With my eyebrows raised, I nodded slowly, amazed at his confidence. “You’re chock full of useless knowledge, aren’t you?”
He’d already returned his attention to the hole in front of him, but I could see his shoulders bounce with his laughter. “Call it useless all you want, Bree, but one day, you’ll look back on this and thank me for my knowledge. What I’ve taught you today could possibly save your future shrubs.”
After about five minutes of silence, I bit my lip, curiosity getting the best of me. Questions had come to my mind since stumbling upon his house earlier, things I suddenly had interest in knowing, but feared his reaction if I were to quiz him. We had an easy friendship going, and I never hesitated to talk about things with him, but the questions that plagued the tip of my tongue were far more personal than anything we’d ever discussed before. I tried to hold back, yet the longer the silence spread between us, the more the pressure built to say something. Anything. And the more I thought about talking, the louder the questions became in my head.
“So, do you remember that day when Rebecca asked you about the picture on your desk?” I practically blurted it out as I yanked on blades of dry grass from the ground.
He stilled and tilted his head to the sky, keeping his back to me. After a moment, he returned to his task and shook his head. “No, not really. What did she ask about it?”
“She wanted to know if it was a picture of your girlfriend…or wife.”
“Oh, yeah. I remember. What about it?”
“Well, you didn’t really answer her question, you just said it was somebody you cared about a lot.”
He glanced over his shoulder and wagged his eyebrows in my direction. “Let me guess…you want to know the answer?”
I shrugged, giving him a noncommittal answer out of not wanting to sound as desperate as Rebecca.
“Have you seen the picture she was talking about, Bree?”
I continued to pluck away at the grass near my crossed legs, trying my best to appear nonchalant. “No. I don’t really pay that much attention to the things on your desk. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve ever been on the other side of your desk to even see what you have on it. I always see it from the front, from my seat.”
His shoulders bounced again with a silent chuckle, and the sight of his relaxed attitude over my question succeeded in calming my nerves. “If you had seen the picture, you’d know the answer. It’s my sister.”
“Let me guess. Her name is Rose.”
Axel released a rumbling laugh. “No, even my mom thought that would sound ridiculous. Her name is Tracii.” He twisted his upper body and faced me. “Since you have zero knowledge about good music, I’ll explain. My parents caught some of their early performances before they hit it big. That’s how my mom fell in love with them. Guns N’ Roses was actually formed by Axl Rose and Tracii Guns…hence the name. But Tracii left the band very early on, and was replaced with Slash. I don’t think my mom really followed Tracii, but she thought it would be cool to name us after the band, regardless of who the guitarist was.”
“Your mom sounds like a clever individual. But why would she name your sister after the member that left? Doesn’t that kind of seem like a bad omen or something?”
He continued to watch me as we talked. “You know, I asked her the same thing once. She told me that it’s always important to know where you start. Where your beginning was. She thought it was symbolic. And just like the original Tracii and Axl, who both went their own ways, she wanted us to be individuals. She wanted us to know where we came from, but not be afraid to grow into our own.”
“Is Tracii younger than you?”
He turned back around to keep working as he explained. “We’re actually twins. She’s seven minutes older than me. We look alike, except she colors her hair, so hers is considerably lighter than mine. But we have the same eyes, same nose, same facial expressions…well, my smile is better. We both had braces when we were younger. I wore my retainer like I was supposed to and she didn’t. But our personalities couldn’t be more different. She’s stubborn and hardheaded, argumentative and abrasive at times. Heart the size of Texas, but damn, don’t ever find yourself on her bad side.”
“I’ll remember that when I meet her,” I said sarcastically, lost in the sound of his voice while I fidgeted with the grass. The grin on my face fell when I glanced up, wondering why he’d gone silent. I found him sitting on his bottom, turned around to face me with a serious expression on his face. I couldn’t read the lines in his forehead or understand the concentrated look in his eyes. “What? What did I say?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head, the stiffness in his shoulders relaxing some. “Would you like to meet my sister?”
“What? No. Why would I want to do that?”
“Well, you mentioned something about meeting her.”
“I was being facetious. You told me not to get on her bad side, so I mockingly replied I’d keep that in mind. Why would I want to meet your sister?” Out of all the possible scenarios that ran through my mind of his reaction to my question, not one of them came close to this.
“I don’t know. I’ve never had a female friend before. If you were a guy, I’m sure there would be a time when you’d meet my family. We’re really close. Wait…no. If you were a guy, there’d be no way in hell I’d let you meet my sister. Apparently, the bro code is mythical, because all my friends growing up never thought twice before hitting on her.”
“What about your friend Danny? Did he hit on her, too?”
“Not back then. He never thought he deserved her. His self-esteem was really low, no thanks to his asshole of a father. But they were friends. Now they’re married and expecting their first child this summer.” He spoke while working, apparently comfortable discussing things again.
“That didn’t piss you off?”
“Hell no. He’s a great guy, the best. And she’s exactly what he needed. They’re perfect for each other. Couldn’t be happier.” He stopped again to look back at me over his shoulder before continuing. “I really think you’d like them. You remind me a lot of my sister, only not as bitchy.”
“You’re confusing me again, Axel. Do you want me to meet your sister—your family—or not? Because I kind of need to know what’s going on before more questions fill my head.”
“I don’t know, Bree. I didn’t say I want to take you to my family dinner, just that I think you’d get along with her. And what questions do you mean?” He seemed to be rapidly growing irritated, and that’s not at all what I wanted to happen.
I became embarrassed for some reason, and had to take a moment to sort through my thoughts. His attitude sort of came out of nowhere, taking me by surprise, as if the wind had been knocked out of me. “Well, for starters, you said a lot of stuff today that kinda has my head spinning. Like when you told me how you look forward to my calls, and seeing me in the mornings is the highlight of your day.” My heart rate sped up the more I chattered on. Nervous didn’t even begin to describe how I felt opening this can of worms. This conversation could go very bad, very quickly. But I’d already opened my mouth, so I couldn’t stop now. “Your words were that if I ever came by, you’d never turn me away. You’d invite me in. Now you’re talking about how I’d get along with your family. What does that mean?”
He dropped his head into his hands, getting dirt on his face but not seeming to care one bit. His elbows rested on his bent knees as he worked his fingers through hair before fisting it and letting out a frustrated grunt. “I can’t explain it, Bree. You claim it has your head spinning. Why don’t you tell me what you think I mean by it?”