With every passing day, my feelings grew stronger. I had never thought I could be so attached to someone - especially a guy - but it had happened. As he became the happiness in my life, I realized I had fallen into a pit with no exit.

    It had been upsetting once, but I accepted it. I let it be and soon I was allowing my feelings to show. As I began to allow Axel to touch me and fed him small compliments, I hoped he would realize how I felt.

We were sitting outside, side-by-side, just talking. After a bit we fell into comfortable silence and we stared at our surroundings. During that period of time, I looked at Axel and studied him. With the summer heat slowly approaching us, the freckles on Axel's nose had increased, but I found that a blessing as they were something I loved about him.

Suddenly, Axel looked at me. I looked away quickly and blushed, knowing I shouldn't have done that. It made it obvious that I had been staring.

"Zoey," Axel said, speaking in that gentle tone he seemed to reserve for me. "Go on another date with me."

I looked at him quickly. "What?"

"Sorry, I should say hang out with me." He smiled. "It was fun last time."

Blushing, I looked away as my heart skipped a beat. I was confident and that was the case with boys as well. That was why I said my next words easily.

"It can be a date," I said quietly. "I don't mind."

I shouldn't be acting on my feelings, but I couldn't help it. I couldn't resist it because Axel was... Him. He was charming and frustrating and someone I wanted to kick and kiss all at once. The feeling was overwhelming, but I enjoyed it.

    "Really?" His eyes lit up. "Are you serious?"

    "Yeah." I looked away, embarrassed. "Whatever."

    Axel chuckled and the sound brought warmth to my heart. I looked at him and smiled, knowing I was happy for his existence.

*****

    Axel and I were on trampolines. We were at Sky Zone and so far, we'd spent thirty minutes just jumping up and down on the trampolines. It was fun.

    "Look at me!" Axel exclaimed, doing a backflip. "Skills!"

    I grinned at the sight and jumped over to him. My body yearned to touch him - as it usually did - but I fought the urge. I just tried to remain near him.

     "This is such a fun place," I told him, grinning as we began to jump face-to-face. "I can't believe jumping on trampolines can be so much fun."

"You've never been on one?" he asked.

"No. I didn't do much typical children activities. I was too busy studying to make my parents proud."

Axel's eyes softened in that way I loved. I smiled and felt delicate under his gaze. Although I knew I was strong and independent, I liked the idea that Axel thought I could also be something gentle and precious.

Staring at him, I didn't realize he was staring back at me. I didn't even realize we had unconsciously moved closer to each other. As our eyes remained locked on each other's, I didn't even realize Axel was leaning forward.

Suddenly, he then fell forward, crashing into me. I fell back with a gasp, landing on my back. Axel was on top of me and we bounced together a few times, stunned by the sudden fall. I would have laughed at what happened, but with Axel's body pressed against mine, my heart began to pound against my chest. My cheeks turned red and I found it hard to breathe with Axel's face buried into the crook of my neck.

After a few seconds, Axel lifted his face up and said, "Sorry, I fell for you."

I whipped my head to look away, hoping he didn't see how flustered I was. My heart was racing at his words and I tried to tell myself that he didn't mean it in the way I wanted him to mean it. Wanting to play it off, I decided to say something that was both a joke and meaningful.

"Seems like I did too," I said, giving him a small smile.

To my utter surprise, he said, "I really hope so."

I blinked, unsure of what he meant by that. But before I could say anything, he got off of me and stood up. He extended a hand towards me and pulled me up, leaving me confused. But before I could do anything, he pulled me forward suddenly, leaving me falling forward.

"Sucker!" he exclaimed, racing off.

I groaned, but laughed as I got up. Before I knew it I was then racing after him, laughing the entire way. This was my first date and so far, I was loving it.

*****

    We were in his car and we were driving home. I kept glancing at Axel as he drove, unable to help it. After our incredible date, I just really wanted to tell him how I felt. I really wanted to make him mine so that we could have more dates. But, I was scared.

    Despite everything, I didn't know if I could trust Axel. Guys weren't very trustable and because of the stupid kiss, I wasn't sure of Axel's intentions. I didn't know if they were genuine and that left me biting my lip.

    As I pondered over my feelings, I suddenly felt a hand on my thigh. My eyes went wide as I looked at Axel, who kept his eyes on the road.

    "Are you okay?" Axel asked, glancing at me with concern in his eyes. "You look worried."

     "I..." I blushed, unable to help it as I became conscious of his hand on my thigh. "I'm fine. Today was really nice."

    "I'm really glad you liked it." He smiled. "It makes me happy."

    I felt warm at his words. Smiling, I looked away and thought about how sincere Axel sounded. During moments like this, it was hard to believe that he wasn't being genuine with his actions.

    So instead of resisting, I put a hand on top of his hand that lay on my thigh. I wouldn't confess yet, but I would savour these small moments with Axel. They meant the world to me and I was happy with the way things were.

    "Thank you for being with me," I said quietly. "Thank you for making my senior year pretty fun."

    Axel looked at me, surprised, but then simply grinned. He flipped his hand over and squeezed my hand, causing my heart to flutter. I couldn't stop smiling.

     "Thank you too," he said back.

   We both grinned at each other and I knew in that moment that this game wasn't so bad. Since it had brought Axel to me, it wasn't so stupid. I couldn't believe I was thinking that, but it left me grinning.