Due to the time we arrived at, it's not long until dinner. Keira hangs out with Axel and I, plus our roommates and Emma, who appears at some point and leans against Peyton, prompting him to put his arm around her, and I determine that they're almost definitely dating. Emma seems to get along fine with Keira as well, which makes me happy. I used to think I had to choose between Keira and Axel, but this seems to be proving that idea wrong.
After dinner we're allowed free time until 'quiet time', which is when we have to be in our rooms, lights off. We don't have to be asleep, necessarily, but we can't be doing anything noisy. That's a few hours away, though.
Keira has to go call her parents, because they can be kind of overbearing and have demanded that she calls them after dinner every day she's gone, so I head to my room, seeing as I have nothing else to do.
Axel's there, unpacking some of his stuff. He glances over when I come in, giving me a smile. "Hey. I was wondering where you'd gone."
I roll my eyes. "I was talking to Keira, where else would I be?"
"Why are you here, then?"
"She had to call her parents."
"Ah."
I flop down on my bed, waiting a moment before asking, "Where are Peyton and Daily?"
"Peyton's with Emma- they're dating, as you've probably figured out by now."
"Yeah, I got that."
"And Daily said he was going to go get dessert from someplace, so I have no idea where he is."
"So it's just us, then?"
He smiles. "Just us."
I take a moment to check myself, make sure I'm not about to say or do anything stupid now that I'm alone with the guy I like. "I like your friends. They're cool."
"Yeah. Sometimes Daily can be a little much, and Peyton can seem pretty grumpy, but they're good people."
"The girls are nice, too. Jennifer and Caroline definitely like you, though."
He spares me a glance. "Does that retract from their likability?"
I grin. "No. Just making sure you know I'm not oblivious."
He snorts. "Alright."
"I like Audrey, though. She seems chill."
"Yeah, I noticed you two getting along earlier."
I don't quite know what to say to that, because suddenly the only thing I can think is that Axel might think I like her. Like, romantically. It's quiet for a moment, before I blurt (like the idiot I am), "I'm still gay. I don't- you know, like her."
He looks surprised. "Oh, I didn't think that. Don't worry. I'm mostly just happy that you like my friends."
I grin. "Oh? And why's that, Axel?"
He presses his lips together, not looking at me but clearly suppressing a smile. "Because we're friends, and I like hanging out with you, and I don't want to be stuck in the middle of some popular kids vs. band geeks feud."
I consider that for a moment. "That's a valid concern. I used to be pretty annoyed at the popular kids. Especially the ones in band."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," he comments drily, and I laugh.
"I'm better now, though! I'm not a terrible person anymore! Wait- am I still?" I sit up, looking at Axel intently. "I'm not a terrible person anymore, right?"
He looks over, grinning. "No Nash, you're not a terrible person. It's cute that you're worried about that, though."
I stare at him, wide eyed as a hot blush crawls up my neck. "Wait- you- you think I'm cute?"
He freezes, like he hadn't realized he said that, and he definitely hadn't meant to. His mouth opens and closes a few times without any sound coming out as he looks back at me, eyes wide as well. "Nash..."
"Do you like me too?" I whisper, feeling my heart squeeze up. Hoping I haven't just made a terrible mistake.
"Of course I like you," he murmurs, still staring at me with a helpless look in his eyes. "How could I not?"
I swallow, then get up and cross the room to him, still scared. "Axel, I..."
The words die in my throat as he reaches up to cup my cheek, running his thumb along my cheekbone. "Can I kiss you?"
I nod a little, and a second later his mouth is on mine, the touch barely there. I tilt my face up to kiss him more firmly, needing more. He lets out a soft hum, parting my lips with his. I cling to his shoulders, needing to hold myself up. He seems to get this, because he wraps an arm around my waist, holding me closer and kissing me harder, over and over and over until I'm breathless.
Somehow, we end up on my bed, still making out like our lives depend on it. Before it can go any further, though, I pull away from him, gasping. "Axel..."
"Yeah, I know," he whispers, running one hand up and down my back. It's a soothing gesture.
"I just- um, what-"
I'm cut off by the sound of a keycard unlocking our hotel room door. Axel reacts quicker than I do, smoothly moving me off of his lap and a safe two feet away, but to be honest that's as far as he gets before the door opens. I try to casually situate myself as I glance over to see who it is. "Oh, hi Daily."
He smiles at me. "Hi guys! I found this place nearby that has really good ice cream." He crosses the room, rifling through his drawers while he talks. "I got this chocolate sundae, it had this vanilla syrup- well, it was actually more of a strawberry vanilla syrup, they're like marbled together, and it was actually not headache-inducingly sweet, because it had that strawberry tanginess." He moves from his drawers to his suitcase, which makes sense because he's barely unpacked so whatever he's looking for is probably in there. "And then there were cherries on top, and like, chocolate sprinkles, and it was in a glass dish that was shaped like a seashell, like one of those ones with the pearls in them."
"You mean an oyster?"
Daily looks up from his suitcase to snap and point at me, grinning. "Yes. It was in a glass dish shaped like an oyster. Super fancy stuff."
"Did you get a picture?" Axel asks, as Daily goes back to digging through his suitcase.
"Oh, no, I totally forgot. That sucks. It was super cool, I totally should've."
"And how much did this cost?" I ask, fighting back a smile.
Daily finds whatever he's looking for and shoves it in his pocket, turning to look at me with a pretty passive expression. "No idea. I just charged it to my parents."
"With your parents' money and your sweet tooth, it's a miracle you're not obese," Axel comments. Daily flashes him a grin as he starts towards the door.
"I'm just blessed, I suppose." He reaches the door, and for a second I almost believe that we're home free, before- "Hey, why are you guys both so red?"
I very determinedly do not look at Axel, really hoping he can come up with a decent lie. Daily narrows his eyes at us, looking between us. My heart nearly stops.
"Okay...? Is there something I should be worried about, or..."
I accidentally look at Axel, and it's a mistake. My face heats up even more at the sight of his red lips, swollen from kissing me, and his hair, which looks kind of windblown from what my hands did to it. Daily seems to notice this, because his eyes widen.
"Were you-"
"Watching porn!" I blurt, interrupting him. "We were watching porn."
Daily's expression smooths out. "Oh. Well. Okay, I guess. I won't tell Peyton about you if you don't tell anyone about me." And then he opens the door and leaves.
I'm frowning. "What are we going to tell people about him? That he's buying obscenely expensive and sugary desserts?" I turn to Axel. "Is he diabetic or something?"
"No idea. Maybe he thinks Peyton would chew him out for it. Either way, he's gone now. So."
"So," I repeat, not entirely sure where to go from here.
"Um. Nash... I- my parents," he says, and those aren't really the words I wanted to hear, but I guess it's a conversation we should probably have. "I can't come out. And I'm really sorry for that. If you want to come out, I get it. I'm not going to force you to stay closeted or have a closet relationship. But I really like you. And if that is something you'd maybe want to try- I mean... dating me. If you want to date me, I'd- I want that too."
I release a breath, along with a lot of the tension I'd been holding during that. "Yes. Axel. I really like you too. And I want to date you. It's fine, I mean, I wouldn't hate coming out and being able to tell everyone, but only really... if I got to be with you. Publicly. So I'm perfectly fine not to come out. That's okay with me."
"Okay," he breathes, and we share a smile before I crawl across the bed back into his lap and kiss him again.
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The nice thing about being on the band trip is that we don't really have to worry about Axel's parents, for now. It makes things a lot easier. I can tell he's letting go of his worries and inhibitions more than he usually would, just because we're far away from them and there's no chance of them seeing us. Of course, there is the chance of other people finding out, but that's a little less scary than a direct threat of Axel's parents walking in on us.
Daily and Peyton don't actually spend that much time in the hotel room, which is nice. It gives us more making out time. Peyton spends most of his time with Emma, and Daily- I don't even know what Daily does. But whenever we have free time and we're not all hanging out as a group, he disappears. Peyton and Axel say that's normal though, and that he's kind of like a child with the way he's always getting distracted and usually eating some kind of sweet.
I actively try not to neglect Keira, but I also want to take advantage of being away from Axel's parents as much as possible. Fortunately, while Keira doesn't know that Axel and I are like, together, now, she does know that I like him, so she tries to leave us alone together to fulfill her best friend duties of tormenting me with my crush as often as possible. She's been hanging out with Audrey, actually, because the people she's rooming with are apparently intolerable and Audrey's pretty cool. It makes me happy because I think Audrey's cool too, and Keira not despising her means we can have a pretty decent friendship.
The actual band festival that we came for is pretty great. We perform really well, which makes me happy. Keira thinks it's hilarious because "it's the first year where you haven't been super pissy and wanted to murder half the band afterwards!" Axel finds that hilarious, and asks me if it's because the band performed better this year than before, or if I'm just less resentful of everyone who isn't as inclined to music as I am. I tell him that I'm not resentful of people who aren't as inclined to music as me, but it's annoying when the band gets brought down by people who aren't practicing. I don't say it with as much venom as I used to, though, and Keira tells Axel that it's definitely because I'm less angry and resentful than I used to be. Which. I resent.
Anyways. All in all, the band trip is a success. It sucks when we have to pack up and go back home, but I'm hopeful that not much will change. The band will still be better, I'll still have a few new friends(ish?) and Axel and I will still be together.
What do you think of the chapter? Nash and Axel finally getting together? Daily walking in on them? And their agreement for their relationship going forward? What do you think will happen next?
If you enjoyed this chapter, please give it a vote or comment to let me know! Thank you so much for reading!