Always

Despite school not long finishing, the Shake Shack was pretty busy and Brooklyn struggled to find an empty booth. Finally, she managed to find one and sat down to wait for Axel.

Though it was his idea, she couldn’t help the small bubble of doubt that stirred and found herself nervously checking her phone as the minutes ticked by. She’d only been waiting half an hour, when Axel walked in and made his way over to her with a smile.

“Hey,” he greeted, kissing her head and taking a seat opposite her, “I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

“No.”

“I’ll go order, are you having your usual?”

“Actually, can I have a cookie monster please?”

“Coming right up.”

Brooklyn watched as he approached the counter, knowing that the girl behind it was a friend of his and noticing the way her gaze shifted between them. It wasn’t hard to miss the look of disapproval on the girl’s face and Brooklyn guessed that in some ways she had every right, but it didn’t make her feel any better.

They spoke for nearly three hours and Brooklyn was happy, but there was still a hint of doubt about whether it was worth the hassle. She didn’t know much about love or how it was supposed to feel, but uncertainty wasn’t a word that she’d associate with it.

“Can I ask you a question?” she asked quietly, once they’d left the Shake Shack and were walking towards her house.

“Of course.”

“Your friends don’t agree with us getting back together, do they?”

“Babe...” Axel started, before sighing and stepping in front of her to stop her from walking any further, “Not all of them think that it’s the best idea for either of us, but I don’t really care what they think and neither should you. I love you, Brook and nobody else’s opinion will ever change that.”

“I just don’t want to mess anything up.”

“You won’t be, I’ve made my decision and that decision is you.”

Brooklyn swallowed nervously as Axel stepped forward, lifting her chin with his thumb and kissing her. At that moment, every insecurity faded and it didn’t matter if others didn’t approve. The sound of a car horn soon broke through the moment and Brooklyn looked around, horrified to see her dad watching them from his cruiser. His expression quickly changed from that of anger to amusement and he pulled away, waving with a grin as he passed by.

With her face buried in Axel’s chest, Brooklyn allowed his warmth to engulf her and relaxed. They stayed like that for a few minutes, before Axel kissed her head and they continued walking.

Later that night, Brooklyn sat in her room working on a new drawing that she’d started and couldn’t hold back the sigh as her phone rang. Braxton had been acting out since Jared moved into his new apartment and although she understood, she was exhausted.

“I’m sleeping, what do you want?”

‘Someone’s grumpy,’ came Brandon’s voice from the other end, ‘I was just phoning to make sure you were okay.’

“Sorry,” Brooklyn mumbled, settling back against her pillows, “I’m fine, just a lot going on right now...”

‘Do you want to talk about it?’

“Maybe tomorrow.”

With a promise that she’d tell him everything the next day in school, Brooklyn hung up and headed to bed.