Back In the New York Groove (Ace Frehley is Who...?)

Chapter 2

Ace's POV: 

"So, you have a kid? Rose was her name, right? I like it." Aella just stood there staring, as if she was still in shock from seeing me again. "She's a sweet kid, how old is she?"

"She just turned five a couple weeks ago," Aella finally answered. I noticed she refused to look at me, and kept her head down. "Is there anything you need? Or....?" It took me a minute to comprehend what she asked me.

"Oh! Right! Uh um I was kinda looking for a new guitar." I reply, awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck and staring at my feet. She comes from behind the counter and leads me to the array of guitars she has hanging on the wall. She still refuses to look at me, that hurts.

"Here. Take your pick." She tells me bluntly. Uhm, ouch. I cringe on the inside as I scan the different guitars. Every so often I peek at her, taking in all her physical features again. From her skinny body clad in leather, all the way to her teased up hair and dark make-up. She hasn't changed much in the last 5 and a half years.

I quickly turn back to the guitars as she glances up at me. I notice a beautiful Gibson guitar hanging right in the middle of the section. "How much is this one?" I said pointing at the Gibson.

"$450, but it's not in stock right now. I can take your address and have it shipped to you." Aella said already walking away from me back to the front of the store.

"No it's okay," I said following her to the front of the store while trying to keep up. I Nearly tripped over a box of guitar picks on the way. "I'm going to be in town for awhile so I can come back into pick it up. When will the next shipment come?"

"A week from today if I order it now." She said looking up from her books on the counter. I nod, thinking over my tour schedule.

"I'll be in town, I'll stop back in at this time next week."

"Sounds good" Aella said, "I'll have it ready to go so I won't hold you up any"

"Don't worry about it," I said beginning to turn and leave. "I don't mind sticking around for awhile." I said as I walked out the door. Once the bell on the door rang signaling my exit, my heart finally stopped beating at 125 mph. I took a big sigh and continued walking up the street. As I walked, my mind began racing in all different directions with hundreds of thoughts. Seeing Aella for the first time in years completely threw me off guard. I hadn't expected to ever see her again and now here she is with a kid. How old was she again? She had to be about 5, and the name, Rose. The same as my mother, what a coincidence.

The rest of the day went by in a blur and thankfully I was able to get both the child and her mother out of my mind. I spent my time exploring the city I've always loved, yet always been so distant from. It wasn't until I was laying in bed, that I started to think about Aella again, and our last night together almost 6 years ago. God, how I missed her.

I was almost asleep, when Rose popped into my head again. Her tiny little self with a larger than life personality. She had her mom's eyes, but her long, black hair. It's nothing like her parent's, the hair made her stand out, as if she didn't belong. I mean, Aella has black hair, but she dyes it. Her hair is naturally light brown. Something just wasn't right. But, with those thought fading away, I drifted off to sleep.

Aella's POV:

After Ace left, I felt confused. It was as if I was in a daze. Everything went by in a blur. All I could think about was that one day, nearly six years ago. The day my whole life was flipped upside down. I never thought it'd happen to me. It was the day I found out I was pregnant with my sweet, little Rose. I can remember it like it was yesterday.

It had been about a month since I had moved in with Ace, my boyfriend at the time. They had just finished a tour a few weeks ago and I was alone that night, seeing as KISS had a local concert. I hadn't been feeling well the past week or so, and I decided to stay back at the apartment and rest. I was snuggled up on the couch reading a book about a young mom that was struggling to make ends meet; her little boy had cancer. As I was reading this book about a mother and her son it hit me, I was pregnant. Well I could be, I didn't know for sure. But that possibility that I could be terrified me. I wasn't ready to have a kid and neither was Ace. He had his career and we were both so young this couldn't be. I jumped off the couch and threw on some shoes and headed out the door. I made my way down the busy sidewalk pushing through the crowds arriving at the corner store a couple blocks away. It was in that corner store on 23rd street that I bought my first pregnancy test. I rushed home and took it right away. I paced the apartment back and fourth for the longest time. It had passed the time it takes for the result to show up on the stick but I wasn't ready to see for myself. After nearly burning a path down the middle of the apartment I finally talked myself into looking. Sure enough, the test was positive. I instantly went into panic mode, this couldn't be happening. What was I going to do? We were so young, neither one of us was ready to handle this. I took the box and the stick out to the garbage can and buried it deep, insuring that Ace wouldn't find it. I went back inside and and tried to calm myself down. That night I ate a whole pint of ice cream, took the longest shower of my life and knocked out in bed. I would face this issue the next morning.

I was noticeably distant from Ace for the next few days and I could tell it was starting to frustrate him. A couple days later Ace and I was supposed to take a two day trip so that band could perform in Atlanta but I told him I was just going to stay home. I could tell that he was upset that I didn't want to come along but after almost a week of petty arguments he wasn't going to fight me. Ace left around one in the afternoon that Tuesday and by six I had all my belongings packed up and a note on the counter for Ace to find when he got home a couple days later. I was most defiantly running away but I was young and didn't know what else to do. My note was lame and didn't provide much explanation on why I up and left. By 7 everything was loaded into a cab and I was on the way to my parents. Nine months later Rose was born and 6 years later I still regret how I left things with Ace. 

(A/N: please forgive me for taking so long with this, and for the fact that it's so short. I'm trying to juggle high school, college, and a job. I'm doing the best I can to get my stories written and published. This wasn't exactly a finished chapter, but I felt horrible for keeping you guys waiting so long. So, here you are. Enjoy guys!)