A Chance At Love

38

Maya

"Is that really how you got in a fight with your sister?" I asked laughing slightly

"Yeah, we fought over who was going to get the last chicken nugget when we were kids." He replied rubbing his chin

I was going to retaliate but he stopped me.

"Come to think of it. I think that's how all of our foughts started..." I saw his face contort as he was on the brink of laughter

I snorted making his laugh burst through his lips.

My face immediately reddened in embarrassment as his laugher boomed through the parlor.

"Did you just snort?" He asked letting hiccups and small fits of laughter slip through each syllable

I nodded slowly not trusting my words at the moment.

He chuckled making my blush heavier and he shook his head at me.

I kept my head down not wanting him to say anything about what just happened.

An agonizing silence took over the parlor since we were the only two here other than the middle aged couple sitting a few booths from us.

I was going to say something to lighten the mood, but when I felt his hand lightly graze my chin I flinched.

He lifted my chin upward so I could clearly see his dark yet bright hazel eyes.

His eyes held so much meaning, and as I tried to see past them, I could tell he was doing the same.

We didn't blink as no one said a thing. We just sat there looking into each other's eyes trying to see if any hidden secrets would surface.

But like always...

People who keep their secrets buried under the ground for so long needs to find the right person whose able to dig beyond the surface and save them from their sorrow and depression.

And maybe to Ace...

I'm that person

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ace

I continued to look in her eyes until I found something within them.

I have never been so determined to find out someone's secrets, but now that I have Maya in front of me.

She's motivating me

I know exactly how she feels just by looking at her fragile and scared state.

I could easily tell that she was trying to read me as well, but she wasn't able to. All these years I've been able to put up walls and no one has been able to tear them down.

My sister nor my mother is capable of breaking down my walls because my mind won't let them.

I brush people out of my life so easily that once I find a new person to hang out with, they're just with me for their interest.

And honestly I'm ok with that because no one has been able to give me anything that will help me in life.

But Maya?

She's still undecided in my eyes.

I want to know everything about her.

Everytime she cried, laughed, smiled, and experienced joy.

I want to be there for her when she does all of those things as well, but I'm scared.

There's so many things that could happen if I bring her into my fucked up mind, and I don't want to break her.

She's so innocent and perfect for her own well-being, and it's becoming a problem on my end.

It's becoming a problem because I want to hug her so tightly and let her know that she will never be alone.

I want her to know that I would always be with her if we ever tried to be in a relationship.

I want her to know that she will forever be inkrypted in my mind because of her personality.

But most importantly, I want her to know that I'm slowly falling for her.

Call me whenever you need me, cuz I'll be there. Be there before anyone else

Maya and I quickly retracted as her phone started to sing. We started to blink bringing us back to the present.

She blushed heavily as she reached her phone out of her pocket making me coo and chuckle at her adorableness.

When she grabbed it, she smiled softly and put her arms back on the table and answered it.

I grabbed my phone to check if I had any miss calls and to not ease drop on the conversation.

"Hey Max." She spoke while twirling her hair

My smile automatically faltered as my eyes retracted from hers.

Max surely sounds like a guy name

My happiness disappeared and my confidence faded.

Maybe I'm overthinking it, that could have easily been a relative or a friend from school.

I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing as thoughts of random guys flooded my mind.

When I opened them again and looked up at her I saw her hand over her mouth and tears were streaming down her rosy red cheeks.

My heart shattered completely and I instantly went by her side and took the phone out of her hand.

"Who the hell is this?" I roared into the phone

I heard the one voice who made all of my bones stiffen chuckle and smack their teeth.

"Well well well, I see you weren't the only sibling who've tried to find love." They said with disappointed clearly laced in their tone

My rage sky rocketed by their claim but when I felt something pull on my arm I looked down to see Maya cuddling into me with tears all over her face.

My eyes began to burn as I gripped the phone harder.

"What do you want?" I asked the person on the other end

"You should know, but in case if you've forgotten... I want my son. But now that there's another in the picture, I want her too."

"Look, I t-" I started only to get cut off

"I don't believe I asked a question. Bring me the boy and girl by sunset tomorrow, if you don't. Everyone you know will have a bullet through their fucking skull. Make this your last time testing me boy." The voice finished and hung up

I clenched my teeth and looked back to the fragile girl who was trying to steady her breathing while clinging onto me with her eyes closed.

"Hey look at me, open those pretty eyes for me beautiful." I said while grasping the bottom of her chin to raise it so we could see each other

She slowly opened her eyes as her lips puckered from crying.

I could feel my heart stop as I took in every detail of her broken state.

"What did he say to you?" I asked once my heart started to beat

I wiped the tears from her face and placed a kiss on her forehead bringing her closer to me.

She took a moment to speak, but once she did, my body stiffened as my blood went cold.

"H- he has my sister."