Chapter 23

The entire lunch room was silent; save for a few quiet conversations. Most heads were turned toward Ace and me but some were faced away, as if they were trying to give us privacy. I pulled away from Ace and looked over to where Kimmy was.

Her jaw was hanging open, completely shocked. My eyes widened, silently asking her what I should do. But she only shook her head, not knowing what to do. So I looked back to the boy who had just kissed me in front of half of the school's population.

His face, for once, was full of emotion as he looked at me. His eyes told me how sincere he was and his upturned lips told me how happy he was to have kissed me like that. But my mind was telling me to get out of there.

So I swallowed harshly and avoided eye contact before running out of the room and out of the school. Ace was too shocked to run after me and I was too confused to actually go anywhere. I stayed in my car for over half an hour thinking about everything and nothing.

Eventually, the passenger door opened to reveal Kimmy. I turned to her and gave her a blank stare. "Before you ask, no, I have no idea what that was."

She was still shaking her head like she had in the cafeteria. "I wasn't going to ask that. I know what that was Maddie. That was a kiss," she sighed. "One hell of a kiss," she mumbled under her breath.

"He's... very confusing. I feel like I have whiplash. One second, he's angry at me and making sly comments and then the next, he's acting as if I'm everything and more. I just don't get it," I complained. 

Kimmy settled a hand on my shoulder before letting out a long and heavy breath. "That's something you guys need to figure out together babe. I'm not sure I can help you out there."

"Every time we talk, we end up fighting," I groaned.

She tilted her head. "There must be a reason for that Maddie. Maybe when you guys talk, you sound accusatory?" 

"What do you mean?' I asked her, slightly self-conscious when it came to criticism. 

She shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't seen you guys argue. I'm just saying maybe he takes what you say the wrong way and that's why you guys fight. It's just lack of communication and perhaps you guys should work on that before getting into a relationship."

"How are you so good at giving advice when it comes to boys? You've never even had a boyfriend Kims." I leaned back in my seat and rested my hands on the steering wheel.

She shrugged once again. "Not sure. Maybe I'm just smart," she told me and flicked my forehead playfully.

"Hey!" I exclaim and smack her hand away. 

"I'm just kidding. I read a lot of books and that's where I learn most of my street smarts," she told me proudly.

I chuckle at her weirdness. "Yeah, okay Miss street smarts."

She lightly pushed on my shoulder and scoffed. "Don't make fun of me, it's not nice Grey." 

I had never heard Kimmy call me by my last name before but it was odd. It felt wrong and misplaced. I had gotten used to Ace calling me Grey. Then again, there were a lot of things I had gotten used to because of Ace. 

News spread quickly to students who hadn't been in the lunch room during Ace's grand gesture. By the next day, I had girls coming up to me and telling me how "cute we are together" and how "Farah is too much of a bitch for him." 

But while I mostly agreed with them, I still wasn't sure where we stood. Yes, I liked Ace and I knew he liked me back. But what I didn't know was whether or not he had broken up with Farah. And that was at least a little important. 

I wanted to talk to him about it but he wasn't in first period and he hadn't called or texted me yet. I would make the first move to talk; but only if it was in person. Which was why I decided to go to his house after school when he never showed up that day. 

I knocked on Ace's front door and waited patiently for anyone to answer. When the door finally opened, it was Anna. I smiled politely at her and her eyes grew wide. 

"Come in, honey," she ushered me inside. 

I looked around, half hoping to see Ace just sitting on the couch or standing by the stairs. But he was nowhere to be seen. "Ace is home right? I saw his car."

Anna nodded with a bright, a slightly relieved smile. "Yes, he's upstairs. Are you staying for dinner?"

"Depends on how this goes, if I'm being honest," I chuckled awkwardly. 

She smiled again and started to walk away. "Alright. Door open when you go up there please."

"Anna," I blushed and shook my head. She giggled and I made my way up the stairs. I knocked on Ace's bedroom door and hoped I wasn't waking him up from a nap. He was cranky when he was tired. 

"Mom, I'm fine. Go away," I heard his irritated voice though the wood. 

I raised my eyebrow even though he couldn't see it. "Don't you know it's rude to talk to your mother that way?"

"Oh, it's you."

"You sound thrilled," I told him sarcastically. 

Ace sighed. "Come in if you must."

I twisted the knob and pushed it open. I stepped in slowly, looking around the room. It was usually kept clean but as of now, clothes were strewn everywhere and plates filled any empty space. 

"Finally, you show signs of being a normal teenage boy," I referred to the mess. He groaned and flopped, quite gracefully, on to his bed and groaned. "You are so dramatic sometimes."

"Somebody has a sense of humor today," he told me, monotone. 

I stepped toward him and he patted the spot next to him. I laid beside Ace and we both adjusted until our heads were next to each other, looking up to the ceiling. 

"You didn't come to school today."

A pause. "Thank you, captain obvious."

I looked over at him and smacked his arm. He smirked. "Why?"

He shrugged. "I didn't want to deal with everyone; especially Farah."

"Screw Farah," I said bitterly without even meaning to. 

He chuckled and flicked my nose. "Yeah, screw Farah."

"You did that already," I told him with a smile to let him know I was joking.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah but that was before I met you. Now I get to screw you."

"Cheeky," I told him sarcastically. 

"Anyway, so you didn't come to school. I wanted to talk to you."

"So now you're here."

I nodded. "So now I'm here."

Ace sighed and ran a hand down my wrist. I looked down and latched onto his fingers until we held hands. "This is probably when you yell at me huh?" Ace asked cautiously. 

"Nah. It's pretty exhausting being mad at you. I don't like it."

Ace squeezed my palm. "I'll try my hardest to stop making you mad, how about that?"

"Sounds like heaven if I'm being honest," I told him. 

He turned his face to me and smiled smugly. "Why? Because I'm so dreamy?"

"More like unrealistic," I snorted. 

Ace turned fully until his whole body faced me, letting go of my hand. "I didn't know you weren't religious."

"You think you know a person," I retorted sarcastically and added a "tsk," for effect. 

"Alright alright. What did you want to talk to me about?" Ace laid back again and took ahold of my hand. 

I snorted. "Stop playing dumb. I know you aren't. That stunt you pulled yesterday, kissing me in front of everyone. Why? Why all of this?"

"Contrary to what you may think, I didn't plan on kissing you yesterday. Honestly, I shouldn't have; not with Farah on my ass," he shuddered in fear. 

"Yeah about that. Does she have something on you? Is that why you dated her?" I asked him curiously.  

He shook his head. "No, she just fed on the fact that I wanted to be a dick and hurt your feelings a little. I didn't think she'd make out with me in front of you."

"So it wasn't planned? Me walking in on that?" I asked, thinking back to that horrible night I caught them kissing in Ace's bed. 

"Definitely not planned. Trust me, I told her I didn't appreciate that. I wanted to keep the kissing to a minimum and only if absolutely necessary," he amended. 

Playfully, I pouted. "How come she was allowed to kiss you when she fake dated you but I wasn't."

"Who said you weren't? Sweetheart, if you were down, I'd have been game too," Ace smirked. 

Sweetheart. 

Sweetheart. 

Sweetheart. 

It was the only thing I could think about. I couldn't even remember the last time he'd called me that. 

"Mad?" His voice brought me out of my stupor. 

I shook my head of their current dreamy thoughts. "Yeah?" 

"You zoned out for a minute there. What was that about?" He asked. 

I decided to be straight up and stop pretending as if his words didn't affect me. "You called me sweetheart."

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, I do that quite often."

"You haven't called me that in a while," I sighed. 

He leaned closer and tucked a stray hair behind my ear like we were in some cheesy teen romance movie. "So you admit you like it when I call you sweetheart?"

"I don't think I ever denied it," I smiled sweetly. 

He chuckled softly and pulled our conjoined hands to his lips and kissed the back of my hand. "You're so fucking adorable."

My heart seized a little at his sweet words and my smile spread so far that my cheeks hurt. God I was so in love with him. 

Wait what?

Whoa. There was no way I was in love with him right? We weren't even dating for real. Plus, I had never been in love. So there was no possible way for me to know what love felt like. 

I couldn't love Ace Craige after knowing him for such a short time, could I?