"She's with Me"

The Truth

"You're okay.." he sighed into my hair with great relief. The sound of his breathing on my neck soothed my tense muscles, but I felt guilty all at once. I didn't like making him feel the need to worry for me. It was a waste

"I-" pushing him off a little, he let me free. But still kept his hands on either sides of my arm "I'm sorry"

"What?" he's confused.. "W-why would you be sorry? Freckles, no" the undertone of panic in his voice is layered with concern. He's too good. Too good of a guy. I don't deserve him, especially after what I did. What I let happen. Lauren says it isn't my fault but it is. I sat there like a fool and took it...My only option is to push Ace away before he ends up hurting me too, I'll shut him out. No slipping up if he slips away..

"Cas?" Shaking me slightly and looking endearingly into my eyes, he continues, trying to catch my attention "Cas...? Cassedy"

"Don't..Ace you have to go" I step away from him "I thought I'd be nice for you to come over but—no you can't"

"Cassedy tell me something. Tell me what I'm doing wrong, tell me what I can do to help you. I want to see you smile again..what am I doing wrong?" You can tell he isn't angry, I'm hurting him..I don't want to but—what else am I to do?

"That's exactly it Ace.."

"What is? What's it?"

"You're so sweet and kind and you've been protecting me since the party when Matteo came onto me but.." I sighed. It was so hard to speak..my throat burned.

He didn't cut me off, give me a weird look, or even question me. He just had this look of sympathy—no not sympathy. Sympathy is when you feel bad for someone and their situation, it's kind of like looking down on them..degrading them. But he wasn't doing that. The look was more empathetic. Filled with.. understanding and care and I could never understand why he could be so supportive of me when I've treated him so bad.

"But I can't let you—I can't let you waste your time on me..I have too many...problems of my own and to pass them onto you would only be selfish a-and vain.."

"It wouldn't" his voice lifted and he took a step toward me. "Come" he said, resting a hand on my back i tensed but followed. He led me to my bed, we sat across from each other.

"Tell me" hazel eyes stared back at my coffee brown ones..filled with hunger, like there was something missing
"W-what? Tell you what"
"Tell me what's wrong? What happened? Just last week you were perfectly fine. You never let little incidents like these effect you so much—so clearly there's more to the story. Did something happen recently or is there a memory that's not settling with you?"

Smart. That's another thing. He was really smart. Didn't show it very much but those hazel eyes could find, keep, and dig up secrets.

"Ace..Are you sure you want to kno—"
"Cassedy Krystal Davis . I want to know all about you. I love being around you and if that comes with a package, then so be it"

Taking a deep breath out, I twiddle my thumbs. "Okay" I look down at my hands, they shake slightly as I refresh the experience from the back of my mind, where I locked it up, like an untamed lion in a cage. Until a soft and careful hand rests on mine, lifting it up and interlocking it with their own. He smiles at me softly, nodding, letting me know it was okay. So I talked.

"About 2 years ago.. I-I was new to this college. I just joined and like the typical girl I am, was lonely and had no friends to show me around campus and to my classes. I walked through the halls of the building, up and down the stairs but couldn't find one class." Letting a little breath out I continued "It wasn't until a boy with green eyes and bleach blonde hair came to me and told me I was on the wrong side of the building and 'coincidentally' so was he" Ace's hand tightened. He knew who the green eyed boy was..his hand soon went back. "It was Matteo—when I met him, he was so nice to me. He walked with me across campus to the other building where his classroom was too. His class was down the hall from mine and all he did was joke about and compliment me"

"I thought he was so nice. I didn't have any friends, and for the first few months—it was only me and him. He'd make me laugh an fee special but little did I know..it was all fake"

"What did he do?" The panic in Ace's voice was now replaced with anger. Though he wasn't mad at me and still managed to talk softly.

"2 months after we hung out, somewhere during that time he had asked me to be his girlfriend." The back of my eyes began to burnt along with my throat. I began to shake as I spoke, stumbling over my words.

"A-and the idiotic helpless romantic I am said yes. I was ecstatic. It was stupid, I was stupid. Later on into the next month we were hanging out at my dorm " I felt the water fill up in my eyes, no stopping now, i thought.

"H-he joked around like normal, giving me compliments and saying how he'd show me off to the world as his only girl" my head began to throb "but his compliments became vulgar, you know? They were very..." beginning to lose breath I stoped,

"Take your time" Ace said " it's alright—take your time"

Deep breaths, deep breaths.

"He didn't waste time. He came right out and said it. He wanted sex"  I finally looked up at Ace and the hand that wasn't holding mine clenched into a fist so tight his knuckles became white and I could see his veins.

"A-and I didn't w-want it you know?" Tears fell from my eyes, one by one at first "I wasn't ready. B-but he didn't care. I let him do it...I-I told him to stop but he didn't listen. I wasn't strong enough to stop him. I was s-so stupid " I began to cry, salt water streamed from my face,down my cheeks and onto my bed. A hiccup would escape my mouth when I talked. "He—he just..."

Ace's grip became firm but not hard on my hand and pulled me. He took my other hand to pull me towards him. My body limp against his, he put his arms around me and pulled me in. My head rested on his chest, as I cried, my tears soaked him shirt.

"He raped me Ace" I cried and he held me tighter, hiccups escaped my mouth and hot tears streamed down my eyes "He—he raped me and I didn't—"

"Sshhhh" he hushed and rocked me "it wasn't your fault"

And once again we sat there. Muffled hiccups and sniffles against his chest, and the sound of him hushing me and telling me everything will be alright.

*****

AHHHHHHHH IM SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! I had writers block for a while and struggled to figure out what to write about. To be honest I write this in two days. ITS NOT THE BEST I KNOW BUT UM TRYING TO GET BACK IN  THE FLOW OF WRITING! Anyways thank you for reading. Please comment and favorite this chapter if you enjoyed🌧