Double Jinx (Wattys2017)

Chapter 22

My hand fell over my chest in attempts to calm the sporadic beating of my heart though it did little to help. It was a little painful, sure, a little uncomfortable, definitely. But I was so high from that kiss that the uneven beat of my heart was irrelevant.

At least, that's what I thought. Ace, not so much. He appeared at my side seconds later, his eyebrows pulled together by concern while his hands hovered on either side of me as if I might pass out, "You okay? With your heart, I mean? The doc said to go easy for a while and I don't want you dying on me again."

I nodded, taking deep breaths, but the words burst from my mouth before I finished my train of thought, "It's fine. My heart is fine and I'm fine, and you're ... wow, you're really fine."

My cheeks heated after realizing I said that last part out loud. Then again, it wasn't a lie but even some truths are better left unspoken.

Ace smirked, that dimple I loved so much surfacing at the corner of his mouth, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. Could you say it again, maybe a little bit louder this time?"

As history suggests, my face went up in flames at my embarrassing slip. But I found myself smiling too because the dizzying amount of endorphins coursing through my veins had my body nearly bouncing with excitement. I was actually flirting with Ace and I didn't feel bad about it. Sure, he broke up with Holly only two days ago and I've spent the better half of today wallowing in self pity, but I'd worry about all of that later.

Right now, I decided to let anxiety and panic take a load off and allow confidence to shine through. Just a little.

I leaned closer to him, only enough for him to notice. I met his gaze through my lashes and spoke slower than before, "You're really fine."

Ace seemed to appreciate my attempts. He caught his bottom lip between his teeth, that smirk still evident upon his face, "You sure you want to take things slow?" He asked, his voice husky and deep. Those chaotic irises slid down towards my mouth, "There's about a hundred different things I can think of instead."

A hundred? Like one, zero, zero? Oh boy ... I was so inexperienced.

His hand landed on my knee, his fingers just barely brushing over my bare skin, causing tingles to shoot up and down the length of my leg. I have very, very little knowledge on how to flirt. I've seen Lady do it with guys at parties and with Tyler, and I've seen romance movies like the rest of the world, but I never thought in a million years that I'd be sitting on my bed flirting with Ace.

I put my hand over his to stop it from moving, his touch too prominent to go unnoticed. If I didn't stop him now, things would get out of hand again. And this time, I wouldn't be able to tell him to stop. I wouldn't want to.

But that was to be expected right? I've spent a decade mourning the loss of a boy I considered to be my best friend, my other half. Even as kids, I knew there was something more between us. Something I didn't see in the way other kids played with their friends. We were meant to be together, a concept my eight year old self couldn't comprehend but now, ten years later, it all made sense.

And if what Holly said was true, then Ace has been thinking about me since the day we said our goodbyes as well. Ace even told me that he would lie awake at night, thinking of what kind of woman I had become. We were in the same boat, currently in the same bed if we're keeping score, and now that nothing is hindering us from being together, the emotions came flooding out like water from a broken dam.

Nonetheless, that wasn't an excuse to act like hormonal raging lunatics. If I had to be the rational one then so be it, especially since Ace clearly had other things on his mind. I, too, wanted to partake in the other one hundred things Ace could think of, just not right now.