Where I Belong - Ace Merrill

Chapter 18

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~1959~
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"So... back to where it all started aye?" Eyeball mumbled as he kept a firm grip on Harper's hard as they entered Irbys bathroom.

Harper nodded slowly. The other cobras had all stayed in the bar and agreed to stay there no matter what they heard. Yet they'd all given her a hug and told her to go bring Ace back home.

"I remember you were fascinated by my scar." He said with a small laugh.

Harper laughed and nodded. "I could have sworn you were just very good method actors."

Eyeball laughed and nodded. "You could tell you loved us though." His signature smirk came out as Harper gently hit his chest.

"I'm not being funny Eyeball, I've loved you all since I was like 15." She laughed as she slowly let go of his hand to walk around, her eyes seeing everything, every little detail.

"And I still look good right?"

Harper laughed and shook her head. "Shut up Eyeball."

He laughed and nodded. "So what exactly are we looking for?"

Harper shrugged. "Honestly? Still have no clue. Back home it was Kiefer's autograph. Here? I have no idea."

"Can't imagine Kiefer's signed in here.." Eyeball mumbled as he looked around.

Harper nodded. "If we're being technical Kiefer hasn't even been born yet."

"Seriously?" Eyeball scoffed laughing.

Harper nodded again. "21st December 1966."

Eyeball nodded slowly. "You really know all about this shit don't you?"

Harper sighed as she avoided eye contact. "As I've said, it's saved my life more than once."

"Wanna talk about it?" He asked quietly as he cautiously looked up at her.

Harper thought for a second. "You and Ace kinda already know. I was in a really bad place when I was shown your movie. It saved me, that's all there is." Harper replied quite brashly.

Eyeball nodded again, understanding she clearly didn't want to talk about it.

"So if we're not looking for Kiefer's autograph..." His voice trailed off as he looked around at the various bits of graffiti dotted around.

"To be honest even that took me time to find, the walls were literally caked in graffiti." Harper laughed slightly as. Her fingers trailed along the wall.

"Well theres hardly any now." Eyeball said as he looked down and saw his own mark he'd made a few years back.

"Mainly just from us." He said laughing as he looked and saw Ace's name scrawled out. "Where was Kiefer's?"

"Over by you, right where that scribble is." Harper said pointing as she turned and continued looking over the walls.

Eyeball quickly followed her finger as it went to Ace's name. "You mean here?" He asked, pointing at it.

Harper quickly turned and nodded, before looking away.

"Harps..." He mumbled quietly.

"Yeah?"

Eyeball gulped slightly. "I think you need to see this. You said this is where Kiefer's autograph was?"

Harper sighed as she appeared next to him and looked down, seeing where his finger pointing.

"There's a different signature..." She mumbled as she saw Ace's name.

"I thought they were the same person?" Eyeball scoffed with a smirk.

Harper slapped him and shook her head as she pulled the pen from her back pocket.

"You think this is gonna work?" She asked quietly.

Eyeball shrugged. "You sure you wanna do this alone?"

Harper nodded. "It's bad enough there's an Ace Merrill in 2022, let alone an Eyeball Chambers too."

"You'd fucking love it and you know it." Eyeball said with a wink as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. "Go get Ace."

Harper nodded into him as he gently kissed her head and walked out the bathroom slowly. She let the door shut silently as she took a deep breath before taking the pen lid off.

Her breathing quickened as she brought the pen up to Ace's name.

The light above her flickered.

The smile grew on her face as she slowly began to trace Ace's name.

Yet just as she finished tracing it over Eyeball came bursting into the bathroom.

"Harper! Tell Ace-"

Blackness.

~~~~~
~2022~
~~~~~

"So this started in the bathroom at Irbys?" Harper's mum questioned Ace as they sat on their hotel room sofas and finished up breakfast.

Ace nodded. "She said she went over some Kiefer's autograph and next thing she knows I'm waking her up in our bathroom."

Her parents nodded slowly.

"So we just get you to go over his autograph and then you'll be back there?" Her mum asked again.

Ace shrugged. "I guess so."

"It's worth a shot, we just need to figure out how to get her home after." Her dad finished as Ace stood up, hearing a small beeping from Harper's room.

Her parents gave him a confused look as he walked in and saw her laptop screen flashing. He slowly walked over and crouched down to see the screen.

'Reminder: Tell Harper I miss her.'

Ace sighed as he used his finger, remembering what her dad had taught him, he clicked the little cross in the corner and stood up.

"You are home Harper." He whispered.