A loud knock on my sliding door makes me frown. Jake only left twenty minutes ago which means there's no way it could be him. Maybe he works fast and ditched Candace already...

I pull my earphones out my ears, shut my computer and walk over to pull my curtains open. I find Ace smiling at me from outside and then he mouths the word 'open'.

I unlock the sliding door and he steps in and shuts the sliding door behind me. "I just need to stay here for a while. I don't think the cops will check here."

"What?" My eyes widen.

He rolls his eyes at me. "Oh, relax, your boyfriend hides from the cops too. You'll have to get used to it. I didn't know Jake wasn't home and I need to stay here. Just a few hours, okay?" he asks and walks to my bedroom door. "Do you have food?"

"Um..."

"Just pretend I'm not here. Your food might go missing but other than that, nobody was here," he tells me and then leaves my room and goes downstairs.

I shrug, not knowing what to do, and climb back onto my bed. I open my computer, get under the sheets and press play.

A few minutes later, Ace walks back into my room and falls on the bed, but I ignore him like he told me to do. "What are you watching?" he questions.

I pull my earphones out again and give him a deadpan. "You're not supposed to be here," I state.

He moves closer to me, then smiles. "Why, will your boyfriend not like it?"

"I don't have a boyfriend."

"Do you want one?" He asks and leans on his elbow, smirking at me. "'Cause I'm single as fuck."

I laugh. "I mean, yeah, I'd like someone to love me and care about me like that, but I don't know..."

"Screw love and care. I just need someone to eat pizza with," he states.

I smile and he moves so that his body is almost touching mine. "I love pizza." I nod in agreement.

He glances down at my lips. I look away, not sure about the strange feeling in my stomach. "Alicia, can I ask you something?" he whispers. I turn to look at him and nod again. "What are you watching?"

I let out a sigh, not sure why I'm disappointed. "Um, Stranger Things..."

"Fuck yeah, I'm definitely staying." He climbs under the sheets and slides his arm behind my head, getting comfortable.

I hand him one of my earphones and lean closer to him. We stare at the screen, and seems to pass really quickly.

****

"Baby girl, wake up," a deep voice whispers.

I groan and turn, moving closer to the person lying next to me. "What?"

He clears his throat. "I said wake up, b- I mean, Al."

My eyes fly open and I realize that it's Ace's arms around me, which making me feel less alone. "Jake is here. You should go tell him."

"Tell him what?" I ask.

"That you love him."

That sentence manages to wake me up fully. I shift away from Ace and shake my head. "What? No. I don't know what you're talking about."

Ace rolls his eyes. "Okay Al, just be honest. You were basically moaning his name in your sleep. You love him."

"Maybe I like him but-"

"No, Al, you love him. You're with him all the time and you know that if he wasn't around your life wouldn't be the same. You're dreaming about him. You love him."

"You seem to know a lot about love... Can you even explain what it is? Because you can't say I love someone if you don't know what it is."

He watches me in silence for a moment. "Love is hard to explain. You'll know everything about a person, and still, even their imperfections will seem perfect to you. It's not easy being in love but it's amazing. Al, but you need to tell the person you love, before you..." He looks down.

I stare at him, not knowing what to say. "Before you what?" I ask, after a while.

"What am I doing? I shouldn't be saying this. He's on a date with another girl. There is no bro code here. Al, I... After that play I couldn't stop thinking about-"

"You're right. I do."

"Do what?"

"I love Jake. I mean earlier I really wanted to kiss him and I should tell him now. I love him. I love kissing him, it feels good."

"Lose them..." He looks anywhere, except at me. I frown and give him a look that says 'what the heck are you talking about?'. He shakes his head. "You need to tell the person you love, before you lose them, is what I was saying."

"Yeah, I should..." I glance at the sliding door, but Jake still isn't in his room yet. I get up and close the curtains and, when Ace frowns, I roll my eyes. "To make sure he doesn't see you and I together and think that we're doing things."

"Just go tell him. I still have to hide from the cops, so as much as I want to leave, I can't." He stares up at my roof, still under my covers.

"Can you go to another room? Just in case Jake sees..."

"You've kissed Jake? I thought you guys were just friends?" Ace asks, suddenly realizing what I had said earlier. He stands up. "I mean, just pretend I didn't ask. It doesn't matter. You can kiss whoever you want. I, um, bye." He walks out my room and shuts my door before I can get a word out.

"Bye..."

****

T w i t t e r : xPineappleGirlx

I n s t a g r a m : laylzk

S n a p c h a t : laylz_k