Chapter 14: Mine

Ace's POV:

I looked over at Angel. She was staring at me. We were sitting in the cave I go to underneath the cliff. "What?" I asked. "Ace we didn't come out here just to chill. We need to talk." She said. "About what?" I asked, irritably. "Us. I'm sick of going back and forth with you. It's tiring and I'm getting headaches because of it." She said. I looked down at her side. Since the shark attack, I didn't want to stress Angel out so I've been avoiding her.

She's fully healed now but I still didn't want to bother her. I sighed. "Fine. Angel look I'm sorry. I do agree that we go at it like wild dogs yet we make up at the end of the day. You're right. It is tiring." I said. "Ace this is ridiculous. Like you know you're still my friend." She said. I nodded. "And thanks for being there for me." I said.

She smiled. "Anything for you Ace." She said. She chuckled. "What?" I asked. "We have a love-hate relationship Ace." Angel said, as she jumped down from rocks. I followed her. "Yeah we do. One minute, we're at each other's throats. The next, we're sticking up for each other." I said. "I sometimes wonder why that is but something tells I better just not question it and to just roll with it." She said.

I nodded. "Yeah let's just leave it alone. But Ace, I will say you truly are something else." She said. "Yeah. I am." I said. We both stood up and stretched. I transformed and looked at Angel. "What?" She asked. I put my head down. She petted my head. I smiled. I liked when Angel petted my head. It felt so nice and soft. She scratched my head and it felt amazing. I leaned into her and she giggled. "Stop Ace." She said.

I chuckled. "Come on. Let's go to Sonic. I'm hungry." She said. She transformed into a dragon and flew away. I ran after her. We went all the way to town. We transformed when we were behind a building. We walked out into the street and were immediately bombarded by fans. They all wanted to talk to Angel but said that she was busy. We walked to Sonic and ordered our food. We were sitting there chilling.

Then someone cleared their throat. We looked up to see a man in a suit and tie. "Are you the great Angel Starlight?" He asked. "Yes?" Angel answered. The man handed her an envelope. "What's this?" She asked. "The unofficial surf tournament you were to soon be apart of. It's a refund check, plus a bonus for your unfortunate shark attack incident. The owner for this year's surf tournament failed to mention that its shark season." The man said.

"Shark season?" I asked. "Yeah. Surfers don't have surf tournaments when it's shark season. Sharks come to either feast or breed. The owner only cared about money rather than the safety of surfers. Since Angel was attacked, the man and been sued and accounted for his actions. Everyone was refunded their money. Angel was given extra on account of her shark attack incident. Have a good day." The man said.

Then he walked away. I looked at Angel. "Well open it up. Let's see how much you got." I said. She tore open the envelope and looked at it. "Whoa. Five hundred grand?" She exclaimed. I was stunned. "Now I can look for a house when I graduate." She said. "Damn Angel. I guess that shark did you a favor." I said. She laughed. We got up and left the park. We walked back home.

We walked up to the door before Angel stopped me. "Ace, I still want to teach you how to surf." She said. "Angel I told you. Since that shark attack, I don't want to learn how to surf anywhere." I said. "Have I ever listened to you? Besides? I know a great place we can go to surf. Come on, let's go get our boards." She said. "Our?" I repeated. "Yeah Kyle bought you one when I told him our bet." She said.

"I'm gonna kill him." I said. She laughed and pulled me inside. "Come on!!" She squealed. We went to the beach. I saw her walking away. "Where are you going?" I asked. "Me and the girls have a secret beach. It's so beautiful." She said. "A secret beach?" I asked. "Yes. Come on!!" She said, pulling me off. We walked around the beach, came to a bunch of large boulders and rocks, then we came to the secret beach. "Oh wow. It is beautiful." I said.

I looked at Angel. "Are you sure this is safe?" I asked, worriedly. She looked at me and chuckled. "You know, for someone whose suicidal, you sure are worrying about if this is safe or not." She said, as she stepped down from the rocks. I rolled my eyes and followed her. We walked along the beach. Angel paused and looked at me. She stared at me for a few seconds. "What the hell are you looking at?" I asked, irritably.

She didn't say anything. She stepped closer to me and raised her hand. She picked something from my hair. I looked at her hand. She had a bee in her hand. She carefully laid it down on the ground. It laid there before flying away. Angel looked at me and shook her head. "You still can't be nice." She said, as she walked off. I scoffed. "Me? Nice? Please. Besides, how can I be nice to someone who abandoned me?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't start. Let's just practice." She said. She made me get down on the ground and practice. "Keep your arms on your sides....paddle like this.....good. Now let's try it foreal." She said. She took off running towards the water with her board in her hand. "Whoa Angel!! I can't do that!!" I called. She paused and ran back over to me. "Fine. Let me show you how the pros do it." She said, as she ran out into the water.

I watched her as she performed tricks and flips in the water. I must admit she did have mad skills. She came out the water and back over to me. "See? You know Ace, you can learn a thing or two from me." She said. I scoffed. "What can I learn from someone who abandons people who needed them most?" I said. She got in my face. "For the last time Ace, I didn't abandon you!! I was adopted before you and we lost contact!!" She yelled.

I glared at her. Tears formed in her eyes. "After all these years, I'd thought you'd let this go." She said. "I can't. Every day I'm reminded of my past and you're in it." I said. "That's not my fault." She said. "Angel you fucking abandoned-" she cut me off by slapping me. "I DIDNT FUCKING ABANDONED YOU ACE!! I loved you!!" She shouted. I threw my board down on the sand and grabbed her roughly.

"If you ever put your hands on me again!!" I yelled in her face. She glared at me as I glared at her. I pushed her to the ground. I looked out at the water. "You're not that much of a pro Angel. You always think you're better than someone." I said. I grabbed my board and took off running towards the water. I dove in and paddled out towards the waves. I looked back at Angel and saw her packing up her stuff and leaving.

I shook my head and paddled towards a big wave. As soon as it hit, I stood up on my board and began surfing. Turns out I wasn't as good as I thought I was gonna be because the wave was bigger than I thought. It was too rough. It took me out and I fell in the water. I was swept under the wave as it tossed and turned me something fierce. I held my breath but I needed air. I tried to swim towards the surface.

But the wave was still too strong. I looked around as I could feel my lungs burning for air. I tried to fight against the wave but it was too strong for me. My vision blurred as I could feel Death approaching me fast. Suddenly, I felt arms around me. I was pulled upward. I breached the surface and gasped for air. I was pulled onboard something. My vision started to restore itself. Then I felt sand. I looked up and saw Angel. She cried my name.

She was screaming for me to breathe. "Ace!! Ace please!!" She cried. I coughed up water. I looked up at her. She had tears in her eyes. I sat up. She cried out and hugged me. "Oh my God Ace!! I am so sorry!! I should've never left you. I should've stayed with you!! I am so sorry for all the hurt and pain I've caused you!!" She cried. I hugged her. I put my hands on her face and made her look at me. "It's okay Angel. I forgive you." I said.

She smiled. I looked down at her plump lips. We stared at each other before we kissed. She pulled me closer to me as I wrapped my arms around her. I licked her lips, asking for entrance. Practically begging for her to let me in. She let me. I fought with her tongue. She put up quite a fight. I unzipped her wet suit. She started to take it off before we heard a loud noise. We both jumped and turned to see a lifeguard.

He had a red thing in his hand. He ran over to us. "Aye! You all right kid? You had a gnarly wipeout out there." He said. He helped me up. "Uh yeah. I-I'm fine." I said. I looked at Angel. She had her back to me. "Well let me take you to a hospital. I'm sure you were knocked around by that wave and bumped your head on some rocks." The lifeguard said. "Oh no. I was-" Angel cut me off. "No Ace you should go to the hospital." She said.

She grabbed her board and ran away. I watched as she disappeared over the sandy hills. I shook my head and walked off. "Hey kid!" The lifeguard called. "I don't need to go to the hospital. I'm fine." I said, angrily. I stormed off towards the parking lot. I saw Angel get Christian's car and drive off. I got in the van and sat in the back. "Hey Ace. What's wrong with Angel? She looked upset." Bailey said. "She's fine." I said, harshly.

"Dude you ain't gotta be mean to her. She just asked a simple question." A boy said. I got up and punched him in the face. His nose started bleeding. "I said she's fine!!" I yelled. The van drove us back to the house. I stared out the window. We pulled up and I got out. I ran inside and upstairs to my room. I slammed the door and locked it. I threw my surfboard down and flopped down on the bed.

I stared up at the ceiling for what felt like hours. Then I heard a knock on my door. "GO AWAY!!" I shouted. "Ace?" Angel called. I rolled my eyes and turned over on my side. "Leave Angel. I don't wanna talk to you." I said. "Ace please. I need to talk to you. It's important." She said. "Didn't I just say to go away?" I asked. "Ace please!!" She cried. I looked over my shoulder and debated whether or not to open the door.

Just then, Angel slid something under the door. I walked over to it. It was a picture. I looked at it. It was a picture of us as kids when we were in foster care. I unlocked the door and opened it. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "What do you want?" I asked, as I held up the picture. She walked in the room and immediately closed the door. She turned around and kissed me.

She moved us back towards the bed. She laid down and pulled me down on top of her. I got between her legs and wrapped them around my waist. She moaned into my mouth. She took off her shirt and pants. I took of my clothes too. "Wait Ace. I don't want to get pregnant. Like I have birth control but I still wanna be safe." She said, as she took off her panties. "Got it covered love." I said.

I pulled out a condom from my drawer. I quickly slid it on and placed myself at her entrance. I then thrusted inside her. She bit down on the pillow to keep moaning out loud. We fucked then fell asleep. I woke up and discovered Angel was gone. I looked around and saw her standing by my dresser. "Angel?" I called. She jumped. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." I said.

"No it's fine." She said. I got up and got dressed. "What are you doing?" I asked, curiously. "I was just looking at this." She said. I walked over to her and looked down at her hands. "What it that?" I asked. "It's the picture of us when we were younger. Back at the orphanage." She said. She looked up at me. "I took it from your room, made a copy, then put yours back." She said.

"Oh." I said. She looked at me. "You kept this? After all these years?" She asked. I nodded. Shrugging, I said, "I couldn't bear to part with it so I kept it. Like I said, Angel it's hard to forget what happened when I'm reminded of it." I said. She looked at the picture. "Why didn't you just get rid of it if you hated what happened between us?" She asked.

"It's hard to explain. I don't want to sound cheesy or desperate." I said. She held my hand. "Angel you were the first friend I made at the orphanage. I walked in that house and nobody wanted to be my friend. But you approached me. You became my friend without me even saying a word to you." I said. She nodded. Then she smiled. She grabbed my hand and held it.

"Well back then I had a crush on you and I didn't know how to say it so becoming your friend was easier." She said. "Well I'm glad you did. I also has a crush on you too." I said. She blushed. "I just hate the fact that you think I'm to blame for getting adopted." She said. "Well....you did leave me." I said. She scoffed. "Well if you hates me so much, why keep this picture?" She asked.

"The picture was a momento. I guess I held onto this picture because I didn't want to lose the memory I shared with my first best friend I ever had." I said. She smiled at me. "I'm telling Kyle and Mike you said that." She said. I laughed. "What they gon do?" I said. "No but foreal. Ace I had the same picture. I couldn't leave it behind. I didn't want to forget about you either." She said.

She wrapped her arms around my waist. "I wanted to come back. I did run away to come back to you but I didn't know the way, being so young and not knowing where to go. Ace I really did want you to come with me. I was gonna go back and bring you back with me. So we can be together again. I felt bad for what I said. I'm sorry." She said. I smiled and wrapped my arms around her.

"Wait. You had the picture? What happened to it?" I asked. "A month after I left, my foster family's house burned down so I lost it. Because I wasn't reminded of you every day, thanks to that fire, I forgot about you. I've grown up and met so many people. That's why I was so confused the day we were reunited love. That's why I took your picture and made a copy." She said. "Oh." I said. Then I gasped.

"A fire? Were you okay?" I asked. She nodded. "Oh yeah. We went out to eat and came back to see the house on fire." She said. "How did it happen?" I asked. She shrugged. "Maybe a wire was loose in the house or something. I don't know." She said. She came over and sat down on my lap. "Ace can I tell you something and promise me you won't be mad?" She asked.

"Okay?" I said, nervously. "I think you have separation anxiety." She said. I sighed. "I know. I think I've always known." I said. "Yeah but Ace, yours is seriously out of control." She said. I looked down at her. "Ace, you are battling your own demons and you're taking your anger out on those who had nothing to do with your situation. Look I'm sorry your parents abandoned you." She said.

I smiled. "It's cool." She said. "And I'm sorry I abandoned you. I'm sorry you are battling your own demons by yourself but you need to come to terms with what happened in the past. Let it go. That's why you have so much anger and aggression built. You wont let go of what happened in the past." She said. I realized every word she said was true.

"Angel it's hard to let go." I said. "Do it Ace. You have to in order to be happy. Look at me. I let it go and look at how happy I am." She said. "Well you forgot about what happened." I said. "Yeah but when I saw you again, I was reminded of it again but I still let it go. You need a hobby. I got one. Surfing helps me relax." She said. "But that shark attack." I said. "It didn't faze me baby." She said.

She rubbed my hand with her thumb. "I still love to surf. Besides it's the ocean. It's full of sharks and other dangerous animals. But I play it safe. I just forgot about shark season. Surfing is so much fun. I feel at peace when I'm in water. Find you a hobby and let go of what happened with your parents and what happened between us." She said.

"It's difficult Angel. But I am going to try to be better." I said. She hugged me. "Please Ace. I don't want to lose you because you couldn't take this anymore and you got stressed out so much." She said. "I don't know where to start." I said. "I'll help." She said, smiling. I kissed her. We moved over to the bed. I cuddled with her. "Angel?" I said. "Hmm?" She answered. "You know you're mine right?" I said. She giggled. "I had hoped." She said. I played in her hair til we fell asleep again.