Chapter 6.4: I Like You A Lot

 Ace had completely disappeared, and no one had a clue where he went.

  The first day, not a lot of people had really noticed. Fenton was worried, but just assumed that Ace came home after he fell asleep, and left early. Fenton didn't see him all day, and Ace never replied to his text messages.

  Is he avoiding me, Fenton thought. Is he angry with me?

  Levi noticed as well. He was always leering at Ace, his eyes following him across the room. Today his eyes could finally rest since he did not see him anywhere. Levi searched for him all over so he could interrogate him about what happened four days ago.

   Ace's father, Tyreceus called him daily to check on him, but Ace never answered. He called Fenton and started to panic when he didn't know where he was either.

By the second day everyone became worried.

  Levi found Fenton in the cafeteria and tried to learn what happened. "I don't know," he sighed. "I'm scared. I think Candice did something to him." Levi sucked in a sharp breath and next went on the hunt for her. He found her, later in the day at one of the gymnasiums, doing warm ups for practice.

  She was stretching on the floor, trying to bend forward her fingertips past her ankles. She looked up when a shadow loomed over her. Levi towered over her, taller and bigger than her.

  "What did you do with Ace," Levi asked. Candice sat up and looked up at him. He was trying to be scary, he already was half the time, but Candice wasn't afraid of him.

All she saw was a toddler throwing a tantrum.

  "I didn't do anything," she insisted. "I have no idea where he is!"

   "Don't lie to me, witch," Levi spat.

   Candice stood up and snarled. Levi flinched, as she sounded like an animal instead of a woman. "If I knew where he was, don't you think I would bring him back," she screeched. All the other girls on the team turned to stare at him.

  They all stood around them, in a circle, a pride of lionesses ready to attack their prey.

  "You need to leave," Candice bellowed. Her words echoed through the gymnaisum, and the walls shook. All the girls looked at him, with strange, dull looks in their eyes, and after some time Levi realized none of them were blinking.

  "Leave," Candice roared. Levi quickly left, not wanting to find out what was going on.

What did she do to them, Levi wondered.

  He walked through the halls, and out the front gates. He called his driver and waited patiently for him to come. His mind was racing, trying to come up with answers but none of them made any sense. Candice herself had admitted that she didn't know where he was, and now Levi was under duress.

With no one to harass on a daily basis he would be forced to deal with his personal issues.

  While he waited in the drop off zone he saw the familiar swish of blonde hair from far away. It was running towards him, and he tensed up, preparing for pain.

  "Levi," Mary Jane exclaimed.

  She gently tried to hug him, so she wouldn't accidentally break his rib like last time. It still hurt, and Levi groaned in pain. How can someone so small be so strong, Levi wondered.

  Mary Jane was a little woman, standing at five feet tall. She wore heels consistently to make up for it, but she was still shorter than most other people.

   She wore bright colors as usual, her favorite being yellow and gold. She wore a yellow skirt with a white blouse, canary colored heels, and even had her nails for the week painted white with little daffodils on them to match. She even liked to dye her hair blonde, and it looked wonderful with her caramel skin and green eyes.

She tried to look her best to get Levi's attention but he didn't ever notice.

  "Did you hear about Ace," she asked. "Everyone is saying he ran away!"

  "There is no way he would run away," Levi insisted. "Why would he? And besides, you can't run away once you're eighteen!"

Mary Jane shrugged. "Rumors make no sense."

   "Sometimes I feel like it's all my fault he dissapeared," Levi mumbled.

  "That's ridiculous," Mary Jane scoffed. "Why would you think that?"

   It's my fault he can't remember a thing, Levi thought. "I.. I think I hurt his feelings," Levi mumbled.

   Mary Jane sat next to him and held his hand, which made him smile. He expected Mary Jane to tell him that you should be kinder to yourself, or some kind of overused and tripe assurance.

Instead she brought him back down to planet Earth.

  "You didn't do anything, don't get such a big ego," Mary Jane sneered.

  "Why are you so mean," Levi mumbled. She reached over to pinch him but stopped.

The last time I pinched him he got a giant bruise for days, she remembered.

  "What makes you think that he cared so much about your opinion that he ran away," Mary Jane scoffed.

"His friend said I bullied him…", Levi grumbled.

  "Yeah, I can see that."

"You don't disagree," he shouted.

  "No, I don't," she snapped. "You're always going on about being strong all the time."

  "I, I do not," Levi stammered.

  Mary Jane laughed, which just made him even angrier than usual. "You try to swing your dick around all day, proving how tough you are," she giggled. "It makes me think you got a complex."

  He snatched his hand away from her and grunted. "What are you implying," he hissed.

  "I'm just saying… you need to relax," she cooed, stretching out the last word.

   "I can't", mumbled. "I kind of miss him."

   "Why do you always talk about him," she asked.

  "I don't," Levi barked.

  He did.

  She crossed her legs and grinned. "Levi, I know our parents arranged us to be together, it doesn't mean we have to be." Levi glared daggers into her heart and she laughed.

  "I like you," Levi whispered.

   "Really now," Mary Jane jeered. "What do you like about me?" He was shy and quiet, and he looked away. "I like your hair, it's really pretty and long," he mumbled.

  These are just extensions, Mary Jane worried. What if he notices? Levi's ears were red, and Mary Jane took his hand. He froze up, not one to show affection, feeling like this was different from earlier.

   "Levi, look at me," Mary Jane whispered. Levi was bashful and he turned to face her. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him close. She kissed him and Levi relaxed as she pressed her lips onto his. His heart beat faster while he leaned in to kiss her again. They had completely forgotten they were in public, or they simply didn't care.

  Levi's body tingled as she stuck her tongue in his mouth, and then he jerked away, remembering where they were.

  Mary Jane grinned. "Why are you so shy," she whispered. "This isn't the place," he mumbled.

  "I like you a lot," Mary Jane said boldly, and Levi looked away, unable to handle anything to do with the emotional states outside of hunger and anger. "I want to be around you more," she said. Levi nodded, unable to really say or do anything.

  He noticed his driver had been waiting for quite some time, and did not want to interrupt their private moment. "I'll call you," Levi mumbled. Mary Jane smiled and waved goodbye as Levi possibly walked faster than he ever had in his life into his car. On the ride back to his apartment his mind was racing with conflicting thoughts.

  He didn't really like Mary Jane, but he liked it when they kissed. He was always angry at Ace, but he thought about kissing him quite frequently, no matter how much he denied it to himself and other people.

  Levi's father was very religious so he was afraid of what he would think, but Levi was sure Maximillian was only religious because it helped him feel superior to other people.

  Levi feared his father more than he liked Ace, so he dated Mary Jane. He hoped that soon he would come to actually like her, but nothing worked.

   I can't like men, he thought. I touched her boobs. Levi lightly grazed her breasts once, and was positive it meant he was truly a man, when he had never even had sex. He knew how it worked, and all the technical terms, but the farthest his mind could truly understand anything about the opposite sex, was the few times he had seen a topless woman in a movie.

  His feelings constantly clashed with each other.

   Maybe I think I like Ace because I feel guilty he can't remember anything, Levi thought. Maybe I'm just lonely or obsessed.

  Either way he still wasn't going to admit that anything about him was different. Regardless of whether or not he liked Mary Jane, their wealthy families had set them up together, so Levi decided that he could at least try.

  He had long given up going against his father's wishes, and knew that even if he did he would just wipe his brain clean and start with a new and improved Levi, one that would stop being so wilful.

  He was dropped off at his apartment, and his mind was still swimming. He considered sleeping with Mary Jane while he was in the elevator, but he didn't really want to.

  I think she's pretty, but I feel like I would be sleeping with my sister, Levi thought. He returned to the apartment he shared with his older sister, Sara, but she wasn't home.

He sighed, lonely and bored with his opulent lifestyle.

  He drank a protein shake while he studied, but he didn't get very far. Still his mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Ace and Mary Jane. He decided to test out something. He told himself that what he was doing was just curiosity and that he would just confess anyway at church later that week.

  He searched up a lot of things on his laptop, saw a lot of things that made him tingle all over, cleared his browser history, and simply took a shower, feeling dirty afterwards.

   I felt weird watching other people do that, he thought. Is what they did normal? I think it was.

Most of it was not, but he couldn't tell the difference.

  Levi wanted to ask someone about it, but he was too focused on pretending that he was strong to actually do it. He also didn't want someone thinking he was a pervert, or that he was unmanly, or that something was wrong with him.

   I should just do it with her, Levi concluded. It will be fine. Levi worried that something was wrong with him because he wasn't having sex. Even Ace has sex, Levi thought. I've overheard him talk about Candice before.

  He shuddered, disgusted at the thought that anyone would ever want to sleep with a monster. He got out of the shower and dried his hair, wondering how Ace never noticed after dating her for so long.

  He got dressed, upset that a boy who was barely a man, shorter and dumber than him, had already become an adult in a different sense. By the time he got dressed again and tried to go back to studying, his brain had come full circle, back to its default state of mild anger and irritation at everyone and everything.

He decided to finally call Mary Jane as promised.