ON HOLD:Ethereal Elle

Chapter Seventeen, The Weeping Willow

"Hi" Elle said quietly as Ace slumped himself down on the bench, he sighed deeply before looking to her and smiling. As soon as he was in Elles presence, she could feel the intensity of his anger and fear. She was afraid to bring it up in case he didn't want to talk about the situation at all, maybe he needed distraction.

"Sorry for coming to you like this, maybe it was a bad idea. I'm not feeling the best" Ace confessed with his head lowered, Elle shook her head quickly before shuffling closer to him on the bench. He noticed this and looked up at her.

"I'm glad you did, I'm feeling a bit weird too. I was going to be alone all day so I was relieved when you text me asking to meet" She explained, Ace smiled at her again. They sat in silence for a moment as the birds chirped loudly around them. The park was completely empty, there wasn't another person in sight, which made Elle feel like they were the only two people on the planet.

"So, do you want to talk about your dad's message?" Elle asked after a minute of internally encouraging herself to speak up. Ace sat back on the bench and nodded, keeping his eyes to the ground in front of them.

"I haven't replied yet, I was going to ask you what I should say.. Should I just, tell him to fuck off? Or welcome him with open arms? I'd rather just stay silent.." Ace told Elle as he handed her his phone with the text message on the screen. Elle read it while sighing quietly.

It was a tricky situation that she now felt like she had to fix, somehow. Ace was resentful and furious when it came to his dad's existence, Elle got the impression that if he had the chance to kill his father he would.

"You guys never speak, so why would he want to talk to you? It must be an emergency of some sort" Elle said, thinking out loud. Ace glanced at her quickly before shrugging his shoulders. He was refusing to let his mind wander on the subject, he didn't want to seem desperate for answers in front of his dad. He was too proud.

"I don't think so. He wouldn't tell me shit if something had happened. He doesn't care anymore, Elle" He said as he crossed his arms and looked away from her. Trying to hide the hint of anxiety that was making its way from his stomach to his chest.

"Fuck it, I'm not responding" Ace said as he jumped up from the bench and took his phone from Elles hand. She watched him with a frown on her face, she knew he was too stubborn to show any emotion to his father. But he had every right to be this way as they had a terrible relationship.

"Are you sure?" Elle asked, Ace nodded proudly. Elle got up from the bench and grabbed his arm gently, pulling him in the direction of the park. Ace was very restless and irritated, which meant a walk would do him good.

"Let's walk" She said with a smile, Ace nodded and followed her to the path. They fell quiet while walking slowly through the empty park, Ace stayed close to her as if she was somehow protecting him from the emotions that were causing chaos inside. All of a sudden he gently took her hand in his, Elle held her breath before looking across at him and smiling. She began to get pains in her stomach due to the butterflies crowding into her stomach, now that's never happened before.

Ace wanted to thank Elle for just being there, especially in this moment when he felt so overloaded with emotion. He looked at her a few times as they walked hand in hand through the park, noticing how content she seemed while watching birds flying over their heads and listening to the trickles of the river nearby.

But he didn't. He never thanked her.

Ace knew that doing this would make Elle feel good, he could tell. But it was just too hard for him to show any other emotion unless it was rage or irritation. As hard as they were, those were the emotions he felt most comfortable being in.

They had been together for a while now, hours had passed even though it felt like minutes. They'd walked the whole park and made it to the other side where the other entrance was. They both looked towards the gate to see someone in a bright yellow vest locking up the gates for the night. Elle gasped before covering her mouth and Ace began to laugh until the man heard them and looked out into the park.

Ace grabbed Elle quickly and they hid behind a tree, he covered her mouth while trying his best to hold in his laughter. Elle pulled his hand off her mouth and shoved him angrily.

"We are going to get into so much trouble!" She yelled at him in a whisper, Ace continued to laugh at her.

"It's not our fault we didn't know what time the park was closing, or that we would get locked in. We can explore now!" Ace told her excitedly with a wide smile on his face. Elle stared at him for a moment and all of her anxiety disappeared, she saw him genuinely excited for the first time.

Ace peeked out from the tree to see that the man had got in his car and drove off, the park was now closed and their own personal playground. Ace began to jump around while laughing loudly, Elle shook her head while smiling widely at him. He had somehow become a child in the space of two minutes, now full of life and excitement.

"What shall we do first then? Now that we are criminals and all that" Elle asked him with a smirk on her face, he rolled his eyes and reached for her hand again without any fear or thought in what he was doing. She glanced down at his hand before grabbing it tightly.

They ran off into the forest like part of the park where there were many trees and no paths. Elle held onto Ace tightly as they ran quickly through the trees, it was getting dark now and Elle had always been fearful of being outside at this time. Ace continued to be giddy and excitable until Elle let go of his hand and he looked back in confusion.

She was looking up at a tree in the distance, Ace approached her again and looked in the direction she was facing.

"What is it? I can't see anything" He whispered to her, she pointed forward and giggled excitedly.

"Follow me!" She shouted before running quickly into the darkness, now fully embracing the childlike moment she was sharing with Ace. Instead of running away and hiding like she'd usually do when anxious, she channelled that fear and changed it into excitable, intriguing energy. Just like a child.

Now she was running through a forest with a smile on her face, looking backwards often to see Ace chasing after her. After a minute she finally stopped in her tracks and Ace caught up with her, he put his hands on her shoulders and gasped for oxygen.

After composing himself, he looked up to finally see what had got Elle running in that direction.

"Wow" He said quietly before walking ahead of her in intrigue.

Sitting before them was a weeping willow tree that had a swing sitting perfectly in the middle of it. Somehow it was being lit up, much more than everything else around it. Ace looked back at Elle in confusion to see her smiling widely at the tree, she glanced at him for a moment and his heart did a flip in his chest.

"Well? Are you gonna push me or what?" Elle asked him as she ran towards the swing and sat down on it, he nodded and followed her. The sky above them was now covered in stars which they could see so clearly, they both looked up at the same time and stared with content.

"How did you know this was here? I've been to this park so many times and never noticed this willow tree" Ace asked Elle as he pushed her slowly on the swing.

"I didn't, this is the first time I've ran through a forest" Elle answered with a giggle.

After a while of playing on the swing like children, they both sat down with their backs to the tree. Ace looked out into the forest, realising he couldn't see a thing now that it was pitch black out. But somehow the willow tree was still lit up, like he and Elle were in another universe, untouchable.

He glanced across at her, noticing that she had her eyes shut gently with a smile on her face. He shuffled closer to her and without thinking, asked her a weird question..