Aces [#NANOWRIMO2017]

Seraphine Discusses Future Babies With Her Best Friend

Tʜᴜʀsᴅᴀʏ, Fᴇʙʀᴜᴀʀʏ 8

———

After Ace walked away from me yesterday afternoon, I spent the rest of the day feeling like an awful person.

When I woke up the next morning, I felt like an even more awful person than I had last night. I hadn't been aware that that was even possible.

The walk to school was kind of a miserable one. Lynne was oddly quiet the whole way there — which meant I had plenty of time to lament my idiocy and awfulness.

Arghhh.

When we got to school, I turned to Lynne awkwardly. "Well, this is me," I said.

"See you, Sera," Lynne said, sounding just as uncomfortable as I'd been. She took a step forward to make her way to class, but stopped suddenly. She walked back towards me. "Hey, Sera? I was thinking about going to see a movie today after school. Do you wanna come?"

I smiled. "Of course I do. I'll see you at lunch," I told her.

Lynne fidgeted. "Uh, about that..." She scratched her nose, looking sheepish. "I was actually... um..."

"Lynne. Girl. Relax."

Lynne finally made eye contact with me, lowering her voice as she spoke. "Scott asked me if I wanted to sit with him during lunch today," she admitted.

"Seriously? That's great!"

"So... you're not mad?"

"Of course I'm not mad!" I said, chuckling. "Go have lunch with Scott. Knock 'em dead, darling. Honestly, it's about time. I swear, you two are going to be the absolute cutest couple in the school."

"Sera! Lower your voice!" Lynne hissed, looking around nervously. "It doesn't mean anything. We're just sitting next to each other, that's all."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You'll name one of the babies after me, right?"

"Sera!"

I passed by Lynne and Scott on my way to our bench. They didn't seem to notice me walking by; they seemed to be completely immersed in... something else. Well, glad to see that that relationship worked out okay. I averted my eyes to their desperate face-sucking (also known as kissing) as I made my way to the oak tree, but as soon as I sat down to eat, I was startled by a voice from behind.

"Sera."

"Ace?"

I turned and saw him leaning over the back of the bench. An overwhelming sense of familiarity washed over me; this was ridiculously like the first time that Ace had ever talked to me, but this time around, it was my turn to beg him for another chance. "Ace, I just wanted to say that I'm — I'm so sorry —"

Ace reached out and silenced me by putting his finger to my lips. "Shh. I know, Sera. It's okay."

"It... it is?"

"Of course," he said, shrugging. "You weren't trying to hurt me. I get that. You're such a sweet girl, Sera. Obviously, what you said was... less than ideal, but I don't want something like that to ruin what we have together."

What we have together? The way he phrased it, it sounded like he maybe felt a connection to me that ran deeper than friendship. I blushed, unable to help myself.

"Are you telling me that you forgive me?" I questioned him.

Ace huffed. "Yes, that's what I'm saying. Do I need to be any clearer? I'm not really the greatest at apologies."

"No, no. That was really nice of you, Ace."

"Nice, huh? It's been a while since someone used that word to describe me." Ace gestured at the empty spot on the bench, where Lynne usually sat. "Can I sit down?"

Lynne. I gave a guilty little start and glanced up at her, but she was still cuddling with Scott. I'd gone behind her back to talk to Ace yet again. It was a miracle that she hadn't seen me so far, really.

"Uh, do you want to maybe move somewhere else instead?"

"Why?" Ace wanted to know.

"Just, um, this is where Lynne and I always sit, and —" I broke off and looked up at him earnestly. "Hey, please don't be offended when I tell you this, but Lynne isn't really all that happy about the all the time that I'm spending with you. She won't believe me when I tell her that you really are a good guy."

Ace looked taken aback for half a second, then broke out into a wide smile. "And why would that offend me? Your best friend told you to avoid me, but you keep coming back anyway? Sera, all that means to me is that I mean enough to you for you to do that even though Lynne told you not to. Do you realize how much more awesome that makes you in my eyes?" His eyes were sparkling. "Plus, admit it — you enjoy it. Not just my company, but the rush that comes with knowing the rules and breaking them anyway."

I held up a hand. "Woah, woah, woah. Back up. First of all, I am not a rule-breaker. I just keep coming back to you because I think you deserve a second chance. But rules are there for a reason; they keep you from getting hurt, and they make sure that you live a totally safe life."

"You mean a totally boring life," Ace interrupted. "Look, Sera, don't you get it? Sure, rules are useful sometimes, but if everyone followed every rule there was, we'd all just be exact copies, and humans as a species would never develop. If no one had ever broken the rules, slavery would still be okay. Women wouldn't be able to vote. You keep up that whole never-break-a-rule act, your life is never going to have any meaning in it."

I hesitated for a moment. What Ace said made sense... kinda. But something inside of me didn't really want to think too hard about the points he'd made. I pushed on. "Nevertheless, I don't break rules. Second thing I was going to say, was it a mistake to feed your ego that much?"

Ace's smile got even bigger. "Of course it was. But hey, I'm cool with it. Where do you want to go?"

Anywhere, as long as it's with you, I almost said, followed by an intense urge to slap myself in the face. Where on Earth had that thought surfaced from? Instead, I told him, "Anywhere out of Lynne's sight. Come on, let's hurry."

I grabbed my lunchbag and the two of us scurried around for a bit until we found a secluded spot hidden behind one of the school's walls. "This is nice," I said, plopping down cross-legged. Ace and I stayed back there for the rest of lunch, just talking about whatever.

When the bell rang, telling us that it was time to head back indoors, I almost didn't want to leave. But that would be breaking the rules, and I am not a rule-breaker.