Falling For The Playboy

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Guilt suffused me and I instantly felt ashamed. “Right. I’m sorry. ” I knew what it was like to be judged by people who knew nothing about you. It was a horrible feeling and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Shameful how I had been so quick to judge him and his friend. Didn’t people who knew better did better?

He shook his head, his frown gone in a flash. “Back to what I was saying. That was before. Now though, they’re literally best friends. She’s closer to him than she is with me. It’s kind of annoying sometimes. ” He paused. “Really fucking annoying, you know. ”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his obvious frustration. “No, I don’t know. ”

He glared at me. “She’s my sister. She should be closer to me than any other other person. ”

I shook my head, smiling sadly. I had a friend closer than any family member I could possibly have. “Not really. ”

He caught on to my mood and he leaned back into the chair, his leg dropping to the floor as his eyes grew somber. “I never would have guessed you were an orphan. ” He said quietly.

I flinched at the word. I never referred to myself as an orphan and it was quite stupid that I reacted that way whenever people called me that because that, in fact, was exactly what I was. I had the documents to prove it, but the truth was, I couldn’t term myself that. Not when I knew my parents were alive somewhere in this world. Sure, they could be dead; life wasn’t guaranteed. But I didn’t believe that.

“I’ve only met Mrs Lawson once, but I’m assuming she and her husband are nice people. ” He said again, dragging my eyes back to him.

“Why? ” I asked absently.

“They adopted you. ” He said, matter of fact.

“Well, there’s that. ” I laughed. Why was I laughing? I frowned.

“There’s also the fact that they built the school pool and furnished the gym to death, voluntarily, of course. ” His eyes lit up. “Have you had the chance to go in there yet? ”

I shook my head. I didn’t even know the school had a gym, but I knew about the pool. Zoe took regular swims there after school. I saw her walking in there one day and my question of why she never came home with us was finally answered.

“I use it a lot, except when I need to stretch. Then I go out to the field. ”

I perked up at the mention of the word, ‘feild’, reminding me of something that had been bugging me. I hadn’t been able to ask before but now that we were talking, I could.

“I noticed on your Instagram that it says you’re an athlete. ” I waited for him to digest that and he gave me a nod, urging me to continue. “And you have a lot of followers. How? ”

“Because I am an athlete. ”

“You’re not serious. ” I narrowed my eyes at him doubtfully.

“As a heart attack. “He deadpanned. “What? You thought I put that there for fancy? ” He scowled, looking offended and I wondered whether I should apologize or not. I couldn’t keep up with his mood.

“No. ” I hurried to assure him. “It’s just that a lot of people have similar things on their pages too when there was nothing to show for it and I figured maybe you were aspiring. I didn’t know you were actually….” I trailed off.

“I’m nowhere near halfway to where I want to be. So, yeah, I guess you can call me an aspiring athlete. ” He grinned at me, showing his even white teeth.

Jesus. His mood went from zero to ten and back real quick. It took a lot of work matching him. I didn’t think I had that much mental -and physical- energy.

That explained my fascination with his legs!, I thought. He had really toned legs, filled with muscles and when they moved, it was nothing short of divine.

I decided to just go with the flow. “So what does being an athlete comprise? ”

“It means I qualify for all track and field events. ”

“And you do….. all? ”

He looked at me like I had sprouted a second head. “No. I run and jump. Those are track events. I have no business with field. ”

The waitress came just then to clear the dishes, leaving my ice cream in front of me. She probably thought I wasn’t done with it.

“Do you exercise often? ” I was pretty sure he did. I remembered seeing him running out in the field, the day we shot the advert. I hadn’t thought anything about it at the time, but knowing he was an athlete now, made certain things make sense.

“Yes. In the mornings on days when I’m free and evenings on days when I’m not. Like on school days. ”

I was right.

“You have so many followers. ” I leaned back, stretching my leg under the table and stopped abruptly when they hit his. He didn’t look down. Exhaling, I drew them back. “That means you must be recognized, right? ”

He smirked, understanding in his eyes. “Cg, baby, in case you haven’t noticed, my followers all follow me because of one thing. ” I tried not to react to him calling me ‘baby’ and instead, cocked a brow at him, waiting for him to continue. “My. Wicked. Good. Looks. ”

I couldn’t help it. I guffawed.

He pretended to roll his eyes. “Yeah. Laugh all you want. We both know I’m right. ”

“But seriously though. ” I wiped at my eyes as I tried to catch my breath.

He grew serious, his face scrunching up in thought. “I mean, I’ve been doing this for two years. Participated in several competitions, two major ones. Came home with a silver medal after placing second -that one really got my name out there, and ever since, my number of followers have been climbing. ”

“Wow. ”

He shrugged. “Can’t really say if that’s a good or a bad thing ’cause there are so many critics. But, hey, we live for them. ”

I stared at him in silence. I mean, I understood him. I hated attention and the harsh light it brought upon a person, but one didn’t venture into a path that would shovel attention to you in waves when one wasn’t prepared for it.

I tugged on the cap of my hoodie when I started to feel a little cold. He eyes followed the movement.

“So is that a career path or a hobby? ” I asked after a while.

He seemed to mull my question over, rolling his bottom lip between his fingers. “And that’s the million dollar question. Am I going to make it a career path or am I not? ”

“Do you want to? ”

He met my eyes, unwavering and I was staggered by the conviction I saw there. “More than anything, Cg. ”

“You have your answer then. ” I shrugged.

He chuckled bitterly, looking away. And for the first time, Axel’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I wish it were that easy. ”

The pain that laced his words was strong, almost tangible and it took me by surprise. He obviously loved his athletics and would even go as far as wanting to pursue a career, so what was stopping him?