Cover (COMPLETED)

26) You should wear something like that sometime.

Ace smiles up at me. "Hey." The girls at the booth all turn and glare at me.

"Hi. Can I have a seat?" I ask them kindly, taking the high road.

The girl directly next to Ace is wearing booty shorts and a crop top, exposing her perfect body and not leaving much to the imagination. She laughs and glides a hand down Ace's abdomen.

At this Ace straightens and removes her hands from him, at that time Lane and Eden had finally made it though the door and had joined the ecitment, quite out of breath. "That on,y took you forever." I remark.

Lane sticks out his tongue at me and Eden makes a face before looking at the girls with hungry eyes. "Well hellloooo." He flirty.

The girls batt they'r eyelashes and the two girls standing go forward and start flirting with them, leaving me standing at the head of the table, waiting for a seat to open up.

Ace smiles down at the girls. "Actually, could you please move and let her in? That's my girlfriend."

The girls all look shocked, dragging their eyes from me to him. The girl directly next to Ace points at me. "That thing? She's so ugly though." She screeches.

Moments before, my heart had been flying, he had called me his girlfriend. But now, it was breaking. I'm not that ugly, I was usually satisfied with myself, but the girls expressions told me all I needed to know.

I turn to leave but am stopped when Lane and Eden are suddenly by my sides, having left the other girls behind.

Ace is glaring at the girl next to him. "She's beautiful, and not only without but also within, something I can't say for you. Move." He commands one final time. The girls all scurry out of the booth and Lane pushes me into the seat next to Ace, sitting beside me while Eden takes a seat in front of him.

Ace wraps his arms around me and whispers in my ear. "You're beautiful,can't I'm so sorry for what she said."

I just nod my head, still stunned that he had chosen me over her.

"Damn." Remarks Lane, looking behind him where the girls were walking out of the diner. "They may be mean but they sure are hot." He turns and looks at me. "You should wear something like that sometime."

I smack him on the back of the head and the table erupts in laughter, all the tension seeping away as quickly as it had come.

We spend maybe an hour at the diner before we drive to one of the parks and hang around the else empty playground. I hang from the only bars and look over to see Eden and Ace smoking, making me frown.

I drop down from the bars and scream in surprise when someone attacks me from behind. Lane lifts me up and over his shoulder as he runs away, laughing wickedly.

I lift my head up and look behind Lane, seeing the other guys running after us, Ace in the lead. Lane eventually slows down and turns around, not expecting it when Ace barrels into him, crashing to the ground. The other boys have too much momentum going to slow down and we all end up in one big pile on the ground, me at the bottom.

I tap Lane on the shoulder, him being the one directly on top of me. "I can't breath." I wheeze out, making all of them scramble off of me in unison.

Sitting up, I take a deep breath with my hand on my chest. "Whooo." I breath out.

Ace rolls his eyes and lights another cigarette. "You made me drop my other one." He scowls at Lane.

I pull the cigarette out of his mouth from between his fingers and put out. Ace looks at me in surprise, but I don't give him time to react. I crash my lips against his, making us both fall backwards again as Lane groans (and mumbles something about PDA) and the rest of the boys woop.

When I sit up again, I look down at Ace. "Did you enjoy that?" I ask innocently.

He stiffly nods and sits up too.

I smile. "Good. But it's smoking or kissing me."

Ace's eyes widen and he looks at the other guys, looking to see if this is a joke or something. "What?"

I don't repeat myself, knowing that he had heard me and was just looking for confirmation. I look him in the eyes and he looks back, creasing them now and again. His gaze eventually drops and he slides his hand into his jacket pocket, pulling out his box of cigarettes. He looks down at the box in his hand longingly then up at me.

Not only was this a test of how much he wants lung cancer, but also how much he likes me, I'm curious.

Ace sits up and hands me the box. I smile lightly and walk over to the garbage can and throw away the half empty box. When I look back the boys are huddled in a circle disguising something and I decide to let them be by themselves, I had sort of been taking over their group, intruding, and I'm not a member of this gang.

I return to the playground and swing from one end of the monkey bars to the other, and back again.

After a while the skies get dark and separate from the group, deciding to head home. I say my goodbyes and kiss Ace quickly before heading to my car and driving home. As I reach out tidy little white house, I walk around to the back and lay down in the grass, my head on my backpack, using it as a pillow.

I gaze up at the starts shining brightly. The moon is perfectly clipped and it looks like any second a little boy will sit down and cast his fishing reel over the edge, down to the oceans below.

I let my mind wander to top day's events. Ace had quit smoking for me. It's the beginning of love. But...why would someone love me for who I am when there's so much better people out there. Prettier. Nicer. More confident.

Someone who isn't afraid. Or someone who even has a real leg and is not covered in scars and traumatized by their past.