Chapter Nine

25 0 0
                                    

I pull out my phone and text Ace asking if he wants to go to church with me tomorrow. He responds saying he already has plans. Figures. I close out of my texts and click on Twitter. As I scroll through I see Alexis's tweet something about a relationship. I go to her profile and it says "team taken A+A forever." Looking at it hurts but I remember what Ace told me today at the meet. She just wants to get him back, I tell myself but it isn't working. Especially after Ace told me he has plans tomorrow. I wanted to ask him what they were but I also didn't want to seem clingy. I decided to drop it and go to sleep because it was probably nothing again.

The next morning I wake up and check my phone.. I have 5 texts from Ace and 5 dms from Alexis. As soon as I see it my heart drops.

I open the texts from Ace first deciding they're more important.

Hey my plans got cancelled so I can come tomorrow.

I need the address tho

You're probably asleep aren't you

Sorry if I woke you

Good night love

I smile as I type out the address and tell him what time to come. Then I realize I have those messages from Alexis. I open them and what I see makes my heart hurt. Five pictures of Ace and Alexis. Kissing. I know it's from back when they were dating but I wipe my lips feeling disgusted that my lips touched ones that had kissed that slimy brat.

My phone buzzes and I see Ace's reply. Should I tell him about the messages from Alexis? I decide not to because I don't want things to be awkward between us this morning.

Well I suck at making decisions. As soon as I met up with Ace in the parking lot things were awkward. He tried to peck my cheek but I pushed him back. He looked shocked but just blew it off and followed me to the door. As we sat down I didn't sit very close to him.

After church was over I walked out with Ace to his car and standing in the same position we were yesterday when we kissed makes me uncomfortable and I just want to leave.

"What's wrong?" He asks lifting my chin so he can look at me.

"Nothing, there isn't always something wrong with me Ace I am just tired," as soon as I say it I see the hurt in his eyes and I want to take it back. But I can't.

My mom walks over and invites Ace over for lunch and of course he takes the invitation though I wish he hadn't. And now I get to ride in his car back home. Where he's going to interrogate me.

To my surprise he left me alone. No questions but he kept looking at me. Every time he glanced over I felt more guilty because he didn't do anything wrong.

"Look Ace," I finally say turning towards him.

"I just didn't have the best morning so I'm sorry if I'm treating you like crap," I finish.

"You're not treating me like crap. I'm sorry things aren't going well but why can't you ever tell me these things?" He asks glancing back and forth from me to the road.

"I figure it's my problem not yours," I say without even thinking

"But after what happened yesterday I want to make sure everything's ok. Make sure you know that I'm yours and not Alexis's," as soon as her name comes off his tongue I cringe.

"I know but those pictures hurt," I mumble not knowing he could hear me.

I know he heard because once we got home he grabbed my phone off my lap.

"Hey!" I exclaim reaching for my phone. He just climbs out of the car and waits for me to walk around.

"Why did you take that?" I ask really confused.

"Because pictures don't matter Alani. We're real life. All Alexis has is pictures," as soon as he says this I feel overwhelmed with happiness. I hug him and then we walk into my house and start eating lunch with my family.

After we're done eating Ace thanks us for having him and we say goodbye and he leaves. I go up to my room to change and as soon as I set my phone down it buzzes. I look down seeing another message from Alexis. Don't open it Alani I think to myself. But that doesn't stop my thumb from clicking on it. More pictures. Hand holding and hugging. And one looks very recent considering Ace just got that haircut. But I know as soon as I talk to Ace he'll assure me that it's fine. As I go to text him my phones buzzes with a text from Naomi. I open it and she had sent me the picture of Ace and Alexis that I just saw and that she took the picture to show me. I couldn't believe it. Ace is really good at acting. Acting like a good boyfriend. I knew I shouldn't fall for a jock. They always revert back to their own kind. I text Ace the picture. As soon as I hit send I want to take it back because all he's going to say is something cute about how it's not the truth and I'll fall for it. Again. Why am I so stupid? My phone starts to ring and its Ace. I don't want to answer because I don't want to talk. But if I don't answer he'll probably show up here and I don't want that either. I answer the phone and hear Ace on the other side.

"Alani what is going on? What's with all the pictures and fights?" He asks sounding innocent but I know he's not.

"Well they wouldn't happen if you weren't a two timer," I spat knowing that was the wrong thing to say.

"A two timer? Alani I thought you trusted me more than that," I could hear the pain in his voice.

"I did. But you let me down again," I say into the phone trying not to feel bad for him. For a while I get no answer I assume he's thinking up another lie.

"Look Alani I feel like we're going in circles,"

"Me too. I find some picture and you tell me everything's fine. But if it were fine this wouldn't keep happening,"

"I don't know what else to tell you. Alexis is going to keep sending you pictures because she's jealous. But you have to know they aren't real,"

"It would be a lot easier if they were just from Alexis. I got one from Naomi too that she took of the two of you together. Right after you left here. You could have a little more class than that,"

Love or war?Where stories live. Discover now