Adrift → Ace; Nancy Drew [2]

iv. the fate of the doomed girl

THE FATE OF THE DOOMED GIRL
CHAPTER FOUR

"Oh, it's stunning," Bess sighed for the thousandth time, gushing over the diamond ring, sparkling under the orange-tinted lights of The Claw. And even though it was like, the sixth hour of the ring being sat largely and brightly on George's ring finger, the two girls continued to look at it as though they had only just seen it now. Liv stared at them through narrow eyes, watching as excitement laced their puffed-up cheeks and curved lips as they grinned and talked about how beautiful and thoughtful Nick's proposal had been. "I still can't believe Charlie stole it."

"She did it out of love! Forget about it already, just think about how pretty it is. Isn't it gorgeous, Liv?" Bess repeated.

The air silenced around her as her eyebrows raised slightly, not expecting the question. She had been so focussed on analyzing their behavior that she struggled to muster up the words to reply. Her eyes darted to Ace briefly, who looked at her expectantly– almost angrily?– as they all waited for her to reply. "Um," she cleared her throat and looked between the ring and Bess and George's eyebrows which were slowly beginning to furrow the longer it took for Olivia to provide an answer. "It's shiny."

George's face dropped. "Shiny?" disbelief dripped from the word as she folded her arm over her chest. "I– your close friend– just got proposed to recently and all you've said to me this entire time is that my engagement ring is shiny? Can you not at least pretend to be happy for me?"

Olivia's face remained blank throughout the lecture, almost like George's words went through one ear and out the other. She rolled her eyes and spun around on her chair at the island, returning her attention to Bess and her back to Olivia. "She's right, Liv," Ace said in a low voice as he dropped onto the chair at the square table she was sitting at. "This is one of the happiest days of her life. I mean, I don't remember ever seeing George this happy and loved-up."

"What do you want me to say?"

They were simple words but they sank into Ace's chest like a knife. She reacted to the topic of love like it was meaningless and worthless. Did he not mean anything to her?

He almost hesitated before saying the next words, but he needed to hear it for himself. "You don't know what it feels like to be in love?" His heart pounded in his chest, ears, throat– everywhere in his body that had a pulse felt like it was going to explode. His eyes burned in anticipation, and he swallowed tightly as he waited for her to reply.

She shook her head, her lips still in the straight line that they'd been in for the past week.

Ace remained still and silent for a moment, taking the simple but hurtful gesture in. "Okay." He nodded and stood up. Olivia pursed her lips, her eyes still glued ahead of her as she got lost in the rustling leaves and bushes outside the window.

"Ooh, I forgot to tell you about the cool ritual Temperance taught me-"

"Bess," Ace grumbled before the girl could carry on.