Aces

THIRTEEN

Amaya

"How was school?" Ma asked as we sat around the table.
"I have a whole friend group already."
"Seriously?"
"Ma, you don't have to sound surprised just because I made friends so quickly. Oh, and I scored myself a date for tomorrow."
"Amaya has a boyfriend, Amaya has a boyfriend." Noah chanted.
"Or girlfriend," Ma added. "Remember, girls can date girls, too now."
"He's not my boyfriend. We're just going out to watch a movie."
"And your Mother said you can go?"
"Not yet, but, I was hoping you'd let me."
"Of course you can, but you'll be home before 10." She sounded so much like Pa right now and I bet she didn't even realise it.
"So, Noah, how was your day?" I purposely left out the part about me being an Ace.
"Eh."
"Why?"
"It's no fun without you. Please come back, I miss you." Noah looked at me with desire in his eyes.
"We've been over this, Noah: I can't. I miss you too, but I need this new school for my running."
"Why can't you just do it at my school? You used to, and you even won the competition. I don't see what the problem is?"
"I'm better off in this new school, okay? Just stop going on about it." I picked up my plate to wash.
"Amaya, don't be rude." Ma admonished.
"I'm not being rude! I'm just asking him to stop complaining because I moved school, it's not that big of a deal." I stormed off upstairs, leaving Ma and Noah in the kitchen. Ma tried to call after me, but I ignored her. Grabbing my phone, I jumped into bed. My finger hovered over Avery's name before clicking Aiden's.

I'd been messaging back and forth with Aiden for two hours when I finally put my phone down. An overwhelming wave of guilt washed over me as I made my way to Noah's room, gently knocking on his door, even though it was wide open. "Hey, buddy. Can we talk?" He glanced at me but didn't reply. I took a seat on the edge of his bed. "Look, I know I was mean to you, and I'm so, so sorry. I love you to the moon and back. Do you know what that means?"
"Yup, Papa used to say it all the time: our hearts pump 2,000 gallons a day, which is equivalent to the amount of fuel it'd take to get to the moon and back, meaning that whenever someone says that they love you to the moon and back, they're saying that they love you every time their heart beats, which is constantly." The same, small smile painted itself on both of our faces. "I miss Papa." Noah said, looking at me with teary eyes.
"Yeah, we all do."
"Amaya, will you teach me how to play chess? I want to be like Papa."
"Of course I can. Go get it, and we'll start with the basics." After I listened to his footsteps trail off into silence, I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye. What did I ever do to deserve this kid?