Alex strolled back to her house proudly after the talk with Ace. She thought that she had Ace at her feet, that she could make him do anything she wanted to. Ace was desperately in love with her and she thought that she could use him. She felt really good as she went up the stairs to her room, and found Chris reading a book.
Chris saw her coming in and raised one finger telling her to stop. He gazed inside the book for about five seconds and then closed it.
"I just needed to finish the sentence," he said smiling.
"You'll never guess what happened!" Alex smiled and sat on the bed.
"Can I borrow this?" Chris asked holding the book up.
"Yeah yeah. Now listen," Alex began. She told him he exact conversation she had with Ace and by the end of her talk she had a huge grin on her face. "We're free!" she shouted and jumped on Chris to hug him. Chris wasn't as enthusiastic as Alex, he felt this was too weird a thing for Ace to do. But he didn't share his thoughts with her. He didn't want to spoil this moment. It might be the last good time they ever had. Whatever Ace was planning, it wasn't good.
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"Where the hell were you?" Eyeball asked Ace as he entered the house.
"I hope you didn't finish all the beer. I'm damn thirsty," Ace said and headed for the refrigerator.
"You didn't answer the question Ace," Eyeball said sarcastically waving a can of beer.
Ace turned around and walked towards Eyeball, grabbed the can, and sat down on the sofa and started watching television.
Eyeball sighed.
"We're all going to school tomorrow," Ace said.
"We are? But I thought we…" Billy began.
"Hey Billy. The guy's already made up his mind. No use talking to him," Eyeball said angrily.
"What's your problem Eyeball? Are you mad because I didn't pay enough attention to you today? Is that what you're mad about? Get over it and sit down and watch the fucking tv."
"Ace, you say something, you do something else. It's not like you. I don't care what your business is, but you gave us your word today about the…"
"Shut up!" Ace shouted. "I don't ever want to hear about that deal again. It's over, it was a one time thing and you two should get over it. Drugs kill man. It's some fucked up shit."
"Is that you talking Ace?" Eyeball asked sounding worried.
"Hell yeah it's me."
"You've turned into the biggest pussy in the last week. What are you? In love?" Eyeball asked sarcastically.
Ace got up from where he was sitting and punched Eyeball hard. Billy got up from his seat but backed away once he saw the look Ace gave him. Ace looked at Eyeball and left the house without saying anything.
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"You know Alex…" Chris started. Alex stopped reading her magazine and looked up. "We don't have to keep taking the drugs." Alex looked like she was about to say something but Chris continued. "I've been thinking. Since you don't shoot up heroin when you're with Ace, why don't you stick with him and you'll be clean. And you don't have to worry about me. I can stop anytime I want to. And we can still be friends. I'm sure Ace will understand that. He… He loves you a lot and, um, he'll give you permission to hang out with me."
"You done?" Alex asked.
"Well, not exactly. I think it'll be a good idea. I've been thinking about it. I never thought I'd say this but you're better off with Ace. Really you are. You were right. I'm the one that was dragging you down. It's not right. I feel like a killer."
"I'm not dead yet," Alex interrupted. "It looks like you really thought this through, huh?" she added.
"Yeah, a little," Chris smiled and lowered his head. Alex smiled too, nodding her head.
"Normally I wouldn't go through with it," said Alex and as she said these words Chris gave a small sigh. "But this is not normally, and I, too, have thought about giving drugs up. I'm glad that you were the one to suggest it," she finished.
"So, you're gonna do it?" Chris asked.
"I think it'll be the best for both of us. And I've thought about this before, about Ace, and it's true that he loves me, and he'd do anything for me, I think, um, I think we can try it."
"You're sure, right? I mean if he does something to you, you come straight to me."
"Yeah yeah, don't worry about it."
"Okay," Chris said simply and leaned back on his pillow.
The both of them didn't say anything for a while. They were just pulling themselves apart from each other, trying to get used to the fact that, maybe, they wouldn't see each other anymore. They both knew that they wouldn't when they both agreed to go through with the idea, but it was just too painful to say it out loud.
"Do you love him?" Chris asked suddenly, putting his book down to his laps. Alex looked up from her magazine.
"No," she replied coldly. "No, I don't."
