Afraid To Love Again

Chapter 19 - Once was mine

"We'd been dating for two years"

Ace Brook was every girl's crush in our freshman year because of his looks, immediately stealing every girl's heart. Including mine. Being the shy girl who barely looked at him in the eye, I didn't think he noticed me at all. I'd just admire him from a distance and that was it. My dad is a business man who liked to work with other business men and women. So with that being put out, my dad happened to start working with none other than Ace's father.
I didn't know about this until Ace himself approached me at school during class.

Ace is sitting next to me. How do I focus now?

"Erica Greys, am I right?"

My heart skips a beat at the mention of my name coming from his lips. My name has never sounded so good.

"Huh?!", I got startled and everyone heard me and I just shot an apologetic smile and looked down to my books.

I hear him chuckle but I can't even face him
"Cute", I heard the word escape his mouth and feel my face flash red

"Oh", he starts again, "Your dad is working with mine on a project. I heard from him."
I was surprised indeed and I'm pretty sure it was evident on my face. He continued,
"I knew right away it's the same girl from school's father. You look alike."

"You-", I finally look at him and realize I'm too loud and whisper instead, "You know me?"

"Of course I know you. You stand out from the crowd. Though you hide behind it a lot", he leans on the table with his hand supporting his head. No one has looked at me like that, before now. Like he was interested in knowing more about me. Gosh, I'm delusional.

And after that, he started coming over to my house with his dad whenever they had a meeting at our house. Because he said he considered me a friend now. We would hang out then. I never had the guts to ask my dad to go with him for his meetings at Ace's house.
I started getting less awkward around him as time passed. He was funny and cute at times too. And he taught me how to play the guitar here and there. All these still giving me butterflies.

Until the middle of the year when he asked me to be his girlfriend after his performance in the school talent show. It shocked everyone. It shocked me. Ace didn't have a dating history, he had a history of rejecting every girl who tried. Why he pick me to be his first girlfriend of all girls? His approach was different and direct. It made my heart jump.

He performed a piece he practised with me. But with an end speech like no other. After everyone's loud applause throwing red and white roses on the stage for him, he said something in the microphone.

"This is one of my original pieces I made recently. The person probably doesn't know that she's my inspiration because she can be clueless about things like this a lot. I wrote this piece for her", he pointed towards me with his free hand and all eyes fell at the side I was sitting people wondering who it was. "Erica, be my girlfriend already", he finally spoke.

Gasps and "Aww"s filled the room and others applauded at his proposal. I was still shook. He asked me out, on stage, in front of everyone. I left the audience from the back to go back stage.
Where Ace was.

He catches sight of me when I get there and plasters a smile, "Erica!"

I run to him and on my the tip of my toes, I smack my lips on his before he could speak again or else I would chicken out. I could feel he was shocked too. Never in my life I have thought I would do that first. But maybe I felt bad that he always made the first move.
I step back and touch my lips in realization and in less than a second, he takes the hand away and puts it behind my back, using that to pull me closer to his chest for a second kiss. A longer kiss. A deeper one.
I know he could feel my heart beat hard against my chest too. He chuckles letting my wrist free and slowly pulls away.

"I'll take that as a yes", he smiles at me and immediately, my cheeks turn cherry red.

My first kiss.

Some of the performers in back clapped making me realize we weren't alone.

And that's when we started dating. And I told Amelia on the phone as soon as I got home, I was on top of the moon. And Amelia being Amelia, she wanted to meet him to make sure he was a good guy. I blabbered a lot about him to her already on the phone before Ace and I even started talking. So I think she had an idea of how he was.

◍✧⁠*･｡˖⁠♡

My friends and I were hanging out at my house, in my room during the weekend.
"Oh, Look who's hit the jackpot", Madeline pat me on the shoulder, "It was none other than our Erica!"

"Honestly how did you do it?" Quinn, my other friend asked while swivelling on the chair of my desk.

"I don't think I did anything. Not that I remember of"

"Wait, so you're telling me, he approached you first?", Ansley jumps into the conversation with a question.

"That's what happened. I was surprised mysel-"

Ansley laughs for a quick second cutting me off, "No way this is going to last. He's probably playing around with you because he's bored"

"What?", I'm confused if I heard right.

"Just looking out for you", she concludes and continues filing her nails

"Come on Ans, don't be so negative. Things will go just fine. She finally got her first boyfriend. And a hot one in fact", Madeline jumps in.

"Plus, he's not a player. We're each other's firsts", I defend our relationship.

"Riri", Ansley stops filing again and our attention drift to her, "How are you so sure about that?", She glances at me and to Madeline sitting next to me.

"Enough of that Ans. Can you at least be happy for her?", Madeline speaks for me again.

"I still don't get it", Quinn steps in the conversation after a while of watching her try to make sense out of everything.

I didn't want to start this relationship to be built on my insecurities, so I ignore Ansley's words. I get she was trying to look out for my feelings, but I'm sure Ace is a good guy. I told my mom about it but I wasn't so sure if dad would approve of it so I chose not to tell him just yet.

Ace and I started to go on tons of dates every week, lunch dates, dinner dates, picnic dates, go to theme parks together and beach dates. And I fell deeper and harder for him after each date. We would facetime each other, mostly him and sometimes I'd be working on my assignment and him on his. He would help me a lot academically too. Did I mention he not only had the looks, but the brains as well. He was a hot genius.

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"Bye, Riri. I'll call you when I get there, okay?", He pecks me on the forehead
"Bye, don't be gone too long", I finally say to him while he shut the car's boot after loading it. I watch him leave with his parents in the car.

I went to see him off at his house and it was still 8:00am in the morning. It was quite cold these past few days, so I had layered up good before leaving the house.
Ace was going out of the city to meet his aunt and uncle. He wouldn't tell me how long he was going for, because he was uncertain, but I made sure to tell me he was to come before our two year anniversary, which was a month from now. It was crazy how we were dating for two years already.
It was the end of sophomore year and Amelia was coming to visit for a week during the break.
So she could maybe meet him again then.
The last time she saw him was about three months ago and we all got to hang out together and had a great time.

And surely enough, Ace made sure to call me right before my bed time knowing the time I go to bed. Which is early.
He made it there safely but had to go, so I ended the call after wishing him a good night. I was sure to get a good night sleep now.

A day passed and I waited for his call. But he was thirty minutes late. I decide to do the calling, but it was unreachable.
5 tries, but still no luck. That's odd. Or am I just being too clingy? I don't know. He's probably busy or caught up in something, he would call if he wasn't. I wanted to go to bed but I found it difficult to. I checked my phone again for any texts or messages. No good night texts either.

Nothing's happened. There's nothing to worry about. He's doing just fine.

Right?

🥀🥀🥀