I was making my way through the halls, exiting the school for the day. It had been a good month since Ace and I finally kissed and decided that we would make it official. We were going strong, even with the heated glares, and a few unwarranted threats from jealous ex flings.

It was ridiculous how these girls acted over a boy they were never truly dating, and it wasn't like they didn't know where they stood at the time. They all knew it was just company and sex for a few days then they'd be dropped for a new pair of legs.

Despite this though, I was a bit surprised that the sheer number of angry women didn't intimidate me more. I figured with all the pretty girls constantly throwing themselves at him, I would be more insecure and worried, about our relationship. Especially since I knew he had such a high body count, with nothing filtering the girls besides their attractiveness and how willing they were to put out. That meant about 85 percent of the female population at this school could qualify, and for all I know, they all took their chances.

However, knowing that he chose me, over all these other girls, did help with my nerves. Plus knowing that I was the only girl to have him as a boyfriend and not just a one-night stand, or the flavor of the week, fueled me with confidence. I knew he really liked me which was more than anyone else could say.

I trusted him, which was something my mom, and many angry girls said was going to be my downfall. They were wrong though, they didn't know him like I did, they didn't see the guy who just wanted to be more than what others saw him as. More than what he saw himself as.

All they saw was the Ace that used to boost cars, and could only be found in Irby's bar every weekend, drinking and playing pool with his buddies. They knew the angry teen that felt he had to fight, and install fear in most everyone, to prove a point. They didn't see the real him though, the man behind the mask of anger and frustration. He just needed a chance to prove himself.

I was sure that this was one thing I would definitely not regret in my life. My thoughts were interrupted by a few loud honks coming from somewhere close by in the parking lot. I smiled when I pinpointed the noise assaulting my ears was coming from a well-loved black convertible, with a rather handsome blonde occupying its driver seat.

I walked on over to the car and slid into the passenger side pulling my jacket a little closer around me to keep out the biting chill.

"Hello, my ever-annoying Johnny." I greeted him placing a hand to his shoulder, and I faced him in the car.

"You dig it, and what did I tell you about calling me that?" He asked leaning over and raising an eyebrow. I smiled, plucking the toothpick out from between his teeth, and placing a kiss to his lips.

"You love it." I said smugly with a grin after breaking the quick kiss. He grinned back at me and shrugged in acceptance, before pulling out of the school parking lot and driving off.

"So, what's the occasion?" I asked as we drove off heading immediately out of town. We went for drives often this past month, but usually he didn't come back to school to pick me up for them. I would walk to Wheeler's and sit off to the side, chatting with him while he worked. After waiting for him to get off we would spend some time together driving around town. He has been working later and later lately, so him actually coming by to pick me up was pretty much unheard of.

"I got some news." Ace said, taking a sip from his coke. I looked over at him, he did look like he was a bit on edge, so I should have figured something was up. John was extraordinary at keeping a poker face, his body movements were always smooth, and purposeful, but his eyes, they told me everything. To many I was sure they wouldn't even notice a difference, but I could see that they were a smidge wider and held an almost bouncing emotion to them.

"What happened?" I asked, looking around at our surroundings to see that we were heading to "our" spot, so Ace could park. I waited patiently for an answer, as he slowed to a stop and put the car in park on the hill overlooking the small river below. I scooted over to the left to sit a little closer to him, as he turned his body to face me.

He gave me that poker face for a good few seconds, as he knew the suspense ate at me, but soon broke out into a grin, unable to contain himself for too much longer.

"Dave Wheeler has expanded, he bought out another garage in Riverbend. It's about 40 or so miles away from here." He started. I nodded, not quite sure why that was so exciting.

"He said he wants me to run it for him."

I squealed happily and nearly jumped in his lap to give him a big hug.

"That's great! I knew you were going to get out of here Ace." I cheered.

"We are getting out of here; you are coming with me." He said with some finality, wrapping an arm around me to keep me close.

"There is a small living space attached to the garage, it isn't much but I figured it wouldn't be so bad starting out together."

I looked at him a bit surprised, wondering if he understood exactly what he was asking of me.

"I want you there with me." He said leaving no room for doubt.

I tried to will the happy tears away, I hated being so emotional sometimes.

"I want to be with you too, but I don't want it to make it so hard on you, having to drag me along."

"Stop that, I'm not dragging you along, I am sure you will get a scholarship, you're too smart not to. And if for some reason it doesn't happen right away, you will have a lot more opportunities there for a nice job. Until then I will be making enough to support us both." He explained firmly. His mind was set on this already.

I gave a short puff of a laugh, and he pushed a piece of hair out of my face.

"There is no trying to get out of it Princess, you are stuck with me." He said with a grin. I smiled back at him and snuggled up closer to his body.

"I really am proud of you John… sorry, Ace." I corrected, realizing my mistake. I did tease him earlier with that nickname, but I noticed that recently I kept slipping into calling him by his actual name rather than his self made nickname he demanded others to call him by.

"You can call me whatever you want." He said, rubbing a hand down my back. I smiled and laughed looking up at him.

"So I can keep calling you Johnny?" I teased.

"Don't push it."

I giggled some more, and pressed my face into the crook of his neck, as we embraced.

"I can't wait to get out of here. I don't know how you made it a whole 18 years in this town." I mumbled into his shoulder.

"Your folks still giving you a hard time?" He asked.

"They haven't kicked me out yet, but they also haven't said a word to me since our last fight a month ago. I think they are pretty set on just pretending I don't exist." I sighed, playing with a few pieces of hair on the nape of his neck.

"That's enough of that depressing stuff now. We should be celebrating, you got a job set up after you graduate, and you will definitely accomplish that, I got a peak of your current Semester grades." I said with a proud smile directed up at him. Words really can't express how proud I was of this man, he was passing every one of his classes, and so thoroughly impressed his boss that he is now going to run a shop of his own.

He also managed not to get into any major fights in the last month as well. A few scraps here and there, since he insists he has to keep up his reputation, but nothing so bad that it jeopardizes his chances of getting the hell out of here.

"I'm only passing because of you." He said running a hand up and down my arm.

"That's not true, you are pretty smart, you just need the motivation."

"Well if it wasn't for you riding my ass all the time, it wouldn't get done." He insisted, with a smirk. I slapped his shoulder lightly sitting back looking up at him with a pout.

"I don't ride your ass all the time." I whined. He laughed, leaning in to place a peck to my lips. Then leaned in fully to continually give me little kisses, every kiss lasting a little longer than the last.

"Your right you do have other methods of "motivation", that I enjoy more." He said with a grin, while I was catching my breath. I gave him a look as if to say 'behave', but then shrugged grabbing the collar of his coat.

"I enjoy them more too." I admitted, pulling him in for another round. At some point I moved myself to fully be straddling his lap while we kissed. It was a bit cramped in the car, compared to our usual spot; his couch while taking a break from whatever homework we were working on.

We continued to do a bit of homework together after school. We both knew that we could easily get it done in school, like we have before, but we liked the excuse to meet up with each other for a couple hours after school if we didn't want to just drive around.

I was starting to come home with dark marks on my neck and shoulders, that I just knew my mom has spotted on at least one occasion. She of course was sticking to her vow to ignore me, but I did quite enjoy the look on her face when she saw the first few.

Unlike what she may be thinking though, we haven't gone too far just yet. Make out sessions usually just included long feverish kisses, and over the clothes petting. Occasionally though we kick it up a notch with some grinding, and I have let his hand travel under my top and bra a few times now.

This was my first serious relationship, and I know for a fact that it is his as well, and so we didn't want to screw anything up by rushing in. Though I had to admit, many times if he tried to take it that extra step further, I would go with it. It scared me a bit, knowing how much I like him. I knew what could happen if we did decide to go "all the way", even if we were being careful.

Yet I was feeling too comfortable with that risk in such a short amount of time. Luckily for me Ace has decidedly wanted to play it a little safer as well with what we do. This made me know even more he was the right choice for me, when I was weak, he stayed strong knowing that it was for the best, for both of us. It did work the other way around though, I tried my best to be the voice of reason, when he was ready to give in.

Even though we made it an unspoken vow to hold off a little longer before we took that step into our relationship, we still made up for it in the more heated moments we had with one another. I was never bored or unsatisfied when spending time with my self-proclaimed cobra.

It did help though, that we found many other creative ways to get through some of our frustrations. It may result in dark hickies littering my skin, or his, but we weren't going to ruin our chances to graduate and get out of this stupid town at least.

We separated after a while when the chill was becoming too strong to ignore.

"Come on, your lips are going to turn blue if we stay out here any longer. I will take you to the diner to eat, how bout that for a celebration?" Ace said helping me move off his lap, and back into my own seat.

"Sounds great." I said beaming at him, as I held my jacket closed to try and steal a bit more warmth from the garment. John turned the heat on full blast as we made our way back into town to grab some food. I was feeling high off the joy in that moment, and the hope for our futures.

We were getting out of here, no doubts about it now, and as long as my mom can handle being in the same house with me for a few more months, it should be a smooth transition to that time of freedom.

We arrived at the diner in record time, and soon found a quiet booth by a large window, to look out onto the chilly streets. It wasn't too busy, and we were able to order food and have it sitting at our table within 15 minutes.

I listened in closely to Ace's plans on what to do with this new garage. He won't be able to take it over till after graduation, so Dave will be setting up for business during these next few months. During that time, Ace will be working a bit more hours at the shop, but he assured me I could come over still after school and even on the weekends so we can have some time together still.

He planned to work there as the manager under Wheeler for a few years until he was possibly able to own a shop of his own.

"Who knows maybe I can specialize in track cars." He said, shoving another bite full into his mouth. I was smiling at him the entire time, just watching as he went on and on about possibly working on the racing cars on the side for extra cash and if he got good enough he could start making a business out of it.

He really just seemed high on life, something that severely lacked in this town.

"What are you staring at?" He asked. I finally realized I was hardly touching any of my food.

"Just you, I've never seen you so excited about something before. It's nice." I admitted, throwing a fry into my mouth.

"You're finally living life, and to think you're so excited about the struggle of having a job, and making ends meet. Not about making as much money as fast as you can, by any means necessary." I continued, taking a sip from my coke.

"I never really wanted to make quick cash by stealing, and hustling. I didn't think there was any other way I could do it, this town made it pretty damn clear I wasn't going to amount to nothing." He growled, taking larger bites from his burger.

"Well, you proved them wrong didn't you. I was told those things too you know, granted not by this town, but back in Valence when my mom was married to the Ass, he used to tell me how stupid, ugly, and worthless I was daily." I explained, thinking back to all those long dark years.

"Some people just need to project their own thoughts about themselves onto others to make themselves feel better." I said with a short laugh, continuing with my meal.

"Sounds like my old man." He mumbled. I looked up from my food to see he had a rather distressed expression on his face, that didn't match the rest of his movement.

"What's wrong?" I asked, wiping my fingers off on a napkin. He took a while to answer, but finally he set his burger down on his plate.

"What if I still end up just like him? Despite all the effort you and I put in, what if it is just fate to end up like your parents."

I slipped out of my side of the booth, and slid up next to him, moving my arm to intertwine with his own.

"You won't." I assured him.

"How do you know for sure?" He asked coldly, not directed towards me, he just was clearly upset.

"Because you're NOT him. The men like your father, and my mom's ex, they are angry at the world, and had no ambition to be anything in life." I explained, patting his arm.

"You didn't want to be just some hood, your life not being any more than slipping in and out of jail. You decided you wanted a fair shot at making an honest living, and most importantly you took the steps to accomplish that. People who end up like your dad just don't do that." I assured him once more, leaning my head over to catch his gaze, rather than let him stare at his plate of food.

"Besides I for one do not believe in fate. You make your own fate Merrill, some things you can't control, but there is still plenty that you can. And just because something is harder for you than others to accomplish doesn't mean it's impossible. It just means you got to want it enough to work a little harder for it." I explained, as I watched his expression. His eyes moved around my face before narrowing slightly in thought.

"Are you sure you're only 18?" He asked.

I smiled and shook my head at him giving him a pat to his chest. "I'm just an expert motivator is all." I giggled out, unlocking our arms so I can lean over the table and drag my plate across so I can finish my meal by his side.

"It's more than that." He said determined, but about what exactly, I wasn't sure. I shrugged picking off another fry from my plate, not bothering to ask him what he was thinking, I was sure he wouldn't tell me anyway.

We finished our meal on a more lighthearted note, mostly just enjoying each other's company, and stealing food off each other's plate. We stayed in the booth and chatted a little while longer after we both finished eating, not wanting to leave the other's company, but I knew eventually he'd have to drop me off at home.

Once it started to dim with the sun setting, we knew our time was up and it was time for me to go home. I dragged my feet to his car, and slowly slipped in wanting to drag out our time together just a little while longer. We drove in relative silence, listening to the radio, and Ace driving under the speed limit for once, to stretch out the time, which I was thankful for. It was inevitable though, soon he was parked right in front of my house and I stared at the front door sadly.

"I love you."

I snapped my head over to look at the blonde with large surprised eyes.

"We've only been dating for a month." I reasoned softly, my heart pounding so loud I can hear it in my ears.

"Doesn't matter. I knew I wanted you when I first saw you, and I have decided I'm going to have you, till we are old and useless."

John was always so odd, he said it as if it was just fact, and in a way that showed very little emotion. Yet the words were so important, meaningful, and I knew he meant them. It was his way of keeping himself safe. Saying things in such a way made him feel like he wasn't putting his heart on the line. I broke into a smile, trying to will my eyes not to water from the pure joy I felt, knowing I'd never hear the end of it.

"I love you to John." I whispered leaning over and giving him a soft, heartfelt kiss. He took over as soon as our lips met, but the kiss stayed genuine, while his hand ran across my cheek and through my hair. For just a moment I forgot how cold it was outside, and how my mom could possibly be watching from a window, fuming. For that moment, there was no venomous girls waiting to tear me apart at school tomorrow, nor angry abusive parents trying to manipulate me into their little doll, or tear John down even further.

There was just John and I, in this perfect little scene. Sitting there in that moment was when I just knew that we would be okay, and that we would stick it all out together. I knew many would think it's too early to tell, but I just knew he was going to be my husband someday, and that we were going to stick this little thing called life out, together.

No matter what came our way we were going to fight it off together. Whether it be small minded people, bankruptcy, life altering mistakes, we were going to get through it together.