Adrift → Ace; Nancy Drew [2]

v. the secrets beneath the sand

THE SECRETS BENEATH THE SAND
CHAPTER FIVE

With her eyes glued to the top of Ace's mop of dirty-blonde hair, she waited patiently as he gently cleaned the debris out of the palms of her hand with a cloth dampened by alcohol.

"Ow." She bit her tongue to silence her pained grumbles at the sting of the liquid on her wounded hands.

Pausing, Ace darted his head into Olivia's eyes. It was like he was searching for something, though Olivia wasn't sure what. Upon noticing his girlfriend's dumb gaze, he realized she wasn't back and it had been stupid wishful thinking. He cleared his throat and turned his attention back to her cold hands. "Sorry... I, uh, just forgot for a sec that a reaction to physical pain wouldn't really mean that you're not basically soulless anymore," he chuckled half-heartedly.

"You think that's what it is? I'm soulless?" Olivia questioned, cocking her head to one side. She wasn't as up-to-date as the others were, considering they had left her out on a lot like their trip to DetectiveCon and their investigations on the Frozen Hearts Killer, or the fact that Temperance wasn't actually a handle someone was using on a computer game Bess was playing– but really, how clueless was Olivia to believe that one? Anyways, Ace's theory about her being soulless seemed to make sense as far as Olivia could understand.

Ace felt guilty for saying it because the normal Olivia– his Olivia– was so sensitive that hearing Ace call her soulless would either spring tears to her honey-brown eyes or evoke a snappy defensive response from her. Her eyes were cold and a deep brown now and they didn't have that natural sparkle to them anymore. They didn't pool with tears at Ace's words, and she certainly didn't seem to care enough to snap back with a witty response. "Nah, I didn't mean literally. But who really knows anyway?" Ace elaborated, placing the stained cloth onto his bedside table and picking up the roll of bandages. "What else would explain all of..." He motioned his hand to Olivia's body. "This..." She followed his hand obliviously. He sighed and shook his head. "No, I mean, this." This time he placed his hand on the left of her chest, to where her heart sat. "The Olivia I know feels everything all the time." As memories of how he and she used to be, he let out a shaky breath and began to wrap the bandages around her hands.

"You keep saying that. That I don't feel." She muttered, watching him fold the end of the bandage into the first layer to seal it. "I wanna stop hearing that. I just want to feel something again." The words stung Ace's heart like a wasp against his skin. It ached Ace to know the girl he loved was in a world of limbo, unbeknownst and unfamiliar with the greatness that it was to have emotion and to feel things. 

With lips folded into a straight line, Ace watched her eyes flicker between his and her now bandaged hands. "I know it's not the same, but you feel this, don't you?" Olivia watched closely as he picked her hand up and softly placed a kiss on the back of it. "And this..." He whispered and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss into the crook of her neck. Olivia shuddered, goosebumps rising all over her body. Her hands had made their way to Ace's forearms, fingertips and nails tightly pressed against his skin. Ace pulled away and looked deeply into her dull, brown eyes. "And this," he said, moving in slowly to press his lips onto her slightly gaped ones. His mouth lingered on hers for a few seconds before Olivia drew herself closer to Ace and deepened the kiss. She felt it through her entire body, head to toe, inside and out. Ace pulled away momentarily to let out a breathy, "and this..." before slowly pulling Olivia's sweater over her head and reattaching his lips to her lips, then her neck, and then everywhere else.