Ace had fallen asleep in my bed. I couldn't help but slip under the duvet covers beside him and watch him sleep with his mouth slightly ajar. His quiet snores were a little cute. I shuffled up so I was a little closer to his body. It was still cold outside and my heater was kind of damaged, so it was freezing inside my bedroom, even though it was mid January.

I curled my toes up and sighed, shutting my eyes. I felt Ace shift his hands from down beside him and around my waist. Tingles shot through my skin as he tightened his grip around my cold figure. He was basically hugging me from behind like what we did in the storeroom.

"Do you mind me doing this?" Ace grumbled, lifting his head up and opening an eye. Really Ace? I thought he was actually asleep. I rubbed my eyes and shook my head lightly. I loved it more than anything.

"No, I don't mind."

He smiled at me groggily and laid his head back onto the pillow, sighing deeply. I closed my eyes and soon fell asleep into a deep, warm slumber as he kissed my shoulder sweetly.

***

When I woke up at nine o' clock at night, Ace wasn't in my bed anymore. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, peering at myself in the mirror. I scanned the room and there was no sign of Ace anywhere. Kicking the duvet covers back, I rolled off my warm bed and staggered towards the window. Ace's bedroom window and curtains were shut closed and I couldn't help but wonder where he was at.

Suddenly a loud bashing noise came from downstairs. I jumped out of my skin, my mind racing with thousands of questions, and slipped on my slippers, sprinting downstairs. My heartbeat was pacing quite fast and I was expecting Ace to be standing outside the door but it wasn't him, in fact I didn't expect this person to even have the nerve to stand on my porch. I heard sniffs coming from outside and I threw open the door.

It was that Christina bitch.

However, something was very different. She was crying loudly. Tears streamed down her pale face and her mascara was smudged badly. It looked like she hadn't slept in weeks on end and before I could protest, she threw her arms around my neck and sobbed and sobbed until I pushed her back and frowned at her.

She was slightly flustered when she pulled her arms away from me. A tear streaked down her neck and dropped onto her t-shirt. I was so very confused by everything going on then.

"What are you doing here and why the fuck are you crying?" I cried, placing my arms on my hips. She stopped crying a little bit and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. It left a black mascara stain on her sleeve and I couldn't help but cringe slightly. She took a deep breath in and then kicked off her heels.

"Can I...come in?" she asked, then sniffed again, wiping her face. I swallowed a lump in my throat and finally gave up, moving out of the way so she could enter. I didn't know why I was letting Christina in. Perhaps I badly wanted to know why she was crying.

"Do you want a drink?" I offered, watching as she took off her white coat and hung it up on the rack. She shook her head. I gave her a look. Why was she hanging her coat in my house.

"No thank you. I just came to tell you what Ace wanted me to say to you," she said, setting her butt down onto the black couch. She took in her surroundings.

"Really?" I asked, walking over and sitting on the seat opposite her. "What did he say to you and why are you crying?"

Christina pursed her lips and let out a deep breath of shakiness. "Ace's mother is gone."

I didn't answer that. Instead and let out a groan and stuffed my head in my hands. "Fuck," I mumbled and shot out of my seat, running over to my shoe rack. I shoved on my boots as fast as I could and snatched my white coat off the rack.

"Um, that's mine," Christina said awkwardly, her voice cracking from her crying. I looked down at the coat and looked away in embarrassment, chucking it over to her. She caught it and shoved it on. I looked through the coats and found my black coat and put that on in a rush.

"Where is he?" I asked, worriedly.

"I don't know. I think he's at the park. That's the last time I saw him a few hours ago," she sniffed. I scowled at the fact that Christina knew about Ace's mother's death way before I ever knew about it but Ace talked about Christina as if they knew each other since childbirth so I wasn't surprised.

I ran out of the door, in direction of the nearest park.

When I got there, Ace was no where in sight. I searched the swings and the actual park where the kids played, but he was no where to be found. That was until I saw some smoke coming from the woods nearby.

I followed it and started to cough, realising it was passive smoke coming from a cigarette or a fag. I held my breath and followed the direction of it. There was a shallow river nearby and a few benches. I saw Ace sitting on one of them, staring at the river with his brown, sad orbs.

Hiding behind a tree was a stupid idea, but I did do it. My eyes caught sight of Ace lifting his arm and wiping his eyes. My heart sank to the bottom of my chest as soon as I saw that. I shuffled out from behind the tree and once Ace heard my crunching footsteps, turned around and glazed at me through his glistening eyes. He threw his fag onto the ground and I watched as its flame blew out.

"I'm so sorry."

He didn't reply to that. I walked over to him and sat down beside him. I leaned my head against his shoulder and after a few seconds I heard him sniffing. I lifted my head off his shoulder and stared at him. Tears streamed down his perfect face and my heart saddened entirely.

"I'm fucking done, cupcake. I can't anymore," he mumbled, wiping his eyes. I turned to look at him and took his head into my hands. Both my hands were on either sides of his cheeks.

"You're not done. You can do this, Ace. I know you can," I murmured, staring at him sadly. He moved his arms so they were wrapped me tightly. I hugged him back and let him cry softly on me. He pulled away and I took a pack of tissues out of my pocket, pulling a sheet out and dabbing his eyes. The corner of his lips tugged up slightly into a small, sad smile, and by seeing that, I smiled slightly too.