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I could already feel the same humiliation and devastation I experienced yesterday start to creep up my chest again.
Knowing it was ultimately a losing battle, I sighed and dropped my face into my hands. “I know you like Clara.”
“What?” Ace asked, staring at me with a bemused look.
I swallowed. “I know you’re interested in Clara and…and…I don’t know, I guess I just got worried I was going to lose you or something—”
Ace held up a hand, his eyes squeezing shut. “Hold on. Are you telling me you ran away because you thought I was interested in another woman? You ran away because you were jealous?”
My cheeks brightened. Tears clogged my throat. He wasn’t denying his feelings for Clara.
“N-no.” Yes. “I just… I…” I felt like screaming. Why was it so hard to explain? “It didn’t help that I found out you were planning on asking her out the day you turned me down after I asked you out—”
“What?! Turned you down? When the fuck did I turn you down? When the fuck did you ask me out?”
I gave him a dubious look. “Yesterday, before gym. I asked if you wanted to go to that new steak restaurant. And you said no. You said you were busy, but I assumed you were turning me down gently.”
Ace let his head fall back with a huge groan. “Fuck. No wonder you were acting so fidgety all morning. You were trying to tell me you had feelings for me.”
He sighed and looked back at me. His fingers began dancing along my waist. “Baby, I had no idea you were asking me on a date.”
My body shifted restlessly when he called me “baby.”
“B-but…I called it a date. I used the actual word, more than once, I think.
“And I said it would just be the two of us. And I wore the pink dress that you love so much. And I made you coffee, all in an effort to butter you up. I thought I made it pretty obvious.
“Do I just not know how to ask someone out? Oh god, did I just make a complete fool out of myself?”
“Of course not. You did everything perfectly. Fuck… fuck, ?you asked me out in the most perfect way. So you and so sweet and so innocent, and I…”
He growled through his teeth. “I thought you were just asking to hang out. You have to admit, dinner together on a Friday night, just the two of us, isn’t uncommon.
“In fact, isn’t that how we’ve spent most Friday evenings since we met?
“And as for the coffee, you give me gifts all the time. That’s always been how you’ve expressed your love for people. You’re a giver.”
My heart pounded erratically against my ribs. “So, you…you really didn’t know?”
He shook his head. “No, baby. And I’m so sorry for that. It’s not an excuse for what I did to you, but I was dealing with a lot that morning and got distracted.
“I should have been paying closer attention to you, especially when I sensed how nervous you were. I’m sorry.”
I swallowed, my mouth suddenly feeling as dry as sandpaper. “So, you didn’t t-turn me down then?”
His lips turned up slightly, and I have to say, it annoyed me a bit. Was he really amused by it all?
“No. I most certainly did not. Please, ask me again. You have my full, unyielding attention now.”
My mouth dropped open. Could he be saying what I thought he was saying? Was he really telling me to ask him out again so that he could say yes?
Or was he just messing with me? What if I asked him again only for him to turn me down once more and then make fun of me for the rest of our lives for asking him out twice?
I couldn’t handle that. I couldn’t take being rejected by him again, especially after just promising that I wouldn’t run away from him again if something was wrong.
I would have nowhere, and the humiliation would undoubtedly consume me, just like it tried to the previous night.
Ace cupped my jaw. “My poor girl, I’ve made you question my feelings for you. I rejected you when you were being vulnerable with me. I made you feel unwanted.
Replaceable.”
He let out a deep growl. “I don’t blame you for wanting to protect yourself after I hurt you like that.”
I whimpered when his thumb brushed over my bottom lip. He tugged it down to reveal my teeth.
“And, usually, I would respect your needs and allow you as much time as you need to feel comfortable again but…” His gaze drifted down and over my body.
He licked his lips. “Knowing what I know now, I don’t think I’ll be able to wait. It nearly killed me waiting these last eleven years.”
I could hear my pulse in my ears. I forgot how to breathe.
“So, how about this?” he continued. “How about I ask you out this time, and ~you~
tell me yes or no? How does that sound?”
I started to nod only to catch myself. “But…what about Clara?”
His smile dropped. “What about Clara?”
“I thought you had feelings for her.”
He dragged his hands down my hips, playing with the hem of my shirt. “Explain to me what made you think that.”
“The whole school has been whispering about it for days now. Everyone was talking about the amazing connection the two of you have.
“A-and when I asked Madoc about it, he obviously knew something I didn’t—
something you told him but not me. He said Clara was going to be around a lot more now.
“And the other day, when you introduced me to her, you were pretty adamant about letting her know that I was just your friend and nothing more.”
Ace’s face fell more and more with each word I spoke until he appeared absolutely crushed.
“Doe,” he agonized, “my sweet, sweet girl. No wonder you were able to stay away for so long. You’ve had a lot on your mind, haven’t you? You’ve been keeping a lot of secrets from me.”
“I wasn’t keeping secrets from you—”
“Oh, yes, you were. And if you would have just told me what you were thinking, you would have seen how unnecessary your worries were.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t like Clara,” he explained gently. “Not even a little bit. She might be my friend but she means absolutely nothing to me when compared to you.”
He paused.
Then he said the words that changed everything forever.
“Doe, I’m in love with you. I’ve loved you since the day we met.”
“You…”—the back of my neck boiled. There was no way I heard him correctly—
“you love me?”
Ace’s lips tugged up. “Boy, do I ever.”
I shifted forward, trying to wrap my head around the words coming out of his mouth. “B-but, like, really love me? Because I don’t know if you quite understand—”
He grabbed my face and slammed his lips onto mine.