To all the friendships made virtually, proving that love can come from anywhere.

JailanHelmy

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Another party but same old routine.

I watched Lottie from the sofa as she flirted around with a guy older than her. Apparently, he was into it and when they both turned to make their way up the stairs, Lottie glanced back at me and fist bumped the air in triumph. I raised my cup, congratulating her on her victory and soon, they disappeared amongst the crowd upstairs.

I kept sitting, staring at the contents of my cup. I was so not in the mood for a party. I should've just stayed home this time.

But I had another argument with my mom. She didn't think that I was wearing appropriate clothes anymore. Like she had any right to tell me what's appropriate and what's not, after what she had done.

I made a face and closed my eyes. I had been so annoyed at her so when there was an opportunity for me to leave the house and not deal with the drama, I latched onto it. And hence, I was here.

It wasn't just in my home where things were starting to either bug me or worry me. I hadn't seen Jesse at school for three days. I wondered if everything was alright. Her friends didn't seem to find anything odd about that because Jesse had skipped school, even multiple days at a time.

But I doubted that she was skipping classes for fun.

The other day I had seen Ace between classes and when he caught my eye, his eyes darkened and he looked away.

Was it true, then?

That Ace really did have feelings for Jesse. I thought yes, for sure.

But then again, despite this cold behavior towards me, Ace didn't exactly look like he missed her or was concerned for her. It was on the same day in lunch, that I came across him making out with a sophomore.

It was puzzling to know what was really going on.

I sighed out loud and opened my eyes. The party had moved out to the backyard where the pool was and I could see dozens of people splashing around in the water through the glass doors. There were still a few people inside the room but most of them were just making out and chatting. The music had been toned down a bit too until it was just a soft hum in the background.

A few minutes later, someone sat down next to me and the weight of the person made me tilt towards them. I turned around to find none other than Ace Trainer, drinking from a red cup.

He didn't look at me as he continued to stare ahead. It was hard to tell whether he was aware of my presence and choose to ignore me or if he really didn't realize who was next to him.

For some reason, I didn't want to get up and walk so I debated on whether I should say something or not. I was quiet for a few minutes, giving him the chance to break the silence but he really didn't seem to be aware of my presence. Was he that drunk?

If he was, I could use this to my advantage and find out whether Jesse and him really were a thing.

I cleared my throat and staring at the floor, asked in a casual tone, "So, you and Jesse, huh?"

From the corner of my eye, I saw him shrug, still not looking at me. "There's also a me and Adrienne, apparently. And me and Denise. And me and Clara and Monica in a love triangle."

I smirked. "Didn't know that you kept updates on rumors about yourself."

"Those are just the decent ones I've heard."

"I'll bet."

I was actually a bit taken aback that he was normally talking to me instead of ignoring me or getting pìssed off at me. There was a pause and then I asked, "So, you and Jesse are just a rumor too?"

He cast a sideways glance towards me and I realized just how desperate I sounded to get the answer from him. I mentally slapped myself.

"Why?"

"Why what?" I blinked.

He looked away. "Why do you wanna know? Is that why you attacked her? Because she was rumored to be with me?"

"Don't flatter yourself," I said before I could stop myself. At this, however, he cocked an eyebrow and glanced at me again. I realized that he was waiting for an answer.

"I'm sorry to hurt your ego but that wasn't why we... attacked her," I hesitated, the scene playing out in my head. "It was because of something else entirely."

"What was it, then?"

"I don't see why I should tell you," I said, placing the cup on the table in front of me.

"Well, I don't see why I should answer your question then, either."

He looked away again, taking another sip from his cup. It was after a few seconds that I responded, "She called me a slut."

As I said that out loud, I knew that that sounded like such a ridiculous reason to hold a grudge, let alone attack someone because of it. Even Ace raised both his eyebrows this time and stared at me like I was joking.

"It's not like that," I started, hoping to explain my absurd reaction to something like that. "It was because she called me that... so easily. Like, she knew me and that she had the right to categorize me. Like she had every right to judge me like that..."

I was looking at the floor as I was saying all this. I don't know why I was telling Ace this of all people but I was. Maybe it was because he had been the one to raise the eyebrow at my decision and to actually question my doing.

Everyone in the squad had seemed fine with what I had planned and it had seemed so reasonable then but now, as I tried to explain my reasons out loud, I could see that that wasn't a reasonable enough reason.

There was silence after I said that and then Ace leaned back on the sofa. "Isn't that what high school really is? A game of judging and placing people in certain categories."

I looked back at him. He was staring at the ceiling, a slight frown on his face. I saw his Adam's apple move and steered my eyes away from his throat.

God knew how much I loved that part of the male body.

Instead, I leaned back as well and stared up at the cracks in the corner of the ceiling.

"People take satisfaction in the fact that they've got everyone around them all figured out," Ace continued. "If they don't understand someone or their behavior, they just want to simplify it and categorize that person and only then, can they take another breath freely."

He went quiet and my ears strained to listen to more of what he had to say.

"But we forget that human beings are complex creatures and that we differ so much from each other yet we're so alike. We're a mixture of contradicting thoughts and emotions and there is no way to simply us."

I found myself agreeing with everything that he was saying and I mumbled quietly, "She simplified me."

At that, he turned his head to look at me. I looked back at him, my own head turned towards him. We stared at each other for a few seconds, not being able to look away. His grey eyes held mine and I repeated myself softly again. "Jesse simplified me."

He nodded. "She did. People simplify me too but I don't go around, stripping their clothes off."

I winched lightly. "Ouch. And here I thought we were having a tender moment."

His lips pulled up at the ends and he continued to stare at me, as if trying to see through me.

"Tell me something," I said. "What've you done with the school's bad boy and why has he grown so philosophical all of a sudden?"

His smile slowly retreated back and his eyes weren't so inviting anymore. He turned away from me and looked back at the ceiling. "There's lots of sides to this bad boy that you don't know of."

I leaned closer to him, almost involuntarily. I could see a light stubble on his jaw and when I glimpsed at his throat again, I found myself gulping. I was so close to him now that I could hear his breath and I tried to match mine with his. His dark hair on his forehead and I watched as he closed his stormy eyes, only really noticing for the first time, just how thick and long his eyelashes were. His eyebrows were thick too and and there were a few hair that stood out. I wanted to run my finger across his brow, smoothing it.

"Can I?" I whispered so low that I didn't think he'd hear it. But his eyes opened and he turned his face around to look at me, only to find me a few inches away from him.

Our bodies were almost touching and I could feel his warmth, just as I was sure that he could feel my hot breath.

His mouth slowly opened and my eyes travelled down to his lips. I felt him watching me and when I met his eyes again, I couldn't help but blush a little at the intensity of his gaze. I leaned in even closer but he made no move.

I closed my eyes, already shivering as I felt his breath against mine.

There was a loud shriek and the moment was broken as I opened my eyes in surprise and whipped around. It was Lottie and she had fallen down the stairs, slipping on the first step. The guy she had gone up with was bending beside her and examining her leg. I saw Lottie laugh and shake her head as if to indicate that she was fine. I wanted to slam her head against the wall for being so loud.

I moved away from Ace not directly meeting his gaze and sighed. I looked around for a few seconds, not sure how to act now after the way things had just progressed. I wasn't even sure what had happened, really. It felt like one of those rare 'in the moment' kind of things. Just because I wanted it in the moment, didn't really mean that I would want it, want it.

I mean, yeah, Ace was hot but I... I don't know. I didn't know how I felt about all this or if I should even feel anything about this.

When I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, I saw that he was still looking at me but with a smirk on his face. It was as if he knew what was going on in my head and was enjoying the fact that I was so conflicted. He made it even worse by winking at me.

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