But I knew Ace felt different.
“Xavi,” Ace panted. His face was red, but it wasn’t just from what we had been doing. “Oh, god. You didn’t see that.”
My heart sank into my gut. Of course, Ace’s first instinct was to make sure he distanced himself from me.
“Yeah, I did,” Xavi snorted. He looked down pointedly at both of our groins. I shifted protectively to button up my jeans, and Ace moved a couple of steps away from me – closer to Xavi. “I saw a lot.”
“You can’t tell anyone,” Ace warned him. “Come on, Xavi. Please.”
My heart wasn’t just in my gut, it was shrinking and turning to stone as a result of the stomach acid.
Ace was begging him not to tell anyone. That was how little he wanted to be associated with me. How desperate he was for no one to know he had stooped so low as to sleep with me. How awful it would be for him if people knew about us.
And there was me, feeling like Ace was the best thing that had ever happened to me.
“Alright,” Xavi said. His voice was slow and cunning like he thought he was getting one up on Ace. He even had a slight smirk to his mouth. “But you’ll have to owe me one.”
Ace swallowed hard – I saw his Adam’s apple bob up and down. “Alright,” he said. I wondered briefly what that meant between the two of them. It was obviously loaded with meaning for Ace because he had a serious moment of hesitation before agreeing. “Deal.”
Xavi chuckled in a way that made me feel dirty, and I wasn’t even the one he was laughing at. “I’m going back to the others, then,” he said slyly. “I didn’t see anything on my way back from the restroom.”
I saw Ace’s shoulders slump in relief and tried to tell myself not to let it hurt me. I straightened my brow deliberately and blinked my eyes dry.
The only thing I couldn’t turn off was how I felt on the inside – but at least I could stop Ace from seeing it.
“We should go back to watch the movie,” Ace said. His voice sounded hollow and he wasn’t looking at me – just back at where Xavi had been standing. “We paid for the tickets, after all.”
I cleared my throat. Better to make it easier for him. Easier for both of us. “I’m not really into it,” I said. “I’m going to go hang out in the food court, I think. Maybe hit a few stores to kill time before everyone else gets out.”
“Right,” Ace nodded stiffly, then turned and brushed past me without another word.
I stood there in the hallway for at least five minutes, feeling so numb and hollow I didn’t know how to move, before I finally blinked my eyes and shook my head to make myself walk away.
***
“Brody?” Keaton said, surprise underlining his tone. He was leading the group, most of them trailing in twos and threes, obviously talking about what they had just seen. “What are you doing here early? Where’s Ace?”
I shrugged and tried my best casual, wry smile. I’d had enough time to practice it, sitting here thinking about what I would say when they all arrived. “I didn’t get the movie. I guess you had the right choice, after all. I got bored, so I left Ace watching it and came out here to meet you guys. The dialogue was awful.”
“Oh, sorry,” Keaton said, shaking his head sadly as if it was his own fault the film had sucked. Not that I really knew whether the film sucked or not. I couldn’t honestly say I had seen a single second of it. “You weren’t waiting too long, were you?”
“No, no,” I shook my head, smiling. “I knew what time you guys would be coming out, so I hit a few stores and picked out a souvenir for the trip. Then I thought I’d come down here and grab this big table so we could all eat together.”
“Ah, great,” Keaton said, though I could tell he was already distracted again. He was looking around, making sure everyone was with us and considering the different food court options.
“Hey, where’s Xavi?” I asked, suddenly struck by the fact that he wasn’t with them. I’d been nervous about seeing him again (and the knowing looks and elbow nudges he would probably be giving me), but he was nowhere to be seen.
On the other side of Keaton, Taeho rolled his eyes. “He got talking to the popcorn attendant and found out he was getting off work not longer after the movie finished, so I guess he stuck around to see him.”
I tried to cast my mind back to the popcorn attendant, but I couldn’t picture him. I’d been too busy focusing on Ace, wondering how he was going to react when he found out I’d booked a ticket for the same screening as him. “Good for him, I guess?”
Taeho chuckled, and then one of the football players said something to him, and just like that I was out of a conversation partner again.
I sighed, focusing on the table for a moment. Everyone was pairing off to get something to eat. I stood up quickly and headed for one of the counters so I wouldn’t get stuck holding the table, not waiting for someone to invite me to go with them.
No one was going to invite me to go with them.
I had finished my too-salty fries and was contemplating maybe not finishing the limp, greasy burger when Ace finally appeared. There were cheers from the rest of the group as he lifted a hand in a wry greeting.
