~Ace
Three years earlier...
"Ace, you need a drive after school?" Eric asks as we pull up in front of our school.
"No, I'll take an Uber. But I'll see you later, yeah?"
"Definitely." Eric shakes my hand and turns to Sarah, "If you need one, I can give you a lift." He offers.
"No, thank you. My father will drive me home." She declines.
"Thanks for the lift, Eric." I grab my bag and get out of the car.
"Ace," Sarah calls my name but I don't stop and wait for her.
"Ace, please." She calls again and I hear her getting closer.
She tugs on my sleeve and pulls me back, stopping me.
"Ace, let's talk."
"What about?" I don't push her hands away this time.
"I swear nothing happened between us, Ace. Why don't you believe me?"
"Explain to me why his arm was around you."
"Daniel and I go way back, Ace. Before he ditched me, and before we broke it off, he was my best friend. My feelings for him didn't end when our relationship ended."
"Wow." I step back not understanding what she meant by that.
"No. No." She shakes her head, "that's not what I meant to say."
"So you're still in love with your ex and what're we doing?"
"Ace, can you give me a second to sort this out? This is just all too much." She rubs her temple and when our eyes meet, my heart breaks.
"This is all too much for you?" I yell, "For you? I just waited an entire week for you to come back to Washington so that I could see you. I go over to your father's house and watch you come down with your ex-boyfriend all over you and you're so happy. Then he tells me that he is still in a relationship with you. And now, I know that you're in love with him. I'm sorry if this is too much for you. I'm sorry."
I need to go for a run and get away from her. I need to clear my mind and sort his out. Or else, I'll lose my fucking mind.
"Ace, you're not listening to me. We're just comfortable around each other because we've always been together. Even after our breakup, he reached to me and we talked over summer—"
"This just gets better and better." I chuckle, "You've been speaking to him all summer." I can't believe what I'm hearing right now. "And you didn't care to mention this once?"
"I knew that you would act like this. I knew that you would let it affect us." She's impossible.
"Do you know how ridiculous you sound right now?" I can feel people's eyes on us and how big of a scene we are causing in front of the school, but I could care any less about these god damn people when my heart is burning.
"Did he even know that you were dating me?"
She stays quiet and I know that she is trying to come up with some kind of explanation. This morning's encounter reminds me that he had no idea who the fuck I was and that's why he was so fucking comfortable around her.
"Great. He doesn't know, well didn't. Now he does. But I guess that won't matter anymore." I understand that I am insinuating that we might be over but what she dumped on me today is driving me insane.
"Ace, don't." She quickly grabs my hand and laces our fingers together, "Ace, please, I want to be with you and not him. I am with you and not him."
"Sarah..."
"Please." She lets go of my hand and cups my face between her hands, "Meet me at the girl's bathroom at lunch and we'll talk, okay?"
She pulls me down and rests her forehead against mine. Fuck, I have missed the way her perfume's scent fills my lungs. I want to hug her and kiss her, but I don't. I can't.
"Please, Ace." She begs and inches closer to me.
"Okay," I whisper and I pull away before she could kiss me.
_________
Sarah and I share a couple of classes. She takes a seat by me in every class. Though I've paid no attention to her, I do not attempt pushing her away from me or telling her to take a seat somewhere else. She slips her hand into mine under the desks, and she doesn't let go till the bell rings.
It's lunchtime, and I force myself to walk to the girl's bathroom. My mind has been going through all the possibilities, all the reasons why she kept this away from me. The only explanation I can come up with for why she didn't tell him she is dating me is that she didn't want to drive him away from her, she wanted him to try and stay.
"Ace." Relief washes over her face when she sees me. "I thought you were going to ditch me."
"I told you I'd be here, right?"
"Yes, you did." She reaches for my hand and takes it in hers, "Come here." She pulls me behind her till we are hidden in one of the corners.
"Ace, I know that you're mad at me for not telling you about Daniel. And you have every right to be. I didn't want to tell you so that you won't get all mad and jealous when nothing was happening between us. I didn't tell him that I have a boyfriend because he didn't imply that he wanted us to get back together."
"Do you know how silly that sounds? Because he didn't imply?" I scoff.
"Because we were best friends before we dated. He told me that he missed his best friend. Whenever I talked to him, we didn't last so long and I never got the chance to tell him that I was dating. Us talking didn't start before a month ago." She brings her hand to my face and traces my jawline with her finger, "Ace, I want to be with you. You're the one I want. You're the one I am with. For every thought I spend on Daniel, I spend a thousand on you." She smiles.
"Did you just quote Wuthering Heights?" I laugh and snake an arm around her waist.
"I guess I did." She chuckles.
"I guess you were paying attention when we were reading."
"Yeah, but I was thinking about other things." She presses her body against mine.
"You know how to change the subject all right. But I don't want you near him again. Like ever."
Even if she considers him as a friend, I don't trust that she won't have feelings for him if their friendship lasted. She has already admitted that she still has some feelings for him today morning.
She frowns and steps back, "Ace, you can't ask me to do that. He's my best friend. He apologized to me and he won't try anything now that he knows that I'm with you."
"Sarah, I'm pretty sure he wants to get back with you. He's been kissing up to you for a month and he's apologized to you. I don't trust your feelings for him either. You told me that your feelings for him are still there."
"No. Not like that." She groans. "I love him but as a friend. I don't love him as I love you, Ace. Why is that so hard for you to understand?" She yells at me and I am taken back by her words.
She just said that she loves me. She said that, didn't she? We never confessed our love to each other. It was on the tip of my tongue more than one time but I was just giving her some time so that I wouldn't scare her away from me.
"I love you." She repeats more calmly now, "Not him. But you."
"You love me." I smile and I take her hands in mine.
"You'll make me say it again, won't you?" She rolls her eyes but doesn't fight the smile that spreads on her lips.
"Maybe.." I pull her closer to me.
"Ace..." She says, "We're not done talking."
"Yes, we are, for now." I put my hand under her ear.
"Ace..." She argues weakly, but I don't listen. "You can't choose my friends. Okay? I'm not as close to him as I used to be but I can't throw away years of friendship, especially that he wants us to be friends again."
"But you'll tell me whenever you're around him. Or when you call him. Got it?" I plant a kiss on the nape of her neck.
"A-Ace.." She half moans, half argues.
"Got it?" I ask her again and pepper kisses along her jawline.
"You..you-you can't..."
"Yes, I can." I tell her, "Because I love you too. And I don't want you to leave me. Okay?"
"I would never, Ace." She pulls away enough to meet my eyes, "I've never felt this way about anyone, not even Daniel. I swear it. Trust me, Ace."
"God, Why do you have to be so perfect with words?" I wrap my arms around her figure and she does the same. "I trust you, but I don't trust him."
"You have nothing to worry about," she promises me.
I hold her tighter, hoping her words are true. I love this girl right here, and if I lost her, I would be devastated.