Chapter 16

Beth went to get the door, while I just stood there, debating whether to run back to my room and hide. What the heck? Why do you want to hide? I shook my head mentally, and slowly started walking towards the door. I couldn't see him yet since Beth was blocking the doorway.

None too soon, Beth moved away from the door, opening it wider and letting Ace in. I sucked in a breath. He looked...hot. Unbelievably hot. He had a tight black polo shirt on, displaying his arm muscles quite well. His hair was still messy, like he'd run his finger through it a hundred times before, but it still looked soft and thick.

Although some might think this was a normal outfit for a guy to wear, and that there was nothing special about it, I was bound to disagree. But only because this was Ace wearing it, and he made it look ten times more attractive than what a normal guy would.

He looked around a bit, before his eyes landed on me. I noticed how they widened just a tad bit, and smirked inwardly. Looks like I'm not the only one checking someone out, I thought as his eyes roamed over my body appreciatively. They returned to meet mine, trapping mine in his intent gaze.

"I'll be right back, I left my purse in your room," Beth winked at me before she disappeared up the stairs. I rolled my eyes at her back.

"What are you wearing Ellie?" Ace kicked the door close behind him and started his way towards me.

"W-what? What do you mean?" I asked, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. I looked down at myself, smoothing down any wrinkles I could find.

In less than a few seconds, he was in front of me, a playful smirk on his face."I mean that, couldn't you have worn something...decent?"

My jaw dropped open. "Rude!" I snapped, feeling my cheeks warm up with anger and embarrassment. Who is he to tell me what to wear? Standing in my house, and telling me what to and what not to do! That jerk! I felt my eyes water slightly.

"Hey, you're not actually going to cry, are you?" he lifted my chin up with his forefinger. A groan left his mouth as he realized that I was indeed about to cry. "You're so sensitive. I should've realized that the day you got detention. You know, when you started a whole rainfall of water."

I slapped his hand away from my chin and looked away, closing my eyes to trap the tears in. I was not about to cry in front of him again. Damn my sensitivity. I felt him move in front of me again, and opened my eyes, glad that they were dry. I raised an eyebrow at him, then turning away again, I made my way to the door.

Only, he grabbed my arm, spun me around to face him, and pushed me to the wall. "Are you mad at me?" he whispered, staring right into my eyes. His touch was sending incredible feelings through me right now. I nodded, still trying to hold on to the anger that was meant for him.

I managed to, when he said, "There's no reason for you to be." I struggled to get out of his grip, but he only pushed his hard body onto me, leaving no room for escape.

He spoke again, "there's no reason for you to be, because you misunderstood me." I stilled for a minute, trying to comprehend what he said.

"How did I misunderstand you?"

My heart beat accelerated as he leaned his face closer to mine. "Because I meant you should've worn something decent. Not something that makes you look undeniably hot." My stomach was doing crazy somersaults by now, and my heart was pounding so hard, I knew he could feel it, what with our bodies so close to each other.

My entire body was feeling cold, then warm, and it kept going on as I moved my gaze from his, looking away from his face as my face flushed a complete red. I could feel it. I could feel it turning red.

I couldn't describe the enormous amount of affection I was feeling towards Ace right at that moment. This was the first time he'd said something that would indicate that he might have feelings for me, because anytime before this, he'd never given me an outright compliment like this. Beth could be right. There's a possibility Ace could like me.

Of course, I was trying to make myself feel better. Because obviously, if he doesn't like me back, then I was bound to feel sad. Very sad. But what if he likes me back? I mean, there have been signs that he might; the way he looked at me sometimes, how he got possessive over me whenever Luke was there, and now....

"I really like how you zone out on me after I give you a compliment. Do you do that often?" his voice brought my attention back to him. He still had this mischievous look in his eyes as he looked down at me with a playful smirk.

"And I really like how you always crush me into the wall with your body whenever you want to talk to me," I retorted, and almost instantly wished that I hadn't. My face felt warm again, and, frustratingly, I realized I was blushing again.

Of course, my statement only made him widen his smirk. "Really? I didn't know you really liked it. I should do that more often then," he retaliated as he pressed himself harder into me. Oh God. I want to die now! I can't handle the weird sensations running through me as he pressed his hard body even further into mine. I could feel his abs pressing into my stomach, and that totally wasn't helping me.

"I-I....B-Beth...she's in the.. house," I laughed nervously, wondering why the heck I even laughed in this situation. I guess it just seemed too unreal, with my crush...basically crushing me into the wall. I laughed mentally, thinking of my weird sentence. My crush was crushing me.

"Oh, thanks for telling me, I'm so dumb that I didn't even realize that," he rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Shut up," a small smile appeared on my face even though I tried to restrain it. I used both of my hands and placed them on his chest, attempting to push him off. "Get off me. You're heavy," I grunted.

"Hey, wait. Stop," he grabbed both of my hands with his, and although that wouldn't have stopped me, the seriousness in his voice did. "I want to ask you something," he cocked his head to the side. He looked really nervous, although he didn't move even an inch away from me.

"What?"

"Umm.....nothing. Just that Beth is probably going to come down the stairs any minute now," a short pause followed his sentence. "Yeah, that's all," he added, and then stepped away from me.

"Phew. I can get in enough oxygen now," I murmured as Ace cracked a small smile and shook his head. "By the way, that wasn't a question."

"What?" he looked at me in confusion. "What wasn't a question?"

"You told me you want to ask me something. You didn't ask me anything," I pointed out, frowning. I tried to think why he didn't ask me what he was going to.

"Oh. Then, I wanted to say something to you, not ask," he shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. It probably wasn't, but to me, it was.

Being as stubborn as I am, I continued, "Then why'd you just repeat exactly what I had said to you? I thought I had already told you about Beth-"

"Can you just shut up? I never knew you could be so annoying," he sighed, scrunching up his eyebrows in annoyance. I could see that he was still tense about something, so I dropped it.

"Whatever," I said, and then shouted Beth's name and told her to hurry up. "What's taking this girl so long, it was only a purse," I muttered, walking around in small circles. I kept stealing quick glances at Ace, who was now situated on the couch, fidgeting around with his fingers.

"I'm here! Let's go!" Beth came down the stairs, looking breathless. "I thought I couldn't find it, but it was on the bed right in front of me," she shook her head at herself, and headed for the door. "Let's go Ace, Ellie, we're gonna be late."

We followed her out the door, me locking it before making my way up to the car. "I call shotgun," I yelled out, before Ace could make his way over there.

"Hey, it's not fair! It's my car and I don't get to drive or sit in the passenger seat?" Beth frowned, then pouted.

"Well, if you hadn't forced me to come with you two, I'm sure you would've gotten to drive the car. But since you did, I get to drive. And I don't care who sits in the front anyway," Ace replied nonchalantly.

"Of course you don't care, now that you know Ellie's sitting next to you," Beth whispered to his back. I think she meant for us not to hear. But I was right next to her. I shot her a glare and nudged her with my elbow. She just grinned at me.

The ride to the party was quiet, and no one really minded, since we were all lost in our own thoughts. It was a comfortable silence, until I decided to break it with a loud shout.

"OH! I forgot my phone in my room!" I yelled, breaking the silence in the car. The car jerked forward as Ace hit the brakes so suddenly.

"Are you freaking serious Ellie? Couldn't you have, like, not yelled right into my ear? You're right next to me!" Ace looked at me in disbelief.

"Oh, sorry about that. But I left my phone at home!" I whined miserably. "Now I'm going to be bored as hell in there...Can we go back and get it?" I asked Ace hopefully.

"I don't know why you pretend to be the nerd of the school. We're less than seven minutes away from the party and you want to go back home in a thirty minute's ride to get your phone?", he started the car back up and began driving again.

"And anyway, you're going to a party, you don't need your phone to be not bored?" he asked, sparing me a questioning glance before focusing back on the road.

"I was forced to go to the party! I hate parties," I ground out, a scowl on my face.

I noticed how his expression softened a little. He must know why I hate them, after all.

"Hey, you agreed to go, I didn't force you," Beth chimed in, seeming cheerful despite my sour mood. I sighed. Sure, you didn't force me by using the guilt-card, right?

"How far?" I directed the question at Ace.

"We're here," he nodded towards the direction of the house, as he searched for a parking space. "Damn, there's no space here," he cursed under his breath. I could see why. There were so many people that attended the party that many of them were hanging out in the lawn, and there were glasses strewn everywhere.

"Why don't you two get out here, and I'll go park and come back? Wait outside, don't go in yet," he said to us, and we agreed. Beth and I got out, and Beth grabbed my elbow, literally dragging me towards the huge house.

"I can walk!" I hissed at her, snatching my arm away. A few boys' attention turned towards us, and I slowed down my pace, scooting closer to Beth. "I feel really uncomfortable Beth. They're staring," I whispered quietly to Beth.

She stopped walking, and turned to face me. "Don't worry, we'll stay out here until Ace comes back. You'll be with him, you don't have to worry about any boys tonight," she gave me a reassuring smile. "Oh, look, he's here already."

I turned around, and just as Beth said, he was here. He walked up to us. "Can I...go now?" Beth turned to me with an eager but hesitant expression on her face.

"Go ahead, I'm with her now, she'll be okay," Ace nodded towards the house before I could say anything.

"Okay! Don't leave without me you guys! Even though I might puke in my own car, I don't want any of you leaving me behind, okay?" she stated bluntly, and then took off towards the house. I shook my head at her retreating form.

I myself started towards the house, but a hand on my arm stopped me. "Wait, Ellie. I...I want to...um ask you something," his voice was serious again, and he looked like he was trying to control himself. I frowned and asked him what he wanted to ask. "Not here," he led me towards a tree, where it was much more quieter.

I turned to face him with small, teasing smile on my face, which only grew as I realized that a pink tinge now covered his cheeks. "Are you going to tell me something about Beth again-"

I was cut off. Again. But this time, it wasn't his words that cut me off. It was his lips. I stood still in shock as he put a hand behind my head and the other on my waist, and kissed me. Sparks erupted everywhere in my body as his lips moved against mine. Ace was kissing me! I just stood there in shock for several seconds, before I got over it and responded.

I tangled my hands in his hair, and inched closer to him while still holding on to the kiss. My back was pressed up against the tree, but his hand on my head protected me from its roughness. The kiss was gentle, but at the same time, urgent. Electricity was flowing everywhere; not literally, of course. I could taste mint in my own mouth, but it was his that contained the freshness of it.

Ace gently broke the kiss, both our breathing heavy. He rested his forehead against mine, both his hands now resting on my waist. His heavy and minty breaths fanned across my face, and I shivered inwardly from the effect it was having on me.

"No, I'm not going to tell you anything about Beth again, Ellie. I want to ask you...to be my girlfriend," Ace pulled his head away from mine, still holding my gaze.

So that was what he wanted to ask me. Oh. My. God. Ace just asked me to be his girlfriend. I think I'm going to hyperventilate.

"I'm not really used to..asking girls to be my girlfriends, and I might not even have done it right-" this time, I cut off his nervous rambling by putting my lips on his, to which he instantly responded.

"Yes, I'll be your girlfriend," I breathed out.