Love, Hate and Hockey Skates

Nine

Ace was quiet for a long time, and he refused to meet my eye.

"Answer me; do you remember who I am, and that we've met before?"

"What if I said yes?" he answered quietly.

The blood ran cold in my veins, and I hated that I was right.

He knew this whole time. Or maybe he didn't, when did he realize?

"How long have you known, and you just didn't say anything?" I asked.

"The moment I first saw you."

I sucked in a sharp gasp as it felt like I was sucker-punched in the stomach.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

He scoffed. "I don't need a reminder of the way I treated you; I didn't think you'd give me the time of day. I thought...this was maybe my second chance."

"Second chance for what, to bully me even worse this time? What were you planning now, to wait until the moment was right and humiliate me with everything you learned about me? Was that the only reason you wanted to be friends?" I went off on him, though I hadn't intended to. I wanted the truth, and I got it, but I wasn't sure why I was so angry.

"Who, easy, Isla. Give me a chance to explain."

"I feel like you're going to lie through your teeth, you were really good at that," the words flew out of my mouth again.

He groaned. "Jesus, it was over 3 years ago. Yeah, I was a real asshole to you and I'm really sorry, there is no excuse for what I did other than I was just an idiot. Are you ever going to let it go?"

"Why me? What did I ever do back then to have deserved that from you?"

He sighed and looked defeated. "Nothing, there was nothing you did. I was just bad at expressing my feelings, so I thought if I made myself hate you instead, they would go away."

"What the hell are you talking about? You honestly expect me to believe that you liked me from your actions? I was miserable at school every day because of you, and I already had a miserable life outside of it."

"Back to what I was saying, why didn't you tell – "

I exploded. "I told tons of people, but no one believed me! I was labelled the girl who cried wolf because my Dad was an excellent actor and I was too afraid of getting beat for tattling on him. I was a kid, Ace." I screamed all of this inside a very public Mcdonald's.

I had never felt more embarrassed in my life. I had to get out of there.

"I need to go," I said and stormed out.

It felt like everyone was staring at me as I walked out, and I hit the road running as soon as I was out the door. I didn't look back to see if Ace was following me until his car pulled up next to me on the road.

"Please, get in, Isla. We don't have to talk, but at least let me drive you back home."

"I'd rather you didn't know where I lived."

He scoffed. "You're being ridiculous. It was years ago; can't we just move on? Haven't I been a great friend to you these past months?"

"For all I know that's just to humiliate me later on."

He slammed on the brakes and got out of the car. I tried to run again but he was faster and stood in front of me, and grabbed my arms so I wouldn't go anywhere.

"I liked you, Isla, a lot. But just like you, I had an asshole Dad who pushed his own broken dreams and ideas onto me my entire life. If I had it my way, you never would have gone through any of that, I would've been your protector."

I laughed. "Yeah, but you weren't. Now, you expect me to just forget everything because you've pretended to be my friend these past few months?"

"Pretended? Do you honestly think I have just been pretending to be your friend, wasting all my time hanging out with you, teaching you how to skate and to the arcade?"

He kept stumping me and it wasn't fair. I was supposed to be angry right now, but my anger was depleting.

"Just...drive me home." I turned and walked toward his car.

He fumed on the sidewalk in disbelief for a few minutes before he laughed to himself and got in. "You're really something else."

~*~

It was quiet the entire ride to my loft apartment downtown but thankfully it wasn't a long ride. Ace pulled up outside the garage and gave me a funny look.

"Where do you live? There's no apartment building here."

I pointed to the warehouse garage. "That's where I live, I converted it into a small loft."

"What, why?"

"Because it was cheaper to rent that place monthly than it was to rent a one-bedroom apartment at the age of 18. It has running water and electricity, what more do I need?" I said and grabbed my bag. "Thanks for the ride home, I'll see you around, I guess."

I got out and slammed the door, but jumped when it seemed to echo and turned to see Ace had gotten out as well.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm checking this place out, see if it's as 'homely' as you claim it to be."

I shook my head. "There's absolutely no need for that."

"There's no arguing, let's go." He grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the door.

He wasn't going to leave until he got a look at the place himself, it was easier to let him in to snoop around than kick him out after.

"Geez, Isla. Is this really where you live?" he asked and looked up at the metal-rusted ceiling and cracked concrete ground.

"It's not that bad," I shrugged.

He looked at me incredulously. "How long have you been living like this?"

"Since I was 18."

"I can't let you stay here anymore," he muttered.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Ace ignored me and welcomed himself into the room. He started going through drawers in the kitchen and living room. He grabbed a cellphone charger from the table and a bag from under the sink.

"Here, put clothes in there," he said and handed me the bag.

"I'm not going anywhere, what is wrong with you?" I cried, but again he ignored me and wandered into the bathroom.

He came back out with my toothbrush and toiletry bag, it was a wonder he knew to even grab those things, and threw them in the bag.

"Pack a bag, Isla, now."

I threw the bag on the ground. "Like hell, I'm doing anything."

"Fine, I can buy you clothes then."

He grabbed the bag and hauled me over his shoulder with one hand.

"Hey, are you kidding me? Put me down! This is kidnapping!"

"Call it whatever you want, sweetheart. No way in hell I'm letting you stay in a condemned building."

I scoffed. "Then where the hell do you expect me to stay?"

"My place, where else?"