Post by Kat on May 9, 2014 20:17:29 GMT -5
Title The Hook Up
Characters Patch, Melody, Ace (the other girls are also in one of the scenes; and I have an OC)
Summary Tired of listening to Ace ramble on about Melody, Patch decides to play Cupid for her two best friends.
Author Notes This is a prequel to The Midnight Man, taking place in the spring when the kids are in their first year of junior high school (thus are either 12 or 13). Involves a rather dubious moral dilemma - but teenagers are selfish, so who's really surprised? I've re-read this thing so many times this week trying to finish it that I'm kind of sick of it, haha! I also, for the life of me, can't figure out a proper line to end on that I'm happy with, so apologies if the end scene falls a little flat. I usually don't have this problem, but I think I just want to be done with this story so I can move on to other things. Also - I write my kids in more of an anthro/human sense, though I try to minimize specifics of that wherever possible. But you may see a reference to a hand or fingers here or there, so just ignore that if you're not feeling it.
Feel free to leave comments! I'm currently contemplating writing a Teddy & Bon Bon hook up story for this world of mine as well, so that might come later. Now I think I'll focus on trying to finally finish The Midnight Man, though.
“Do you and I ever talk about anything other than soccer and Melody?” Patch sighed, sitting on the bench and unlacing her cleats. She had to physically restrain herself from throwing her shoe at her best friend.
“Of course we do!” Ace protested, standing in front of her with his arms crossed.
“Name three other things we discuss,” Patch challenged, switching to the other shoe.
“School, music,” Ace paused, his face scrunching up briefly as he tried to think of a third. Just as Patch was about to chime in with a laugh, his face smoothed back out and his eyes narrowed just slightly. “My nutsty parents and their negative affect on my life.” Patch frowned and shook her head before pulling the second shoe off. “We also talk about your real parents-”
“Birth parents,” Patch corrected quickly, though she knew that's what he'd meant.
“Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean! So that's six topics of conversation!” Ace countered her initial complaint.
“Parents should only count as one,” Patch replied, stuffing the cleats in her bag.
“Other people's parents, maybe, but not ours. Well I mean your adoptive parents are cool, nothing to really discuss there, but adoption is always an interesting topic by itself, and my parents are just terrible people worthy of their own discussion. So we stand at six, and not two.” He paused for a second as he sat down next to her, leaning down to untie his own shoes. “Plus sometimes we talk about movies and TV and other people, and other sports-”
“Okay! Fine, I take back what I said. It just feels like all we ever talk about is Melody,” Patch amended.
“Sorry,” Ace admitted with a grin.
“You should be, you're so annoying when you gush about her,” Patch teased, though in reality it was kind of cute. Ace had been harbouring a crush on Melody for two years, and while everyone knew it, she was pretty sure he never actually talked about her to anyone else the way he did when it was just the two of them. It was cute without getting creepy and obsessive.
“I don't gush,” he retorted, stashing his cleats in his bag.
“That's debatable,” she replied, “From the way you talk about her, she's a legit religious saint that we should all bow down before and worship.”
“I do not!” Ace said, pausing a second before asking, “I'm not actually that creepy, am I? You'd tell me, right?”
Patch laughed and shook her head. “No, I'm just teasing you. Besides, Melody is a pretty great person, totally worthy of having an all consuming crush on,” she added with just enough sarcasm for him to notice.
Ace huffed in annoyance. “You're a terrible best friend.”
“Well you're a terrible person,” Patch countered.
“I come from terrible parents – what's your excuse?” Ace countered back, fixing her with a grin. They both laughed.
“Why don't you just ask her out?” Patch asked – for what felt like the millionth time.
Ace shrugged. “Honestly, I don't want to be that guy who keeps harassing the girl he has a crush on. I have more self-respect than that.”
“You're just afraid she'll say no,” Patch replied.
“Yeah, that too,” Ace admitted. He'd rather keep things with Melody the way they were – a comfortable and sometimes competitive friendship, rather than risk her getting weird about him asking her out. He was pretty sure she'd say no, and then things would just be super awkward.
“That's good, because she would definitely say no.” Patch admitted, not because Melody had ever told her – but just because she knew that her female best friend did not think of her male best friend in that way. At least not yet – maybe one day?
“Thank you for completely dashing my hopes,” Ace replied with a frown.
Patch grinned, “Don't feel bad – I don't think Melody would really accept anyone's offer of dating right now, to be honest. Too much going on in life.”
“I don't need to date her right now,” Ace said, “Just set up to date her in the future? Oh man this is starting to sound creepy, right?” He laughed, and Patch joined him.
“Toeing the line into creepy,” Patch admitted, “Though still on the safe side. Best not to say any more, though,” she said with a wink. Ace just shook his head, and in that second Patch decided to take the plunge into potential dangerous territory. “You could always try dating someone else to make her jealous,” she offered, watching as Ace slowly turned his head to meet her eyes. It was almost comical.
“Does that actually work?” He asked skeptically.
Patch shrugged. “I don't know, it's what they always suggest in Seventeen,” she replied, before realizing her potential blunder. “Not that I read Seventeen Magazine! Melody does!”
“Oh really?” Ace replied, his grin a little on the evil side. Patch did not like the look.
“She does! And she rambles on about the articles to me,” she said defensively.
“Does she?” Ace asked, clearly not believing her.
“Okay sometimes when I'm at her place and bored I might leaf through one or two,” she admitted, horrified at the admission.
“One or two total, or per visit?” Ace teased, glad to be on the delivering end of the teasing this time.
“Can we get back to the important discussion here? You should date someone to get Melody's attention,” she suggested, hating herself for making the suggestion, but she was stuck with it now.
“So let's say this is a good idea – and I'm not saying it is yet! But if I were to do this, who should I date?” He asked, still skeptical about the idea. It did sound rather counter-productive. If he was dating someone else, wouldn't she just think he wasn't interested in her?
“Someone she doesn't like,” Patch said, and immediately knew who Ace had to date. “Holly Matheson.”
“I know Holly,” Ace replied, picturing her in his head. She was cute, and pretty popular. “Why would she want to date me, though?” It wasn't that he thought he was unattractive or anything, but Holly was in the eighth grade, and he was in the seventh grade, and it was kind of a social faux pas for a girl to date a younger guy. He was really popular himself, though, and did hang out with a lot of eighth and ninth graders, but still...
Good question, Patch thought to herself. Time to lie through her teeth and hope for the best! “I've heard she actually has a thing for you,” she said, and hoped that Holly wasn't actually dating anyone at the moment.
“Really?” Ace asked, not entirely sure he believed Patch.
“Well you are pretty popular, I mean how many people our age regularly eat lunch with a table full of grade nines?” She asked, surprised that it was such an easy sell.
“True, I guess I am pretty cool,” he agreed, “And we do hang out in the same social circle, so I guess it makes sense.”
“Definitely,” Patch said, “And when Melody sees you with Holly, it'll catch her eye.”
Ace grinned and suddenly Patch was willing to pray to any deity that would listen that she wasn't setting Ace up for complete and total failure.
Ace was still unsure about Patch's idea, but as she'd finally asked him – what did he have to lose by asking Holly out? Pride if she said no, maybe, but that was about it. Then again, what if she did say yes, and they started dating, and then what? He'd just dump her at the first sign of attention from Melody? Or was he supposed to play along for a while to really get her jealous? And what if he ended up liking Holly? How was he supposed to break up with her in a nice way?
That was all assuming she was going to say yes, of course.
The object of his potential fake-affection was at her locker, twirling the combination on her lock. He steeled his slight nerves and walked up beside her. “Hey Holly,” he greeted, fixing her with a smile.
She looked at him smiled back. “Hey Ace,” she replied, opening her locker and stashing two books before grabbing another. “How's it going?”
“Decent,” he replied, wondering briefly if Patch was lying about her. She wouldn't do that – would she? Maybe she just had faulty information? “I was just wondering if you had plans after school,” he asked, deciding to get straight to the point.
She looked back at him, slightly confused, but shook her head. “No, why you asking?” Based on her facial expression, she was either amused or hopeful – Ace wasn't sure which one was the correct option.
“Just wanted to know if you had any interest in going to see a movie?” He asked, fixing her with a confident half-smile, even though he was suddenly terrified that she was going to laugh at him for asking.
She was silent for a moment before breaking into a full smile. “Sure! I'd love to,” she slung her bag back over her shoulder and shut her locker door, twirling the combination lock again.
“Excellent,” Ace replied, relieved beyond belief that she'd accepted. “Meet you here after the bell?” He inquired, and she agreed before heading down the hall towards her next class. Ace headed in the opposite direction, barely sliding inside his math classroom as the period bell rang, slipping into his seat next to Patch.
“Well?” Patch asked, and Ace shot her a thingyy grin. “I knew you had it in you!” Patch commended him, amused that this was actually happening, but still a little horrified that it was happening due to her suggestion.
Ace stood on the front porch as Holly turned to face him one last time. The evening had gone perfectly – after classes they'd walked to the mall, and thankfully conversation had been super easy between them, because that was one thing Ace hadn't even thought about. He was also grateful that they had a similar taste in movies – she'd totally been down for seeing an action movie. They'd forgone dinner and had shared a jumbo-sized popcorn instead, which of course had resulted in brushing hands numerous times. All in all things had gone astoundingly well.
“I had a really good time tonight,” Holly said to him, and it almost sounded like she was surprised.
“Glad to hear that,” Ace replied, looking into her bright green eyes. “So we should do this again some time?” He asked with a grin, and she grinned back.
“Absolutely,” she said, moving just a little closer to him until their bodies were almost touching.
While he didn't pretend to know everything about girls, Ace did know enough that this was definitely flirtatious on her part, so he closed the gap and went for a kiss, because why not? As expected she moved in to meet him, and just like that he was having his first kiss. Though it wasn't with the girl he'd wanted it to be with, it was still pretty awesome, and he was sure he probably looked a little stupid at that moment.
Holly gave him one last smile before moving towards the door, but at the last second she looked back at him. “I usually leave to walk to school around seven thirty,” she offered, and it took him a second to realize why she was telling him.
“Are you hoping I'll come and walk you to school?” He asked, fixing her with a thingyy grin. She just shrugged and tried not to look too expectant. “I might come by, I might not,” he teased her, and she rolled her eyes and laughed before saying a final goodnight and slipping inside. He waved one final time before turning to leave, grinning to himself as he walked home, a little happier about the date than he hoped he'd be.
The next morning found Ace sitting on Holly's front porch, five minutes earlier than her suggested leaving time. He had contemplated knocking on the door, but thought that might be a little awkward. Especially since he hadn't even come walking down the street – he'd snuck to the front from the back yard. He knew Holly's bedroom was in the front of the house, and he couldn't help but wonder if she was sitting in front of the window, watching for him. He wanted to surprise her if possible.
Seventy thirty came and went, and he kept wondering if he should knock. She hadn't told him the wrong time, had she? Was she with friends now, laughing about the dorky seventh grader who'd actually asked her out? No. He was being paranoid. They'd had a good time, and she'd kissed him after all! Was she waiting for him to ring the doorbell? Maybe he should have walked down the road in plain view...
Just then he heard a yell from inside the house - a woman's voice. “Holly! You're going to be late if you don't leave now!”
Still home - sitting at her window and waiting for him? Maybe he should knock after all... Before he had a chance to decide the door opened and there she was, a frown on her face as she closed the door behind her. She had definitely been watching for him!
“About time,” he said, grinning when she jumped.
She stared at him for a moment, her frown turning to a smile. “How long have you been here?” She asked, and he was certain then that she knew that he knew that she'd been waiting for him.
“Fifteen minutes,” he replied, finally standing up.
“Why didn't you knock?” She asked, her voice raising slightly.
“Well, I figured you'd just come out at seven thirty,” he said, “Because I didn't promise I'd be here yesterday, so I wanted to surprise you,” he told her with a grin.
She just shook her head and narrowed her eyes but moved closer to him. “I didn't see you walk up,” she said, and he couldn't believe that she'd just admitted that she'd been waiting for him! Perfect.
“That's because I snuck in through the back yard,” he admitted, and she lightly punched him on the arm.
“You idiot! Let's go before we're late,” she admonished, but all with a rather happy smile on her face.
He followed beside her, reaching out to grab her hand, smiling when she squeezed his fingers. They spent the walk to school discussing the previous day's movie, and again Ace was surprised at how easy it was, talking to her. Not that he'd ever had trouble talking to girls, but he'd never really dated one before, and so many guys seemed so awkward around their girlfriends... It was good to know that he wasn't the type to lose his cool over a girl.
They made it to school with minutes to spare, and like clockwork perfection, Ace noticed that Melody happened to be standing outside the school doors with Patch when he and Holly showed up. He walked by them and nodded in greeting, pleased when he saw the shocked expression on Melody's face when she registered that he was holding hands with Holly Matheson. He really hoped Patch knew what she was talking about, because this could backfire terribly for him otherwise!
He walked Holly to her locker, where they quickly kissed goodbye before he took off for home room. He slid into his seat next to Patch, a grin on his face as he turned to look at her. “So?” He asked, dying to know what Melody had said.
Patch grinned back at him, relaying the whole scene much to Ace's pleasure. Things were going perfectly according to plan.
Patch had shown up to Melody's that morning after hearing from Ace that he and Holly were walking to school together, wanting to make sure that she was there to witness the ordeal. She really hoped that this would work – otherwise Ace would be dating Melody's enemy for nothing! She'd made Melody hang around outside as late as possible – it figured that the one morning she'd been hoping for Melody's usual tardiness to slow them down, her friend had actually seemed energized and ready to get to class.
So she'd been the one lagging, but it had been worth it in the end. The second Melody laid eyes on Ace and Holly, the diatribe had started.
“Oh my god, Patch, tell me that Ace is NOT holding hands with Holly Matheson?” Melody practically hissed into her friend's ear.
“D*mn,” Patch said, “When did that happen?” She watched as the two approached, grateful that Ace was focusing his attention on Holly, because she was sure that if he looked at her, she'd probably burst out laughing.
“But why Holly?! What could he possibly see in her?” Melody asked, forcing herself to smile a little less awkwardly when Ace and Holly walked by, her expression turning grim and angry again as soon as they were in the school. “And what is she doing dating him?!”
Patch shrugged. “Why are you so upset about this?” Patch asked, though of course she knew.
“You're joking, right?” Melody asked, shooting her friend a disgusted look.
“I know you don't like her, but she's not really that bad, is she?” Patch asked innocently, ready for a lecture.
“She's the enemy!” Melody stated, gripping Patch's arm. “He's my friend, he's not supposed to date my enemies!”
“She's your enemy, not his,” Patch said, trying her best not to laugh. Or scream, as Melody's fingernails pressed harder into her arm.
“Obviously,” Melody replied, voice heavy with sarcasm. “He can't date her, though,” she went on, “it's just not right.”
“Mel,” Patch pried her friend's fingers from her arm, “You almost sound jealous,” she said carefully, hoping Melody would not pick up on what was actually going on.
“Me, jealous? Ha!” Melody replied, shaking her head. “I just don't think he should date her.”
“You sound totally jealous. Are you sure you don't want to date Ace?” Patch asked her teasingly, because it's how she would normally respond.
“Me, date Ace? Are you kidding?!” Melody replied, though Patch noticed that her voice was a little more shrill than usual at the comment. “No I don't want to date Ace. We're friends, that's it.”
“Sure it is,” Patch replied, as they stopped at their lockers. “Totally sounds like it.”
“Shut up,” Melody said, dumping books in her locker. “I don't want to date Ace, that's absurd.”
“Is it?” Patch asked, amused at how well this was actually going. Melody really did sound jealous!
“Yes! He's just one of my closest friends, and he can do better than Holly Matheson,” she quickly stated, before slamming her locker closed. “I have to get to home room; see you at lunch.” With that Melody took off down the hall, leaving Patch to grin wickedly before heading for her own home room class, ready to tell Ace everything. The plan was progressing perfectly already.
“And you want to know who he's dating now?” Melody asked, stabbing the straw into her box of orange juice with forceful anger.
“Who?” Starlight asked, not having heard any of the news yet. She and Clover were the only two of the friends in their home room class, and neither of them shared classes with any of the others. So when she'd joined Melody for lunch she'd been surprised to find her friend angrily discussing Ace's new relationship.
“Holly Matheson.” Melody said, barely stopping herself before she crushed her juice box in her hand.
“Really? Guess that was bound to happen sooner or later,” Starlight replied, not too surprised. She knew that Ace hung out with some older kids, mostly due to his prowess at sports, and Holly Matheson was a very popular girl.
“What?” Melody spat at her friend, glaring at Starlight. “What do you mean, bound to happen?”
Starlight frowned and shrank back slightly. “Um, they're both really popular, and they hang out together? I didn't really mean her personally or anything, just someone in that group.” Why on earth was Melody so angry about this?
“You seem upset about this, Melody,” Brighteyes said from next to Starlight. “Jealous that Ace is paying attention to someone else now?”
“What?!” Melody asked, shocked to hear the word jealous spring up again. “I am absolutely not jealous! It's just that Holly Matheson is vile, and he deserves someone better!”
Brighteyes shot her a quizzical look. “I'm sorry, are we talking about the same person?” She asked, looking to her friends for help. “While I don't really know Holly, I wouldn't exactly describe Ace as being the type of person who deserves someone nice.”
“What?” Melody balked at the comment.
“He doesn't exactly have a track record as the nicest guy around,” Brighteyes replied, “He is rather self-absorbed, so of course he's going to date someone else self-absorbed and popular.”
“If you don't know Holly, you shouldn't call her self-absorbed, Brighteyes, that's not very nice,” Sweetheart admonished her friend in between sp00nfuls of chocolate pudding. While she was surprised about the news, she didn't really know Holly enough to form an opinion. All she knew was gleaned from Melody, who always complained about the other girl.
“Besides, she's fourteen, and he's not even thirteen for another month! So she's like, two years older than him! It's gross,” Melody stated, taking the straw out of her juice box and tying it in knots. She knew she probably sounded ridiculous, but this whole Holly Matheson thing felt like a betrayal.
“They're only a grade apart, it's not that bad,” Starlight replied, watching as Melody destroyed her straw. She'd never seen the other girl so irritated before, it was weird.
“It's terrible, and he should be ashamed for betraying me like this!” Melody replied, tossing the knotted straw on the table. Great, now she'd have to find a pair of scissors to cut the box open so she could drink her juice!
“He's not betraying you, Melody,” Sweetheart said, “Maybe he really truly likes Holly, and maybe you haven't really gotten to know her yet,” she offered.
“I agree with Sweetheart. You're letting your own frustration at Holly cloud your judgement, just because she beat you out for the part of Juliet in the school play,” Brighteyes retorted.
“I heard her talking with the guy who plays Benvolio; she doesn't even like Romeo and Juliet! She just wanted to star in another play,” Melody grumbled, “Instead of letting someone who truly loves the character play her.”
“Melody, it's wrong to hold grudges,” Sweetheart said, “The only person you end up hurting is yourself.”
“Did you say something, Sweetheart?” Melody asked icily, shooting her friend a glare.
“Don't talk to Sweetheart that way!” Brighteyes said, glaring back at Melody. “You're acting totally irrational right now, all because Ace is dating someone.”
“It's not because he's dating, it's who he's dating!” Melody said in a huff, angry that her friends didn't get it. “I absolutely do not want to date Ace. I don't, not at all. He can date whoever he wants – just not Holly Matheson.” She looked to her left at Patch, who was being suspiciously silent. “Are you done eating?” She asked.
“Yeah,” Patch replied, watching Melody curiously. While she'd been amused this morning, she was now just slightly worried about her best friend. Melody was totally overreacting, way beyond anything Patch had expected.
“Good,” Melody said, grabbing her friend's fork and stabbing it into her sandwich. She was too angry to eat right now.
“What has that poor sandwich done to you?” Patch asked, barely able to contain her laughter. This situation was just turning more ridiculous with every word Melody uttered.
“I can't eat right now,” Melody replied, jabbing the fork into the bread again. She turned around, staring over her shoulder at the front of the cafeteria, where Ace was sitting with Holly, who was staring at him with a joyous look that was enough to set Melody's whole body on fire with a seething rage. She turned back around and jabbed the fork into the sandwich again.
Patch reached over and stilled her hand, taking the fork back. “That's enough violence against sandwiches, Mel.”
“If it bothers you so much, Melody, maybe you should talk to Ace about it?” Sweetheart suggested, and Patch would have kissed her if she were closer.
“That's a great idea,” Patch agreed, and toned down her support for the suggestion when everyone shot her curious looks. “I mean, I'm sure he doesn't want you to be angry about it, right?”
“How do I even bring it up without looking like I'm crazy?” Melody asked.
“You mean how do you bring it up without looking like you're jealous, right?” Starlight teased, unable to help herself. It was weird, really – if anyone should be upset that Ace had a girlfriend, it should be her, because she was the one who still had a crush on him! But she'd given up on anything actually happening between them, and had committed to just crushing on him while maintaining a friendship.
“For the last time, I am not jealous! I have zero interest in dating Ace,” Melody ground out through clenched teeth. “I mean, why on earth would I want to date him?”
“Well, he is super hot,” Starlight said, which wouldn't surprise anyone.
“Amazingly gifted athlete,” Patch added, deciding to go with the flow.
“He's super charming too,” Starlight added, looking past her friends at Ace, noticing that he was watching them. When he noticed her watching him, he smiled at her in greeting, which she returned.
“Why don't we instead go over the reasons why she doesn't want to date him?” Brighteyes suggested.
“Thanks, Brighteyes,” Melody said.
“Starting with the fact that he's a completely self-absorbed jerk,” Brighteyes said.
“He's not that bad,” Starlight replied, unable to help but stick up for him.
“I feel bad for saying it, but Brighteyes does have a point,” Sweetheart added. “He wasn't exactly super nice to you originally, Starlight.”
“Ha, that's rich, coming from Teddy's best friend!” Patch joined in, not about to sit back and let anyone bash her best friend. That was her job, when she wanted it.
“Besides, he came and apologized to me after, without anyone having to tell him that he should. He might act without thinking at times, but who doesn't? Especially the boys?” Starlight added.
“And if you bring up Lancer, Brighteyes, you are officially kicked out of this conversation,” Patch added, grinning at her friend.
“I'm not saying he's a monster,” Brighteyes said, “He does have his good moments. But he is not worth getting this upset over, is all I'm trying to get at.”
“He's actually a much nicer person than you realize,” Starlight added, still ready in her defense. “Way nicer than Teddy.”
“Don't bring Teddy into this you guys, you know he doesn't have the nicest parents,” Sweetheart interjected.
“Neither does Ace,” Patch replied, though she of course knew that their lack of niceness was different than Teddy's.
“Right, I'm sure a boy as spoiled as Ace has terrible parents,” Brighteyes said, her voice laced with sarcasm.
“He does, Brighteyes. You just have no idea what you're talking about.” Patch shot back, actually just a little annoyed. Maybe it wasn't her place to talk about his parents, and she had no idea if he'd be pissed off if she explained too much.
“They might not be alcoholics like Teddy's parents, but they don't really care about him that much, you know,” Melody added. “That's part of the reason why he can be a bit of a jerk at times, because he just wants attention.”
Everyone was silent for a moment, as Melody looked around between them. “What? It's true! Did you know his parents have never actually come to a single one of his soccer games? Why do you think he was so angry when Starlight joined the team and stole his thunder in her first game? Because everyone congratulated her instead of him, and he relies on everyone else to congratulate him because his parents never do.”
“I had no idea,” Brighteyes said, looking from Melody to Patch, a contemplative look on her face. “How do you know that?”
“We were talking about our parents one night, me and Ace and Patch,” Melody explained, “And he told me all about it. Patch has always known, which is probably why she was his friend way before any of us were,” Melody looked at her friend and grinned. Patch just shrugged.
“So, what, he just randomly brought up his parents?” Brighteyes asked, still looking contemplatively between Melody and Patch, as though she were trying to figure something out.
“Well, no. Patch brought up the topic of parents, actually,” Melody said, “Which was nice because I had no idea his parents were like that. It really helped me to understand him more, and I felt like we got to be better friends after.”
Brighteyes suddenly looked at Patch and shook her head slowly. “This is all your doing, isn't it?” She asked, and Patch knew exactly what she meant, but she feigned ignorance. Brighteyes stood up with her tray. “Anyway, I have to get to the library, so I'll see you girls later.” With that she was gone, and Starlight fixed Patch with a curious gaze.
“What did Brighteyes mean?” Starlight asked.
“Who knows what Brighteyes ever means?” Patch replied, looking confused. “She talks in riddles half the time.”
“And in textbook nerd speak the other half,” Melody added, laughing then. “Listen guys, thanks for listening to me rant and rave about Ace and Holly. I know I was probably over the top, but I just can't explain how annoyed she makes me. She's probably nowhere near as terrible as I say she is, but I still don't like her, and I don't like the idea of Ace dating her.”
“That's okay, Melody! That's what friends are for,” Sweetheart said, reaching across the table to pat Melody's hand.
“Yeah, we're always here for commiseration,” Starlight added, “Especially over boys.”
“I really do think you should talk to Ace, though, and let him know how you feel,” Sweetheart added.
“Thanks, Sweetheart, but I think I should probably just learn to deal with it.”
No! thought Patch. She'd find a way to bring up Holly and Ace, in front of Ace. For Ace's sake, at least.
“Hello ladies,” Ace greeted as he leaned against the fence at the school's baseball diamond. They were playing the sport in gym this week, which was fine by Ace. He was rather good at baseball, especially when it came to pitching.
“Hey loser,” Patch greeted, standing next to him. Melody stood in front of them, her arms crossed but still smiling. “So we heard you got a girlfriend,” Patch dove in to the conversation, even though Melody had asked her not to.
“Lies,” Ace replied, shaking his head.
“So you didn't walk into school holding Holly Matheson's hand this morning?” Patch inquired, hoping that Melody would make her feelings known on the subject.
“Oh right, you saw that,” he said, glancing from Patch to Melody.
“So when did that happen?” Patch prompted, trying not to make it obvious that she was pushing Melody to say something.
“Yesterday,” Ace said, launching into a made up explanation about having had a crush on Holly. Eventually Melody caved.
“What, exactly, do you like about her?” She asked, trying (and failing) to not sound angry.
“Well,” Ace hesitated, unsure about what he was supposed to say. Was he supposed to say she was great? Or make up some story about her being cool but finding out that she was actually a total pregnant dog and he was thinking of breaking up with her? He looked briefly at Patch, who had nothing but an apologetic look on her face. Maybe they should have researched this approach a little more before trying it out. “She's really nice,” he started lamely, still unsure about what he was supposed to say.
“Really? She's always seemed like a stuck up princess to me,” Melody replied.
“Says our own stuck up princess,” Patch interjected with a grin.
“She is not,” Ace replied, glaring slightly at Patch.
“Who's not? Holly or Melody?” Patch asked, still grinning.
“Both!” Ace said, before turning back to Melody. “I've never thought you were a stuck up princess, or anything as bad.”
Melody smiled at the comment, meeting Ace's eyes. “Thanks,” she said, momentarily mollified.
“Any time,” he replied, really wanting to come clean about the whole thing, but somehow managing to stay quiet.
“Did you know Holly hates Romeo and Juliet, and only auditioned because she wanted to star in the play?” Patch asked, feeling like she needed to hammer home the fake relationship in order to draw more out of Melody.
“It's true, I heard it with my own ears!” Melody stated, frowning again. “She doesn't like Shakespeare at all! I mean, who doesn't like Shakespeare? That's crazy.”
Ace grinned and shrugged. “To be honest I don't really care for Shakespeare.”
Melody glared at him. “Yeah well you're going to have to learn to love Romeo and Juliet, since your lover girl is starring in it.” She frowned at the anger in her voice – wasn't she supposed to be getting over this?!
Ace frowned as well, glancing from Melody to Patch. Time to go for the direct approach. “Mel, are you angry with me?” He asked, hoping to diffuse her attitude.
“What? Why would I be angry with you?” She replied, cursing herself for still sounding angry. When was class going to start?! She needed a distraction from her current problem.
“I don't know, but you sound angry,” Ace answered, wanting to strangle Patch at the moment.
“Well I'm not. You are free to date anyone you want, it's your life,” Melody took a deep breath and made herself calm down. “I just don't like Holly.”
“Don't like her?” Patch jumped in, “More like, did you know that Holly is Mel's mortal enemy?” Patch winked at Ace, hoping this would be the opening they needed.
“I had no idea,” Ace replied, glaring at Patch before turning his attention back to Melody. “Um, sorry? If I knew you hated her, I never would have asked her out.”
Melody shook her head, feeling guilty now. “Don't say that, I don't control your life. You can date whoever you want to date. I have zero say in anything regarding your love life.”
You could have all the say in the world regarding my love life! Ace thought to himself, really wanting to strangle Patch right now. “No, really. I've known you way longer than Holly, and besides, I trust your judgement.” He really hoped he didn't sound as desperate for her approval as he thought he did...
“No really, Ace, I'm being a total jerk. I'm sorry, I should be happy for you,” Melody said with a tone of finality. Just then Coach showed up, calling the students in to get the game started. Melody quickly walked towards the rest of the group, momentarily leaving Ace and Patch behind.
Before he could say anything Patch spoke up. “I am so sorry – I thought this would have worked!”
Ace fixed her with a glare. “I hope we're on opposite teams so I can line drive a ball right into your head,” he said before turning to follow Melody. Patch sighed and resigned herself to having Ace hate her for the time being. He'd get over it, though. And who knew – maybe Melody just needed to see him kissing Holly? Maybe?
A few days had passed and Melody was still trying to come to terms with the relationship – which was really hard because she saw them everywhere together, and she wasn't sure if it was just her imagination or not, but Holly actually seemed to be acting like even more of a stuck up princess any time she was near her.
They were nearly done with rehearsals that day for the play, and of course Holly had asked Ace to come and watch even though they weren't supposed to have spectators for practice! But Holly had the drama club director wrapped around her little finger, so she never said a word. Once Holly finished her last scene she hopped off the stage and wandered over to where Ace was sitting, leaning down to kiss him. Melody couldn't stop herself from watching – annoyed when the kiss lasted more than two seconds. Ugh. Didn't Ace realize she was here watching?! Okay well maybe he didn't think she'd actually be watching them...
She was woken out of her thoughts by another voice she didn't particularly care for. “I must admit I never saw that one coming,” the intruder spoke, standing close to Melody so she didn't have to speak too loudly.
“You and me both, Violet,” Melody replied, trying her best to sound annoyed. Violet and Melody shared the same home room, and even though Melody had never gone out of her way to try and be friendly to Violet, the other girl seemed to talk to her all the time. It had been fine at first – until Violet started to disagree with Melody on virtually everything. Still, even with the annoying counter-commentary to every topic ever brought up, Violet still continued to force conversation.
But Violet wasn't having the annoyed retort. “It must steam you that he's moved on, doesn't it?” the other girl almost purred, sounding way too happy given what she was saying.
“Excuse me?” Melody replied, turning her head to stare at the other girl.
“It must steam you that Ace has moved on,” Violet said slowly, as though she were talking to someone stupid. It irritated Melody just as much as was intended.
“Good god, I am not his keeper! He can date whoever he wants to date, I don't know why everyone keeps thinking that I must be bothered,” Melody responded, glaring at Violet.
“Right, Melody, I believe you,” Violet said with a wink. “Then again I'd be upset too, Ace is super hot, I'd do anything to have him pay attention to me.”
Melody shook her head and looked back at the couple without meaning to – Holly was now sitting on his lap and they were laughing. Melody narrowed her eyes and just stared. It looked terrible, she knew – but she told herself it was because Violet was annoying her currently. She wasn't staring for any other reason.
“I can't believe he's dating Holly, though, I mean I honestly think he could do better than her,” Violet said, also staring at the couple.
“That much I'll agree with,” Melody stated, crossing her arms.
“Of course you'd say that,” Violet replied with a sarcastic laugh. “After all, you're the one he had the huge crush on for the past few years,” she almost sounded bitter.
Melody just narrowed her eyes and refused to look at Violet – she also refused to acknowledge what the other girl had said. So Ace had had a crush on her – or so people said. She'd actually never noticed, so in her opinion everyone was blowing his potential feelings out of proportion. Besides – he seemed pretty darn happy dating Holly, so why on earth would she care about whether or not he'd had a crush on her originally? It's not like she wanted him to have a crush on her now! They were just friends, that's all. Very good friends, but still – just friends.
“He'd probably dump Holly if you asked him to,” Violet said, voice still overlaid with a bitter sound.
“Well lucky for him I wouldn't,” Melody replied, though she did wonder if he actually would give up the relationship for her? Not that she'd ever try to find out.
“Don't you mean lucky for her? I find it kind of surprising, really. For someone who hates Holly so much, you're sure making it easy for her to date one of your closest friends,” Violet commented, and Melody realized finally that she did have a point, of course.
Realistically speaking, Ace was popular enough that he could probably date any girl he wanted to. Did he really want to date Holly that badly? What if she happened to flirt with him a little, ask him to dump Holly? He'd find someone else, right? Probably rather quickly? No, she thought, this is stupid and dangerous. You can't go around picking and choosing the people your friends date! It's none of your business, Mel.
But maybe she'd watch them, make sure Holly didn't get too unbearable.
“God I f*cking hate her so much,” Melody hissed as she sat down next to Patch, seriously beginning to contemplate doing something drastic.
“What did she do now?” Patch asked, hoping they were talking about Holly. She was still holding out hope that she hadn't sent Ace off into the popular girl sunset, especially since she was actually lying to him – she'd still never told him that Holly having a thing for him had been completely made up. Then again, Holly did seem to be all over Ace these days, so maybe she'd actually gotten lucky with her guess?
“Showing off,” Melody said, and Patch waited for her to elaborate. “Turns out Ace is buying her jewelry already.”
“He's doing what?!” Patch asked, totally shocked. Ace wasn't exactly talking to her much these days (their home room discussions were always noticeably short and clippy on his end, but she was working on him) but she figured he would have warned her about jewelry...
“Oh yeah, he bought her a necklace. I swear when she showed it to me at rehearsal earlier, she was trying to rub it in.” The smug look on Holly's face had not gone unnoticed by Melody. It was almost like she was saying look what Ace bought me; what did he ever buy you? Which was kind of stupid when she thought about it because why would Holly even know about Ace's supposed crush on her? Why would she even care?
Patch was silent for a moment, absorbing the news. On one hand – she thought it was a brilliant plan on his part. On the other hand – she was still peeved that he hadn't told her. She'd still use it, though. “They seem like they're getting a little too serious,” she replied, frowning for added effect.
“That's exactly what I thought!” Melody added, glad Patch was on her side. “You know, I was talking to Violet about this the other day,”
“I thought you hated Violet?” Patch asked, confused by the admission. Usually Melody tried to avoid discussions with the other girl.
“Well, hate is a strong word, and really it's more like she started talking to me about it. Anyway, point is – she thinks Ace would break up with Holly if I asked him to.” Melody almost felt guilty the second the words left her lips – but at the same time, Holly was starting to really grate her nerves about the relationship. Maybe she should take action?
“I think she may be on to something,” Patch agreed, because it was probably better than screaming Yes he would you f*cking idiot, why can't you see that his whole reason for dating her is to make you jealous?! “Are you thinking of saying something to him?”
“I don't know,” Melody said, completely at war with herself. “I mean, it's really none of my business. But at the same time, he could do better than Holly, and I'm sure if they broke up, he'd probably find someone better rather quickly. I mean really, though I'd never say it to his face because he's already full of himself, he probably could date any girl he wants. Holly can't be the only girl he wants.”
“I'm sure she's not the only girl on Ace's radar,” Patch replied, wondering if she should just be honest with Melody. This whole thing was getting a little tiring.
“That's what I'm thinking. So what do you think? Should I say something to him?” Melody looked at Patch, deciding that she'd follow the other girl's advice. After all – Patch wasn't just her best friend. She was Ace's best friend too. Surely she had to have better insight.
This was it! This was the moment! Patch tried not to sound too excited when she replied. “I think it would probably be a good idea. I mean, to be honest? I feel like I barely even see him anymore since they started dating.” Of course that was only true because Ace was pissed off with Patch, but Melody didn't need to know those details.
“You have a point, now that I think about it. She eats up all of his free time, I barely even see him at school without her! We're losing him, Patch.” Melody felt a little strengthened in her resolve at that realization.
“And you need to go and get him back for us,” Patch replied, trying to keep from laughing.
“Thanks,” Melody said, smiling and feeling a little more at peace with the decision. She wasn't just doing this for her. She was doing it for Patch, too!
“Why didn't you tell me you were going to buy her jewelry!” Patch asked, sliding into her seat next to Ace. He shot her an annoyed look.
“Wasn't aware I had to run every bit of my relationship by you first,” Ace replied, his tone cool and still unfriendly.
“Listen, you can stop being angry at me, okay? Mel has decided to have a chat with you about Holly,” Patch told him, hoping the news would brighten his disposition.
It seemed to do exactly the trick. “Really? I thought she was settled on just accepting it.”
“Though I hate to admit it, that necklace did the trick. Apparently Holly is flaunting everything in Mel's face. I also mentioned how we never really see you anymore, since you've started dating her,” Patch said, honestly just a little annoyed about that herself.
Ace shrugged, a grin pulling at his lips. “Well, that's your fault, because this whole thing seemed like it was backfiring. And to be honest I do actually kind of feel bad, for Holly.”
Patch frowned, “You what? Don't you remember, she's the enemy?” She said with a touch of humour.
“I know, but she's actually really not that bad, and I actually kind of like her,” Ace replied.
“Well, who do you like more? Holly, or Mel?” Patch hoped he wasn't about to surprise her with the wrong answer.
“Oh I still prefer Melody, but I just don't really know how I'm going to go about dumping Holly,” he said, frowning at the thought. He liked Holly a lot – and if it weren't for Melody, he'd happily keep dating her for as long as it lasted. He didn't know why the girls didn't get along, but that was girls for you. Sometimes they made sense, other times they were aliens.
“Well don't go getting ahead of yourself, she still has to talk to you about it first,” Patch answered, wishing she had some advice for Ace. After all, this whole thing was her fault. She felt bad she didn't have all the answers.
“True, maybe she might supply me with a reason,” Ace said hopefully. “I can't tell Holly the truth, after all.”
“Yeah no, definitely not advisable,” Patch agreed. They'd figure something out.
Ace finished stuffing his books into his locker, instead pulling out his soccer gear for practice. He didn't notice Melody until he shut his locker, and then a smile spread over his face. “Hey Mel,” he greeted, wondering if Patch was right. Was she going to say something? Was she going to say it here?
“Hey Ace,” Melody greeted back, feeling a little nervous but definitely settled in her plan. “Listen, I was just wondering if you were busy this weekend?” She asked, a flirty half-smile on her lips.
Ace made his features settle into confusion for a moment, “I have some plans, but I also have some free time. Why are you asking?”
Melody smiled wider and fixed her eyes on him, hoping he wouldn't see through her act. “Well, I feel like I've barely seen you since you started dating Holly, and I kind of feel bad about how I've reacted. I just wanted to see if maybe you wanted to hang out, you and me, this weekend?”
Ace slowly allowed a grin to creep over his lips. “Aw Mel, are you saying that you miss me?” He teased, because it's what he usually always did. He hoped the teasing wasn't going to make her change her mind. And besides – unless he was crazy, she was kind of flirting with him, wasn't she? Part of the plan, or real?
She laughed at the comment but kept smiling, shrugging a little. “I guess you could say that,” she replied, blushing just a little. “Besides, the twins have started playing soccer, and they keep hounding me to ask you if you'll help them train.” Maybe it was a little devious, using her brothers, but she knew Ace liked the kids – and he loved the fact that the twins looked up to him.
“Oh I see, it's not you that misses me, it's your brothers,” Ace responded teasingly again, shaking his head lightly.
“No!” Melody said, fake frowning. “I promise I miss you too,” she said, reaching out to lay a hand on his arm. Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Holly standing at the end of the corridor, staring at them. Not surprisingly, it only made Melody that much bolder. “I was thinking that maybe we could hike over to Paradise Lake for a while, check to see if that beaver dam is still there,” she said, referencing a particularly enjoyable day a few weeks ago when the two of them and Patch had found a new dam. Of course they'd gotten chased away by the beavers, which had been pretty hilarious now, looking back on it, but had been slightly scary at the time. Beavers were surprisingly speedy.
Ace was grinning at the idea (and also at Melody's hand still being on his arm!) and nodded. “That actually sounds like an excellent idea,” he said, excited at the prospect of actually spending some time alone with Melody. He knew she wanted to be alone to talk to him, but he really hoped that maybe, just maybe, she might actually be feeling something for him?
Melody grinned back, sliding her hands down his arm, hoping that Holly was watching. “Saturday or Sunday work better for you? I'm free all weekend, mom has both days off thankfully.”
“Let's aim for Saturday,” Ace said, because he'd clearly need Sunday to break up with Holly.
“Excellent! Just come by my place whenever,” she replied, quickly running her fingers down to squeeze his hand. “See you then!” She said with a wink, before turning and walking off in the opposite direction from where Holly was still standing with crossed arms and an angry expression. Was Holly going to say anything to Ace? Would that work to her benefit or detriment? Only time would tell.
Melody stood out on the front steps of the school, grinning at Patch as she relayed the information. Patch laughed and whistled when Melody got to the part about being watched by Holly.
“I hope she's not forbidding Ace from talking to you,” she said, although that would help Ace out in his quest to find a reason to dump her.
“I know, I did feel kind of bad. But it might help, you know? I guess we'll see.” The girls walked down the steps together, setting off in the direction of Patch's house. They were stopped though by a figure standing in their path. Holly Matheson.
“Hello Melody,” Holly said, arms crossed and looking just as annoyed as she had inside.
“Hey Holly,” Melody answered, happy and excited. “How's it going?”
Holly was silent for a moment, her eyes scrutinizing the girl in front of her. Finally she broke her silence. “Why were you talking to my boyfriend?” she asked accusingly.
Melody grinned and shrugged. “I wasn't aware that I wasn't allowed to speak to one of my best friends,” she answered, looking at Patch in confusion.
“Oh, so you two are best friends, are you?” Holly asked, clearly not buying it.
“Yeah. Actually after Patch, I'd say Ace probably is my closest friend,” Melody replied, not backing down an inch.
“And do you always flirt with your best friends, Melody?” Holly asked, trying her best to be intimidating. “Do you always touch their arms and hold their hands?”
“Oh she does that to me all the time,” Patch answered, reaching out to grab Melody's hand. “It's pretty nice, actually, she has really soft hands.” Patch and Melody laughed at the comment, while Holly looked annoyed.
“I'm sorry if I upset you, Holly,” Melody looked back at the other girl, “I promise I'll try my best not to flirt with your boyfriend,” she said with a fake expression of sympathy on her face and an overly honeyed tone to her voice.
“I can't promise anything though,” Patch interrupted, “I flirt with Ace all the time. He loves it.” The comment prompted laughter from the friends again, while Holly just shook her head in disgust before walking away.
“Is it just me or has this thing gotten bigger?” Ace asked, tentatively taking a step closer to the beaver dam. The pair had looked around to see if the beavers were there or not, but hadn't found any sign of them. They'd decided to go for a closer approach to be sure.
“It's definitely grown in size,” Melody agreed, following close behind him. She hadn't brought up the topic of Holly yet, still steeling herself for it. Besides, they were having fun. She hoped that would help.
“I wonder if they have baby beavers,” Ace asked, looking around. “Maybe that's why they were so aggressive last time.”
Melody nodded, “Good call, it would make sense. It would be cool to see them if they did, I've never even seen a picture of a baby beaver before.”
“Me neither,” Ace replied, moving closer. “Should we make some noise and try to draw them out?” He asked, stopping to look back at Melody.
She grinned and shrugged, “I don't know, we'd better make sure we have a clear path out of here if we do. Don't want to trip and become some beaver's lunch,” she laughed, and Ace joined in.
“No definitely don't want that to happen. What an embarrassing story to have to tell, could you imagine?” He grinned at the thought. “I mean, if they chew through trees, just imagine what they'd do to your leg!”
Melody squirmed just a little at the comment, “Yeah thanks for that mental picture!” She stood next to Ace, watching for any sign of movement. Just then a tiny little head popped up from the water. “Oh my god, beaver baby!” Melody squealed, grabbing Ace's arm in excitement.
Ace couldn't help but grin at the moment – this day was absolutely perfect so far! “Definitely a baby, look at how small that thing is?” Just then a second head popped up, followed by a third, and then a few seconds later – the mother. The larger beaver seemed to suddenly take notice of them, staring them down from the water while the unassuming babies climbed onto the bank.
“Oh wow, Patch is going to be pissed she's missing this,” Melody said, suddenly becoming conscious to the fact that she was still holding Ace's arm. Should she let it go? Did he notice it yet? Was it too much? Should she keep holding it until she brought up the whole Holly thing? Had he noticed?
Ace grinned when Melody brought up Patch, not really feeling too sorry for his best friend. Sure, things were going well now, but the prospect of Melody's jealousy turning into something resembling affection had not looked promising for a while. So she deserved to miss out on something cool, he thought. “Yeah, I can't wait to tell her about it!” He said, laughing.
“Ace,” Melody scolded, turning to look a him, letting go of his arm with the distraction of conversation to cover it up, “We shouldn't be that mean. Maybe we should just suggest coming out soon to check on the dam, then surprising her with them?”
Ace frowned and shook his head. “Lame, Melody! We should totally rub this in her face,” he said with a grin. “Do you think for a second she wouldn't do the same to either of us?”
“Good point,” Melody agreed, still watching the animals. While adult beavers weren't exactly the cutest things in the world, the babies were adorable! “I can't believe how cute those little ones are,” Melody said, watching them waddle around in the grass.
“I know, check those little tails out! Unfortunate for them they'll grow up to be ugly, unlike you and me,” he said with a wink, which made her laugh.
“Indeed, we'll be winning beauty pageants when we're seniors,” Melody joked, staring at Ace and watching him laugh. She hated to admit it, but Starlight was right – Ace was really hot. It was crazy how different someone could look in the span of two years. Not that she was interested, of course – no way. She was simply noticing that he was physically attractive. Totally normal.
Ace noticed Melody seemed to be staring at him for longer than usual, and he couldn't help but wonder what was going through her head. He was tempted to try and keep up the conversation about looks – he badly wanted to know what she really thought about him. Did she find him attractive? He knew most girls thought he was really good looking, but he didn't really care about their opinions. Melody's mattered more. “So, in all honesty, who do you think is the most attractive guy at school?” He knew it was a potentially dangerous topic – but he could sway the conversation in his direction if she wouldn't...
Melody was a little caught off guard by the question – turning her head to look at Ace in surprise for a few seconds before answering. “Well, that's a good question, I've never really thought about it before.” Not that she didn't notice cute guys – because she did, but she was never really all that interested in ranking them.
“Oh all right then, who's the most attractive girl at school?” he joked, which made her laugh.
“Me obviously,” she said jokingly. Guys - who did she think was attractive? “I don't know, I guess Bear's pretty cute,” she finally answered, naming one of the most popular ninth graders at school. Plus she knew that Ace played soccer with him.
“Really?” He asked, “You wouldn't think he's attractive after some of the stories I could tell you,” he said teasingly, watching as she shook her head.
“I do not want to know any disgusting boy stories about your team mates! Don't even think about it!” Melody quickly said, grinning when Ace laughed.
“No worries, your ears are safe. It would never work for you two though, he has terrible taste in music,” Ace told her, grinning again when she smiled. “And he's one of the least charming guys ever.”
“Aw Ace, how would you even know that? Do all the boys sweet talk you?” Melody teased back, laughing when Ace frowned.
“No, although they probably should,” he replied with a laugh, which made her laugh even harder. “You could do much better than Bear,” he said, and he meant it.
“Oh I have no interest in dating him, he's just physically attractive,” she replied, amused at the conversation. She wondered if he was secretly fishing for a compliment? It would be something he'd do. She looked at him, grinning at his expression. “You know, in all honesty, you're actually pretty cute too.” Anything to butter him up for the coming conversation!
“Obviously,” he replied, laughing when she shook her head. “Nice of you to acknowledge my beauty.”
“So modest too,” she said with another laugh, “You're a regular Disney princess!” They both burst into loud laughter at her comment, but a moment later Melody glanced towards the lake and noticed that mother beaver was climbing onto the shore, still staring them down! “Ace, beaver!” Melody shouted, turning to point.
Ace turned his head to check, startled when he saw the beaver start to move towards them. “Let's go!” He yelled, grabbing Melody's hand and pulling her along behind him. They ran about a hundred feet away, far enough for the beaver to consider the threat gone, before stopping and looking back. They managed to just see it slipping back into the water.
Taking a second to get his breathing under control, Ace looked back at Melody and grinned. “We survive to fight another day!”
She laughed at the comment, dramatically falling against him. “My hero!” They both laughed again, and suddenly, leaning against him, she felt that now was the right moment to bring up the real reason for their trek out here. He was still holding one of her hands, and she squeezed his fingers lightly before letting go. “Ace, I have to be honest with you,” she started pulling away from him and looking back over at the lake.
He forced himself not to hold on to her for longer – though he badly wanted to. He couldn't help it – having Melody in his arms just felt right. Instead he stood still and watched her. “What is it?” Was this it? Was she going to ask him to break up with Holly?
“I didn't just ask you to hang out because I miss you,” she admitted, biting the inside of her cheek and struggling to find the wording that sounded right. This had all felt so much better when she'd been talking to Patch. “I know I said I'd try to be supportive of the whole Holly thing, but truth is, I'm having a hard time with it.” She paused, feeling super guilty at the moment. “I know it's none of my business, but you have become one of my best friends lately, and I feel weird seeing you with her. I want to like any girlfriend you have, and I don't think I'll ever like her.”
Ace tried not to grin – she did care enough to not want him dating Holly! It was half working. “Don't feel bad, Mel. It makes sense, really. I mean if you or Patch started dating some guy I didn't like, I'd have a hard time with it too,” he said, and it was true. Of course he didn't want to imagine Melody dating anyone that wasn't him, but if Patch started dating a guy he hated, he wouldn't be happy.
Melody smiled, grateful that he wasn't mad. “I feel so bad about this, but you know, Patch and I were talking the other day, and we are both kind of bothered about not seeing you that much anymore.”
“And Patch elected you to talk to me?” He said, grinning, which in turn made her grin a little in response.
“No! Well not really, maybe. I don't know, we agreed it would probably be better if it came from me,” she rambled, just a little embarrassed at the moment.
Ace was silent for a moment, watching her. “I honestly never would have dated her if I'd known you hated her,” he said because he thought it was the easiest route to go.
She just shook her head and smiled. “I know, and I appreciate you feeling that way.”
“I value my friends a lot,” he replied, and that was true – he did probably value his close friends more than anyone thought he did. Especially now that he hung out with the older popular crowd at school. It was easy to feel like everyone around you wasn't even really your friend, just your acquaintance. “You and Patch are more important to me than any girl I've just met.”
He sounded so sincere it made Melody smile, feeling a little better about her decision. “So, what are you saying?” She asked, turning to look at him.
Ace smiled at her, wanting badly to hug her but not wanting to ruin the moment of truth. “I'll break up with Holly,” he answered, and he felt both relieved and a little sad about it.
“Really?” Melody asked, unable to help the smile that spread across her face.
“Really,” Ace replied, glad now he'd left himself Sunday for it. Monday morning was not going to be pretty!
Melody stepped forward and reached out, hugging Ace. It was a sweet thing to do – value friendship over a new relationship, and she couldn't believe he was willing to do it! Unless, of course, like everyone continually told her... “Can I ask you another question?” She blurted out quickly, pulling away and looking up at him.
“Sure,” he said, wondering what she was going to ask.
“Did you really used to have a huge crush on me?” She asked, watching his face. “I mean, I know you had a bit of a crush on me, but everyone keeps acting like you were obsessed with me, and I just never noticed.”
Ace was tempted to tell her the truth, but then he decided against it. Now that he heard her saying it out loud, it did sound kind of bad. He did have a huge crush on her, but he was definitely not obsessed (despite whatever Patch would say). “Definitely had a crush on you, though I wouldn't go as far as to say I was ever obsessed,” he said with a laugh.
Melody grinned and felt better after hearing it. “And do you still have a crush on me?” She asked, looking at him playfully, a slight teasing tone to her voice.
Ace shrugged, looking totally nonchalant about the subject. “Well, I wouldn't object if someone told me I had to take you on a date,” he said, winking at her, “But I'd probably make you pay the bill.”
They both laughed at the comment and she hugged him again, glad at how easy it was to talk to him about more serious things. She never would have expected it of him when they were younger, but it felt right now. “Thanks for being so understanding, Ace,” she said, meaning every word of it.
“Thanks for being honest with me,” he replied, hugging her for a second longer before letting her go. Patience was going to pay off, he was sure of it now.
“Speaking of honesty, so I wasn't lying earlier when I said that my brothers begged me to ask if you'd help them practice their ball skills,” she said, smiling at him.
Ace just shook his head and folded his arms across his chest. “Here I thought we were bonding, and you're really just looking for a babysitter.”
Melody couldn't help but laugh at his answer, “No I swear I'm not! Well maybe I am somewhat, but those kids worship you,” that wasn't really a lie – her brothers had become rather attached to Ace over the past year, ever since they'd developed an interest in soccer and she'd started bringing them to Ace's games.
“True, they do look up to me,” Ace admitted, a thoughtful look on his face.
“If you're not busy for the next little while, mom should be getting home with them in a bit, and in exchange for running them around the yard she'd probably invite you to stay for dinner,” Melody offered, grinning at Ace's expression.
“Any idea what's for dinner?” He asked, because while he was going to pretend like it was a hassle, he'd do anything to hang out at Melody's house for the evening. The closer he got with her family, the better the potential for dating!
“Don't quote me on this, but I did see mom take a beef roast out of the freezer this morning,” she replied, convinced Ace would come even if dinner wasn't on offer.
“I'm there,” he answered with a grin. “I do expect dessert though,” he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.
Melody laughed and winked at him, “You'll get your dessert if you tire the twins out.”
“Deal.”
It was Sunday afternoon, and Ace was currently hanging out with Holly, trying in vain to figure out how on earth he was going to bring up the topic of needing to break up with her. He'd tried thinking of a reason all last night, and all this morning, but nothing sounded good. Nothing except the truth – but he couldn't tell her that. He didn't want to hurt her feelings any further.
“You were hanging out with Melody yesterday, weren't you?” Holly asked him suddenly, and Ace wondered if this conversation would make the other one easier. He still felt immensely guilty about this whole thing, badly wanting to come clean to Holly about it. He knew it was a terrible idea, though, because it wouldn't help anyone.
“Yeah, we went for a walk, then I helped her little brothers practice their shooting,” he admitted, not lying about anything. After all, as far as Holly knew, Melody was his friend.
Holly's face scrunched up a little as she stared at him. “I saw her flirting with you on Friday,” she said, not sounding happy. “She had her hands all over you.”
Was this going to be his opening? “Well, of course she would be, what girl doesn't flirt with me?” He said jokingly, hoping to prompt her into an angry response.
He was met with a stony glare as Holly crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh really? So it's perfectly okay for you to flirt with other girls?”
Ace frowned and shook his head. “I didn't say that.”
“How would you feel if you saw me flirting with some other guy?” She asked him, and he wondered what the best approach to this question would be? Indifference?
He shrugged. “I don't know.” Hopefully evading the question would work.
“What do you mean, you don't know?” Holly replied, sounding just a little annoyed. “I'd hope you'd feel jealous!”
Ace shrugged again. “I'm not really the jealous type, to be honest.”
“So let me get this straight – if you saw me flirting with some other guy, you wouldn't feel the least bit jealous? You wouldn't be upset?”
“I don't know, I figure if you were flirting with some guy he's probably just a friend of yours. I think jealousy's a waste of time, really.” He watched as the look on her face got progressively more annoyed, and suddenly he didn't feel as bad as he had earlier. He wasn't lying after all – he was not a jealous person. If Holly was jealous, then it really was better off if they broke up.
“Jealousy is a sign of affection, Ace! It means you care about the other person,” she ground out through clenched teeth, her tone angry.
He shook his head in disagreement. “I think jealousy's pretty ugly, to be honest. I'm not interested in dating a jealous girl.”
At that comment she paused and their eyes met – his were calm, hers were angry. Finally she broke the silence. “So what, are we breaking up over this?” Ace didn't bother saying anything, he just nodded. “Fine. Not sure why I ever dated you in the first place. I can do better.”
Ace knew he should probably be offended by the comment, but he couldn't help but grin. “Then go do better,” he said challengingly, “Go find yourself a jealous Romeo.” He watched as Holly shook her head in disgust before sweeping out of the room, and once she was gone he felt like a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He was free to go back to slowly pursuing Melody now, which after yesterday, looked very promising.
“Oh wow, they really do have babies! This is awesome,” Patch exclaimed, watching the little beavers swim around before their parents. “They're so cute.”
“I know, aren't they? I'm so glad we found them,” Melody replied, standing next to her best friend. It was exactly a week since she'd spoken to Ace about Holly, and things had gone back to being pretty near perfect. She and Patch had their favourite guy back, and Holly was actually completely ignoring her now – which was fine by Melody. Ace seemed rather happy, as though the break up didn't even really bother him. Maybe that was a little weird, but Melody didn't bother focusing on that. Since then Ace had been over at her house twice, once to help the twins train, and once to help her read through her lines for drama (but he'd still ended the night in the backyard with the boys). It was fun having him around, but her mother's quiet smiles and raised eyebrows were starting to get on her nerves just a little.
“Were there only three of them when you guys were here last week?” Patch asked, and Melody confirmed the answer.
“What are you thinking? We should name them after us?” Ace asked, a grin on his face as he looked at the girls.
“Definitely! I mean look at them – they're just like us. The one climbing out onto the grass is me, and the two idiots who keep swimming in circles are the two of you,” Patch said with a laugh, barely dodging Melody's hand as the other girl made to punch her arm.
“You better watch out or baby Patch might not make it through the spring,” Ace stated.
“Are you threatening my baby beaver?” Patch asked, staring Ace down.
“Maybe I am,” Ace replied with a grin, trying not to laugh.
“Baby Ace better not accept any food from strangers, if he knows what's good for him,” Patch retorted, her grin matching Ace's.
“Actually I think baby Melody is the one on the grass, trying to escape you two idiots,” Melody said, shaking her head in amusement at her friends. Just then the other two baby beavers climbed up out of the water, collapsing on the grass next to the third. All three little beavers huddled in a pile, and Melody couldn't help but remark on how adorable they were.
Patch stood beside her to stare at the water, and Ace stood behind the girls and put his arms around their shoulders. They stood for a moment, staring at the little beavers they'd decided to name after themselves. It was a cute moment, but it was soon broken by Ace.
“So, if these beavers are representations of us, does this mean we should all go and sleep together?” He couldn't help but make the comment, laughing when the girls both yelled at him.
“In your dreams, loser,” Patch replied, though she still laughed at him before glancing at Melody out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't help but notice that the other girl was blushing. Patch looked back at the beavers, feeling rather happy. Ace and Melody might not be dating yet, but she was confident they would be soon – you'd have to be blind to have not noticed the way they had both started openly flirting with each other this week. So her plan had worked in the end, even if it had looked close to failure numerous times in between.
Characters Patch, Melody, Ace (the other girls are also in one of the scenes; and I have an OC)
Summary Tired of listening to Ace ramble on about Melody, Patch decides to play Cupid for her two best friends.
Author Notes This is a prequel to The Midnight Man, taking place in the spring when the kids are in their first year of junior high school (thus are either 12 or 13). Involves a rather dubious moral dilemma - but teenagers are selfish, so who's really surprised? I've re-read this thing so many times this week trying to finish it that I'm kind of sick of it, haha! I also, for the life of me, can't figure out a proper line to end on that I'm happy with, so apologies if the end scene falls a little flat. I usually don't have this problem, but I think I just want to be done with this story so I can move on to other things. Also - I write my kids in more of an anthro/human sense, though I try to minimize specifics of that wherever possible. But you may see a reference to a hand or fingers here or there, so just ignore that if you're not feeling it.
Feel free to leave comments! I'm currently contemplating writing a Teddy & Bon Bon hook up story for this world of mine as well, so that might come later. Now I think I'll focus on trying to finally finish The Midnight Man, though.
“Do you and I ever talk about anything other than soccer and Melody?” Patch sighed, sitting on the bench and unlacing her cleats. She had to physically restrain herself from throwing her shoe at her best friend.
“Of course we do!” Ace protested, standing in front of her with his arms crossed.
“Name three other things we discuss,” Patch challenged, switching to the other shoe.
“School, music,” Ace paused, his face scrunching up briefly as he tried to think of a third. Just as Patch was about to chime in with a laugh, his face smoothed back out and his eyes narrowed just slightly. “My nutsty parents and their negative affect on my life.” Patch frowned and shook her head before pulling the second shoe off. “We also talk about your real parents-”
“Birth parents,” Patch corrected quickly, though she knew that's what he'd meant.
“Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean! So that's six topics of conversation!” Ace countered her initial complaint.
“Parents should only count as one,” Patch replied, stuffing the cleats in her bag.
“Other people's parents, maybe, but not ours. Well I mean your adoptive parents are cool, nothing to really discuss there, but adoption is always an interesting topic by itself, and my parents are just terrible people worthy of their own discussion. So we stand at six, and not two.” He paused for a second as he sat down next to her, leaning down to untie his own shoes. “Plus sometimes we talk about movies and TV and other people, and other sports-”
“Okay! Fine, I take back what I said. It just feels like all we ever talk about is Melody,” Patch amended.
“Sorry,” Ace admitted with a grin.
“You should be, you're so annoying when you gush about her,” Patch teased, though in reality it was kind of cute. Ace had been harbouring a crush on Melody for two years, and while everyone knew it, she was pretty sure he never actually talked about her to anyone else the way he did when it was just the two of them. It was cute without getting creepy and obsessive.
“I don't gush,” he retorted, stashing his cleats in his bag.
“That's debatable,” she replied, “From the way you talk about her, she's a legit religious saint that we should all bow down before and worship.”
“I do not!” Ace said, pausing a second before asking, “I'm not actually that creepy, am I? You'd tell me, right?”
Patch laughed and shook her head. “No, I'm just teasing you. Besides, Melody is a pretty great person, totally worthy of having an all consuming crush on,” she added with just enough sarcasm for him to notice.
Ace huffed in annoyance. “You're a terrible best friend.”
“Well you're a terrible person,” Patch countered.
“I come from terrible parents – what's your excuse?” Ace countered back, fixing her with a grin. They both laughed.
“Why don't you just ask her out?” Patch asked – for what felt like the millionth time.
Ace shrugged. “Honestly, I don't want to be that guy who keeps harassing the girl he has a crush on. I have more self-respect than that.”
“You're just afraid she'll say no,” Patch replied.
“Yeah, that too,” Ace admitted. He'd rather keep things with Melody the way they were – a comfortable and sometimes competitive friendship, rather than risk her getting weird about him asking her out. He was pretty sure she'd say no, and then things would just be super awkward.
“That's good, because she would definitely say no.” Patch admitted, not because Melody had ever told her – but just because she knew that her female best friend did not think of her male best friend in that way. At least not yet – maybe one day?
“Thank you for completely dashing my hopes,” Ace replied with a frown.
Patch grinned, “Don't feel bad – I don't think Melody would really accept anyone's offer of dating right now, to be honest. Too much going on in life.”
“I don't need to date her right now,” Ace said, “Just set up to date her in the future? Oh man this is starting to sound creepy, right?” He laughed, and Patch joined him.
“Toeing the line into creepy,” Patch admitted, “Though still on the safe side. Best not to say any more, though,” she said with a wink. Ace just shook his head, and in that second Patch decided to take the plunge into potential dangerous territory. “You could always try dating someone else to make her jealous,” she offered, watching as Ace slowly turned his head to meet her eyes. It was almost comical.
“Does that actually work?” He asked skeptically.
Patch shrugged. “I don't know, it's what they always suggest in Seventeen,” she replied, before realizing her potential blunder. “Not that I read Seventeen Magazine! Melody does!”
“Oh really?” Ace replied, his grin a little on the evil side. Patch did not like the look.
“She does! And she rambles on about the articles to me,” she said defensively.
“Does she?” Ace asked, clearly not believing her.
“Okay sometimes when I'm at her place and bored I might leaf through one or two,” she admitted, horrified at the admission.
“One or two total, or per visit?” Ace teased, glad to be on the delivering end of the teasing this time.
“Can we get back to the important discussion here? You should date someone to get Melody's attention,” she suggested, hating herself for making the suggestion, but she was stuck with it now.
“So let's say this is a good idea – and I'm not saying it is yet! But if I were to do this, who should I date?” He asked, still skeptical about the idea. It did sound rather counter-productive. If he was dating someone else, wouldn't she just think he wasn't interested in her?
“Someone she doesn't like,” Patch said, and immediately knew who Ace had to date. “Holly Matheson.”
“I know Holly,” Ace replied, picturing her in his head. She was cute, and pretty popular. “Why would she want to date me, though?” It wasn't that he thought he was unattractive or anything, but Holly was in the eighth grade, and he was in the seventh grade, and it was kind of a social faux pas for a girl to date a younger guy. He was really popular himself, though, and did hang out with a lot of eighth and ninth graders, but still...
Good question, Patch thought to herself. Time to lie through her teeth and hope for the best! “I've heard she actually has a thing for you,” she said, and hoped that Holly wasn't actually dating anyone at the moment.
“Really?” Ace asked, not entirely sure he believed Patch.
“Well you are pretty popular, I mean how many people our age regularly eat lunch with a table full of grade nines?” She asked, surprised that it was such an easy sell.
“True, I guess I am pretty cool,” he agreed, “And we do hang out in the same social circle, so I guess it makes sense.”
“Definitely,” Patch said, “And when Melody sees you with Holly, it'll catch her eye.”
Ace grinned and suddenly Patch was willing to pray to any deity that would listen that she wasn't setting Ace up for complete and total failure.
Ace was still unsure about Patch's idea, but as she'd finally asked him – what did he have to lose by asking Holly out? Pride if she said no, maybe, but that was about it. Then again, what if she did say yes, and they started dating, and then what? He'd just dump her at the first sign of attention from Melody? Or was he supposed to play along for a while to really get her jealous? And what if he ended up liking Holly? How was he supposed to break up with her in a nice way?
That was all assuming she was going to say yes, of course.
The object of his potential fake-affection was at her locker, twirling the combination on her lock. He steeled his slight nerves and walked up beside her. “Hey Holly,” he greeted, fixing her with a smile.
She looked at him smiled back. “Hey Ace,” she replied, opening her locker and stashing two books before grabbing another. “How's it going?”
“Decent,” he replied, wondering briefly if Patch was lying about her. She wouldn't do that – would she? Maybe she just had faulty information? “I was just wondering if you had plans after school,” he asked, deciding to get straight to the point.
She looked back at him, slightly confused, but shook her head. “No, why you asking?” Based on her facial expression, she was either amused or hopeful – Ace wasn't sure which one was the correct option.
“Just wanted to know if you had any interest in going to see a movie?” He asked, fixing her with a confident half-smile, even though he was suddenly terrified that she was going to laugh at him for asking.
She was silent for a moment before breaking into a full smile. “Sure! I'd love to,” she slung her bag back over her shoulder and shut her locker door, twirling the combination lock again.
“Excellent,” Ace replied, relieved beyond belief that she'd accepted. “Meet you here after the bell?” He inquired, and she agreed before heading down the hall towards her next class. Ace headed in the opposite direction, barely sliding inside his math classroom as the period bell rang, slipping into his seat next to Patch.
“Well?” Patch asked, and Ace shot her a thingyy grin. “I knew you had it in you!” Patch commended him, amused that this was actually happening, but still a little horrified that it was happening due to her suggestion.
Ace stood on the front porch as Holly turned to face him one last time. The evening had gone perfectly – after classes they'd walked to the mall, and thankfully conversation had been super easy between them, because that was one thing Ace hadn't even thought about. He was also grateful that they had a similar taste in movies – she'd totally been down for seeing an action movie. They'd forgone dinner and had shared a jumbo-sized popcorn instead, which of course had resulted in brushing hands numerous times. All in all things had gone astoundingly well.
“I had a really good time tonight,” Holly said to him, and it almost sounded like she was surprised.
“Glad to hear that,” Ace replied, looking into her bright green eyes. “So we should do this again some time?” He asked with a grin, and she grinned back.
“Absolutely,” she said, moving just a little closer to him until their bodies were almost touching.
While he didn't pretend to know everything about girls, Ace did know enough that this was definitely flirtatious on her part, so he closed the gap and went for a kiss, because why not? As expected she moved in to meet him, and just like that he was having his first kiss. Though it wasn't with the girl he'd wanted it to be with, it was still pretty awesome, and he was sure he probably looked a little stupid at that moment.
Holly gave him one last smile before moving towards the door, but at the last second she looked back at him. “I usually leave to walk to school around seven thirty,” she offered, and it took him a second to realize why she was telling him.
“Are you hoping I'll come and walk you to school?” He asked, fixing her with a thingyy grin. She just shrugged and tried not to look too expectant. “I might come by, I might not,” he teased her, and she rolled her eyes and laughed before saying a final goodnight and slipping inside. He waved one final time before turning to leave, grinning to himself as he walked home, a little happier about the date than he hoped he'd be.
The next morning found Ace sitting on Holly's front porch, five minutes earlier than her suggested leaving time. He had contemplated knocking on the door, but thought that might be a little awkward. Especially since he hadn't even come walking down the street – he'd snuck to the front from the back yard. He knew Holly's bedroom was in the front of the house, and he couldn't help but wonder if she was sitting in front of the window, watching for him. He wanted to surprise her if possible.
Seventy thirty came and went, and he kept wondering if he should knock. She hadn't told him the wrong time, had she? Was she with friends now, laughing about the dorky seventh grader who'd actually asked her out? No. He was being paranoid. They'd had a good time, and she'd kissed him after all! Was she waiting for him to ring the doorbell? Maybe he should have walked down the road in plain view...
Just then he heard a yell from inside the house - a woman's voice. “Holly! You're going to be late if you don't leave now!”
Still home - sitting at her window and waiting for him? Maybe he should knock after all... Before he had a chance to decide the door opened and there she was, a frown on her face as she closed the door behind her. She had definitely been watching for him!
“About time,” he said, grinning when she jumped.
She stared at him for a moment, her frown turning to a smile. “How long have you been here?” She asked, and he was certain then that she knew that he knew that she'd been waiting for him.
“Fifteen minutes,” he replied, finally standing up.
“Why didn't you knock?” She asked, her voice raising slightly.
“Well, I figured you'd just come out at seven thirty,” he said, “Because I didn't promise I'd be here yesterday, so I wanted to surprise you,” he told her with a grin.
She just shook her head and narrowed her eyes but moved closer to him. “I didn't see you walk up,” she said, and he couldn't believe that she'd just admitted that she'd been waiting for him! Perfect.
“That's because I snuck in through the back yard,” he admitted, and she lightly punched him on the arm.
“You idiot! Let's go before we're late,” she admonished, but all with a rather happy smile on her face.
He followed beside her, reaching out to grab her hand, smiling when she squeezed his fingers. They spent the walk to school discussing the previous day's movie, and again Ace was surprised at how easy it was, talking to her. Not that he'd ever had trouble talking to girls, but he'd never really dated one before, and so many guys seemed so awkward around their girlfriends... It was good to know that he wasn't the type to lose his cool over a girl.
They made it to school with minutes to spare, and like clockwork perfection, Ace noticed that Melody happened to be standing outside the school doors with Patch when he and Holly showed up. He walked by them and nodded in greeting, pleased when he saw the shocked expression on Melody's face when she registered that he was holding hands with Holly Matheson. He really hoped Patch knew what she was talking about, because this could backfire terribly for him otherwise!
He walked Holly to her locker, where they quickly kissed goodbye before he took off for home room. He slid into his seat next to Patch, a grin on his face as he turned to look at her. “So?” He asked, dying to know what Melody had said.
Patch grinned back at him, relaying the whole scene much to Ace's pleasure. Things were going perfectly according to plan.
Patch had shown up to Melody's that morning after hearing from Ace that he and Holly were walking to school together, wanting to make sure that she was there to witness the ordeal. She really hoped that this would work – otherwise Ace would be dating Melody's enemy for nothing! She'd made Melody hang around outside as late as possible – it figured that the one morning she'd been hoping for Melody's usual tardiness to slow them down, her friend had actually seemed energized and ready to get to class.
So she'd been the one lagging, but it had been worth it in the end. The second Melody laid eyes on Ace and Holly, the diatribe had started.
“Oh my god, Patch, tell me that Ace is NOT holding hands with Holly Matheson?” Melody practically hissed into her friend's ear.
“D*mn,” Patch said, “When did that happen?” She watched as the two approached, grateful that Ace was focusing his attention on Holly, because she was sure that if he looked at her, she'd probably burst out laughing.
“But why Holly?! What could he possibly see in her?” Melody asked, forcing herself to smile a little less awkwardly when Ace and Holly walked by, her expression turning grim and angry again as soon as they were in the school. “And what is she doing dating him?!”
Patch shrugged. “Why are you so upset about this?” Patch asked, though of course she knew.
“You're joking, right?” Melody asked, shooting her friend a disgusted look.
“I know you don't like her, but she's not really that bad, is she?” Patch asked innocently, ready for a lecture.
“She's the enemy!” Melody stated, gripping Patch's arm. “He's my friend, he's not supposed to date my enemies!”
“She's your enemy, not his,” Patch said, trying her best not to laugh. Or scream, as Melody's fingernails pressed harder into her arm.
“Obviously,” Melody replied, voice heavy with sarcasm. “He can't date her, though,” she went on, “it's just not right.”
“Mel,” Patch pried her friend's fingers from her arm, “You almost sound jealous,” she said carefully, hoping Melody would not pick up on what was actually going on.
“Me, jealous? Ha!” Melody replied, shaking her head. “I just don't think he should date her.”
“You sound totally jealous. Are you sure you don't want to date Ace?” Patch asked her teasingly, because it's how she would normally respond.
“Me, date Ace? Are you kidding?!” Melody replied, though Patch noticed that her voice was a little more shrill than usual at the comment. “No I don't want to date Ace. We're friends, that's it.”
“Sure it is,” Patch replied, as they stopped at their lockers. “Totally sounds like it.”
“Shut up,” Melody said, dumping books in her locker. “I don't want to date Ace, that's absurd.”
“Is it?” Patch asked, amused at how well this was actually going. Melody really did sound jealous!
“Yes! He's just one of my closest friends, and he can do better than Holly Matheson,” she quickly stated, before slamming her locker closed. “I have to get to home room; see you at lunch.” With that Melody took off down the hall, leaving Patch to grin wickedly before heading for her own home room class, ready to tell Ace everything. The plan was progressing perfectly already.
“And you want to know who he's dating now?” Melody asked, stabbing the straw into her box of orange juice with forceful anger.
“Who?” Starlight asked, not having heard any of the news yet. She and Clover were the only two of the friends in their home room class, and neither of them shared classes with any of the others. So when she'd joined Melody for lunch she'd been surprised to find her friend angrily discussing Ace's new relationship.
“Holly Matheson.” Melody said, barely stopping herself before she crushed her juice box in her hand.
“Really? Guess that was bound to happen sooner or later,” Starlight replied, not too surprised. She knew that Ace hung out with some older kids, mostly due to his prowess at sports, and Holly Matheson was a very popular girl.
“What?” Melody spat at her friend, glaring at Starlight. “What do you mean, bound to happen?”
Starlight frowned and shrank back slightly. “Um, they're both really popular, and they hang out together? I didn't really mean her personally or anything, just someone in that group.” Why on earth was Melody so angry about this?
“You seem upset about this, Melody,” Brighteyes said from next to Starlight. “Jealous that Ace is paying attention to someone else now?”
“What?!” Melody asked, shocked to hear the word jealous spring up again. “I am absolutely not jealous! It's just that Holly Matheson is vile, and he deserves someone better!”
Brighteyes shot her a quizzical look. “I'm sorry, are we talking about the same person?” She asked, looking to her friends for help. “While I don't really know Holly, I wouldn't exactly describe Ace as being the type of person who deserves someone nice.”
“What?” Melody balked at the comment.
“He doesn't exactly have a track record as the nicest guy around,” Brighteyes replied, “He is rather self-absorbed, so of course he's going to date someone else self-absorbed and popular.”
“If you don't know Holly, you shouldn't call her self-absorbed, Brighteyes, that's not very nice,” Sweetheart admonished her friend in between sp00nfuls of chocolate pudding. While she was surprised about the news, she didn't really know Holly enough to form an opinion. All she knew was gleaned from Melody, who always complained about the other girl.
“Besides, she's fourteen, and he's not even thirteen for another month! So she's like, two years older than him! It's gross,” Melody stated, taking the straw out of her juice box and tying it in knots. She knew she probably sounded ridiculous, but this whole Holly Matheson thing felt like a betrayal.
“They're only a grade apart, it's not that bad,” Starlight replied, watching as Melody destroyed her straw. She'd never seen the other girl so irritated before, it was weird.
“It's terrible, and he should be ashamed for betraying me like this!” Melody replied, tossing the knotted straw on the table. Great, now she'd have to find a pair of scissors to cut the box open so she could drink her juice!
“He's not betraying you, Melody,” Sweetheart said, “Maybe he really truly likes Holly, and maybe you haven't really gotten to know her yet,” she offered.
“I agree with Sweetheart. You're letting your own frustration at Holly cloud your judgement, just because she beat you out for the part of Juliet in the school play,” Brighteyes retorted.
“I heard her talking with the guy who plays Benvolio; she doesn't even like Romeo and Juliet! She just wanted to star in another play,” Melody grumbled, “Instead of letting someone who truly loves the character play her.”
“Melody, it's wrong to hold grudges,” Sweetheart said, “The only person you end up hurting is yourself.”
“Did you say something, Sweetheart?” Melody asked icily, shooting her friend a glare.
“Don't talk to Sweetheart that way!” Brighteyes said, glaring back at Melody. “You're acting totally irrational right now, all because Ace is dating someone.”
“It's not because he's dating, it's who he's dating!” Melody said in a huff, angry that her friends didn't get it. “I absolutely do not want to date Ace. I don't, not at all. He can date whoever he wants – just not Holly Matheson.” She looked to her left at Patch, who was being suspiciously silent. “Are you done eating?” She asked.
“Yeah,” Patch replied, watching Melody curiously. While she'd been amused this morning, she was now just slightly worried about her best friend. Melody was totally overreacting, way beyond anything Patch had expected.
“Good,” Melody said, grabbing her friend's fork and stabbing it into her sandwich. She was too angry to eat right now.
“What has that poor sandwich done to you?” Patch asked, barely able to contain her laughter. This situation was just turning more ridiculous with every word Melody uttered.
“I can't eat right now,” Melody replied, jabbing the fork into the bread again. She turned around, staring over her shoulder at the front of the cafeteria, where Ace was sitting with Holly, who was staring at him with a joyous look that was enough to set Melody's whole body on fire with a seething rage. She turned back around and jabbed the fork into the sandwich again.
Patch reached over and stilled her hand, taking the fork back. “That's enough violence against sandwiches, Mel.”
“If it bothers you so much, Melody, maybe you should talk to Ace about it?” Sweetheart suggested, and Patch would have kissed her if she were closer.
“That's a great idea,” Patch agreed, and toned down her support for the suggestion when everyone shot her curious looks. “I mean, I'm sure he doesn't want you to be angry about it, right?”
“How do I even bring it up without looking like I'm crazy?” Melody asked.
“You mean how do you bring it up without looking like you're jealous, right?” Starlight teased, unable to help herself. It was weird, really – if anyone should be upset that Ace had a girlfriend, it should be her, because she was the one who still had a crush on him! But she'd given up on anything actually happening between them, and had committed to just crushing on him while maintaining a friendship.
“For the last time, I am not jealous! I have zero interest in dating Ace,” Melody ground out through clenched teeth. “I mean, why on earth would I want to date him?”
“Well, he is super hot,” Starlight said, which wouldn't surprise anyone.
“Amazingly gifted athlete,” Patch added, deciding to go with the flow.
“He's super charming too,” Starlight added, looking past her friends at Ace, noticing that he was watching them. When he noticed her watching him, he smiled at her in greeting, which she returned.
“Why don't we instead go over the reasons why she doesn't want to date him?” Brighteyes suggested.
“Thanks, Brighteyes,” Melody said.
“Starting with the fact that he's a completely self-absorbed jerk,” Brighteyes said.
“He's not that bad,” Starlight replied, unable to help but stick up for him.
“I feel bad for saying it, but Brighteyes does have a point,” Sweetheart added. “He wasn't exactly super nice to you originally, Starlight.”
“Ha, that's rich, coming from Teddy's best friend!” Patch joined in, not about to sit back and let anyone bash her best friend. That was her job, when she wanted it.
“Besides, he came and apologized to me after, without anyone having to tell him that he should. He might act without thinking at times, but who doesn't? Especially the boys?” Starlight added.
“And if you bring up Lancer, Brighteyes, you are officially kicked out of this conversation,” Patch added, grinning at her friend.
“I'm not saying he's a monster,” Brighteyes said, “He does have his good moments. But he is not worth getting this upset over, is all I'm trying to get at.”
“He's actually a much nicer person than you realize,” Starlight added, still ready in her defense. “Way nicer than Teddy.”
“Don't bring Teddy into this you guys, you know he doesn't have the nicest parents,” Sweetheart interjected.
“Neither does Ace,” Patch replied, though she of course knew that their lack of niceness was different than Teddy's.
“Right, I'm sure a boy as spoiled as Ace has terrible parents,” Brighteyes said, her voice laced with sarcasm.
“He does, Brighteyes. You just have no idea what you're talking about.” Patch shot back, actually just a little annoyed. Maybe it wasn't her place to talk about his parents, and she had no idea if he'd be pissed off if she explained too much.
“They might not be alcoholics like Teddy's parents, but they don't really care about him that much, you know,” Melody added. “That's part of the reason why he can be a bit of a jerk at times, because he just wants attention.”
Everyone was silent for a moment, as Melody looked around between them. “What? It's true! Did you know his parents have never actually come to a single one of his soccer games? Why do you think he was so angry when Starlight joined the team and stole his thunder in her first game? Because everyone congratulated her instead of him, and he relies on everyone else to congratulate him because his parents never do.”
“I had no idea,” Brighteyes said, looking from Melody to Patch, a contemplative look on her face. “How do you know that?”
“We were talking about our parents one night, me and Ace and Patch,” Melody explained, “And he told me all about it. Patch has always known, which is probably why she was his friend way before any of us were,” Melody looked at her friend and grinned. Patch just shrugged.
“So, what, he just randomly brought up his parents?” Brighteyes asked, still looking contemplatively between Melody and Patch, as though she were trying to figure something out.
“Well, no. Patch brought up the topic of parents, actually,” Melody said, “Which was nice because I had no idea his parents were like that. It really helped me to understand him more, and I felt like we got to be better friends after.”
Brighteyes suddenly looked at Patch and shook her head slowly. “This is all your doing, isn't it?” She asked, and Patch knew exactly what she meant, but she feigned ignorance. Brighteyes stood up with her tray. “Anyway, I have to get to the library, so I'll see you girls later.” With that she was gone, and Starlight fixed Patch with a curious gaze.
“What did Brighteyes mean?” Starlight asked.
“Who knows what Brighteyes ever means?” Patch replied, looking confused. “She talks in riddles half the time.”
“And in textbook nerd speak the other half,” Melody added, laughing then. “Listen guys, thanks for listening to me rant and rave about Ace and Holly. I know I was probably over the top, but I just can't explain how annoyed she makes me. She's probably nowhere near as terrible as I say she is, but I still don't like her, and I don't like the idea of Ace dating her.”
“That's okay, Melody! That's what friends are for,” Sweetheart said, reaching across the table to pat Melody's hand.
“Yeah, we're always here for commiseration,” Starlight added, “Especially over boys.”
“I really do think you should talk to Ace, though, and let him know how you feel,” Sweetheart added.
“Thanks, Sweetheart, but I think I should probably just learn to deal with it.”
No! thought Patch. She'd find a way to bring up Holly and Ace, in front of Ace. For Ace's sake, at least.
“Hello ladies,” Ace greeted as he leaned against the fence at the school's baseball diamond. They were playing the sport in gym this week, which was fine by Ace. He was rather good at baseball, especially when it came to pitching.
“Hey loser,” Patch greeted, standing next to him. Melody stood in front of them, her arms crossed but still smiling. “So we heard you got a girlfriend,” Patch dove in to the conversation, even though Melody had asked her not to.
“Lies,” Ace replied, shaking his head.
“So you didn't walk into school holding Holly Matheson's hand this morning?” Patch inquired, hoping that Melody would make her feelings known on the subject.
“Oh right, you saw that,” he said, glancing from Patch to Melody.
“So when did that happen?” Patch prompted, trying not to make it obvious that she was pushing Melody to say something.
“Yesterday,” Ace said, launching into a made up explanation about having had a crush on Holly. Eventually Melody caved.
“What, exactly, do you like about her?” She asked, trying (and failing) to not sound angry.
“Well,” Ace hesitated, unsure about what he was supposed to say. Was he supposed to say she was great? Or make up some story about her being cool but finding out that she was actually a total pregnant dog and he was thinking of breaking up with her? He looked briefly at Patch, who had nothing but an apologetic look on her face. Maybe they should have researched this approach a little more before trying it out. “She's really nice,” he started lamely, still unsure about what he was supposed to say.
“Really? She's always seemed like a stuck up princess to me,” Melody replied.
“Says our own stuck up princess,” Patch interjected with a grin.
“She is not,” Ace replied, glaring slightly at Patch.
“Who's not? Holly or Melody?” Patch asked, still grinning.
“Both!” Ace said, before turning back to Melody. “I've never thought you were a stuck up princess, or anything as bad.”
Melody smiled at the comment, meeting Ace's eyes. “Thanks,” she said, momentarily mollified.
“Any time,” he replied, really wanting to come clean about the whole thing, but somehow managing to stay quiet.
“Did you know Holly hates Romeo and Juliet, and only auditioned because she wanted to star in the play?” Patch asked, feeling like she needed to hammer home the fake relationship in order to draw more out of Melody.
“It's true, I heard it with my own ears!” Melody stated, frowning again. “She doesn't like Shakespeare at all! I mean, who doesn't like Shakespeare? That's crazy.”
Ace grinned and shrugged. “To be honest I don't really care for Shakespeare.”
Melody glared at him. “Yeah well you're going to have to learn to love Romeo and Juliet, since your lover girl is starring in it.” She frowned at the anger in her voice – wasn't she supposed to be getting over this?!
Ace frowned as well, glancing from Melody to Patch. Time to go for the direct approach. “Mel, are you angry with me?” He asked, hoping to diffuse her attitude.
“What? Why would I be angry with you?” She replied, cursing herself for still sounding angry. When was class going to start?! She needed a distraction from her current problem.
“I don't know, but you sound angry,” Ace answered, wanting to strangle Patch at the moment.
“Well I'm not. You are free to date anyone you want, it's your life,” Melody took a deep breath and made herself calm down. “I just don't like Holly.”
“Don't like her?” Patch jumped in, “More like, did you know that Holly is Mel's mortal enemy?” Patch winked at Ace, hoping this would be the opening they needed.
“I had no idea,” Ace replied, glaring at Patch before turning his attention back to Melody. “Um, sorry? If I knew you hated her, I never would have asked her out.”
Melody shook her head, feeling guilty now. “Don't say that, I don't control your life. You can date whoever you want to date. I have zero say in anything regarding your love life.”
You could have all the say in the world regarding my love life! Ace thought to himself, really wanting to strangle Patch right now. “No, really. I've known you way longer than Holly, and besides, I trust your judgement.” He really hoped he didn't sound as desperate for her approval as he thought he did...
“No really, Ace, I'm being a total jerk. I'm sorry, I should be happy for you,” Melody said with a tone of finality. Just then Coach showed up, calling the students in to get the game started. Melody quickly walked towards the rest of the group, momentarily leaving Ace and Patch behind.
Before he could say anything Patch spoke up. “I am so sorry – I thought this would have worked!”
Ace fixed her with a glare. “I hope we're on opposite teams so I can line drive a ball right into your head,” he said before turning to follow Melody. Patch sighed and resigned herself to having Ace hate her for the time being. He'd get over it, though. And who knew – maybe Melody just needed to see him kissing Holly? Maybe?
A few days had passed and Melody was still trying to come to terms with the relationship – which was really hard because she saw them everywhere together, and she wasn't sure if it was just her imagination or not, but Holly actually seemed to be acting like even more of a stuck up princess any time she was near her.
They were nearly done with rehearsals that day for the play, and of course Holly had asked Ace to come and watch even though they weren't supposed to have spectators for practice! But Holly had the drama club director wrapped around her little finger, so she never said a word. Once Holly finished her last scene she hopped off the stage and wandered over to where Ace was sitting, leaning down to kiss him. Melody couldn't stop herself from watching – annoyed when the kiss lasted more than two seconds. Ugh. Didn't Ace realize she was here watching?! Okay well maybe he didn't think she'd actually be watching them...
She was woken out of her thoughts by another voice she didn't particularly care for. “I must admit I never saw that one coming,” the intruder spoke, standing close to Melody so she didn't have to speak too loudly.
“You and me both, Violet,” Melody replied, trying her best to sound annoyed. Violet and Melody shared the same home room, and even though Melody had never gone out of her way to try and be friendly to Violet, the other girl seemed to talk to her all the time. It had been fine at first – until Violet started to disagree with Melody on virtually everything. Still, even with the annoying counter-commentary to every topic ever brought up, Violet still continued to force conversation.
But Violet wasn't having the annoyed retort. “It must steam you that he's moved on, doesn't it?” the other girl almost purred, sounding way too happy given what she was saying.
“Excuse me?” Melody replied, turning her head to stare at the other girl.
“It must steam you that Ace has moved on,” Violet said slowly, as though she were talking to someone stupid. It irritated Melody just as much as was intended.
“Good god, I am not his keeper! He can date whoever he wants to date, I don't know why everyone keeps thinking that I must be bothered,” Melody responded, glaring at Violet.
“Right, Melody, I believe you,” Violet said with a wink. “Then again I'd be upset too, Ace is super hot, I'd do anything to have him pay attention to me.”
Melody shook her head and looked back at the couple without meaning to – Holly was now sitting on his lap and they were laughing. Melody narrowed her eyes and just stared. It looked terrible, she knew – but she told herself it was because Violet was annoying her currently. She wasn't staring for any other reason.
“I can't believe he's dating Holly, though, I mean I honestly think he could do better than her,” Violet said, also staring at the couple.
“That much I'll agree with,” Melody stated, crossing her arms.
“Of course you'd say that,” Violet replied with a sarcastic laugh. “After all, you're the one he had the huge crush on for the past few years,” she almost sounded bitter.
Melody just narrowed her eyes and refused to look at Violet – she also refused to acknowledge what the other girl had said. So Ace had had a crush on her – or so people said. She'd actually never noticed, so in her opinion everyone was blowing his potential feelings out of proportion. Besides – he seemed pretty darn happy dating Holly, so why on earth would she care about whether or not he'd had a crush on her originally? It's not like she wanted him to have a crush on her now! They were just friends, that's all. Very good friends, but still – just friends.
“He'd probably dump Holly if you asked him to,” Violet said, voice still overlaid with a bitter sound.
“Well lucky for him I wouldn't,” Melody replied, though she did wonder if he actually would give up the relationship for her? Not that she'd ever try to find out.
“Don't you mean lucky for her? I find it kind of surprising, really. For someone who hates Holly so much, you're sure making it easy for her to date one of your closest friends,” Violet commented, and Melody realized finally that she did have a point, of course.
Realistically speaking, Ace was popular enough that he could probably date any girl he wanted to. Did he really want to date Holly that badly? What if she happened to flirt with him a little, ask him to dump Holly? He'd find someone else, right? Probably rather quickly? No, she thought, this is stupid and dangerous. You can't go around picking and choosing the people your friends date! It's none of your business, Mel.
But maybe she'd watch them, make sure Holly didn't get too unbearable.
“God I f*cking hate her so much,” Melody hissed as she sat down next to Patch, seriously beginning to contemplate doing something drastic.
“What did she do now?” Patch asked, hoping they were talking about Holly. She was still holding out hope that she hadn't sent Ace off into the popular girl sunset, especially since she was actually lying to him – she'd still never told him that Holly having a thing for him had been completely made up. Then again, Holly did seem to be all over Ace these days, so maybe she'd actually gotten lucky with her guess?
“Showing off,” Melody said, and Patch waited for her to elaborate. “Turns out Ace is buying her jewelry already.”
“He's doing what?!” Patch asked, totally shocked. Ace wasn't exactly talking to her much these days (their home room discussions were always noticeably short and clippy on his end, but she was working on him) but she figured he would have warned her about jewelry...
“Oh yeah, he bought her a necklace. I swear when she showed it to me at rehearsal earlier, she was trying to rub it in.” The smug look on Holly's face had not gone unnoticed by Melody. It was almost like she was saying look what Ace bought me; what did he ever buy you? Which was kind of stupid when she thought about it because why would Holly even know about Ace's supposed crush on her? Why would she even care?
Patch was silent for a moment, absorbing the news. On one hand – she thought it was a brilliant plan on his part. On the other hand – she was still peeved that he hadn't told her. She'd still use it, though. “They seem like they're getting a little too serious,” she replied, frowning for added effect.
“That's exactly what I thought!” Melody added, glad Patch was on her side. “You know, I was talking to Violet about this the other day,”
“I thought you hated Violet?” Patch asked, confused by the admission. Usually Melody tried to avoid discussions with the other girl.
“Well, hate is a strong word, and really it's more like she started talking to me about it. Anyway, point is – she thinks Ace would break up with Holly if I asked him to.” Melody almost felt guilty the second the words left her lips – but at the same time, Holly was starting to really grate her nerves about the relationship. Maybe she should take action?
“I think she may be on to something,” Patch agreed, because it was probably better than screaming Yes he would you f*cking idiot, why can't you see that his whole reason for dating her is to make you jealous?! “Are you thinking of saying something to him?”
“I don't know,” Melody said, completely at war with herself. “I mean, it's really none of my business. But at the same time, he could do better than Holly, and I'm sure if they broke up, he'd probably find someone better rather quickly. I mean really, though I'd never say it to his face because he's already full of himself, he probably could date any girl he wants. Holly can't be the only girl he wants.”
“I'm sure she's not the only girl on Ace's radar,” Patch replied, wondering if she should just be honest with Melody. This whole thing was getting a little tiring.
“That's what I'm thinking. So what do you think? Should I say something to him?” Melody looked at Patch, deciding that she'd follow the other girl's advice. After all – Patch wasn't just her best friend. She was Ace's best friend too. Surely she had to have better insight.
This was it! This was the moment! Patch tried not to sound too excited when she replied. “I think it would probably be a good idea. I mean, to be honest? I feel like I barely even see him anymore since they started dating.” Of course that was only true because Ace was pissed off with Patch, but Melody didn't need to know those details.
“You have a point, now that I think about it. She eats up all of his free time, I barely even see him at school without her! We're losing him, Patch.” Melody felt a little strengthened in her resolve at that realization.
“And you need to go and get him back for us,” Patch replied, trying to keep from laughing.
“Thanks,” Melody said, smiling and feeling a little more at peace with the decision. She wasn't just doing this for her. She was doing it for Patch, too!
“Why didn't you tell me you were going to buy her jewelry!” Patch asked, sliding into her seat next to Ace. He shot her an annoyed look.
“Wasn't aware I had to run every bit of my relationship by you first,” Ace replied, his tone cool and still unfriendly.
“Listen, you can stop being angry at me, okay? Mel has decided to have a chat with you about Holly,” Patch told him, hoping the news would brighten his disposition.
It seemed to do exactly the trick. “Really? I thought she was settled on just accepting it.”
“Though I hate to admit it, that necklace did the trick. Apparently Holly is flaunting everything in Mel's face. I also mentioned how we never really see you anymore, since you've started dating her,” Patch said, honestly just a little annoyed about that herself.
Ace shrugged, a grin pulling at his lips. “Well, that's your fault, because this whole thing seemed like it was backfiring. And to be honest I do actually kind of feel bad, for Holly.”
Patch frowned, “You what? Don't you remember, she's the enemy?” She said with a touch of humour.
“I know, but she's actually really not that bad, and I actually kind of like her,” Ace replied.
“Well, who do you like more? Holly, or Mel?” Patch hoped he wasn't about to surprise her with the wrong answer.
“Oh I still prefer Melody, but I just don't really know how I'm going to go about dumping Holly,” he said, frowning at the thought. He liked Holly a lot – and if it weren't for Melody, he'd happily keep dating her for as long as it lasted. He didn't know why the girls didn't get along, but that was girls for you. Sometimes they made sense, other times they were aliens.
“Well don't go getting ahead of yourself, she still has to talk to you about it first,” Patch answered, wishing she had some advice for Ace. After all, this whole thing was her fault. She felt bad she didn't have all the answers.
“True, maybe she might supply me with a reason,” Ace said hopefully. “I can't tell Holly the truth, after all.”
“Yeah no, definitely not advisable,” Patch agreed. They'd figure something out.
Ace finished stuffing his books into his locker, instead pulling out his soccer gear for practice. He didn't notice Melody until he shut his locker, and then a smile spread over his face. “Hey Mel,” he greeted, wondering if Patch was right. Was she going to say something? Was she going to say it here?
“Hey Ace,” Melody greeted back, feeling a little nervous but definitely settled in her plan. “Listen, I was just wondering if you were busy this weekend?” She asked, a flirty half-smile on her lips.
Ace made his features settle into confusion for a moment, “I have some plans, but I also have some free time. Why are you asking?”
Melody smiled wider and fixed her eyes on him, hoping he wouldn't see through her act. “Well, I feel like I've barely seen you since you started dating Holly, and I kind of feel bad about how I've reacted. I just wanted to see if maybe you wanted to hang out, you and me, this weekend?”
Ace slowly allowed a grin to creep over his lips. “Aw Mel, are you saying that you miss me?” He teased, because it's what he usually always did. He hoped the teasing wasn't going to make her change her mind. And besides – unless he was crazy, she was kind of flirting with him, wasn't she? Part of the plan, or real?
She laughed at the comment but kept smiling, shrugging a little. “I guess you could say that,” she replied, blushing just a little. “Besides, the twins have started playing soccer, and they keep hounding me to ask you if you'll help them train.” Maybe it was a little devious, using her brothers, but she knew Ace liked the kids – and he loved the fact that the twins looked up to him.
“Oh I see, it's not you that misses me, it's your brothers,” Ace responded teasingly again, shaking his head lightly.
“No!” Melody said, fake frowning. “I promise I miss you too,” she said, reaching out to lay a hand on his arm. Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Holly standing at the end of the corridor, staring at them. Not surprisingly, it only made Melody that much bolder. “I was thinking that maybe we could hike over to Paradise Lake for a while, check to see if that beaver dam is still there,” she said, referencing a particularly enjoyable day a few weeks ago when the two of them and Patch had found a new dam. Of course they'd gotten chased away by the beavers, which had been pretty hilarious now, looking back on it, but had been slightly scary at the time. Beavers were surprisingly speedy.
Ace was grinning at the idea (and also at Melody's hand still being on his arm!) and nodded. “That actually sounds like an excellent idea,” he said, excited at the prospect of actually spending some time alone with Melody. He knew she wanted to be alone to talk to him, but he really hoped that maybe, just maybe, she might actually be feeling something for him?
Melody grinned back, sliding her hands down his arm, hoping that Holly was watching. “Saturday or Sunday work better for you? I'm free all weekend, mom has both days off thankfully.”
“Let's aim for Saturday,” Ace said, because he'd clearly need Sunday to break up with Holly.
“Excellent! Just come by my place whenever,” she replied, quickly running her fingers down to squeeze his hand. “See you then!” She said with a wink, before turning and walking off in the opposite direction from where Holly was still standing with crossed arms and an angry expression. Was Holly going to say anything to Ace? Would that work to her benefit or detriment? Only time would tell.
Melody stood out on the front steps of the school, grinning at Patch as she relayed the information. Patch laughed and whistled when Melody got to the part about being watched by Holly.
“I hope she's not forbidding Ace from talking to you,” she said, although that would help Ace out in his quest to find a reason to dump her.
“I know, I did feel kind of bad. But it might help, you know? I guess we'll see.” The girls walked down the steps together, setting off in the direction of Patch's house. They were stopped though by a figure standing in their path. Holly Matheson.
“Hello Melody,” Holly said, arms crossed and looking just as annoyed as she had inside.
“Hey Holly,” Melody answered, happy and excited. “How's it going?”
Holly was silent for a moment, her eyes scrutinizing the girl in front of her. Finally she broke her silence. “Why were you talking to my boyfriend?” she asked accusingly.
Melody grinned and shrugged. “I wasn't aware that I wasn't allowed to speak to one of my best friends,” she answered, looking at Patch in confusion.
“Oh, so you two are best friends, are you?” Holly asked, clearly not buying it.
“Yeah. Actually after Patch, I'd say Ace probably is my closest friend,” Melody replied, not backing down an inch.
“And do you always flirt with your best friends, Melody?” Holly asked, trying her best to be intimidating. “Do you always touch their arms and hold their hands?”
“Oh she does that to me all the time,” Patch answered, reaching out to grab Melody's hand. “It's pretty nice, actually, she has really soft hands.” Patch and Melody laughed at the comment, while Holly looked annoyed.
“I'm sorry if I upset you, Holly,” Melody looked back at the other girl, “I promise I'll try my best not to flirt with your boyfriend,” she said with a fake expression of sympathy on her face and an overly honeyed tone to her voice.
“I can't promise anything though,” Patch interrupted, “I flirt with Ace all the time. He loves it.” The comment prompted laughter from the friends again, while Holly just shook her head in disgust before walking away.
“Is it just me or has this thing gotten bigger?” Ace asked, tentatively taking a step closer to the beaver dam. The pair had looked around to see if the beavers were there or not, but hadn't found any sign of them. They'd decided to go for a closer approach to be sure.
“It's definitely grown in size,” Melody agreed, following close behind him. She hadn't brought up the topic of Holly yet, still steeling herself for it. Besides, they were having fun. She hoped that would help.
“I wonder if they have baby beavers,” Ace asked, looking around. “Maybe that's why they were so aggressive last time.”
Melody nodded, “Good call, it would make sense. It would be cool to see them if they did, I've never even seen a picture of a baby beaver before.”
“Me neither,” Ace replied, moving closer. “Should we make some noise and try to draw them out?” He asked, stopping to look back at Melody.
She grinned and shrugged, “I don't know, we'd better make sure we have a clear path out of here if we do. Don't want to trip and become some beaver's lunch,” she laughed, and Ace joined in.
“No definitely don't want that to happen. What an embarrassing story to have to tell, could you imagine?” He grinned at the thought. “I mean, if they chew through trees, just imagine what they'd do to your leg!”
Melody squirmed just a little at the comment, “Yeah thanks for that mental picture!” She stood next to Ace, watching for any sign of movement. Just then a tiny little head popped up from the water. “Oh my god, beaver baby!” Melody squealed, grabbing Ace's arm in excitement.
Ace couldn't help but grin at the moment – this day was absolutely perfect so far! “Definitely a baby, look at how small that thing is?” Just then a second head popped up, followed by a third, and then a few seconds later – the mother. The larger beaver seemed to suddenly take notice of them, staring them down from the water while the unassuming babies climbed onto the bank.
“Oh wow, Patch is going to be pissed she's missing this,” Melody said, suddenly becoming conscious to the fact that she was still holding Ace's arm. Should she let it go? Did he notice it yet? Was it too much? Should she keep holding it until she brought up the whole Holly thing? Had he noticed?
Ace grinned when Melody brought up Patch, not really feeling too sorry for his best friend. Sure, things were going well now, but the prospect of Melody's jealousy turning into something resembling affection had not looked promising for a while. So she deserved to miss out on something cool, he thought. “Yeah, I can't wait to tell her about it!” He said, laughing.
“Ace,” Melody scolded, turning to look a him, letting go of his arm with the distraction of conversation to cover it up, “We shouldn't be that mean. Maybe we should just suggest coming out soon to check on the dam, then surprising her with them?”
Ace frowned and shook his head. “Lame, Melody! We should totally rub this in her face,” he said with a grin. “Do you think for a second she wouldn't do the same to either of us?”
“Good point,” Melody agreed, still watching the animals. While adult beavers weren't exactly the cutest things in the world, the babies were adorable! “I can't believe how cute those little ones are,” Melody said, watching them waddle around in the grass.
“I know, check those little tails out! Unfortunate for them they'll grow up to be ugly, unlike you and me,” he said with a wink, which made her laugh.
“Indeed, we'll be winning beauty pageants when we're seniors,” Melody joked, staring at Ace and watching him laugh. She hated to admit it, but Starlight was right – Ace was really hot. It was crazy how different someone could look in the span of two years. Not that she was interested, of course – no way. She was simply noticing that he was physically attractive. Totally normal.
Ace noticed Melody seemed to be staring at him for longer than usual, and he couldn't help but wonder what was going through her head. He was tempted to try and keep up the conversation about looks – he badly wanted to know what she really thought about him. Did she find him attractive? He knew most girls thought he was really good looking, but he didn't really care about their opinions. Melody's mattered more. “So, in all honesty, who do you think is the most attractive guy at school?” He knew it was a potentially dangerous topic – but he could sway the conversation in his direction if she wouldn't...
Melody was a little caught off guard by the question – turning her head to look at Ace in surprise for a few seconds before answering. “Well, that's a good question, I've never really thought about it before.” Not that she didn't notice cute guys – because she did, but she was never really all that interested in ranking them.
“Oh all right then, who's the most attractive girl at school?” he joked, which made her laugh.
“Me obviously,” she said jokingly. Guys - who did she think was attractive? “I don't know, I guess Bear's pretty cute,” she finally answered, naming one of the most popular ninth graders at school. Plus she knew that Ace played soccer with him.
“Really?” He asked, “You wouldn't think he's attractive after some of the stories I could tell you,” he said teasingly, watching as she shook her head.
“I do not want to know any disgusting boy stories about your team mates! Don't even think about it!” Melody quickly said, grinning when Ace laughed.
“No worries, your ears are safe. It would never work for you two though, he has terrible taste in music,” Ace told her, grinning again when she smiled. “And he's one of the least charming guys ever.”
“Aw Ace, how would you even know that? Do all the boys sweet talk you?” Melody teased back, laughing when Ace frowned.
“No, although they probably should,” he replied with a laugh, which made her laugh even harder. “You could do much better than Bear,” he said, and he meant it.
“Oh I have no interest in dating him, he's just physically attractive,” she replied, amused at the conversation. She wondered if he was secretly fishing for a compliment? It would be something he'd do. She looked at him, grinning at his expression. “You know, in all honesty, you're actually pretty cute too.” Anything to butter him up for the coming conversation!
“Obviously,” he replied, laughing when she shook her head. “Nice of you to acknowledge my beauty.”
“So modest too,” she said with another laugh, “You're a regular Disney princess!” They both burst into loud laughter at her comment, but a moment later Melody glanced towards the lake and noticed that mother beaver was climbing onto the shore, still staring them down! “Ace, beaver!” Melody shouted, turning to point.
Ace turned his head to check, startled when he saw the beaver start to move towards them. “Let's go!” He yelled, grabbing Melody's hand and pulling her along behind him. They ran about a hundred feet away, far enough for the beaver to consider the threat gone, before stopping and looking back. They managed to just see it slipping back into the water.
Taking a second to get his breathing under control, Ace looked back at Melody and grinned. “We survive to fight another day!”
She laughed at the comment, dramatically falling against him. “My hero!” They both laughed again, and suddenly, leaning against him, she felt that now was the right moment to bring up the real reason for their trek out here. He was still holding one of her hands, and she squeezed his fingers lightly before letting go. “Ace, I have to be honest with you,” she started pulling away from him and looking back over at the lake.
He forced himself not to hold on to her for longer – though he badly wanted to. He couldn't help it – having Melody in his arms just felt right. Instead he stood still and watched her. “What is it?” Was this it? Was she going to ask him to break up with Holly?
“I didn't just ask you to hang out because I miss you,” she admitted, biting the inside of her cheek and struggling to find the wording that sounded right. This had all felt so much better when she'd been talking to Patch. “I know I said I'd try to be supportive of the whole Holly thing, but truth is, I'm having a hard time with it.” She paused, feeling super guilty at the moment. “I know it's none of my business, but you have become one of my best friends lately, and I feel weird seeing you with her. I want to like any girlfriend you have, and I don't think I'll ever like her.”
Ace tried not to grin – she did care enough to not want him dating Holly! It was half working. “Don't feel bad, Mel. It makes sense, really. I mean if you or Patch started dating some guy I didn't like, I'd have a hard time with it too,” he said, and it was true. Of course he didn't want to imagine Melody dating anyone that wasn't him, but if Patch started dating a guy he hated, he wouldn't be happy.
Melody smiled, grateful that he wasn't mad. “I feel so bad about this, but you know, Patch and I were talking the other day, and we are both kind of bothered about not seeing you that much anymore.”
“And Patch elected you to talk to me?” He said, grinning, which in turn made her grin a little in response.
“No! Well not really, maybe. I don't know, we agreed it would probably be better if it came from me,” she rambled, just a little embarrassed at the moment.
Ace was silent for a moment, watching her. “I honestly never would have dated her if I'd known you hated her,” he said because he thought it was the easiest route to go.
She just shook her head and smiled. “I know, and I appreciate you feeling that way.”
“I value my friends a lot,” he replied, and that was true – he did probably value his close friends more than anyone thought he did. Especially now that he hung out with the older popular crowd at school. It was easy to feel like everyone around you wasn't even really your friend, just your acquaintance. “You and Patch are more important to me than any girl I've just met.”
He sounded so sincere it made Melody smile, feeling a little better about her decision. “So, what are you saying?” She asked, turning to look at him.
Ace smiled at her, wanting badly to hug her but not wanting to ruin the moment of truth. “I'll break up with Holly,” he answered, and he felt both relieved and a little sad about it.
“Really?” Melody asked, unable to help the smile that spread across her face.
“Really,” Ace replied, glad now he'd left himself Sunday for it. Monday morning was not going to be pretty!
Melody stepped forward and reached out, hugging Ace. It was a sweet thing to do – value friendship over a new relationship, and she couldn't believe he was willing to do it! Unless, of course, like everyone continually told her... “Can I ask you another question?” She blurted out quickly, pulling away and looking up at him.
“Sure,” he said, wondering what she was going to ask.
“Did you really used to have a huge crush on me?” She asked, watching his face. “I mean, I know you had a bit of a crush on me, but everyone keeps acting like you were obsessed with me, and I just never noticed.”
Ace was tempted to tell her the truth, but then he decided against it. Now that he heard her saying it out loud, it did sound kind of bad. He did have a huge crush on her, but he was definitely not obsessed (despite whatever Patch would say). “Definitely had a crush on you, though I wouldn't go as far as to say I was ever obsessed,” he said with a laugh.
Melody grinned and felt better after hearing it. “And do you still have a crush on me?” She asked, looking at him playfully, a slight teasing tone to her voice.
Ace shrugged, looking totally nonchalant about the subject. “Well, I wouldn't object if someone told me I had to take you on a date,” he said, winking at her, “But I'd probably make you pay the bill.”
They both laughed at the comment and she hugged him again, glad at how easy it was to talk to him about more serious things. She never would have expected it of him when they were younger, but it felt right now. “Thanks for being so understanding, Ace,” she said, meaning every word of it.
“Thanks for being honest with me,” he replied, hugging her for a second longer before letting her go. Patience was going to pay off, he was sure of it now.
“Speaking of honesty, so I wasn't lying earlier when I said that my brothers begged me to ask if you'd help them practice their ball skills,” she said, smiling at him.
Ace just shook his head and folded his arms across his chest. “Here I thought we were bonding, and you're really just looking for a babysitter.”
Melody couldn't help but laugh at his answer, “No I swear I'm not! Well maybe I am somewhat, but those kids worship you,” that wasn't really a lie – her brothers had become rather attached to Ace over the past year, ever since they'd developed an interest in soccer and she'd started bringing them to Ace's games.
“True, they do look up to me,” Ace admitted, a thoughtful look on his face.
“If you're not busy for the next little while, mom should be getting home with them in a bit, and in exchange for running them around the yard she'd probably invite you to stay for dinner,” Melody offered, grinning at Ace's expression.
“Any idea what's for dinner?” He asked, because while he was going to pretend like it was a hassle, he'd do anything to hang out at Melody's house for the evening. The closer he got with her family, the better the potential for dating!
“Don't quote me on this, but I did see mom take a beef roast out of the freezer this morning,” she replied, convinced Ace would come even if dinner wasn't on offer.
“I'm there,” he answered with a grin. “I do expect dessert though,” he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.
Melody laughed and winked at him, “You'll get your dessert if you tire the twins out.”
“Deal.”
It was Sunday afternoon, and Ace was currently hanging out with Holly, trying in vain to figure out how on earth he was going to bring up the topic of needing to break up with her. He'd tried thinking of a reason all last night, and all this morning, but nothing sounded good. Nothing except the truth – but he couldn't tell her that. He didn't want to hurt her feelings any further.
“You were hanging out with Melody yesterday, weren't you?” Holly asked him suddenly, and Ace wondered if this conversation would make the other one easier. He still felt immensely guilty about this whole thing, badly wanting to come clean to Holly about it. He knew it was a terrible idea, though, because it wouldn't help anyone.
“Yeah, we went for a walk, then I helped her little brothers practice their shooting,” he admitted, not lying about anything. After all, as far as Holly knew, Melody was his friend.
Holly's face scrunched up a little as she stared at him. “I saw her flirting with you on Friday,” she said, not sounding happy. “She had her hands all over you.”
Was this going to be his opening? “Well, of course she would be, what girl doesn't flirt with me?” He said jokingly, hoping to prompt her into an angry response.
He was met with a stony glare as Holly crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh really? So it's perfectly okay for you to flirt with other girls?”
Ace frowned and shook his head. “I didn't say that.”
“How would you feel if you saw me flirting with some other guy?” She asked him, and he wondered what the best approach to this question would be? Indifference?
He shrugged. “I don't know.” Hopefully evading the question would work.
“What do you mean, you don't know?” Holly replied, sounding just a little annoyed. “I'd hope you'd feel jealous!”
Ace shrugged again. “I'm not really the jealous type, to be honest.”
“So let me get this straight – if you saw me flirting with some other guy, you wouldn't feel the least bit jealous? You wouldn't be upset?”
“I don't know, I figure if you were flirting with some guy he's probably just a friend of yours. I think jealousy's a waste of time, really.” He watched as the look on her face got progressively more annoyed, and suddenly he didn't feel as bad as he had earlier. He wasn't lying after all – he was not a jealous person. If Holly was jealous, then it really was better off if they broke up.
“Jealousy is a sign of affection, Ace! It means you care about the other person,” she ground out through clenched teeth, her tone angry.
He shook his head in disagreement. “I think jealousy's pretty ugly, to be honest. I'm not interested in dating a jealous girl.”
At that comment she paused and their eyes met – his were calm, hers were angry. Finally she broke the silence. “So what, are we breaking up over this?” Ace didn't bother saying anything, he just nodded. “Fine. Not sure why I ever dated you in the first place. I can do better.”
Ace knew he should probably be offended by the comment, but he couldn't help but grin. “Then go do better,” he said challengingly, “Go find yourself a jealous Romeo.” He watched as Holly shook her head in disgust before sweeping out of the room, and once she was gone he felt like a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He was free to go back to slowly pursuing Melody now, which after yesterday, looked very promising.
“Oh wow, they really do have babies! This is awesome,” Patch exclaimed, watching the little beavers swim around before their parents. “They're so cute.”
“I know, aren't they? I'm so glad we found them,” Melody replied, standing next to her best friend. It was exactly a week since she'd spoken to Ace about Holly, and things had gone back to being pretty near perfect. She and Patch had their favourite guy back, and Holly was actually completely ignoring her now – which was fine by Melody. Ace seemed rather happy, as though the break up didn't even really bother him. Maybe that was a little weird, but Melody didn't bother focusing on that. Since then Ace had been over at her house twice, once to help the twins train, and once to help her read through her lines for drama (but he'd still ended the night in the backyard with the boys). It was fun having him around, but her mother's quiet smiles and raised eyebrows were starting to get on her nerves just a little.
“Were there only three of them when you guys were here last week?” Patch asked, and Melody confirmed the answer.
“What are you thinking? We should name them after us?” Ace asked, a grin on his face as he looked at the girls.
“Definitely! I mean look at them – they're just like us. The one climbing out onto the grass is me, and the two idiots who keep swimming in circles are the two of you,” Patch said with a laugh, barely dodging Melody's hand as the other girl made to punch her arm.
“You better watch out or baby Patch might not make it through the spring,” Ace stated.
“Are you threatening my baby beaver?” Patch asked, staring Ace down.
“Maybe I am,” Ace replied with a grin, trying not to laugh.
“Baby Ace better not accept any food from strangers, if he knows what's good for him,” Patch retorted, her grin matching Ace's.
“Actually I think baby Melody is the one on the grass, trying to escape you two idiots,” Melody said, shaking her head in amusement at her friends. Just then the other two baby beavers climbed up out of the water, collapsing on the grass next to the third. All three little beavers huddled in a pile, and Melody couldn't help but remark on how adorable they were.
Patch stood beside her to stare at the water, and Ace stood behind the girls and put his arms around their shoulders. They stood for a moment, staring at the little beavers they'd decided to name after themselves. It was a cute moment, but it was soon broken by Ace.
“So, if these beavers are representations of us, does this mean we should all go and sleep together?” He couldn't help but make the comment, laughing when the girls both yelled at him.
“In your dreams, loser,” Patch replied, though she still laughed at him before glancing at Melody out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't help but notice that the other girl was blushing. Patch looked back at the beavers, feeling rather happy. Ace and Melody might not be dating yet, but she was confident they would be soon – you'd have to be blind to have not noticed the way they had both started openly flirting with each other this week. So her plan had worked in the end, even if it had looked close to failure numerous times in between.
