Page 9 of My One Rule

The words are both heartwarming and heart wrenching. I don’t know what to say but I stare at him for a moment.

“Sorry, that was random.”

“Don’t be sorry,” I’m quickly to reply. “It means a lot to hear that. What was your favorite thing to do with your mom?”

Ace doesn’t talk about his mom often. It took forever for him to even tell me her name. I had been tempted to snoop online, but it wouldn’t have been the same.

He shared the last photo they had together one night after we walked on the beach at night. We laid across the sand in the dark, dead of night. He’s always so paranoid about paparazzi after they badgered me at the ball.

The photo was of his mom and dad in the back and he and Hannah in the front, all posing for a regular family photo at the beach. They were all so young. They looked so normal.

Judging from the photo, I would never have thought they were some of the wealthiest people in Bayfront.

Ace had told me his mom’s name that night, Chloe.

Ace starts to answer, snapping me back to the present. “She loved to sit at the table and watch me draw. Or play with some intricate model. I’d lose my patience and she’d coax me on to keep trying.”

He shuffles broccoli around his plate.

“She kept my dad in check. He’d get so angry about things we viewed as silly.. View as silly. And she’d tell him what really mattered, being healthy and having a family and other things. He listened. For a while, he didn’t get swept up in the spotlight.”

I smile at him.

Ace clears his throat and if it wasn’t so dark, I’d think maybe he’s teary eyed. “Sometimes I’m worried she’d be ashamed that I let his rules get to me.”

The statement shocks me and audibly gasp.

“Ace! She’d be proud of you, you know that, right?”

Silence hangs in the air and I look to my left and right to see if I was too loud.

Quieter, I say, “She would be proud of you.”

Leaping from my seat I step over to him and kneel beside him. It’s funny, this seems like something Ace would do, consoling me at my side without any care to what others think, or say.

I grab the hand in his lap, and rub my thumb across the back of his veiny hand. Looking up into his slate eyes I give him a warm smile, hoping it can transmit all my earnest feelings.

“You stand up to your dad! You stuck up for me, for Hannah, you live your life how you want to, don’t you?”

For the first time since I’ve met him, I see uncertainty in his eyes.

“I.. yes.” At first I don’t believe him. Until he keeps speaking. “I have you, and friends. I don’t feel alone, or trapped in something I didn’t want.”

His mouth quirks up into a smile. “Something you can relate to?”

Now I’m smiling. “Yeah, something like that.”

“A proposal!” Someone shouts.

“Where?” I ask eagerly.

I’ve always wanted to see one. I look around and realize that others are looking at us. The dimmed lights lift slightly and a spotlight is cast on us.

“They’re so cute!”

I look to Ace with panic.

“Is that Ace and Oliver?!”

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