Aces [#NANOWRIMO2017]

Ace Finally Does Something Decent For A Change

A/N Three author's notes in a row? I know, I know. I'm sorry. I just want to say; prepare for a chapter dump today. Today is my catch-up day. Expect at least four new chapters by the end of the day!

Holy heckin' guacamole. Don't take this the wrong way, but Seraphine was Hot with a capital "H".

The stark white bandages stood out against the chocolatey color of her skin, but her black-and-cobalt hair (which had started the day in a cute half-up half-down 'do, but had completely fallen apart when she fell from the tree in the park) covered up the bandages pretty well. And although Sera lay prone in her bed, she seemed to be totally at ease with my presence — which meant more to me than you could imagine. Intimidated or infuriated or possibly insecure were words that I could imagine people using to describe how they felt around me; but intact? Invulnerable? Not quite.

It made me feel... good. It made me feel like a half-decent person, seeing that I could have this effect on someone. It made me feel like the kind of person I'd always wanted to be.

It made me feel like the kind of person that Seraphine deserved.

For a moment, I started to wonder if maybe it had been a mistake to take the bet; if I'd still be willing to destroy Sera's heart. I hadn't realized, but I had indeed been having doubts since... well, since the first day that I really talked to her. Seraphine was smart, and gorgeous, and kind, and funny, and talented, but she was human, too. She was flawed. She stuttered sometimes, she could be really awkward, and she apparently wasn't as great of a tree-climber as she'd made herself out to be — but that didn't turn me away. I realized that it was comforting to be around someone who wasn't constantly trying to be better, constantly trying to prove themselves to their friends, constantly trying to prove themselves to their own selves...

Someone like me.

Sera brought out a different side of me; one that I'd thought had been lost forever since Hazel went to college. But Sera had been there to listen when Hazel wasn't; Sera had been willing to spend time with me when Hazel wasn't; Sera had made me feel better when Hazel couldn't. I'd spent so much time thinking Hazel, Hazel, Hazel that I'd completely failed to see the gift that God himself must have laid out in front of me.

Sera turned her head to look at me. I must have been silent for a while. Her lips moved. "Ace?"

I shook myself out of my thoughts and turned to look at her with real tenderness in my eyes. "Sera. Sorry, I was just... thinking."

"About what?"

I saw no reason to lie. "About you."

She blinked up at me, blushing. I couldn't see her skin darken or anything, of course, but every time she blushed she just did this thing with her nose — she scrunched it up really subtly in a really cute way — and she would hide behind her hair, and her lips sort of puckered up, and so I could always tell when she was blushing.

She looked adorable. And suddenly, more than anything in the world, I really, really wanted to kiss her. I forgot about the bet; I forgot about the fact that I'd lose all the money I'd been working towards if I kissed her. I was just completely overwhelmed. Without even thinking about it, I started to lean forward.

But then something inside of me dimly registered a thought. Is this what it feels like to fall in love someone?

And suddenly, the fine mist that had settled around me shattered into a million sharpened shards.

What am I doing? I'd sworn off "love" a long time ago. Remember your parents? Drunk father, weakling mother? They started out "in love" with each other, and look where that got them. No. I couldn't do this. No way.