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Rye. He wanted rye bread. He really liked rye bread, and sharp cheese like maybe some really sharp cheddar cheese. And tomatoes. They never got nice vegetables. It was simple, but he would kill for a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich. With mustard. Lots of sharp tangy mustard. His mouth was watering. Harper's arm through his took him by surprise, but Axel didn't let it show on his face. He was too distracted by the lure of sandwiches. It was kind of sweet to have Harper put her arm through his, actually. It was nice to know that every girl in the world didn't think he was a repulsive dickwad. Also sandwiches.

"Yeah, I usually write to my family. My mom and sister."

And also Henrik, although Henrik's letters in return had gotten increasingly bizarre.

Axel opened the door for Harper and followed her in. There wasn't much of a line yet, and he ordered his sandwich quickly before turning to Harper again. Something she'd said kind of bothered him.

"You can come eat dinner with my family, if you want."

It was extremely depressing to think about Harper just sitting somewhere all night, alone, waiting to make the trip back to camp. "They're sweet." Sort of. "And my mom's a good cook." And she would probably get the wrong idea about Harper, but at least Axel was positive she would be kind to the girl.

Axel smiled at Harper, but he felt a little uncertain. She seemed unusually touched by his offer of dinner. Maybe, he thought, maybe she was just terribly lonely after the loss of her family. That was sad. He would have to introduce her to Alec, if she hadn't met the friendly redhead already. Axel knew Alec's family was a nice bunch, and he was sure they would like to meet Harper as well.

Well, it would be painful fending off his mother's probing questions about Harper, but Axel was happy he'd asked her. It was definitely the right thing to do.

"It's no problem," he said cheerfully, taking the tray of sandwiches handed over the counter towards them. He took the tray over to the table by the window and placed it on the table, waiting for Harper to take a seat before he sat himself. "They'll love you."

"I was going to hang out with Alec today," said Axel, picking up his sandwich and looking at it rather lustfully, "But he's hanging out with Preacher. So I'm glad I met you, Harper." Harper probably knew the pair already from classes. He took a bite, dripping mustard onto the plate.

Wow, what an awesome sandwich. It was really good. Like, really good. Oh man. Why couldn't they get sandwiches like this back at camp? Why couldn't that crazy cook make a decent damn sandwich? Okay, so Axel wasn't the greatest kitchen help ever, but he had a thing or two to say about sandwiches. Take for example the grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, with or without mustard. It had all your basic flavors, like salt and grease and tangy. And also bread. Crispy on the outside and sharp and tangy on the inside. The tomato, many people despised the humble tomato, but in Axel's opinion the tomato was what made the sandwich. The thing you had to know about tomatoes was that tomatoes added contrast to the sandwich. On its own a grilled cheese sandwich was just some greasy bread and cheese. The tomato was a Vegetable, which made the whole thing Healthy, but it also got all hot and juicy when grilled and kind of melty and sweet-tangy. Tomatoes were a necessary part of a grilled cheese sandwich. Not enough people recognized that. It was a tragic fact.

Oh wait, Harper was still there. And wiping his chin. Blinking to clear the glazed look from his eyes, Axel laughed. "Oh. Thanks."

Ordinarily he might have been embarrassed about dripping mustard on himself, but this was sandwich time. The usual rules did not apply.

Some of Harper's words had penetrated his internal ramblings about sandwiches. Axel chewed more sedately as he thought back. Oh right. Hanging out with Alec and Preacher. He swallowed and shook his head, giving Harper a shrug and a lopsided smile. "Preacher doesn't like me much. I was kind of rude to her." Understatement. "But if you want to visit them, I think they're out at the lake."

Pencils, he had to remember to get pencils.

Aaargh, argh, why had he even mentioned Preacher? That was dumb. Really dumb. There was no way Harper was going to drag him out to that lake. He was having a nice time chatting with her, and if she wanted to go he would have a nice time alone, but there was no way in hell Axel was going to go with her. Sensing that a heated refusal would lead to uncomfortable questions, Axel ate the rest of his sandwich to buy himself time to think. Unfortunately, it was already almost gone, and that didn't take much time.

"Well, it sounds fun, but I've still got to get pencils and things," Axel said, as though buying pencils was a very time-consuming and arduous ordeal. "But you can go, and meet me later? If you still want to come over for dinner. If not, that's fine."

As luck would have it, he had a pencil in his pocket. A very worn pencil. He picked a mustard-free napkin out of the pile and scribbled the address on it, handing it over the table to Harper.

"Maybe we could all hang out together another day," he added. Another day like never.

Oh good. Relieved that Harper wasn't going to insist on him coming along, Axel beamed at the pink-haired girl as he wiped his hands on his napkin. It was nice of her to offer to bring something, too. "Oh, no, you don't have to bring anything," Axel said. "I guess you can meet me around half past six? Maybe seven?" He shrugged. "You don't have to rush."

If he told his mother he was bringing a girl over for dinner, she would probably wait up until midnight. Harper could take her sweet time.

The idea of both Preacher and Alec being sorry to have missed him was kind of laughably sad. Axel did laugh. It was better to laugh than feel depressed about the situation, right? "I'll see you tonight, Harper."