Chapter 62: Chapter 62
LXII
"Oh my god! Are we going to the airport?!" I exclaim and sit up even straighter than before, clapping my hands in pure and utter happiness.
Axel chuckles and puts his hand on my thigh. "Calm down, baby, you are scaring Wolf."
"We are! This is so mindblowing, Axel, I've never been on a plane before! Where are we flying?" I can't hide my emotions because they are all over the place.
I'm still sad about my dad and worried about my mum and I'm slightly scared of flying but beyond all, I am as happy as ever, going on an adventure with him.
"Well, I'd like to say it's a surprise, but you're gonna find out anyway so fuck it. Tell me, baby, how do you like the sound of ?"
I gape at him. "What, for real? Florida?"
"Well, it's your birthday. I figured I should make it special." he says.
"By flying us to Florida?" I still can't get over it.
He looks over at me. "You don't like it?"
"What? No! Of course I do! It's just that it seems a bit over the top." Or a lot over the top.
"I mean, it's just my birthday. I expected you to take me to dinner not to fucking Florida."
"Well, we can still turn around and go to a dinner if you want that." he seems a bit disappointed.
Damn it. How do I explain that I absolutely love this?
"Axel, I love it." I lean over and press a kiss on his cheek. "This is the best birthday gift ever, apart from Wolfie."
"Well, okay then." he says, blushing a bit and trying to hide a smile.
He's so cute.
"Wait, what about Wolfie? How's he gonna get on the plane? Does he have his passport and stuff?" I ask, feeling slightly panicked. It would be horrible if we wouldn't be able to take him with us and we'd surely miss the plane if we had to take him back to Axel's house now.
"Passport? Shit." he curses.
This is not good.
"What do we do?" I ask, holding Wolfie to my chest and him nudging his nose against my cheek.
Axel parks the car and smirks at me. "Baby, did you forget that I'm a smuggler?"
***
"Oh come on! It's just a fucking puppy! It's not like he has drugs or like explosive in his stomach or his ass!" Axel defends us as the security guard at the x-ray gives us disapproving looks.
"I'm sorry, sir but I can't let him get past this. He needs documentation." he says, looking slightly afraid of Axel. He gives him a death glare, and before I know it, his hands are gripping the collar of his shirt.
I gasp and quickly look around the room. It's sheer luck that he's alone here at the moment, I'm assuming the other guard had to take a bathroom break or something.
There aren't many more guards here at our tiny airport anyway.
"Listen to me, you prick. I have a plan and I don't like it when things aren't going the way I planned. Now, my patience is wearing really fucking thin and you don't want to see me when I lose my shit. You better let this go or I'll wait for you after you're done with your shitty job and I'll break your limbs, and then I'll cut off your tiny little dick and push it down your throat. You get me?" his voice is low, dangerous and the guard looks like he might vomit any moment.
I'm sure I paled, too, and the guard yous rapidly nods at Axel a few times and lets us past.
I give Axel a disapproving look, pissed at him. He can't just do things like that!
"What?" he shruggs.
"You're the worst smuggler ever." I simply say, holding the bag with Wolfie in my hands. I'll have him have it later.
He just rolls his eyes and urges us on the plane. Thankfully, there are no more x-rays and the rest goes by quite smoothly, the bag with Wolfie is allowed to be with us on the plane because it's not so big. Before we know it, we're up in the air and I'm gripping Axel's hand so hard that he whines about how I'm gonna crush it.
However, after the taking off is over, I relax a bit.
"How long is the flight?" I ask him and he shruggs.
"I don't know, a couple of hours?"
"Oh, that's good. I like to have the ground close to me." I tell him. "How long will we be there?"
"Well," he says and takes my hand in his, playing with my fingers like he likes to do, "I was thinking we could stay for about a week? We can be as long as we want, because we're staying with my cousin."
A week? I was planning to move before that, but I don't really care. This is great and I'll be there with Axel as long as possible.
"Yeah, that sounds great." I reply and watch his features for a few moments.
The rest of the flight we spend watching a movie and I'm pretty sure Wolfie fell asleep somewhere around that time, because he was as quiet as a mouse, except for the incredibly quiet snoring.
I feel Axel's eyes on me throughout the movie, but I decide not to comment on his staring and just lean my head on his shoulder. We land about thirty minutes after the movie ends and I'm beyond glad when I feel the hard ground under my feet again; flying is not really for me.
"He should be here somewhere." Axel says, his hand on the small of my back as he pushes me through the crowd on the airport to get to his cousin at the baggage claim.
And he's right. A young guy with the same curls as Axel waves at us about 30 feet away. Surprisingly, he has no tattooes or piercings, but they are very alike; same hair, same height and very similar facial expressions. "Axel, how nice to finally see you again, cuz! How are you? And is this the beautiful lady you can't get enough of?" he greets us and I chuckle; he seems energetic and happy, unlike Axel.
Before I can understand what's going on, his arms are around me. "Sophie, I'm so glad to finally meet you. I can't believe you actually managed to put this asshole in his place."
I laugh and immediately like him. Axel only grunts at his words but in his eyes there's humour.
"It's nice to meet you, too. What's your name?" I ask him when he steps back a bit and Axel immediately pulls me to his side.
"Oh, of course he didn't tell you about his awesome cousin. My name's Oscar, at your service." he says and pretends to bow. "Come on, loser. Let's get our nice big butts out of this place." he adds and we leave the airport.
"I like him." I grin at Axel and he nods. "He's pretty cool, yeah. If the circumstances were different, I'd be a bit pissed off at how he talked to you and hugged you, but considering everything, I know he's just being his charming self."
"Circumstances?" I question, slightly comfused, but my answer comes, when another guy, waiting by Oscar's car, wraps his arms around his waist and pecks his lips.
"Oh." I say, smiling.
It's obvious that they're together and I'm happy they're so open about it.
"Hi, I'm Evan." he tells me and gives me a shy smile.
"Hi, Evan. I'm Sophie." I introduce myself and smile back. Axel still has me by his side, so I couldn't hug him even if I wanted to.
"Well, let's go. We have a nice little house just by the beach, you'll love it there, Sophie." Oscar rushes and I know we'll get along really well. In the car I can finally set Wolfie free again and he licks our faces out of happiness.
Their house turns out to be an adorable two-story house with lots of flowers and almost on the beach. As soon as we get there, I pull Axel with me towards the beach, wanting to get there as soon as possible and watch the waves, taking Wolfie with us to walk him a bit. The best thing about it is that this is a private beach, meaning there's no people on it, leaving just me, Axel and a nice sandy beach.
"This is just like I've always imagined it." I tell him, mesmerized by everything around us. "It's truly the most beautiful place on Earth."
He grins. "Your favourite place?"
I nod. "Definetly."
We walk some more before returning back. When we get close to their place, however, I notice something laying on the sand; a piece of paper.
I bend down and take it in my hands.
She didn't quite belong here
Lived a life within her head,
Like she'd slipped out from the covers
Of a paperback instead
Another note? I turn it around.
Your favourite food
I gape up at Axel. "Are these about me?" I ask him and he smiles, tucking my hair behind my ear.
"Yes, love."
I think about it for a second. "And on the back, there's a clue where the next note is?"
He nods and I grin, before running back towards the house to look for another note