- Mia White -

"I can't."

"Yes, you can."

"But I don't want to. I'm bad at it anyways."

"Then I'll teach you."

"Can you guys shut up?" Ben groaned, running a hand through his hair. I looked at Ben with a confused expression.

After the whole wedding fiasco, the police had taken over the house while my mom went back home to the station to be with Mrs King. As for Mindy and Austin, they asked to go back to the place they buried their sister.

On the other hand, Ace, Ben, and Levi all decided it would be fun to show me how to use the pistol I had. Ben said I was a natural when I used it before we crashed the wedding. We were able to get all the men working for Mr Summer in that abandoned building and got them to confess everything.

One guy was about to slip away before I shot him in the foot. I didn't even know if I was going to miss or not. I just pulled the trigger and that was the end result.

"You guys sound like you're doing something wrong," Ben stated.

"Don't listen to him," Ace whispered in my ear.

Everything happened so quickly. One second, I was in Ace's arms, and in the next, Ben was hugging me close to his chest and standing six feet away from my boyfriend.

"Don't go whispering in my baby sister's ear, and breaking more of her innocence!" Ben exclaimed. "You're gonna ruin her with your guy hormones you can't seem to control!"

Completely ignoring his comment, Ace growled and ripped me out of Ben's arms and into his. Ben was unaffected by Ace's actions but stuck out his tongue at us. I laughed while Ace huffed and pulled me closer to him.

Once Ace was no longer in a bad mood, he was able to teach me how to shoot just as Levi came into the room. He sat beside Ben, who was taking a video of Ace and I. He tried to be secretive about it until I heard Ben let out a girlish scream as Levi pulled his hair.

I focused on the target in front of me, and listen to Ace as he guided me on how to aim right. He asked if I understood everything he told me, and when I nodded, he backed up and told me to shoot. I could feel all their eyes biting the back of my head, waiting for me to pull the trigger. And when I did, I closed my eyes, not wanting to see if I shot it or not.

But I knew I must've done well because I could hear Ben crying with joy.

"YES! I TOLD YOU THAT YOU'RE A NATURAL! Did you see that Levi! She—okay! I'll stop screaming! Just stop pulling my hair!"

Levi let go of his hair, leaving his brother as he touched his hair in pain.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that the bullet just missed the bullseye by a few centimetres. Suddenly, I was turned around before Ace kissed the crown of my head.

"That's my girl," he murmured. "Let's try that again."

"Hey! Didn't I tell you to stop whispering things!"

"I'll see you in the morning," Ace said, kissing me on the forehead. I smiled and I walked into my house, closing the door behind me.

Once Ace finished - apparently - lesson one of how to use a gun and all that, he took me home. He didn't want to leave me, but insisted that I spent time with my parents for a while. I could see in his eyes that he wanted to be with me, but he went against that.

Is it me or is Ace slowly changing?

When I locked the door, I looked around the house for any sign of my father or mother. Eventually, I found my mom in her room, putting away clean clothes in her closet. So, I decided to help. She smiled at me for helping, but stayed silent. Thankfully, there was no awkwardness in the air. Just a perfect silence.

That's is, until my mom decided it was time to break it.

"You never told me that you and Ace were dating," she said. "But, I guess that's no surprise. I mean, you two have practically been dating since the time he laid eyes on you."

I blushed at that. There was no way I could forget the moment I first met Ace. It's a memory I will always cherish and never forget.

"I was going to tell you after the whole arrange marriage thing," I explained. "But I guess that took longer than expected."

There was another moment of sickness before we heard the doorbell ring. Mom told me to see who it was, so I walked back to the front door and looked through the peep-hole. To my surprise, it was my dad.

"Sorry about that," he apologized as he walked in. "I forgot my keys."

"It's okay."

"Where's your mom?"

"She's in the room, folding clothes," I answered as I followed him to the kitchen. Father was never home this early from work. He usually came home past midnight and left never early.

When Mom walked into the kitchen, she asked why he was so early, and why he didn't tell her. Dad said that he was able to finish all his work and come home. It's not like mother and I didn't like him here, it's just that we don't see him often so we wanted to know if there was something wrong.

He's been less talkative since the day mom and I saw him come back home from work. The day he looked so tired and stressed.

"Hey, dad. Are you okay?" I asked, taking his jacket off and putting it on the coat rack. He needed to rest. He looks exhausted. "Did something happen at work?"

He shook his head. "It was just a bit busy," he replied tiredly. He avoided eye contact which was usually something he never does.

I knew something was bothering him, but I never got the chance to ask. He'd always change the topic, and I would never pressure him into telling me anything he wasn't ready to talk about.

"Since we're all here, why don't I cook up some dinner," Mom offered.

"I'll make dinner today," Dad smiled.

Mom raised an eyebrow at him. My dad was a horrible cook, just like me. He liked to try, but mom would always be there to fix up his mess. He tried to help mom, but she would insist that she does the cooking in the house.

As mom prepared dinner and dad went to take a shower, I went to my room to rest for a bit but I spoke too soon, because the doorbell yet again rang, and mom told me to open it.

"What the fuck, Mia!" Sarah yelled.

"Sarah," we heard my mom say from the kitchen.

"Sorry Mrs White," Sarah nervously chuckled before turning to me with a serious expression.

She suddenly pulled me outside and closed the front door.

"I was so worried about you!" She exclaimed, grabbing my shoulders before shaking me.

"I wanted to go and get you when your mom was leaving, but my parents told me it would be dangerous, and I should just wait! So I tried to sneak out, but they caught me and—"

I smiled. "It's okay," I interrupted, causing her to stop. "Your parents were right though. It was pretty dangerous."

She scoffed, saying that she was the definition of dangerous. Sarah stated that she was going to make it up to me for not being able to come along, and no matter how much I protested, she was persistent.

She always mentioned that - while Ace, Ben, Levi, and I were away - Mrs King and my mother contacted the school that we weren't going to attend school for a while.

"I guess they didn't want to freak anybody out if they told the truth," Sarah said.

My mom came outside and asked Sarah if she wanted to join us for dinner. Unfortunately, Sarah told us that her parents were expecting her to be home. But tomorrow she'll definitely come over.

We went back into the house to see my dad setting up the table. Mom laughed when she saw my face when I realized she made chicken. Mom also made spaghetti, chicken pasta, and salad. I wonder how she managed to cook all of this so quickly.

When dinner ended after decided that we've had enough, I went to the bathroom to do my business and brush my teeth. All I wanted to was fall into bed and have a good nights rest.

But I spoke too soon when I heard slight knocking on my French-doors.

The curtains were closed, so I couldn't see who it was. When this happened, I knew it was Ace, but after all the events that have happened, I can't be so sure. So, I quickly grabbed Sarah's baseball bat - the one she left behind in case she forgot hers at home for practice - and stalked towards the doors. Slowly moving the curtains, I sighed in relief when it was just Ace.

I guess he hasn't changed at all.

"How long have you been here?" I asked, stepping out onto the balcony.

Ace shrugged. "Not that long. I just came here a few minutes ago," he answered.

Neither of us said a word after he spoke. Tonight was quiet. Usually, there would be cars driving here and there when people were finally able to go back home after a long day of work. But there was none of that tonight. The streets were empty besides the parked cars in front of some houses.

It was a full moon today, and the sky was painted with multiple beautiful stars. There was a slight chill in the air, making me shiver. I was known to get cold easily. Well, that's what Sarah told me. She would always laugh when I would still cover myself with a blanket in the summer.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I felt Ace place his sweater around me. He smiled at me as I returned the gesture before looking back up at the sky. I could feel his eyes on me as he took my hand and intertwined his with mine.

"Mia."

I hummed in response.

"I've been thinking about something lately," he confessed. He used his other hand to gently cup my cheek and turn my head to face him.

"And what have you been thinking of?"

"Us," he stated. "I realize that, after what happened, I don't want to make the same mistake again."

I blushed, feeling my heart hammering in my chest. He tugged me closer to him, slowly leaning in. I felt my knees go weak as if they suddenly turned into jello when he brushed his lips against mine and stopped. His eyes were on my lips until they looked into mine.

"Mia," he whispered my name. He let go of my hand to place it on my hip and pull me even closer to him. A smile appeared on my face, knowing that I begged for him to kiss me. He's such a tease for not doing so.

But eventually, he wouldn't hold back anymore and captured my lips with his after he whispered those three words.

"I love you."

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