Today had been a good day. The tattoo Bonnie did for Kelly looked amazing, and Kelly had been ecstatic with it. The three of us had spent the afternoon in the back lounge at the Specters, and, after a while, we were joined by Amity and, later, Katy.
It had been fun, and the time flew by until Bonnie and I had to leave to meet Clyde and Ace at the shop.
Ace and I hadn't long gotten home. He was in the shower, and I was currently in the kitchen with a glass of water, staring out the window, smiling, just because I could.
I didn't hear him as he approached, and I jumped when I felt his hand on my waist, swinging around to face him.
"Ace!" I cried out, more with relief than anything, that it was only him. "You scared me."
"I'm sorry, darlin'" he chuckled as I put the empty glass in the sink, trying to hide the way my hands shook as my heart still raced. "I didn't mean to frighten you."
I smiled, and ducked my head, feeling foolish. He put an arm around my shoulders, gently holding me to his chest, and I resisted the urge to pull away from him, trying not to tense.
Ace isn't going to hurt me, I had to remind myself. I can relax.
"What were you looking at?" He wondered, fixing his gaze out the window I'd just been staring out of.
"Nothing, really," I admitted. "I was just daydreaming."
The days here were warm, but the nights quickly turned cold, and I stepped a little closer to Ace for his warmth, wishing I had my jumper. I only had one, along with a few other things that I bought when Katy and I went shopping last week. It was in the washing machine, but Ace had lent me one of his for the cold evenings, which was currently folded on the end of my bed.
Just like the shirt he'd lent me to sleep in on my first night here, it was huge on me, but I didn't mind, because it was warm, and it smelt like him, the scent becoming increasingly comforting and soothing to me.
"Marcus sent me a text just a minute ago," he told me. "The Reapers are all going over to his place because Axe is home. They invited us along, if you feel up to it."
I bit my lip, stepping away from him, and he let me go. I was nervous of crowds, especially where alcohol was involved. I wouldn't know any of the people there, or what they would try to do once I was there.
But it wasn't fair of me to expect him not to go, just because I was anxious. He had waited so long for his father to come home, and I didn't want to be the reason that he couldn't go to see him.
Axe must have picked up on my hesitation, because he smiled that kind smile of his, and pushed my hair back, brushing his fingers against my cheek.
"It's fine if you don't want to," he told me. "If you want to stay home, you can. I'll stay with you, if you want me to. Bonnie and Clyde will be there, though, if you're worried about being stuck there on your own."
"No," I shook my head. "We should go."
He seemed so happy when I said it. His whole face lit up, and I knew I made the right descision.
"Are you sure?" He pressed, searching my face for any sign of hesitation, but I gave him a small smile and nodded.
Bonnie and Clyde picked us up, and the four of us drove there together. They had music playing, something fast and loud. They sang to the chorus, laughing at how off key they both were, but talked through the versus, which sounded like the singer was screaming the words anyway, teasing one another as usual.
Ace and I were in the back of the car, and he felt for my hand in the dark, enclosing my fingers in his.
"You tell me if you want to go, okay?" He said to me, stroking the back of my hand with his thumb. "If it gets to be too much, we can leave."
I nodded.
"Thank you, Ace," I said quietly, and he tilted his head questionably.
"For what?" He asked, and I stared at his hand, which was still grasping mine.
"For being so understanding."
"You don't need to thank me," he replied, his eyes soft, but I shook my head.
"Seriously," I insisted. "You've made things so much easier for me with how kind you've been, and I'm so grateful for it."
He smiled and gently and squeezed my fingers, bringing my hand to his mouth where he brushed a gentle kiss against my knuckles, leaving my skin tingling from his touch.
Marcus obviously wasn't much of a gardener. There were a few woody daisy bushed out the front, overgrown with long grass, but nothing else. His front lawn was cut short, and the four of us made out way across it to the backyard where we could hear the sounds of multiple people talking and laughing over the music that was playing.
We were greeted warmly by everyone, becoming lost in a sea of unfamiliar faces, and I clung to Ace's side, trying to breath normally to calm my racing heart.
Ace's arm went firmly around my shoulders, and I tried to relax and enjoy myself like everyone else was. This was for Ace, and I didn't want to ruin it for him by panicking and running away.
He introduced me to a few people, men from his club and their significant others, and I smiled politely every time. Ace handed me a beer, uncapping his own, and we went to find Bonnie and Clyde, who were talking to Axe and Marcus, laughing over something Bonnie said.
"Hold on," Axe was saying as we joined them, turning to Clyde. "You're the one who told me that girls were nothing but trouble, and the first thing you do when you got out was go and make one your wife?"
Axe was looking at him incredulously, and shook his head.
"Imagine if the boys could see you now."
"I still stand by that statement," Clyde insisted, smirking at Bonnie. "We met under some pretty weird circumstances, and she's been nothing but trouble since."
"Get fucked," Bonnie cried indignantly. "I literally can't take you anywhere without you causing some sort of trouble."
Axe laughed again, thumping Clyde roughly on the back.
"It's nice to know that some things don't change."
Bonnie wasn't drinking, because, she said, she was working in the morning, in one of the local tattoo studios, so she would be the designated driver. Ace and Clyde made up for her sobriety, and both ensured that I had a drink with me at all times. It wasn't long until my head was swimming and I was smiling stupidly, leaning heavily on Ace.
There were groups of people dancing over in the corner where the speakers were set up. Bonnie refused to go with Clyde, insisting that he was too drunk to even walk in a straight line. Unfazed by her refusal, he shrugged and turned to Ace, who, just as intoxicated as Clyde, was more than hapy to oblige, and the two of them waltzed clumsilyaround the place together, much to everyone's amusement.
"They're a pair of clowns," Bonnie said, rolling her eyes at me. "I don't know who's the bigger fool out of the two of them."
I giggled, finishing off the drink I was curently holding, and Bonnie eyed me.
"How man of those have you had, now?" She wondered.
I tried to count, but I honestly had no idea, so I shrugged.
"Maybe... too many," I confessed, right as Clyde and Ace rejoined us.
"You missed out," Clyde slurred, leaning on Bonnie. "You're officially no longer my dancing partner, forever."
"I'm quite okay with that," Bonnie insisted, placing her hand against his chest.
"What about Jenna?" He teased, turning to me.
When he smiled, his grey eyes lit up warmly, contradicting their cool colour, and it suddenly occued to me that he didn't look so threatening, as he once did. It was hard to imagine that I was ever scared of him in the first place.
"Leave Jenna alone," Bonnie scolded. "She doesn't want to be seen with you, anymore than the rest of us do."
We stayed for a few hours, mingling with the people from Ace's childhood, and I was surprised at how much I actually enjoyed myself. It had gotten late, and people were starting to head off. Clyde wandered around, collecting empty cups and bottles, putting them into a pile, and Ace found a black rubbish bag from inside and threw them all in, much to Bonnie's dismay.
"No, you recycle glass, you idiots!" She told them and began sorting through, seperating the piles into two.
"I dare you to ask her about landfills impact on the environment," Clyde told Ace, but he cringed, shaking his head.
We were some of the last people to leave, but, once we had helped tidy up the place somewhat, we made our way back to the car, and Bonnie dropped us home.