ACE'S POV
Nine months later
"What?" I groaned.
"Woah, someone woke up grumpy today." I heard my best friend say in an amused tone.
"Wh- what time is it?" I cracked an eye open and looked around my room a little confused, then glanced at Luca with a frown.
"Dude, you've been sleeping all day. It's 6 pm already. Come on," he clapped his hands, "take a shower and dress yourself up, we're going out."
"No thanks, not in the mood." I closed my eyes again and hid under the covers.
"But it's Friday, Ace! Friday, Friday! Gotta get down on Fridayyy!" He started singing out loud and let me tell you, it's not his biggest talent.
"Bro, shut the fuck up." I said suppressing a laugh and throwing him a pillow. I groaned and sat down against the headboard, rubbing my face with both hands. "It's all we've been doing for the past few weeks, going out."
"Well, you've also been studying like crazy, you deserve a break." He took the pillow that he dodged so well from the floor and sat down on my bed.
"Yeah well, I'm sick of it."
"Man, come on. It's good for you, you know. Clear your head a bit, meet new people." He grinned.
"I've already met too many people this year."
I was referring to my new classmates from medical school. That's all I'd been thinking for the past months, I focused on studying, getting good grades and working out. However, Luca and the rest of my friends insisted on me going out every fucking weekend of the past few weeks and it was fine at the beginning, but I didn't enjoy it anymore.
After coming back from Italy that summer, I thought I was doing okay again, that I could move on. I thought that spending time with my family out of this country would help me. I was wrong. Everything reminded me of her. My room, my car, my favorite restaurants, the club... My phone was full of pictures of her, I still had her clothes in my closet. I watched a movie and I missed her chatting, her jokes... And along with that, her body. Because, you know. We were never good at watching movies together.
Even my little sisters asked me about her sometimes. She was travelling, I would say.
"But we miss her!"
I miss her too, I would think to myself.
Luca cleared his throat. "Yeah... uh, I was referring to girls, you know?" I could tell he was being careful with his words. "Maybe you could meet someone new, have a little fun..."
"I don't need to meet anybody, I'm fine, thank you very much." I said sharply getting up from the bed.
"Where are you going?" He asked following me.
"Shower." I grabbed the bathroom's doorknob and turned to look at him. "Why? Do you wanna join?"
"That does mean we're going out?" He asked excitedly.
"Yeah, but no girls, okay?" I raised my eyebrows at him.
He twisted his mouth looking innocent.
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose as I closed my eyes. "Luca, what have you done?"
"Okay, don't get mad." He raised both hands. "We're going out with Sam's girlfriend and her friends, do you remember Lucy? Well, she likes you and I told her-"
"No."
"But-"
"No." I raised my voice as I shook my head. "I'm going out with you guys, but I'm not treating her in any special way, I don't want to meet anybody, and I'm serious Luca," I pointed at him warningly, "I'm not ready."
He sighed and nodded. "Okay, okay. I understand."
"Can I close the door now, or are you going to stay and watch as I shower?"
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Karma. There are like dozens of clubs in this city and we had to come to Karma.
Great, fucking great.
We arrived early, Luca, Sam, Josh, Leo, Nick and I. We didn't hang out that much with Nick before but we've become really good friends lately. Sarah and him moved in together, so I also saw Sarah a lot. That didn't help too much in my process of trying to forget her. Although I didn't ask much about her, to be honest. I did at the beginning, but seeing that Sarah and Nathan wouldn't tell me much about her, I decided it was better if I didn't. All I needed to know was that she was doing fine.
I was leaning against the bar, trying to get the barman to notice me. I missed the good old days when the team had access to the VIP area. They would bring the drinks to our table.
"Ace!"
I turned to my right and saw Jenny, Sam's girlfriend coming my way, a big smile on her face.
"Hey." I gave her a half smile. "Do you want a drink?"
"No, thanks, but I'm pretty sure my friend Lucy wouldn't mind one. Do you remember her?"
A short brunette girl with blue eyes appeared from behind her back.
"Hi, Ace." She greeted shyly with a smile.
"Yes, I remember, hi."
"I'm going back with the group, I'll let you two alone. I'm sure you have plenty of things to talk about. Bye!" Jenny waved at me, pushing her friend a little in my direction and went away.
The night couldn't get any better.
Lucy laughed awkwardly and came beside me. I let out a sigh and glanced at her.
"What do you want?" I had to talk closer to her ear, the music was incredibly loud and she was short so I had to bent down a little bit too.
She bit her lips and glanced at me batting her eyelashes. "Watermelon vodka, please."
She would never order something so sweet. She was more of a whiskey girl, and I liked that about her.
God, I needed to stop thinking about her.
I nodded at Lucy and ordered the two drinks. When we came back, I saw that my friends were spread around a table where there were couches that were screaming at me to sit down. I went to one of them and sat down next to Leo who was trying to hit on Quinn as always, but she was clearly not interested. Lucy sat beside me, took a sip of her drink and put it on the table.
I took a sip of mine and let my eyes wander around the place. It was packed, people dancing and sweating against each other. I couldn't help but think of that time almost a year ago when I danced here with her.
"So, Ace." I heard Lucy beside me let out a big breath as she moved closer. "What have you been up to?"
I glanced at her as she crossed her legs and took a big gulp of my drink this time. I definitely needed it.
"You know, studying and stuff."
"Oh yeah, you're studying medicine, aren't you?"
"Hmh."
"That's so hot." She muttered. I didn't know if she wanted me to hear it or not, but I clearly did.
She cleared her throat and smiled. "You've also been working out a lot lately, right?" She brought her hand forward and squeezed my bicep as she gave me what I guessed was a seductive look.
I drove the glass to my lips and shrugged. "Yeah, a little bit." I looked at her out of the corner of my eye and took another sip.
"Mhm, I can tell." She laughed.
Did I say something funny? Not that I recalled.
I bit the corner of my mouth as I moved my head back and forth at the beat of the music. She said something but I didn't listen. She put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed it to draw my attention back at her.
Too much touching, I swear.
"Sorry, what?" I asked with a frown.
She laughed again shaking her head and leaned a little bit to whisper into my ear. "I asked if you wanted to dance."
She pulled apart and her face was just a few inches away from mine. She had beautiful icy blue eyes, but they weren't brown.
I loved her intense brown eyes.
I shook my head. "No, thanks, I'm good." I looked away.
I heard her sigh. "Well, if you change your mind I'll be on the dance floor."
I nodded with a tight toothless smile and took another sip from my drink. I looked around to see if I could find Luca.
I was so going to kill him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The night sky was darker than usual. Clouds covered the stars and the moon. And it was cold. So fucking cold.
I leaned against the balcony of the terrace, upstairs of the club. There were a few people smoking, a couple making out and me.
It was cold yeah, but I needed the fresh air. It was suffocating down there. I didn't know if I felt that way because there were too many people or because the right person wasn't there.
Would it get any better? Would I get any better?
It'd been almost nine months and I felt so sad. I felt empty. In all honesty, I didn't know something like this would affect me so much in my life. Miserable, alone. Too many people and I felt alone, because she wasn't there.
Last year I would've thought that I was crazy. I had been losing myself, but I didn't want to be found. If I moved on, it would mean that I had forgotten her. And I didn't want to. She had been a very important part of my life. I loved her, I wanted to be with her, why did she have to suffer from something like that? Why her? She was beautiful, smart, funny. Perfect in every single way. And yet she couldn't see it.
Sometimes I couldn't help but think that I hadn't reminded her enough how incredible she was. I couldn't help but blame myself. I mean, she was doing fine before she met me. Did I make her feel insecure? I wanted her to be happy, to love herself as much as I loved her. She was the little shiny star that could light up that dark night sky.
And she wasn't there.
Okay, time to stop drinking.
"Hey."
I turned my head to see who it was, I wasn't expecting anyone. I glanced at the brunette girl that appeared with a small smile. Her green eyes looked at me sympathetically.
"Sarah, hi."
"What are you doing here? It's freezing." She hugged herself, closing her jacket and let out a visible steamy breath.
"I don't know, I don't feel like being down there."
She nodded and we both remained silent for a couple of minutes, watching the city below us.
"How is she?" I asked unconsciously, my voice almost inaudible.
"She's great." She smiled at me and I couldn't suppress the smile that came to my lips. She's great and I'm so glad.
We kept quiet again in a comfortable silence. We were alone now and I felt like the tip of my nose and fingers were about to fall. I made the attempt to move, to tell Sarah that is was better if we went inside, when she spoke.
"She's going home in a few days, you know."
My heart stopped. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out so I closed it again. She was going home.
"I'm not supposed to tell you this, but she misses you Ace. She never stopped missing you." She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye.
She never stopped missing you.
Time stopped. My hands began to shake, I felt my stomach making a flip and my chest tightening.
"I miss her too." I whispered.
She looked at me and smiled. "Yeah, trust me, I know." She let out a little laugh.
I smiled at her. A genuine smile. God, it's been so long since I didn't put on one of those. It felt odd in my mouth.
Martina missed me. Martina was going home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I tried to call her for the following days, but everytime that lady's voice came out.
"...The number you are trying to reach is no longer available..."
I knew she didn't have a phone, I mean, she broke it before leaving and Sarah told me she decided that it was better like that, if she didn't have one. So yeah, I had been calling her every single day, I texted her even though I knew pretty well she wouldn't receive them. It helped me in some kind of way.
Or maybe not, I didn't fucking care to be honest.
I asked Sarah about her, I needed to know if she would come, or if I could go visit her, whatever. But she told me she couldn't tell me anything. Martina told her not to. I guessed if she wanted to see me, she would reach out to me in one way or another, right?
At least that's what I had been telling myself for the last couple of days.
I woke up early that day, Renzo licking my whole face.
"Hey buddy." I laughed as I tried to push him away. "Renzo, stop."
He suddenly ran away to my door and stiffened, looking at me with all that energy that he always had, panting.
"What? Do you wanna go for a walk?" He barked and I stretched up before getting out of bed.
"Okay, okay, let me put a shirt and some shoes on."
He barked again and came near me, biting my pants and pushing his muzzle against my leg.
"Why the hell are you so excited?" He looked at me, his tongue out as he panted. He barked again and went to the door. "What, do you want me to go downstairs?"
I followed him and when I started to walk down the stairs I heard a familiar voice. Renzo ran towards the kitchen and as I entered, I saw my sister Valentina talking with my mom. She was sitting on the counter and my mom was making breakfast. She turned to look at me and a broad smile spread on her face.
"Happy birthday, bambino!!"
Wait. My birthday? February the 24th, right. Who the fuck forgets their own birthday?
She threw herself at me like a monkey and I caught her up laughing. "Thank you, sis."
"Buon compleanno, tesoro!" I let my sister on the floor and hugged my mom.
"Thanks, mom." I kissed her cheek.
"I made you pancakes."
"Great, grazie." I grinned sitting down at the table.
My dad came in from one of the glass doors that lead to the backyard and I got up from my chair to hug him.
"Happy birthday, son."
"Thanks Dad."
"You're making me old, Ace. I mean, 23 wow. I already had a daughter at that age."
"Dad, we're not giving you grandchildren anytime soon if that's what you're implying." Chuckled my sister. I laughed and sat down again.
"Of course I'm not saying that, I don't want them this soon. I'm still a cool and young dad, right?" He glanced at me. My sister and I shared a look. We both shrugged and started laughing.
"Sure, dad."
"Of course you are, caro." Said my mom giving him a kiss on the cheek and sitting down with me on the table. My dad sighed shaking his head amusedly and sat down too.
We all had breakfast together. It had been a long time since we were all at the table like this. Well, my two little demons were not here.
"Are you picking up Morgan and Claudia?" I asked my father.
"Yes, later on the day, we're all having lunch together."
The intercom rang and my sister got up to pick it up.
"Yup, it's here. It's open."
"Who is it?" I asked as she came to the table again.
"A delivery for Ace Nolan." She said mimicking a deep man's voice.
"Did you buy anything online?" Asked my mom.
"No." I replied confused.
After a few moments, the door bell rang and I went to open it.
"Hello, Ace Nolan?"
A middle-aged man with mustache appeared at my door. He had a big bouquet of flowers in his hand.
I was so confused. I shook my head after I realized that I zoomed out. "Mhm yeah sorry, it's me."
"Sign here, please." I signed the bottom of a paper and he gave me the bouquet. "Goodbye, happy birthday sir."
I stared at the flowers and nodded. "Yeah, thank you."
I closed the door and went towards the kitchen, still shocked about it.
"Flowers!" Exclaimed my mom excitedly. "Who sent them?"
I glanced at my family really confused. Who would send me flowers? Nothing against it, it's just weird.
"I- I don't know."
"Well, there has to be a card somewhere!"
I looked around the bouquet and found a white envelope. I handed my sister the flowers who was, for some reason, grinning like an idiot and opened it.
When I recognized the handwriting I swear I almost died right there. My heart pounded to the point where it almost jumped out of my chest. I read it in silence.
I told you I would remember to send you flowers,
M.
P.S. Happy birthday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bambino: boy
Buon cumpleanno, tesoro : happy birthday, treasure
Caro: dear
I finally decided to post it today 'cause I had time to edit it. Hope you like it!
Thoughts about it? Do you like me a little bit more now? 😏
What do you think it's gonna happen?
Do you remember in what chapter she said that about the flowers?
Thanks for reading, don't forget to let me know what you think in the comments and don't forget to vote!