“So,” Ace sighed out as he pressed his lips together and stretched his legs out, suddenly feeling a whole lot better than he was since the incident. Even though Penelope was annoying to him, he still appreciated it. “Why didn’t you participate for the alpha position?” he asked and she smiled softly as she glanced down at her fingers.
“I don’t like transforming. It’s kind of painful.” She nodded her head slowly as she glanced up at him.
“You would rather annoy someone else, huh?” he asked with a small grin to which she rolled her eyes to and sighed out.
“Luckily my annoyance helps people like you.” She chuckled as she stood up, standing in the water.
“Unfortunately.” He nodded before raising his foot to her back while she faced the other side, reaching down for some fish. He pushed his foot forward though not too forcefully and shoved her forward, causing her to fall into the water on all fours. Her clothes soak and pat of her hair that the water splashes over, leaving just a small dry spot at the very top of her head.
Ace laughed out as he watched her shocked and taken aback gaze as she remained in that position for a while. She glanced over her shoulder, only to watch as he grinned from all the laughter, getting her to smile a little as she knew she had finally made him a little happier.
She got up to her feet and cupped her hands together under the water and splashing out at him getting him to laugh out even more as he used his hands to shield himself from the water.
“Don’t start a fight you know you won’t win!” he grinned as he stood up as well and ran towards her, before she could turn and run, he grabbed her leg and threw it into the air, getting her to fall back into the water. Completely drenching herself in it. She gasped at the coldness running up her spine and into her hair as she sat in the water. She noticed him turning to run from her and she did the same, grabbed his leg and pulled it to her, getting him to fall forward and into the water as well. She burst out laughing as she watched him land face first into the water.
“Say that to yourself, tough guy.” She giggled out as he sat up and glared playfully at her, getting her to smirk. “Oh, is that a challenging glare, Mr. Rogue? Do you wish to challenge the goddess to a water fight?”
“The goddess of water fights, huh?” Ace raised his brows in question, though his smirk never left his lips. “I doubt that.”
“Oh I’ll show you!” she hissed with a chuckle as she got up from the water and leaped for him, he quickly moved aside, getting her to land into the water once more. He burst out laughing as her face was fully into the water with her hair spreading all over the surface. He got up, attempting to get away when he slipped on a moldy rock and fell back, getting her to glance over her shoulder in surprise as she sat up. They both glanced at each other, completely taken aback and burst out laughing uncontrollably.
Ace’s laugh slowly died down as a smile spread across his face, enjoying the joy he once had since forever, he felt like a kid again, the only time he had ever felt happy and complete, with the two friends he spent his entire life time with. He sighed out slowly as he shifted his gaze from the water to Penelope who was now staring up at the sky with a small smile on her pink tinted lips, while letting the water slowly run down her fair skin and soaked hair, back into the river.
For a moment, Ace could tell that Penelope was also trapped somewhere somehow. The look on her face as she stared up at the sky could very well tell what she was going through, almost as though she was relieved of something she had to do.
“Are you only here because you had to make me feel better?” Ace asked as he sat in the water, staring at her. She didn’t glance towards him, instead, she shut her eyes and enjoyed the soft kisses from the sun shining above her.
“I like you, Ace.” She whispered as she opened her eyes, but kept her gaze to the sky as he took in a sharp breath while his heart skipped a beat from surprise. “As a friend, I mean.” She chuckled as she slowly glanced at him. “You seem like someone I’d like to be around. That’s all.” She shrugged her shoulders and brought her knees to her chest as she stared off at the water. “Hope was all I had. I was so connected to her, together with Harley. Even though they were always together, they would talk to me because they didn’t have their love life sorted out. Now that they have each other and they are complete, we won’t be as close as we used to be. They’ll all be busy with their love lives.”
“Why don’t you have a mate yet?” he asked as he stared at her with furrowed brows. Knowing too well she wasn’t too young and in fact not far from Hope. But somehow, she was never around a man, better yet, she was still living in her parent’s home, alone. “You aren’t…. bad looking, you’re pretty, you’re annoying, yes, but you’re a nice person. It’s hard to believe no one thought about you.”
“It’s only because I’m not looking for anyone.” She smiled forcedly as she met his eyes. “And I won’t. For a long time.”
“Why?” he asked as he noticed her clench her fingers onto her knees and looked away from him. “Did something happen?”
“No.” she chuckled forcedly, getting him to frown deeply as she stood up from the water. “Come on, let’s head back, I need to change out of these-.”
“Why are you doing this?” Ace asked as he stood up as well and watched as she turned and stepped out of the water and onto the dry ground. “I told you mine, isn’t it fair I help fix you too?”
“I don’t need fixing, Ace.” She frowned as she stared at him. “I already told you mine. About Harley.”
“But I know there’s something else-.”
“Let it slide, Ace.” She sighed as she gathered the plate and milk jag she had carried earlier. “I’m fine.” She smiled out and nodded her head towards the path back to the pack. “Hurry up, it’s getting colder by the second.” She chuckled and turned, walking back up the slope. Ace frowned but followed right behind her, staring down at her drenched back as she began to hum and bob her head here and there, just to shake off Ace’s suspicion and make it seem okay.
Though there was no fooling Ace, he knew there was something else bothering her.
He wanted to find out.