Five Words

Chapter 29

~Cher

I don't know how much time I have spent planning our trip for next week. I don't know how long ago was it when my mother left me. Scratch that. When my mother has gotten bored out of her mind with me thinking aloud about what I should do, what I should plan. I have my ideas, but I don't know if he will mistake them for pity or sympathy towards him rather than a kind and thoughtful gesture. She has told me to do it though before she kissed me goodnight and headed upstairs to bed.

As for me, I have stayed later than I intended to. I can feel my eye muscles tiring and begging me to shut the laptop and go to sleep already. Being the perfectionist I am destined to be, I go over everything from the beginning. I have booked the best rooms, the ones with a pool view and most importantly, the lake view. The ones with the large balconies, which at night allows the cool night breeze to swiftly flow into the room. I have also made sure to book our bus tickets, in case it will be busy on that day, I will be a hundred percent sure that nothing gets in the way of this trip.

Once satisfied and could feel the sleep starts to dawn on me, I shut down my laptop and get off the couch to give my aching limbs a nice stretch. While rotating my head to relieve the neglected ache there, I spot Ace with the corner of my eye, sitting on the kitchen stool his eyes fixated on me.

"You done?" He casually asks.

"How long have you been here?" I ask him.

"A while after your mother left."

There's no way he could've been there all this time and I haven't heard or gotten a glimpse of him.

"You're kidding."

"Nope." He tosses a grape into his mouth, "I have a question though. What were you doing all this time?"

"I am the one who should be asking you. Why the hell would you be staring at me, you creep?" I walk to him.

"I came here because I was hungry." He picks up a slice of cheese and rolls it around a grape, "Besides, there's nothing interesting enough about you that'll make me stare at you."

"You shouldn't be an asshole at night." I remind him and take a seat across from him.

"I wasn't." He smiles as he eats another grape.

"Anyways, what were you doing?" He asks.

"Are you always this nosey?" I do as he does, and try the grape with cheese.

"What do you have to hide, missy?" He asks playfully.

"Nothing." I walk to the fridge to pour myself a glass of orange juice. "Not that it's any of your business."

"How can you say that?" He acts offended, "I am your friend, Cher."

I groan.

"I'm starting to regret this." I joke.

"No backing out now, Cher. I don't think I'll be able to find someone else to entertain me on short notice."

There he goes reminding me once more of his leaving. I hate that I don't like the idea of him not being around.

"I won't." I tell him and sip from my glass avoiding meeting his eyes.

"You must love orange juice." He says after a few beats of silence.

I do.

"What makes you say that?"

"I notice you drinking it every chance you get."

Something happens to my heart. Something good though. It does this thing whenever Ace says something to me, something special.

"It's good." My voice is small.