Till Death Unites Us

Chapter 23

I scrunch up my nose at the food the cafeteria lady handed to me and for the millionth time, curse myself for forgetting my food at home. It was Nutella! Who forgets Nutella?! But then again, I was probably too busy being furious with my mom and shooting down her attempts at conversation. All in all, it seems I am stuck with the abomination they like to call a burger. Oh, don’t even get me started on the donut. I decide I will be stealing some of Ivy’s lunch. Or Ace’s. Speaking of Ace, I haven’t talked to him since the last text I sent him—

“What’s with the hair? Does she think it looks pretty?” I hear one of Chloe’s minions (Her name is Zoe but I call her Thing One) whispering in Chloe’s ear. Another one (That’s Thing Two, or Tori, if you’d like to know) who looks so much like the first rolls her eyes to show her support to Thing One’s statement. So? I had taken extra care of my hair today, and I spent a lot of time till every single curl looked perfect. Call me lame, dressing up for my man and all, but I was feeling good about myself. And, yes, Ace has a big part in that, but now that he knows about Alex, I feel lighter somehow. The simultaneous clicking of heels alerts me to Chloe’s presence, along with Thing One and Thing Two trailing behind her. “So how much do you give it before you’re dumped, Eternity? One week? Or considering how hard you’re trying, two?”

I roll my eyes, “Very mature, Chloe, really. How much did it take you to come up with that?”

Her eyes narrow and she leans her face closer to me, invading my personal space, “You think you’re so special now, but we both know what kind of guy he is. Shouldn’t be long before he has realized how much of a freak you really are and he will come running to me, or has he already?” She smirks, “I wonder if he knows about that night.”

 “Shut up Chloe!” I snap at her, but my heart still pounds. Her words hit way too close to home, and if it wasn’t for Angel’s word holding me together and reminding me of Ace coming through for me every time, I would have been a crumbling mess on the floor. “You have absolutely no idea what you’re even talking about! For god’s sake, Alex used to be your friend too! And this—this is how you treat his memory? Just how screwed up in the head are you? And just so you know, Ace knows, so maybe you need to stop being so petty about his rejection and just accept that he has higher standards than you. Because dress as much as you want, Chloe, you’re still someone who abandons their friends when things get tough.” I shoot her one last glare, glad I actually made it through putting her in her place this time and didn’t start having a vision again, before I walk away and start heading to Ivy’s and I’s table. I hear the laughter before I see them; the sight of Ace and Ivy laughing together is what welcomes me, and a grin finds its way to my face, my showdown with Chloe long forgotten. These are my people. “What’s up, E?” Ivy says grinning as I take a seat across from her and next to Ace, who slips an arm around my shoulder and kisses my cheek. When I look up at him, his smile is wide and inviting and so different from the one I saw last night, and I lean in close to him, my fears fading away, thinking that Angel was right; from the very first moment, Ace never flinched once whenever he caught a glimpse of my secrets, not even when I was a crying trembling mess. And I couldn’t love him for it more. Wait! Hold the fudge up, did I just say love? Holy crap…was I? I don’t have time to meditate on that, “Not much. Chloe was being to be a first class bitch, but what else is new?,”

“Are you okay?” Ace asks, his arm tightening around me. He remembers what I looked like the first time Chloe mentioned Alex.

 I smile at him, “I am, amazing actually.” I grin, “I put her in her place,” Ivy’s eyebrows shoot up, “I can’t believe I missed that! And oh, speaking of missing things, how did things go yesterday? Did you get there in time?”