Think You Can Handle Me?

|6|

|Chapter 6|

•𝟸 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚔𝚜 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛•

"Wait- can I put it in myself?"

And I instantly stopped my slow movements letting her grab a hold of it on her own.

"Oh wow! That's amazing, it's actually big!"

"Damnit Ari not so rough babygirl and why do you seem so surprised, I told you it was big."

"Yeah well I had my doubts." She shrugged as she walked past me and into my condo.

I shook my head at her and sat my keys down in the table. "So, you want anything to drink?"

"Water is fine." She called out from the front room as I was half way into the kitchen. I nodded to myself and opened the refrigerator grabbing two waters.

I walked back into the front to see that she had made herself pretty comfortable and was now looking at all my pictures.

"Ari, here."

She looked up and smiled at me as she took the bottle from my hand. "Aww Ace, you were such a cute wittle baby."

"Thank you." I chuckled and sat down on the couch. She sat down beside me.

"Look at your hair and teeth on this one!" She said before cracking up making me smack my lips playfully.

"Oh ha ha, I'm glad you find it so funny."

"Aww don't be mad at me." She pouted up at me making me freeze up.

I just shook my head with my eyes still on hers. "Nah I'm not mad."

"Good." She smiled softly. "So, do you stay here all by yourself?"

"Nope, my best friend Cliff stays here too."

Ariana nodded. "Oh ok, well what about your parents?"

My heart literally dropped to my feet when I heard her ask me that. I wasn't sure how to respond to her, I mean I know she wasn't aware. I cleared my throat and slowly looked away from her.

The mood in the room drastically changed and I knew she could tell.

"Umm- I-I'm sorry for asking that. It was personal, and you do not have to tell me if you don't wanna-

"Hey, can I take you somewhere?"

She stared at me for a moment before smiling. "Hmmm depends. You're not trying to kidnap me are you?"

I chuckled, "Ahh nah I wouldn't do that. Unless you want me to." I shrugged winking at her.

Ariana shrugged and nodded. "Sure, why not."

~~~~

"Oh my god Ace!" She screamed grabbing ahold of my arm.

"Hey now if you wanted to hold my hand, all you had to do was say so." I smiled looking back at her.

Ariana blushed looking down at her hand wrapped tightly around my arm. "Oh shut up, I'm terrified of heights you jerk."

"Hmmm ok I'll believe you this time." I said before holding out my hand for her to hold.

She looked down at it and I looked at her.

"Come on now Ari, don't leave me hanging." I sang out making her giggle and slowly take my hand.

We walked a couple of minutes, talking and laughing while Ariana held onto me for dear life. I swear she was so scared, it was kinda funny how whenever I made a sudden move she would cling onto me.

Just then I saw our destination, and suddenly I heard her gasp. "Wow. Where'd you find this place?"

I shrugged. "Well at a time I was going through a really tough time. My parents passed away, and this was the first place I came to. So now it's like my safe haven you know."

Ariana stared up at me for a moment. "Oh my god- Ace- I am so so sorry I didn't know.. I'm really sorry to hear that. I would have never brought it up if I would've known-

"Ari chill it's fine." I told her as I chuckled. "Besides, it's life ya know. Shit happens."

"That doesn't make it ok." She whispered as her hands came across my shoulder. "And it doesn't make it hurt any less."

I took a deep breath and bit down on my lip. "I guess I just like to kinda pretend like that part of my life just doesn't exist anymore, ya know. Like this is me, this is who I am now."

She nodded slowly letting me talk.

"I don't like people looking at me like I'm some lost soul or some hurt boy who needs to be fixed up. Cause I'm not. I'm exactly who I'm supposed to be, yeah I lost both of my parents and that sucks but life goes on."

"Well if it helps any- I definitely don't think any of those things when I look at you."

I looked over at her. "You don't?"

Ariana shook her head. "No, I see a strong human being, that can and has over come so much."

"You're something special, you know that?" I asked her with a smile prominent on my face.

She shrugged and leaned in closer to my face. "Not as special as you."

My eyes went from hers, down to her lips. I bit down on my own as I watched her lick her lips.

Next thing I knew, she started to lean in and I couldn't help myself. So I started to lean in, I brought my hand up pushing a piece of hair behind her ear.

Moving closer to her ear I whispered.. "Race you back down."

I heard her groan as she threw her head back. "Ace, you jerk!"

"Try and keep up babe!" I just chuckled as I ran away from her.

Guess this is gonna be a lot harder than I thought.

───────── ·  ·  ·  · ✦

Alright everyone, how did you enjoy this chapter??☁️

Let me know how you are feeling about things pls and sorry for any mistakes.😁

Thank you all so much for reading!

кαүℓιη мαяιε ♡