked away first, saying something to him, prompting him to focus on her. I relaxed into the seat when the attention was drawn away from me, quickly looking down at my feet to check if there was anything on the floor of the car.

Axel and Macy talked for a few seconds more, and from here, I could see Axel's smile slipping. By the time they both stopped talking, he was looking as annoyed as he was that day in Ridgerock's parking lot. My ex-best friend stepped closer to him, taking his hand and linking her small finger with his, fully aware that I was watching.

Axel didn't look comfortable, but he didn't separate their fingers or step away from her. Macy definitely knew what she was doing, because she leaned closer to Axel and gave him a kiss on the cheek that was suspiciously close to his lips, her eyes on me.

I tried not to let the action bother me, looking down at my fingers in my lap, a sign of submission, and I could almost feel Macy's joy. This was what she wanted. She wanted me to see her do that.

Anger was crawling up my body from my feet agonizingly slowly, and I could feel my chest tightening with enormous dislike.

I sat there, stewing over the things bothering me, and didn't look up until I heard the driver's door open. Axel literally fell into the seat, causing his car to shake from the impact, then ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

I watched him in silence for a long time, then asked, "Um, are you okay?"

He looked at me with an unreadable expression, his eyes glittering with something strong. "Macy's making me lose my mind," he responded, surprising me with the truth. What was I supposed to say to that? "And in a bad way," he added.

I thought about my next words before bringing them to life. "What's wrong?"

"You saw that, didn't you?" was his reply before he turned the key in the ignition and shut the driver's door.

I swallowed the ball in my throat, then asked, "Did you two . . . date?"

The car started moving and he glanced at me before looking back to the road. "Briefly last year. But it didn't work out."

My stomach sank after the confirmation that he was that close to Macy, and neither of us spoke until we got to his house, located in a quiet and expensive-looking neighborhood. The houses here were those types beautiful enough to appear in home magazines.

"This is where I hide," he told me after he stopped the car on his driveway.

I studied his house from the car, drinking the beauty of it. It looked cozy, and the glass windows gave a good view of some parts of it. Sunlight bounced off the windows and made it glitter against the white exterior.

"Wow," I said, "your place is beautiful."

Axel smiled for the first time since we left Punch, but it looked a little forced, like he was just smiling for the sake of it. "My mom's an interior designer, so she tends to steal house ideas from her clients."

I let out a little laugh, my stomach clenching when I digested the fact that I was about to go into Axel's house, and that we were probably going to be alone for God knows how long.

"I like her already," I said, and he widened his smile a little before opening the door and getting out of the car.

He walked around the car to my side, then pulled the door open for me. I muttered my thanks as I got out, and his fingers brushed against my forearm when he moved to close the door.

"Shall we?" He gestured to the house, and I twisted my fingers, inhaling the cool breeze and letting it soothe me.

"Yeah," I breathed, "sure."

I let him lead me into his home, keeping my distance so I could steady my breathing, and when we stepped through the front doors, cold air hit my bare arms, making me shiver slightly. The furniture was dark—the sofas, the coffee table, the display case in the corner, even the home bar—with just a little splash of white here and there. It was obvious his mom was doing her job well.

"So," he said after letting me admire his house for a while, and I turned to him, "juice? Wine?"

"I'll just have water."

He lifted his eyebrows in disbelief. "You can't come to my place and just have water, Kimie," he told me before throwing his keys to the coffee table and turning in the direction of the kitchen, and I let out a slow breath, following him quietly.

He made his way to the fridge and took out a jug of juice, then got a glass. As he poured me some juice, I could only think about how I was going to bring up my sister. Why didn't I think better about this beforehand?

"I wasn't ready for this," Axel said as he gave me the glass of juice, "so what would you like to do? Suggestions?"

I stared at him, thinking about what to say. I don't know if it was me, but he was looking more intimidating as the seconds passed, and it caused a weird sensation to bubble in my stomach. I searched my head for hangout suggestions, but came up blank. Axel poured himself some juice as he waited for my reply, and I made a thoughtful sound at the back of my throat to show that I was actually thinking about my answer.

Finally coming up with something—an escape suggestion, actually—I asked him, "How about Netflix?"

He took a sip of his drink, then gave me a small nod. "I guess that'd do. Come on." He started walking out of the kitchen, and I followed. "What genre?"

"Horror," I replied speedily, and he threw me a suggestive smile over his shoulder, making my cheeks burn.

When I took my seat on the plush black sofa, I sent a quick text to Kairi, telling her that I went out, and I waited a few seconds to see if she'd reply, but she didn't. She still wasn't talking to me, and as much as I didn't want it to, it was bothering me. I stared into my phone and didn't realize when Axel sat next to me until he gently bumped my shoulder with his.

"You okay?" he asked when I turned to him, and I nodded, then put my phone away. "Are you sure? You got sad all of a sudden."

I gave him a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just remembered something."

Axel wasn't buying it, and it was obvious in the way he was looking at me. "If you don't want to talk about it, then say so," he said softly, and the way he said it caused goosebumps to rise on my skin. It was the guilt at work, and I realized that when he continued. "I won't force you to talk about anything you don't want to."

I stared at him for longer, rolling in the feeling I got from listening to him speak. I was such an idiot. A big idiot.

Nodding finally to break the sudden silence, I told him, "I'm sorry. I'll keep that in mind against next time." Next time?!

He must've gotten the meaning of what I said, because he gave me a small smile -- so small I would've missed it—before turning to the television. "So, what do you wanna watch?"

And he didn't look at me as I chose the movie, his jaw tight.

I think the alternate title of this chapter could be 'Netflix and No Chill,' because Kimie is definitely not chilling today. How do you think this 'hangout' is going to end ('cause it continues in the next chap)?

See you in the comments, I love you guys loads! 💕