Hopeless, Devoted, Unrequited (ACE CLAWS Trilogy #1)

Chapter 10

"I can't believe your match is next week," Claudia crosses her arms in disbelief, shaking her head as we walk in unison.

"Neither can I." Mimi chuckles.

It's been a few weeks ever since my club won the writing contest. And during those weeks, I finally earned the time to prioritize and focus on my studies. I've also been hanging out more with both Komiko and Claudia.

As for Ambrose... let's just say he's been really busy with volleyball. He texted me that since their official match is coming, he'll be so occupied and told me to just text if in case I needed something.

Which was weird because why did he have to tell me that? Clearly he forgot that before we became friends, I've always watched them practice for volleyball. Except these days, I sadly have not gone to any of their practices.

And I have not reached out to him at least once.

"Lia, I noticed that you haven't been stalking Ambrose play volleyball lately," Claudia nudges my arm.

I scoff at her. "Is stalking now your definition of watching?"

"Woah, don't twist my words. I have said what I said."

My brows furrow at her annoying behavior. I turn to Mimi with an expression asking her why Claudia was like that. She responds back with a shrug, giving me an innocent smile. What kind of crap are they hiding now?

As we were about to continue walking forward, a guy appears from our right. My eyes widen at the sight of Ambrose jogging to our direction with a relieved expression that I presume others would consider deadpan.

My heart beats fast the moment he halted in front of us, huffing out a couple of breaths. We stop walking due to his sudden presence.

"Ambrose?" I call out to him.

"I need to give you something," he says as he pulls something out of the duffle bag that he was carrying.

I exchange looks with the girls, confused. He then stretches his arm, handing me a small rectangular-shaped paper. I take it from him and immediately saw the word 'volleyball' and 'ticket'.

My mouth gapes. "Don't tell me..." I look back at him.

"It's a ticket to our match."

Then I hear a gasp from beside me. "You didn't bother to get one for us, too? The perks of being the girlfriend indeed," Claudia says.

My eyes widen. "Wha—"

"Oh." Ambrose cuts me off. He opens his duffle bag again and rummaged through it.

Whilst he was busy doing that, immediately I glare at Claudia for saying something so unnecessary. She just winks at me, as if doing that was going to lessen my blood pressure that was rising because of her.

"Here," Ambrose speaks. I break eye contact with Claudia and swiftly looked at Ambrose who was handing out one more ticket.

Claudia laughs. "Wait— I was joking!"

I sigh heavily, noticing how Ambrose was just standing there, still holding the ticket. My head then turns to Mimi who was also clearly disappointed but kept a smile on.

"I already have one! That was so sweet of you though," Claudia says in between laughs.

Ambrose looks at me. I give him an awkward smile before pinching Claudia's waist which caused her to yelp in pain.

"And where exactly did you get that ticket?" I emphasized.

The moment I said that, Mimi chuckled softly beside me but I couldn't question it instantly because of Claudia. She lets out a very fake cough, avoiding my eyes. Hm, suspicious!