Uncharmed

Chapter 8: Study Date

It was now 7:15 so it was almost time for Ace to meet up with Tess at the student center for their study date. He was a little nervous but his friends reassured him that it will turn out alright which helped him relax a little. They wished him luck and he left the dorms then started making his way to the student center. Once he arrived, there weren't too many students inside since most of them were either visiting home for the weekend or having a night out on the town. Ace checked his phone and saw that it was now 7:21 so he decided to sit down on one of the couches in the lobby and went on his phone while he waited for Tess.

"Hey," a voice said.

He got startled and looked around to see Tess standing next to the couch holding a guitar case. She raised an eyebrow at him then she rolled her eye and placed her hand on her hip.

"Seriously? You need to pay attention to your surroundings more," she said.

"S-Sorry, got a little distracted," Ace said as he put his phone away.

"Whatever," she sighed. "Let's just get this study thing over with."

She sets her guitar case down next to the couch then sits down but not too close to Ace. There was a brief moment of silence and it was starting to make Ace a little nervous but it was finally broken when Tess finally decided to speak up.

"So what exactly do you want to know about nightclubs?" she said. "There are a lot of things I can briefly tell you about."

"Do you have to work at the club to be able to perform or can anyone perform there?" Ace asked.

"Basically anyone can perform there if they appear to be good enough or are well known for their music," Tess answered.

"So how did you start performing there?" he asked again.

She was about to respond but she stopped herself and Ace raised an eyebrow at her. It looked like she was debating if she should answer his question or not and she seemed a little unsure about it. Ace didn't like how long she was taking to answer him so he decided to speak up and say something.

"If this is something you don't want anyone else to know then I promise I won't tell anyone anything," he said.

She looked at him and raised an eyebrow then rolled her eye and sighed.

"I've been playing the guitar for as long as I could remember and I want to get my talent out there since it's apparently the only thing I'm good at," she explained. "I tried getting signed up to make a record label but I kept getting rejected so I gave up and got hired to do shows at the club."

"Wait hold on, you tried to get signed up for a record?" Ace said, looking shocked. "And you just gave up?"

"I couldn't take the rejection anymore so I decided to..take a break," she said. "For a year.."

"Seriously?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

Tess just glared at him and it looked like she wanted to snap at him but she stopped herself and looked away from him.

"You don't fucking understand anything," she mumbled.

Ace felt a little bad for her despite her giving him a bit of an attitude and he wanted to try and cheer her up a little. He didn't know how to do that exactly so he just decided to move a little closer to her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder which he was a bit hesitant about. Tess was a bit surprised at the sudden gesture but she didn't do anything and refused to look at him.

"Look, I may not understand most things about you but that doesn't mean I shouldn't learn to," he said. "We haven't exactly gotten along since we met but maybe we can start now?"