Aces [#NANOWRIMO2017]

Ace Forgets How To Count

"Forget it, man. She's not coming," said Scott over the phone.

I hated to think that he might be right, but I had to admit it -- it had been 45 minutes since school ended. Seraphine wasn't likely to show up anytime soon. Still, I didn't want to give up just yet. "I'll wait another fifteen minutes, then I'll ditch," I said.

"Fine, but I'm not wasting my time on this junk any longer. If she shows, you're on your own. And that's a pretty big if," were Scott's final words before he hung up.

I rolled my eyes and my finger automatically went to the tiny tattoo hiding on the inside of my left wrist (a simplistic illustration of a ringed planet), tracing it distractedly. I'd gotten the tattoo as one of the first ever bets that I took with the gang. It had been so exciting; that was when I'd first started to befriend them. The exhilaration of doing something that I knew I wasn't supposed to do was incredibly freeing. It's why I'm the one who takes the bets; not Bradley, not Scott, not Jenna, not Rafael, and definitely not Matt. I'm the doer. They just sit back and enjoy the show. But I don't mind; I get such a rush (Bradley calls it the rebel rush. I personally think that that's a dumb name, but hey, I'll take it) from forgetting about consequences and just doing; just living in the moment for once.

And if a few people have to get hurt along the way, well... that's just a bonus, you know?

Five minutes passed, and she hadn't showed up yet. Ten. Fifteen.

Twenty minutes. I was still waiting.

I'd told Scott that I'd be out of there within fifteen minutes if she didn't show, but even when my watch told me fifteen minutes had passed, I was strangely reluctant to leave.

In the end, my efforts paid off. Seraphine showed up, running down the path, red-faced and panting. "Sorry I'm late," she said.

"Late is an understatement."

She blushed. "I know, I'm sorry. Lynne -- my best friend -- was playing a hockey game, and I wanted to show up and cheer her on."

"Oh, okay." I smiled at her. "The game's over now, then?"
"Uh-- no, actually. It's kind of still going."

"So you ditched her?"

Seraphine tugged at her hair and didn't answer. I decided to read between the lines. "You ditched your best friend's hockey game for me, huh. You realize that we only properly met as of yesterday, right?"

She laughed. "Yeah, I know, it just... didn't feel right to ditch you here. I felt bad. So i decided to gome by and tell you about it so that you wouldn't have to wait back here forever."

"Fair enough. How much longer is the hockey game gonna go?"

"I think that we should have about twenty-five minutes, but I'll need to be back there by then. Lynne... doesn't know that I'm here."

I pursed my lips. "Going behind your friend's back, are you?" I teased. "Well, twenty-five minutes is a start. You might as well stay and chat for a bit before you go, huh?"

"I dunno," said Seraphine hesitantly. "I don't want her to know." A second passed before she realized how that had sounded, and she clapped a hand over her lips. "I mean-- I'm sorry, that sounded really rude. It's not that I'm ashamed of being here with you or anything, I mean that I didn't want her to feel like I didn't care about her game enough to stay."

"Isn't that exactly what happened?" I asked her.
"What?! No!" She looked ashamed.

"Glad to hear it. And since that's not what happened, you have no reason not to stay.

"But I need to... Lynne... if she finds out..."
"Come on,"I coaxed her. "It'll be fine. She'll never know. How long did it take you to get here?"

"About ten minutes," she confessed.

"Ten minutes. That gives you five minutes to talk with me. Please, just stay for a bit? Only five minutes. It's so cruel of you to show up just to tell me that you can't show up, you know?"

"Well, when you put it that way..."

Five minutes turned to ten, which turned to fifteen. Seraphine -- Sera, she'd said I could call her -- didn't seem to realize how fast time was passing, and she was getting more and more into our conversation when an alarm on her phone beeped.

"Shoot!" she said, cutting herself off mid-sentence. "The game just ended. I have to get back to the rink before Lynne finishes changing." She rummaged in her purse absentmindedly, retrieving a ballpoint pen. Click, click, click... "Oh my goodness, I'm never going to make it in time..."

"Woah there. Relax. You won't make it in time on foot, but luckily for you, I have a favor I can call in. A friend of mine owes me. I can call them and ask them to drive you to the rink. If it only took ten minutes for you to walk here, it should take no time at all on a car What do you say?"
"Well..." she said slowly. "How fast can they get here?"

"Give it two minutes, tops. Rafael lives really close by."

Sera and Rafael rode off, Sera waving to me. As I watched them go, I realized something unsettling. I started to legitimately enjoy our conversation, and at one point, the fake smile that I wore for her sake somehow became real. It had only lasted a moment or two before I'd caught myself, but still. It had happened, and I didn't like it one bit.

It was probably just part of the rush, I told myself. It'll go away within an hour or two.

After all, it was nothing but a bet, right?

Right?

I called Scott on my way home.

"Ace? What's up?" There was a pause. "Holy cow, man, are you still waiting in the forest? Face the facts; she's not showing."

"Actually, she just did. Then she left, but hey, whatever."

"Left so soon? Ouch."

"Shut up," I groused. "The point is, she came to the forest. She's falling into the trap. Prepare your wallets, 'cause soon, two hundred and fifty dollars are gonna be mine!"

Another moment of silence passed.

"We're on the phone, Scott, remember? I can't hear it when you roll your eyes over the phone."

"Oh, right. Dammit."