-

"Here she is." Mrs. King hands me her younger daughter Lola.

"Har-Har! I got new shoes." Lola wiggles in my arms showing off her sparkly red shoes. I humor her by telling her how pretty they are. She is too cute!

"Ace is in his room, he's playing Call of Duty and refused to babysit Lola." Karen huffs. "Anyways Bob and I will be back soon. Thank you for agreeing to babysit her."

"No problem. She's the cutest!"

Yeah I was wrong....

I let Lola eat three Hershey Chocolate bars and now she's bouncing off the walls. I try to get her to chill by turning on Peppa Pig but it doesn't work. Now she's making oinking sounds and jumping on the couch.

I should have asked for money when I agreed to babysit her.

"Aceyyyy...." She screams making me jump and turn to her. She runs over to Ace and clings on to him.

"Hey, little lamb. What are you doing?" He picks her up peppering her face with kisses.

My heart warms at the love between the two of them. The bad boy didn't seem so bad when he was around his baby sister.

"I'm jumping on the couch, see?" Ace puts Lola down so she can show him. He groans when Lola starts jumping on their white couch.

"Lamb, you know better than that....Mom fusses at you all the time." Ace sits her on the couch and turns to me.

"Do you want to order food? My mother and father said there's no food in the fridge. They'll be back with groceries later."

I nod, tacking out my phone and calling Dominos. They best pizza place around!

I order a cheese pizza because that's the only thing I like on pizza. Ace convinces me to add pineapple which DOES NOT BELONG ON PIZZA!

Soon the food arrives and we eat while watching a movie. Lola is in between Ace and I. She's asleep with her head resting on my shoulder. Soon I can't keep my eyes open and I join her with a nap.

>>>>>>>>

I wake up and immediately sit up. These aren't my walls. I glance around and suddenly I remember where I am. I look to my left only to let out a screech.

Ace sleeps shirtless, on his side. His soft snores fill the room. I giggle at his bed head. The short curls lay loose on his black pillow.

I slowly try to get up with out disturbing his sleep. I'm still wearing my clothes from the day before, all I need to find is my shoes. When I fell asleep on the couch he must of carried me to bed. I search for my shoes all over his house. It seems like Karen and Bob haven't come back last night like they said they would. I even check Lola's room and my shoes are nowhere.

I walk back to Ace's room to see him awake. Ace sits up and stretches, my eyes travel to his sculpted abs.

Hot damn.

He had a six-no an eight pack. Must be nice to have abs.

"Like what you see, doll?" Ace's rough voice takes me out of a trance. Ugh his voice is deep and rough from waking up.

My cheeks heat up and I look down. I bite my lip and smirk. "Sure but I've seen better."

Lies.

"Really? Who?" He raises an eyebrow and gets off the bed.

My imaginary boyfriend from sixth grade.

"The Rock. Jason Mamoa. Stephen James. Chris Hemsworth. A-!"

"Okay. Okay." Ace holds his hands up in defeat. He lets out a chuckle before taking out a shirt. "You win."

"I always do, pretty boy."

I'm about to walk out but turn back to him. He puts on grey sweatpants and a black shirt. "Do you know where my shoes are?"

"Yes, there right here." He pulls them out his huge walk in closet. "I put them there because I'm kind of a neat freak."

"Wow."

"Don't act so surprised." I grin in response and tie my sneakers on. "Well I need to get going. My parents are worried." I state, scrolling through my dad's angry messages.

I give Ace a hug that he gladly returns. I leave his house and walk home. It was only a couple blocks away. I walk in to find my Mom cooking breakfast.

"Welcome back, sweet pea ." Mom cheerfully smiles, handing me a plate of breakfast. I look down to see bacon, eggs and a chocolate cookie.

I carry my food upstairs and quickly get changed for the day. I take a four minute shower while brushing my teeth. I straighten my usual curly hair and put on mascara.

I change my dirty, yesterday's clothes and walk downstairs. For once I was on time. I even had ten minutes to spare! I wash the dishes for my mom then call for Asher.

Asher hops of the last five stairs and runs past me to my car. I hop in with a big smile. Today felt nice. I feel bright eyed and bushy tailed. Ready to conquer anything.

"So I talked to mom about LA." Asher speaks up. I smile silently asking him to carry on.

"We're going this summer. Mom said after you get settled with college first." I freeze.

I hated that word.

College. Almost as much as I hate salad!

College slipped my mind. Thinking about the future is scary. Most of the time you'll never see your high school friends again. Just thinking about it gave me bad chills.

"Have you though where you wanted to go?" Asher speaks up. I swallow nervously. I shake my head cranking up the tunes.

I can feel holes being burned into the side of my head. I sigh meeting Asher's gaze.

"I'm not sure yet. Honestly I'll go anywhere that accepts me. I do know what I want to be though." I start to get excited just thinking about my dream job.

"Yeah. Yeah. You want to be a fashion designer. You've been wanting to be that since you were in fifth grade." Asher rolls his eyes. I scoff with offense.

"Well at least I didn't want to be a hacker when I was eleven."

"That was when I was ELEVEN! Besides....Wouldn't you want to hack someone for good WiFi?"

Damnit he has a point.

I drop him off then go to the senior side of high school. Yesterday Daniel wanted me to meet him under the bleachers.

I know it's totally cliche. I even told his ass that but he told me to shush.

I walk over to find him with Cody.

"Hey, baby." Cody winks at me trying to give me a hug. Before I could respond Daniel pulls him back. "Watch it, man." Cody throws his arms up in surrender.

I laugh seeing Cody walk off, muttering to himself. Almost immediately Daniel grabs me by the waist and starts kissing me. I gladly kiss him back but am somewhat confused. I pull back and give me a 'questioning look.'

"What? Can't I enjoy my girlfriend's beauty?"

"Hmm....Of course but-!"

Before I can finished I'm pulled back into his arm. His mouth on mine and his hands all over my body. I try to pull away but he only moves his mouth down to my neck.

"Daniel wait-!" I try to express my concerns with what's going on but he won't let me go. His hands start to wonder to my ass and that's when I snap.

"Daniel! Stop it, please." I give him a firm push and he smirks.

"Always so strong, baby. Always so feisty. Just how I like it." Daniel slips his hands under my shirt, I on the other hand push him away once again.

"Enough Daniel." I lick my lips and firmly say. His face scrunches up in vexation. I don't even recognize him anymore. He was so sweet and gentlemanly when I first met him.

Now he's grabby and churlish.

"God, Harlow!" He huffs out my name like it's poison on his tongue. "I swear...Your the only girl I've been with, that I haven't had sex with yet. All my other relationships, by the first week we would be banging all fucking night." He licks his dry lips and shakes his head at me.

"Well I'm NOT your other relationships. I'm Harlow Valentine. Not one of your girl toys you've had in the past." I wince when his stare becomes cold. I tighten my backpack strap and sigh.

"Daniel just please understand, I'm not ready to do have sex or whatever. I'm okay with kissing but please just......" I trail off feeling wearied of his stoney poker face.

"Daniel?" I wave a hand in front of his face. Is he even listening?

He runs his right hand through his blonde hair. I'm guilty that I ruined his horny moment but I'm not ready for the next step with him. Especially when he asks like a douche-bag.

"Fine." He huffs. "Sorry, kitten." I just about melt when I look into his blue eyes. He looks and sounds full of remorse. Daniel grabs my hand pulling me into a hug.

"I forgive you, always." I ruffle up his hair and kiss his cheek. "Let's go find our friends."

•

•

💅