Sluts and Bad Boys

12: Changing Shades of Lipstick

To the ones who try and try again and then pick you up when you stop trying.

author_shagun

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"Oh my God, was it amazing? I mean it probably was because you came with only his fingers, girl!"

"Lottie, I think the entire hall can hear you right now," I smiled, shaking my head.

"Like I care," she said in an even louder tone. "I actually should shout it out to the entire school. Like girls and dìckheads, my best friend and Ace Trainer are a thing now."

I shrugged at her statement, applying a second coat of lipstick. "I wouldn't say that we're official or anything."

"Yeah, but then again this is Ace we're talking about. There's no such thing as official or serious with him."

My mind wandered back to that night and I recalled how genuine his smile had been. Was that all a show just to get in my pants again?

My stomach churned at the thought and I couldn't hide the bitterness in my tone.

"Yeah, this is Ace Trainer indeed."

I put the lipstick back into my purse and when I looked up again, Lottie was staring at me with a slight frown on her face.

"What?"

"Girl, you aren't falling for him, are you?" She asked me slowly, her voice serious and so unlike her. I blinked at her.

"What? Are you kidding me? How would you even think that?"

She didn't look convinced.

"Look, if Ace has slept around with other girls and left a string of broken hearts, then so have I. I'm not delusional enough to think that I might have a chance with him."

Maybe...

"And," I continued, determined to shut off my own thoughts. "I don't even want to. I don't want a happily ever after and certainly not with a guy like him. Or with any other guy for that matter. That's not me."

I repeated that in my head like a mantra I had to memorize.

Lottie's eyes finally returned to their normal playful self and she chuckled. "Yeah, you're right. Knowing you, we'll both end up together as lesbians."

"That is a possibility but in no condition, are we including Tasha in a threesome."

She laughed. "Deal."

----

I cursed at myself multiple times that day. Every male voice that I heard I would think that it was Ace. Every time I caught sight of a tall guy with dark hair, my heart would start to beat faster.

I couldn't stop myself from looking over my shoulder, hoping I'd catch a glimpse of him. Why was I acting so desperate?

I vowed never to be like those girls and yet here I was, wishing he'd just show up and approach me. It was like that for me the entire day but he never showed up.

The girls wanted to go to Starbucks after class and I tagged along, uninterested. I ended up getting an old favorite of mine, Peppermint Mocha Frappe but my mind was still preoccupied.

I knew that Ace wasn't a relationship kinda guy and neither was I but I wanted to be around him. I wanted him to touch me but more than anything, I wanted his genuine smiles. I wanted to see and explore all of the sides that he kept hidden from people. I wanted his trust.

He had already shown me one side of his but he was still hiding a lot of other things. I was hiding a lot of things too. Did he think about those? Did he ever want to know or did I make him even slightly curious?

I hoped that I did.

I bade goodbye to the girls as we went our separate ways and I drove back home, sighing. My mom still wasn't talking to me and I wasn't sure how to fix it. At least, Mary was a little comfort in her own adorable way. I smiled at that.

It was the very next day that I caught sight of Ace when I was heading to French class. He was standing too close to a girl who was leaning against the lockers and I tensed. Ace was looking at her the way he'd look at me with the same crooked smile that he'd given me multiple times.

Anger bubbled inside me and I walked away when I saw him lean in even closer for a kiss. The very same lips that had touched mine. I rushed into the bathroom and washed my face, scrubbing my lips with a tissue.

This was wrong. It had never felt like this, I had never reacted like this but it felt so wrong to see him kiss another girl. And to think that he's kissed hundreds of others who'd come before me...

I shuddered.

What was happening to me?

I stared at myself in the mirror. Two confused brown eyes looked back at me, searching for answers. My lipstick was gone but my lips, the lips he had kissed, were still intact.

My eyes began to sting just as the bathroom door opened and a group of girls walked in. Their eyes fell on me but luckily I was looking down and busy, rinsing my hands. Their chatter came to a stop which made me wonder if they were talking about me.

Acting like I couldn't care less, I started to apply lipstick, a much darker shade than what I usually wear. It felt like I was trying to cover up my lips.

A few minutes later, I was making my way to class and when I entered the classroom, I noticed someone that I hadn't noticed before.

It was that girl that I had seen Ace kissing before I went into the bathroom. I hadn't looked at her properly before but now I saw that she had long blonde hair, much like mine with a set of blue eyes. Her skin was much tanner than mine and she had a rose tattoo on the outside of her left ankle. She caught me staring at her and I looked away, quickly not wanting her to feel flattered. I couldn't let her know that the infamous Megan Wilson was giving her attention for whatever reason.

I sat down in my seat and pretended to look bored in class as I stared at my painted nails when I was really thinking about this. She was pretty, I admitted with a grudge but not compared to me. However, I couldn't deny that she had a more bolder feel to her. Maybe it was the tattoo or the way her eyes seemed almost... adventurous. Now that I was glancing at her from time to time, I started noticing that her arms seemed pretty toned, like she worked out or something. They kind of resembled Addy's arms because she was the athletic one out of us.

I snapped a picture of her from my phone when the teacher wasn't looking and sent it to Tasha. I texted her and asked her if she knew who this girl was.

Her reply came literally a few seconds later.

Her name's Abby Jolie. I think she's in your French class.

Abby?

That name sounded familiar.

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