Author's note: I am very sorry for the missed update last week :( I meant to update early and then holidays coming up meant I was drawing a total blank for a chapter. But after a few nice days away I've straightened stuff out, and I am currently typing this chapter on my laptop, I got internet today! Which is super awesome because there'll be no more rushing to update in the library, (hopefully) a lot fewer spelling mistakes and if I ever can't update during the day on Friday I can easily catch up. So I promise to make it up to everyone and I thank everyone for being so patient with this! Thanks to any new favourites and follows and thanks to rockstar54, Entangler and CacklingCactus for their awesome reviews! Again very sorry, I'll definitely be updating better now with the laptop :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Stand By Me, just my OCs.
I sat in the passenger seat of my uncle's car after work with a scowl fixed on my face, I stared out the window and tried to keep from sighing in annoyance every five minutes.
"We won't be that long here, I just said I'd bring some groceries around to the Thompson's. Donny's car had the tires slashed and everything, and their mother is usually in bed sick a lot so they would really appreciate this." My uncle explained, I nodded in response.
"That's fine, do you mind if I stay in the car?"
He quirked an eyebrow, "Why do you not want to come inside?"
"I just want to stay in the car." I shrugged, trying to sound casual. In all honesty I didn't want to touch that house with a ten-foot pole. One visit was enough for me.
"I need some help with the bags into the house and you can help put them away, it'll be nice of you to help." My uncle said, that subtly tone of authority telling me I was not getting off that easy.
I let a sigh out almost involuntarily, boy do I wish Ace had picked me up today.
My uncle glanced at me as we turned onto the street where Magnet's house was, "Do you not like Donny?"
Tip of the iceberg, "I'm not fond of guys with a criminal record."
"And Ace is such a choir boy?" My uncle joked, I let a snort as we pulled up in front of the house.
"Well, no, but I'm just not fond of the guy." I explained as I got out of the car.
My uncle did the same and leaned on the roof of the car with a disbelieving expression, "You mean to tell me there's actually a troublesome boy in this town you aren't intent on spending your time with?" He asked, I cracked a grin at that and got the bags from the back to help Richard.
I slowed up to fall in behind Richard as he got up to the door and knocked, after a few seconds the door was answered and Alice stood looking out at us, her expression changed to that of a deer caught in headlights when her eyes landed on me.
"Hi, I've got the groceries your brother asked to bring over." My uncle explained pleasantly, Alice smiled tightly and stepped to the side to allow us both into the kitchen and we set the bags on the counter.
"I'll help put these away." I said to Richard, he smiled thinking I was doing it to be helpful, in reality I just didn't want to go into the livingroom where Magnet sat.
My uncle left me to go into the living room and I began lifting the stuff from the bags and setting them on the counter, trying not to focus on the fact Alice was still in the kitchen with me.
Wordlessly she came over and started picking the things I set onto the counter and putting them in whatever drawers and cupboards they belonged in. The silence was tense but welcome, I was glad neither of us were talking.
"So I take it Ace was responsible for what happened to my brother and his car?" Shit, she just had to talk. I could hear Magnet and Richard talking in the living room so they wouldn't hear us.
I sighed, "You could say that."
She snorted slightly at my vague answer, before leaning against the counter, "I know after what he did to Ace it was only expected something like this would happen sooner or later." Now it was my turn to snort, but she continued, "But he is my brother no matter what he's done, so I wanna ask can you get your boyfriend to leave him alone."
My face flared up, "Um, yeah, I'll tell him." There was no real point in denying it, plus the way she said it had me believe there was no bullshitting this girl.
"I'm actually surprised Ace took this long for something to happen, it's been awful tense waiting for that phone call to tell me he was in hospital."
"Yeah, well, certain more recent events sort of pushed Ace over the edge."
Alice's brow furrowed, "What happened?"
I stared at her, trying to see if she had some glimmer of mischief that told me she knew, but I found none, so I shrugged, "Nothing."
She didn't believe me but chose to let it go, something always made me believe she and her brother plotted together about all this shit, now I realise she's as clueless as the rest of us about what her brother gets up to.
"So how's school?" Oh great, small talk.
"Boring, I'm counting down the days until graduation." I told her, she smiled and nodded in agreement, we lapsed into silence again and decided there was no other mundane topic for us to discuss. Alice went back to putting stuff away and when I was done we just stood in silence until the door to the kitchen opened a few minutes later..
"Are you ready to leave?" My uncle asked, I nodded and waved to Alice as I headed out of the kitchen and to the hallway.
"Bye, Jesse!" Magnet called, I ignored it because if I was to shout anything back, it would definitely get me grounded.
Then again, some of the stuff I could say to that guy would be totally worth spending the day in my room. Hell, a week.
"Do you know Alice from school?" Richard asked as we got back into the car.
I shrugged, "I've just seen her about here and there, we're not best friends or anything."
"You should be hanging out with more girls, being around guys all the time isn't good for you." Oh no, if he thought he could play the Good Samaritan and I'd become best pals with Alice, he was mistaken.
"I'm fine hanging out with Connie."
"And where will you be later this evening?" My uncle asked and I dropped my eyes to my lap.
"Ace's." I muttered, my uncle nodded and let out a heavy sigh.
"Exactly, I'm not saying you have to abandon your friends but you should think about getting some different company once in a while."
"I'll think about it." I told him.
"So he's got your uncle running errands for him now?" Ace asked a while later when I had escaped to his house. We were once again out the back practising fighting, though my willingness to co-operate had worn off. Even Eyeball was skipping sessions but Ace was having none of my missing any.
"Yep." I said as I brought my arms up into the space between my chest and Ace's to hit his arms, loosening the grip he had on my shoulders. He swung with his right fist and I blocked it, bringing my fist up to his face and stopped just short of his nose.
"Good, but if you ever are in a fight it'd be better to actually hit the guy." Ace teased and I rolled my eyes.
"You're so funny. I just don't want to hit you so you don't suffer the embarrassment of having to tell the rest of the guys your girlfriend's beating you up." I shot back, he swung again and grabbed my arm when I went to block his hit, pulling me up against him.
"Dream on, babe." He said, I narrowed my eyes and pushed away from him.
"Are we done now? I'm hungry." I told him, he nodded and started to head for the house.
"Grab your coat." Ace ordered as we got back into the house, I raised my eyebrows and grabbed my coat off the chair, choosing to keep quiet. Maybe he was treating me to a fancy dinner. I blame Emily for making me feel like I should dress better in that case.
After I got into the car and let Ace drive to wherever he was taking me, I finally decided to let a question slip when we got parked in front of a house I didn't recognise.
"Where the hell are we?"
"My mom's house." Ace answered, finally it clicked and my eyes went wide.
"Why didn't you tell me we were coming here?" I demanded.
Ace rolled his eyes as he met my gaze, "My mom rang last night to ask us over, what's the big deal?"
When I couldn't find the exact reason why I was so freaked out, Ace smirked and climbed out of the car, leaving me where I was. It was only when he got halfway to the door that he turned back to see me still in the car and doubled back to open my door for me.
"What's taking so long?" He asked.
"Is your dad here?"
Ace sighed and leant down to unbuckle my seat belt, "He's probably out in a bar and won't be home until the early hours of the morning. Either that or he's sleeping, my mom probably made his stuff earlier. Come on." He said, taking my arm and leading me up to the house.
The smell of food mixed with cigarette smoke greeted us as we entered the house, which looked strangely normal for a house Ace Merrill grew up in.
"Right on time!" Mrs Merrill greeted as she walked past the doorway of the kitchen, I smiled awkwardly as I opened my jacket, the warmth of the kitchen from cooking was getting to me already.
"Hi, Mrs Merrill." I smiled, stopping when she put her hands on her hips and frowned.
"What did I tell you about calling me that?"
I blushed, "Sorry, Anne."
She let the act slip and smiled, "That's better, I'm glad you could make it. I've been meaning to ask you and Ace over for a while, it was awful nice of your aunt and uncle inviting Ace over."
"It was an experience." I said, grinning when Ace snorted from behind me.
"Well don't just stand there, John, take her coat and hang it in the hall." Anne scolded, I held in the laughter as Ace took my coat, I had finally found someone Ace couldn't order around or make a threat when they dared to try. This would be a fun dinner.
I helped set the table and we settled down for the meal Anne prepared, the usual small talk passed between me and Anne, with Ace shooting a comment in here and there. It was far less tense than it had been when Ace came over to our house.
"Where's Pop?" Ace asked finally, it had been a bit of a worry during dinner that his dad would show up at any minute.
"Out with some guys from the mill, he's had dinner already so I'd say he won't be home anytime soon." Anne said as she took the plates, Ace shot me a meaningful glance that told me my worrying hadn't went unnoticed.
"I'll have to meet him at some point," I muttered in a low voice.
"We'll cross that bridge as fast as possible when we get to it." Ace promised, I breathed a sigh of relief and went to sit back in my chair until Anne nodded for me to follow her into the living room.
I was drawn immediately to the frames at the fireplace, each was small and unique with pictures inside. I smiled at the ones of Ace at various ages, there was even one of him and Eyeball at around eleven or twelve, looking gangly and completely different without the perfectly greased hair.
I sniggered and Ace came to stand beside me, narrowing his eyes at the photos.
"I should have told her to hide these." He muttered, I laughed and turned to pinch his cheek.
"You were so adorable, what happened?" I mused, he batted my hand away and Anne joined in with my laughing as she came to stand beside us.
"He refused to get anymore pictures since he turned sixteen so they all stopped, Jesse, I should ask you to keep a camera handy for future in case you get a photo opportunity." She sniggered, I glanced at Ace who looked annoyed before a grin lifted his mouth and he backed away.
"Excuse me for a minute." He said, leaving Anne and I to wonder where he was going as the front door closed. I settled on an armchair as we waited for Ace to come back.
"You know, you're the first girl he's brought back here for dinner. You must be special." She smiled, I ducked my head.
"Thanks for asking me over, the food was great."
She smiled, "It was no problem, we'll have to get you over more often. Ace hardly comes over himself nowadays but maybe you can get a few visits worked in every now and again?"
I smiled, "Definitely." The sound of the door opening and closing again had us both look to see Ace had come back in holding a piece of paper in his hand.
"What's this?" Anne asked as Ace handed her the paper. Her face broke into a grin and she turned it for me to see.
"God I meant to get rid of that." I growled as I saw the photo my aunt had taken of me and Ace as we went to The Hop. Anne got up to set it on the fireplace and I glared at Ace who shot me a wink before sitting on the arm of the chair, I shoved his leg until Anne sat back down.
"I'll get a nice frame for that one." She announced, I made a mental note not to stop my swings at Ace's face the next time we practised fighting.
Author's note: Sorry for the quiet chapter, but I'm getting closer to the key event I've been working towards, it may only be another one or two chapters away! And I've given up on giving an estimate for how many more chapters is left of this story haha, I still have loads of ideas and I'll get them all included but I don't want to drag the story out, I'll try and strike a good balance. Anyway, apologies again for the delay but I'm definitely back on track, thanks for reading and please review!