Chapter 2

Axel arrived home late the night of his and Athena's big fight. The only person that was still up was Cleo, his little sister, and she was on the couch binge-watching her favorite show Once Upon A Time.

"Hey, Cleo. How is your show coming along?" Cleo just gave a thumbs up and a nod before stuffing her face with icing. Axel went to his room and fell on the bed with a stressed sigh.

"Why does Athena have to be such a pain sometimes?" He stared at his phone while trying to decide whether he should call her now or later. He agreed that they would be safer after hearing her screaming to Maurice about the fight and letting her eat all the ice cream in the house.

Axel smiled and thought of the good times he had with her and realized that he had crossed the line. He began to wind down his anger towards Athena and wanted to make it up to her. Still, he realized that he had never gotten her this upset before, so he would have to do more than the standard gallon of ice cream and favorite flowers.

He started to think of what he could do to fix this thing with Athena.

"Cleo! Can you come here, please?"

Cleo came running and stopped at her brother's door panting. "What? What's wrong?" Axel took a deep breath and explained everything to Cleo. "Now I need help trying to make it up to her because the Chocolate Ice Cream and Daisies won't do it this time. I f*cked up bad this time, and I know Athena the best, but I am still clueless."

Cleo stared at a spot on the wall above Axel's head and started to think. What could her brother do to make it up to Athena for f*cking up as he did?

Cleo got an idea. "Why don't you sing Athena a song?" Axel looked at Cleo like she must be joking, but Cleo had such excitement on her face. She started looking through her playlist. "I found the perfect song for you to sing to Athena! It will show her how sorry you are for breaking the promise, and maybe she will forgive you."

"Okay. Let's hear the song. What is it called?"

"It's called 'A Thousand Sorries'; it is a perfect song, and it can show Athena that you are genuinely sorry."

Cleo plays the song, and Axel starts to think that this might be a bad idea, but this is the only idea he has. As he listens to the words, he realizes that this is how he feels about his and Athena's situation.

"This is it! Thank you, Cleo! I am going to start a plan to say sorry about this song."

Axel starts planning the apology. He talked to one of his friends at the local flower shop and ordered twelve dozen daisies and booked a room at Skate-A-Round, the skating rink in town, for four hours. After that, he planned for a drive-in movie he got tickets for 'Jumanji: The Next Level.'

He remembers Athena wanting to watch it since she loved the first one. She loved all the movies that have Dawayne "The Rock" Johnson in them. She thinks he is hot, but Axel doesn't get why Athena believes this. He just does not get it.

He text Athena:

Hey. I want to say sorry about the only way that you might forgive me. So will you get dressed and meet me at Skate-A-Round at 7 pm? I promise that I won't make you mad this time. Please just give me another chance. I want to make it up to you.

After he sends it, he heads to Skate-A-Round to set up the room and get the flowers to fill the room. He also needed to get his car washed and find something to wear.

Athena sees the message and leaves it on reading so that she can go and see what he wanted. She was mad, so she put on a red sexy dress to show her anger. She tended to wear the color of her emotions.

She goes over to Skate-A-Round and sees the white balloons with rose gold ribbons, her favorite color. Axel walks out of the front door wearing a white suit with a rose gold tie and handkerchief.

He walks up to Athena, "My lady, will you come with me, please?" She nods confused but still goes with him. Axel can't help but look at the awestruck Athena and feels like he had accomplished something and moved into the next phase of his plan.

They enter Skate-A-Round, and Athena is taken aback by the number of daisies and rose gold that is in one place. She follows Axel to the room that he reserved. When they enter, she sees her favorite dish made with her favorite wine.

Axel pulled out her chair and motioned for her to sit. Athena takes her seat and waits for Axel to do the same. He received his place, "Whenever you are ready to start my lady."

Athena nodded, started eating. She was surprised that it tasted as good as it did. They ate their meal in an awkward silence that nobody wanted, but it still happened. Axel stared at Athena while they ate.

Axel thought to himself how beautiful she looked in that dress. She looked like an angel that had just fallen from heaven. He stopped his train of thought.

"Wait, what?"

He realized that he had spoken out loud and was embarrassed. His cheeks started to turn red. "I am sorry, Axel? Wait on what? No one has said anything since we started eating." Athena was confused about what had just happened.

"Excuse me. I was thinking about today and started thinking about something that did not make any sense." Athena just stared at him like he was delusional. "Whatever. What does any of this have to do with your text earlier?"

Axel had to think of the proper way to put this so that she would not get mad. "Umm...well, you see...I planned a big gesture to say that I was sorry, and this is the first stage of that. The fact that you came means that you wanted to talk things through, but based on your dress's color, you are still angry with me. Which is understandable. I thought a lot about what you said yesterday, and Cleo helped me pick out a song to express my feelings of sorrow and regret." Axel looked down at his lap, waiting on Athena to say something.

Athena just nodded, "Okay, let's continue this apology gesture before I change my mind and leave." Axel looks at Athena with disbelief, and she has already continued to eat.

They go and skate for their designated time frame, and then Axel takes her to the drive-in movie. Athena squeals with delight that they are watching a movie with The Rock in it. "You remembered how much I love The Rock. That is sweet, but you hurt my feelings, so it will take time for me to truly forgive you. I am not opposed to letting you re-try the whole "Alanna" thing, but I already don't like her, so it will take a lot to impress me on her end." Axel nods and hugs her, and they watch the movie in Axel's car.

He drives Athena home after the movie and then realizes that she left her car at Skate-A-Round and promises to bring it back to her in the morning. They say their goodnights, and he goes for the night.

When Axel went to go get Athena's car the next, he found it busted up. The windshield was destroyed, the radio was stolen, the mirrors were missing, the seats were scratched up, and the tires were slashed. There was a bat, a crowbar, and a knife in the driver's seat.

"Oh, sh*t! Who the f*ck did this?" He paused with the realization that it was not his car. "What am I gonna tell Athena?" The thoughts swam in his head of how he was gonna tell Athena about her car.

He decided to first call the police.

"911. What's your emergency?"

"Yeah, hi. So my friend's car was broken into and vandalized."

"Okay. Where are you at, sir?"

"I am at the Skate-A-Round."

"Sir, What is your name and the number you are calling from?"

"My name is Axel Sullivan. My number is (992) 402-5345."

"Is your friend aware of the state of her car is in?"

"No, ma'am."

"Sir, what are your friend's name and the number."

"Her name is Athena Collins. Her number is (580) 688-7592."

"Okay. Sir, we will be there shortly. We will notify the owner of the vehicle shortly."

"Thank you. I will be here when Athena arrives."

The call ended, and Axel immediately called Athena to tell her himself. Athena had woken up to the sound of her phone going off.

"H-hello?"

"Hey, Athena, you might want to get to the Skate-A-Round and fast!"

Athena was confused, "Why? What happened?"

"Your car was vandalized. I am so sorry. I have no idea who could have done this to you. Everyone loves you."

Athena and Axel both pause and start thinking. They both come to a sudden realization of who it could have been.

"ALANNA!" They say it in sync. Axel is shocked that his girlfriend would do this to Athena. Athena starts to boil in anger, "This is why I have to meet the people you decide to date so that they don't do this kind of sh*t!"

Maurice hears Athena yelling at someone and comes to her room. "What's wrong, Lil sis?" Athena looks at him with pure rage on her face. "Someone f*cking vandalized my car!" Maurice just nods and heads out of her room. Athena hangs up and throws on Axel's hoodie on her door and a pair of leggings.

Maurice is in the living room, and he is putting on his shoes. Athena is putting on her running shoes. "Grab the keys, Athena!" Athena grabs them, and they both go to Maurice', Charcoal Grey Ford F-250, truck. Athena gets a phone call as soon as she gets in the car. Its the police. Telling her the same information that Axel had just told her. She informs them that they are on their way.

Maurice sped down the road to get to Skate-A-Round as fast as he could. When they get there, the police are already there. They have the area taped off and are collecting pieces of evidence. Athena jumps out of the truck and runs to Axel.

Axel hugged her and mumbled an apology. Athena looks at her car with shock and disbelief. She starts crying, and Axel takes her into his arms and just lets her cry into his arms.

A police officer comes up to them, "Ma'am, may I see your I.D., please? I know that this is very upsetting for you. Do you have any idea who would do this to you?"

Athena turns around, and Axel keeps his arms around her chest for protection. Athena pulls her wallet out of her hoodie pocket, "We have one person that might do this to me...her name is Allana Foster. She is his girlfriend." She nods behind her to Axel.

"Ex-girlfriend." Axel corrects.

Athena looks at him with confusion and disbelief.

The police officer writes down the information they had just given her and anything on Athena's driver's license. The Officer gave Athena her license back and walks away. Axel takes Athena by the hand and starts walking towards Maurice; he was still talking with an officer. The Officer takes his leave as they approach. "Hey, Athena. I gotta go and do something at the station."

"I can take her home."

"Thanks, Axel. I would stay for a while so that I know she is safe."

Maurice unlocks his truck and gets in. Maurice drives away, leaving Athena and Axel holding hands standing right where he left them.

They walk towards Axel's car. "Do you want to stop and get some Chinese Food and Ice Cream?"

"Yea. Thank you for being here with me."

After they picked up the food and binged watched all the episodes of 'Lilo and Stitch,' they woke up to Athena's phone. Axel reached over Athena, who was not wanting to face reality and picked up the phone.

"Athena, you have to answer this one I can't." Axel became nervous and concerned for Athena.

"Why can't you?" Athena was still tired and was trying to doze off again.

"Athena, its the police!" Axel then showed the phone to Athena.

"Oh, crap!" Athena immediately woke up like she had a shot of espresso injected straight into her veins.

"Hello. This is Athena Collins. How may I help you?" For just haven waked up, Athena never let her mannerisms leave her behind. She listened intently to the Officer on the phone. Axel got up and began working on coffee and eggs. When Athena hangs up the phone, she looks so excited and surprised that she stares at her phone.

"So, what did they have to say?"

Athena looks at him and points the finger at him. "They think that you vandalized my car and then called the cops and blamed it on Allana."

Axel looks like the officers just shot him in the heart. His face full of disappointment, anger, confusion, and there was even a smile at the corner of his lips. "Athena, you know good and well that even when I am mad, I don't destroy things. I go to the gym and work out my feelings." Athena just sat there on the couch and did not say anything.

Axel made his way to the couch to sit next to her and comfort her. When Axel went to touch her, she flinched as if he had just tried to kill her. "Athena...do not be afraid of me. It's just me, Axel..."