Chapter 10
Ace
Gary drops me off at the curb of Brower Center, the student union building for Dickson University, and then pulls away to find a place to park and hang out while I do my thing.
I say thank you and see you soon because I’m not an impolite fuck, but I have to admit, with the text that just came in from my best friend—and recent LOML—Julia Brooks after asking her what her plans are for today, I don’t have much space to handle anything else.
Julia: At the swim club with Drew, actually. You should come meet us when you get done on campus! Did your peer counselor say why she wanted to meet and go over your schedule again? I only had to meet with mine once.
Since the failed party initiative at my parents’ place, Julia’s gone on another date with the fuckbag and hung out with him and his fuckbag friends twice, including today.
I’m annoyed, but I’m also optimistic since starting the next phase of my plan.
Now that I’m balls deep in trying to make my best friend fall in love with me, I’m putting everything I can into action that will paint me in the best light possible and keep me close to Julia.
I wouldn’t say I have my plan all plotted out into a bullet-point list, but I know it’s multifaceted and I know it’s in motion.
Creative inspiration takes time to prove that you’re a responsible, trustworthy, perfect, love-worthy man.
And whenever that inspiration strikes, I’m grabbing it with both hands and running with it.
Trust me, it hasn’t been easy being very supportive of Julia’s new dating status, but I’m doing it as a keystone of security.
Close is the place to be, even if I’m secretly the enemy.
I’ve smiled, I’ve congratulated, I’ve checked in and done it often.
And I’ve held back the urge to ask Gunnar to help me kidnap Drew mafia-style, put cinder blocks on his ankles, and toss him in the Hudson.
I hate knowing she’s spending five percent of her time with someone else—but ninety-five percent has still been with me. She texts and calls when she’s with him, and we haven’t fought or needed the fifteen-minute rule at all.
I am Zen. I am steady. I am everything she needs and then some.
Me: Sounds good babe. I dunno she wasn’t specific but I’ll meet you there when I’m done
I stroll through the food court and grab a quick bite of oatmeal—this level of sleuthing requires fueling—and when I realize I’ve only got two minutes until meeting start time, I head back out of the cafeteria in the direction of my peer counselor’s office.
I’m excited.
In opposition to what I told Julia, I am the one who asked for this meeting, and I did so with purpose. It’s all a part of the plan, of course—oof.
Like two concrete walls being slammed into each other, I run into a body with the force of my distraction. I push back gently, ready to apologize for having my head too far in Julia’s ass to pay attention, but the voice that greets me is a sound for sore ears.
“Hey, Ace.”
“Holy shit, everybody, it’s Blake Boden!
” I yell dramatically, cupping my hands around my mouth to fashion a makeshift megaphone.
Blake blushes, and I get my jollies. I fucking love how bashful he is about being a football star.
Not to mention, it feels like this bastard has been avoiding me since final exams were over in May.
“How’s it going, man? You’re up and about pretty early. ”
“Me?” he questions, glancing at me and then at the bustling people behind me and back again.
“What about you? What are you doing on campus this morning?” He’s right to be suspicious, though I don’t appreciate the distrust to my vision.
If Blake should know anything at all about me by now, it’s that I always have a plan and a reason. Always.
“I have a meeting with my peer counselor in a little bit to go over my schedule for the fall. I’m planning to make some changes to my original plan, so I wanted to get ahead of the game.”
“Changes? You switching majors or something?”
I laugh. Majors. This fucking kid with his “societal norms” and shit. “Oh. No. I’m putting myself in a position to be in every single one of Julia’s classes, that’s all.”
His face is a mask of both judgment and appreciation, and I revel in both. I don’t hide from my ways—I embrace them. The only thing I haven’t quite mastered yet is how to confront Julia, but that has more to do with positioning myself away from failure than embarrassment.
“Ah. I see we’re still coming to terms with the Julia thing.”
“Oh no. I’ve come to terms. The thing is, she doesn’t even know the terms exist, and all these fuckers all over this campus sure as shit don’t either. No way in hell I’m letting some preppy kid with bad breath scoop her out from under me before I have the chance to convince her to love me back.”
Blake nods and chuckles. “Well, as long as you’re handling it reasonably.”
“Reasonable is my middle name, bro.”
“Of course.”
“What are you doing? Grabbing breakfast?” I ask. He’s been keeping to himself this summer, despite our constant pestering. I know he’s been busy with football, but I also have to make sure he’s not just bullshitting me. Nobody avoids Ace Kelly and gets away with it.
“Yeah,” he agrees easily, nodding toward the buffet line behind me. “Grabbing something quick so I can chill a little before practice.”
I jerk up my chin and hold out a hand for him to shake.
It’s nice catching up, but I’ve got an appointment to get to upstairs posthaste.
“All right. Well, hit me up later. I think we’re all going to get together and do something.
Feels like we’ve barely gotten to see you this summer, you’ve been so busy acting like you’re a fucking football savant or some shit. ”
Blake laughs. “I’ll see what I get into later and let you know.”
“Fine. But you have to at least come to Fourth of July with us,” I insist, pointing a finger in his chest. “We’re all going to Finn’s uncle’s lake house.
It’s a big Winslow family tradition that now includes the Hayeses, my crazy-ass parents, and Julia’s mom and dad.
Despite the parental units being there, I swear it’ll be a good time. ”
“I’ll see if I can make it, but it sounds as if it has potential,” Blake replies with a sexy hotshot wink. He plays the humble part well, but underneath it all, he’s a cocky little shit like the rest of us, I know it.
“Potential?” I scoff. “It’s going to be a good fucking time, Golden Boy.
My dad and Gunnar went out and bought a shit-ton of fireworks.
Your ass needs to be there, bro… Anyway, I gotta run.
I’ll catch you later.” I slap him on the back and run toward the stairwell by the door.
A quick glance at my watch reveals I’m two minutes late, which isn’t exactly the best start when you’re trying to talk people into shit they aren’t technically allowed to do.
My phone buzzes in my hand, and worried it might be Julia, I open the screen to read the message and climb the stairs all at once.
It’s not Jules, though; it’s Finn. And while I do read what he has to say, I put off responding until I’m out of this fucking meeting. He should know by now that friendship with me is meant to be a roller coaster of highs and lows of fun.
Finn: I really will kill you if you don’t stop signing me up for subscriptions I don’t want. Fucking jam? What about me makes it look like I’m a jam guy, Ace?
Tucking my phone into my pocket, I scoot up to the receptionist inside the poor counseling office and engage my smile.
“Hi, there. Ace Kelly here to meet with Mrs. Patreetus. So sorry I’m a couple minutes late.
I ran into my good friend Blake Boden downstairs and didn’t want to be rude by not saying hello. ”
I name-drop Blake like a celebrity in Hollywood, and I do it without an ounce of shame. Around Dickson’s campus, he is an enigma.
The receptionist meets my eyes, her smile growing when I throw her a wink, and then scoots her chair back to guide me down the hall. “Right this way. I’ll show you to her office.”
Mrs. Patreetus is mid-chew on a hot dog the size of Gary’s Escalade when receptionist girl opens the door and leads me inside.
A dollop of mustard falls on her sleeveless sweater, and she wipes it away with a dry napkin and a bun-filled, awkward smile.
It’s a little weird that she’s eating a footlong this early in the morning, but a little weird is my love language.
The tension in my shoulders leaves, my objective more in reach than ever.
Me and Mrs. Patreetus are about to get down. I can feel it.
“Welp, what brings you in today, Ace? Feeling nervous about your schedule? Thinking about picking a major? I know it’s a big decision, but—” She launches in, setting aside the jumbo dog and pulling her laptop to the center of her desk to get it fired up.
I don’t bury the lede—I know now I don’t need to. Clearly, Mrs. Patreetus can swallow it. Plus, I’ve got a fluffing pool where Julia’s currently unsupervised in a bikini with a bunch of fuckbags to get to.
“I’m here to change all my classes.”
Her eyebrows draw together. “Change…all your classes? Did you pick something that has some different requirements?”
“Oh yeah. I picked something different, all right.” I pull the crumpled piece of notebook paper from my pocket and smooth it down on the table between us. “These are the ones I need to be in.”
“Calculus 2? Physics? Psych 201?” She shakes her head. “Ace, these are some pretty tough classes. I thought at our last meeting we decided to steer clear of advanced math and stick with something more fitting of a communications major?”
“Yeah, well, I changed my mind. I want to challenge myself. Really lean into my education and stuff. I mean, why else am I here, you know?”
“I don’t know that you’re qualified to move on to Calc 2—”
“Mrs. Patreetus, please. I’m begging you. I can’t…” I bite my knuckles. “I can’t quite explain the shift in my mind-set in detail, but I can tell you with certainty I’m dedicated to this.”
She doesn’t quite take the bait, so I keep going.
“I’m going to give it my all. I’m going to seek help when I need it.” From Julia as often as possible. “I’m going to dedicate my life to these classes…” And making the girl in all of them fall in love with me.
“This is quite the big challenge, Ace,” Mrs. Patreetus says. “But I don’t know if this is a good plan. I’m not so sure it’s setting you up for success.”
Shit. It’s time to really lay it on—thicker than the mustard that’s currently sitting on her footlong.
“Mrs. Patreetus, you know, I really appreciate that your goals revolve around setting me up for success. I can’t tell you how much that means to me,” I say and avert my eyes for a long moment, my gaze a little hesitant, a little shy, a little Hollywood Oscar-worthy.
“I don’t have a lot of people in my life who do that for me.
It makes me feel really comfortable around you, Cynthia. Do you mind if I call you Cynthia?”
“Uh. I—”
“My dad owns Kelly Financial,” I cut her off on purpose.
“One of the biggest investment and accounting firms on Wall Street these days. It’s quite big shoes to fill, you know?
” I sigh. “Of course you know. You’ve clearly worked your way up to success.
Yours is the kind of job that you have to be incredibly qualified for.
And I guess, in a way, when I first started here at Dickson, I was afraid to challenge myself.
Afraid of failure because of how high my father has set the bar.
But making decisions out of fear is never a good idea, you know? ”
She lifts one shoulder in acknowledgment. “You’re right, Ace. Fear can be a big deterrent in reaching your full potential.”
“And that’s all I want to do, Cynthia.” I smile at her, really smile at her in a way that begs and pleads but also slowly pulls her into my web.
“I want to reach my full potential. I want to create my own path. I want to step out of the shadows of my father’s big fat feet and be the best version of Ace Kelly I can be. ”
She’s nodding along with me now.
“And when I set my mind to something, Cynthia? Well, there’s not much stopping me. It’s a familial trait. DNA coded. And I don’t think we should fight it. Do you?”
Cynthia stares at me for a long moment, before letting out a deep exhale of air and moving her focus back to her laptop screen. “Well, Ace, I can’t make any promises, but I can certainly try my best to get you in all the classes you want.”
Hell fucking yes.
“You’re the best, Cynthia.” I flash her my most charismatic smile. “See? This is why everyone on campus says that you’re the best counselor.”
“No one says that,” she responds, and a faint hint of a blush touches her cheeks.
“Trust me, Cynthia. Everyone says that.”
She smiles as she starts to work on updating my schedule, and I have a sneaking suspicion that my sweet Cynthia is buttered up enough to secure all the classes I need to solidify another phase of my plan to win Julia’s heart.