She heard the voice she had been anticipating to hear since she arrived here. Turning to her right, she saw Ace sitting there with his back leaned while his hands were folded looking at her.
"Not particularly but my friends are on the team, therefore, it makes the match interesting. How about you?" she asked curious to know about him.
"Ace is a pro when it comes to soccer," Cole interrupted them, "He goes to practice only if he has the mood for it. The coach has a hard time dealing with him," he lowered his voice for only Lilly to hear and she grinned.
"We should have a match then! I mean you and my friends," she decided.
"It would be interesting," he replied with a sly smile. He then leaned to her side and whispered next to her ear, "If I did play though, whom would you support?" she could feel his hot breath hit her cold ear.
"M-my friends?"
"Wrong," he brushed his lips against her ear, setting her cheeks on fire, "The team I play for," he pulled back, sitting as though nothing had happened while she sat there frozen. Her heart had skipped several beats and she wasn’t sure what just happened.
In the end, as they predicted, their school won the match. Cole had wanted to meet their friends and Ace tagged along, his hands now in his pocket. Lilly was suddenly embarrassed and she kept silent along with Ace who looked unaffected with what he had just done. When Rick, Sam, and Marc made their way to the parking lot, both the party tried getting acquainted with each other. Unlike Ace’s usual self, he dropped his brooding self and socialized as a civil person would do. Last two weeks, Lilly and Gwen had spent most of their time with Cole and Ace. Sam and Rick had been busy with their own life and God knew if Marc was still hung over the wolf episodes he had been watching. Everyone decided to go eat something before going home, therefore, Sam was riding with Rick and Gwen was riding with Cole, that left two empty bikes. One being Marc’s and another being’s Ace.
Not able to decide she stood in a corner, wondering what to do. Of course, it was no rocket science question but it was difficult. When she looked at Ace, she found him staring at her but at the same time Marc called,
"Lilly. What are you waiting for? Hop on," nodding she walked to his bike and sat down. Reaching the venue, she got down to be greeted by a gust of cold wind. Rubbing her arms she began walking with them towards the store.
"Feeling cold?" Marc asked concerned and in no time a jacket was presented next to her. It was Ace who was walking next to her who had offered his own jacket.
"Here," he said.
"I am fine," Lilly shook her head but seeing him raise his eyebrow at her and the cold wind still blowing, she decided to take it from him. The jacket was warm as she wore it and he helped her zip the front of his jacket.
"Thanks," she muttered. Ace didn’t wait up but instead walked in following the others.
Lilly could already feel the high radiated gaze coming from her friend who was walking along with her. Turning around she saw Marc turn away his face to look ahead with a grin etched on his face. Having worn his jacket, she could smell the cologne on it which she found to be sweet and warm. Lost in her own world, she didn’t touch her food. When the time came to leave, they wished each other goodnight and Lilly did the same, saving Ace to be the last person. Sadly though, the response he had for her had gone back to the blank look which she couldn’t decipher. As Marc dropped her back home, he took off his helmet, fluffing his hair with his hand.
"So Cole seems like a nice person," he began and Lilly just knew where he was trying to take the conversation to.
"He is. He makes Gwen happy," she agreed with a smile.
"And Ace seems a little cold but alright," he continued carefully while gauging her expression.
"Yeah..."
"So?"
"So what?" she prompted, trying to be obvious about it.
"My werewolf senses say there’s something going on between you two. Like this weird energy," he moved his hands around him to emphasize it.
"You must be imagining things."
"Offering his jacket out of nowhere didn’t seem like imagination. And you’re still wearing it," he pointed out with a nod which she had forgotten to return it back.
"He was just being nice, Marc. Nothing else," he laughed and shook his head as he wore his helmet.
"Lilly, it was really cold. Frankly, I wouldn’t have given you my jacket because it was really cold. The guy wasn’t wearing a thin shirt," he stated.
"You were stalking him with your eyes!" Just then her phone rang, "Mom is calling. I need to go. See you at school tomorrow," she hugged and patted his back, to go inside her house.
Changing her clothes, she went down to the kitchen to get a glass of water for herself. The heat of the summer was really catching up, she thought to herself while fanning her hand in front of her face. Filling the glass water she found bubbles settling in the corner of the glass and she leaned forward to have a closer look at it.
"What are you looking at?" her mother startled her out of nowhere.
"Oh, nothing in particular. Just looking at the world inside the glass," she then added, "Ignore it," when her mother gave her a questioning look.
When her mother went to get a glass of water for herself, she looked slightly restless like something was bothering her, "Lilly," her mother began and she wondered what was up, "If you ever need to talk about something, about anything I am here to listen, okay?"
"Okay," Lilly nodded.
"I know you are at that age, and humans and demons aren’t any different. How do I put it, it’s an age where children change, you know? I mean it’s how the world works."
"Mom, you’re talking strangely again. What happened?"
"Do you like someone, honey?" she asked throwing her off guard.
"What? No!"
"I see. I thought you still liked Gavin."
"G-Gavin?"
"Yes, and don’t you try to deny it, young lady. I could see it on your face when he was around but you know how your father is...He doesn’t approve of demon males for you," she explained with a frown.
"Why was this topic brought up...?" Lilly asked queasily. Her mother sent a tender smile her way.
"I didn’t know when I had to bring up boys with you and never found the right time but I guess there’s no perfect moment. We just have to make one," she told patting my head, "If there’s any problem with the boys, you could always ask me."
"Thanks, mom," Lilly kissed her mother’s cheek and went back to her room. That was crazy, thought Lilly to herself.
When her mother had asked if she liked someone, she didn’t know why she thought of Ace that time. Her feelings for him had begun to change and she still wasn’t sure. The looks Gwen and Marc had sent her was not helpful either as they were saying goodbye for the night. She had spent a good amount of quality time with him and he was nice to her. Was it his aloof character that attracted her? Maybe it was the bad boy vibes which he carried around himself, thought Lilly.
Looking at the chair where she had hung Ace’s jacket, a small smile appeared on her face.