The whites of Ace’s knuckles matched with the sickly color of his lips as his fists clenched beside him. He had begun to thrash about violently as if he were throwing punches at someone Lee couldn’t see. The mumbling had grown into audible words now. “No,” he was muttering, “No, no!”
It was a dream- a nightmare, Lee finally concluded and her hands sprang back to his neck. “Ace you need to wake up!” she was pleading.
His head flopped around back and forth and the rolling of his eyes had grown out of control. His muttering was now a scream: “No! Don’t! Stop!”
“Ace!” Lee shrieked. She was growing terrified now. He had never mentioned to her that he had nightmares. Maybe for supernaturals it was different? What if this sort of thing was to go on of hours? What if Ace was never going to wake?
She was shaking him as hard as she could now, yet the dream clung to him like tar. Lee’s heartbeat was pounding in her ears and for a moment drowned out the sound of his screaming. She shut her eyes hoping that maybe this wasn’t his nightmare, it was hers and she was the one that needed to be woken.
“Lee!”
The sound of her name tore her eyes open and she felt his sweaty embrace before she had time to register that Ace was sitting up. He was awake and without hesitation her own arms went around him with relief. His hot breath stung her chest as his face buried against her shirt. For a moment, Lee blushed realizing where he had set his mouth.
Before she could pull away, he had yanked her down beside him and suddenly his lips were intertwined with hers. The thought of kissing him back had just popped into her mind when Ace pulled away completely.
“Woah, what happened?” he asked. His voice seemed abnormally casual for someone who had just awoken from a nightmare. He glanced down at his cloths only to confirm what his skin was telling him; he was laired in cold sweat. His hand sprung to his chest so he could still feel the racing of his heart. “What happened?” he asked again, this time full of curiosity. “I fall asleep in a hotel room and wake up drenched in sweat and kissing you… or were you kissing me?” He asked smiling weakly.
“You were having a nightmare.” Lee whispered quietly.
Ace raised one of his perfectly shaped brows. “I was?”
It was Lee’s turn to be surprised, “Don’t you remember? You were thrashing around; you nearly gave me a heart attack I was so scared!”
A frown appeared on Ace’s face as he made to wipe away a fine lair of forehead sweat. “Wow. That’s… unusual. I honestly don’t remember anything, Lee.” He made a face as he racked his brain, “Are you sure I was? Because I feel wonderful right now, well aside from the sweat.”
“Positive,” she said. Her large eyes studied him with worry and finally she leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You really scared me.” when she spoke, her chin dug into his shoulder.
He grasped back hesitantly since he didn’t want to contaminate her with his stench. “I’m sorry about that, Lee.” He whispered back. “But I’m fine now, Honestly.” He pulled back and gazed into her eyes just so she could see the truth when he said, “I promise.”
Lee swallowed then nodded. “Alright.” Her lips met his and they held for a moment before she began to smile.
Ace felt her lips curve up and he pulled away to flash a smile of his own. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” she answered, “I just wanted to say good morning.”
Ace glanced back at the clock on the night stand. It read 5:45. He couldn’t believe that he had been asleep straight for over twelve hours. Maybe that’s why he felt far more energized than he had in a long time. “Well good morning to you too.” He smiled, “I don’t suppose you’re going to want to sleep in for just a bit longer.”
Lee shook her head. “Nope, I’m ready to find some answers.”
Answers. That’s right; that’s why Ace was in Hawaii in the first place. But for some overpowering reason, he didn’t want to hunt them. Not that day anyway. “I have a better idea.”
Lee couldn’t hide the stunned expression for her face and she pulled her arms off his neck. “You do?”
“We’re in Hawaii,” he began. “Why don’t we take advantage of that? Let’s go to the beach, Lee. Just you and me.”
Lee’s stunned and quizzical expression remained the same.
“Trust me Lee,” he coaxed, “It’ll be fun. The beaches here are nothing like the ones in Tarrillian.”
“They don’t smell like fish guts?” she asked with a light giggle.
Ace grinned, “That’s what I’m told.”
Lee’s eyes glistened as she considered his proposal. “Alright. If that’s what you want to do.”
“It is.” The way he said it made it sound like he was confirming it with himself then shimmied from his bed and set his cold feet on the floor. “I’m going to take a shower.” He announced.
Lee hopped up, “Alright, and I think I’ll grab some breakfast.” She rubbed her stomach, “I didn’t eat anything last night. I fell asleep right after you did.”
Ace climbed to his feet and glanced over her head at his reflection. It was revolting to see that there wasn’t a single dry spot on his shirt and he would have flung it off immediately if he was confident about Lee seeing him shirtless. “I smell disgusting.” He muttered.
Lee hadn’t noticed until he mentioned it. Yet she couldn’t agree. For some reason she wasn’t repulsed by his sweat. To her, he smelt more like morning dew and for some strange reason she found it attractive. “Take your shower then.” She replied as Ace hobbled over to his duffle bag and began rummaging for that day’s attire. “Do you want me to bring you anything?”
“Sure,” he replied, “Bring me whatever; I really don’t care what I eat.”
Lee giggled, “I’ll bring back cotton candy and licorice sticks then.” She joked as she found her way to the door.
Ace chuckled as he blew a kiss, and that was the last thing Lee saw before the door shut behind her.
The hallway was remarkably active for being so early in the morning and when she glanced over the railing into the lobby below, she saw that there was a bustling crowd beginning to form around the breakfast buffet line. Down the hall, the elevator doors were just closing and she squeezed herself in before the ding. Once on the ground floor, Lee grabbed a tray and joined the line of early tourists.
A shelf of bagels, an assortment of fresh fruit later and Lee was back in her room. Ace was still in the shower and she couldn’t help but to snicker at his singing. She set down the food in the kitchenette and picked at some grapes as she changed from her pajamas to a pair of capris and a t-shirt. Finally after finishing a bagel, Lee proceeded to brush her teeth.
Her mouth was ringed with foam in seconds and from the bathroom she heard the shower stop raining. She spat the fluoride in the sink and rinsed it out with water. The bristles of the brush ran against her tongue and she heard the bathroom door creak open. When Ace stepped out, he was sporting a dark blue baseball T with a set of neon colored swim trunks but that wasn’t what made her laugh.
Ace turned at the sound of her half choking- half giggling as she gagged over the sink. “What?” he asked.
Lee rinsed the foam from her mouth before gazing up at him. “What are you wearing?”
Ace pointed to the top of his head where a white hotel towel sat expertly wrapped around his hair. He looked like a fortune teller and his visage only conveyed a look of amused confusion. “The shampoo bottle said I should do this.”
“You read that too?” she exclaimed. She remembered seeing a note inscribed above the ingredients saying something along the lines of: If you want extra healthy hair, tie it up in a towel for an hour after bathing!
Ace nodded then tore the towel from his head.
“Ace, leave it up!” Lee pleaded, “You look adorable.”
“No!” he exclaimed back, “You’re laughing at me.”
Lee held her breath, “Ok, fine, I’ll stop.” She managed to keep q
uiet for a few seconds before she spat out another laugh and had to turn around.
Ace just stood there frowning and performed a skit about a sad child slicing his wrists. It was DH’s signature move, and for the first time Ace found an appropriate time to perform it. “Was the buffet line crowded?” he asked plucking at a crumbling muffin.
“You know actually it was.” Remarked Lee leaning against the sink as Ace continued to empty the plate. “Maybe they were like us and slept so much that they just had to wake up.”
After Ace finished eating, he brushed his teeth as then shoved the room key in Lee’s shoulder bag before departing from the hotel. By the time they stepped out, the Hawaiian sunrise had painted the sky with contrasting shades of pink and blue. Lee still hadn’t grown used to the fact that she wasn’t in Tarrillian City anymore. The morning climate wasn’t a muggy chill, but a refreshing breeze. Even the streets and the skyline were different. Pedestrians didn’t infest the sidewalks like they did in Tarrillian. Instead, only handfuls of individuals sprinkled the scene each of them either wearing tourist attire or beach clothing. No matter how hard she searched, she couldn’t find a suit and tie anywhere.
She watched as Ace called a cab, and even that was weird. In Tarrillian, the moment one held their hand out for a taxi, yellow cars flocked instantly. But there on the side of a Honolulu street, it took a while before a cab pulled up.
“What are you doing?” asked Lee. “The beach is right across the street.”
Ace dropped his hand and stared across the nearly vacant avenue. He eyed the strip of sand and crashing ocean between surf shops as if something wasn’t making any sense. Lee finally took his hand and began leading him in that direction, but his feet remained planted.
“What?” she asked mid-step.
Ace’s expression remained unchanged. He stared blankly out at the beach only steps away as if he couldn’t hear anything Lee was saying. “I don’t…” he finally began, “I’m not sure why, but I don’t want to go to that beach…” his voice faded as his eyes stared blankly at the crashing waves.
Finally a taxi stopped right in front of him and honked to get his attention. Instead of glancing at the cabbie, Ace locked his eyes to Lee. “Sunset Beach,” he finally uttered, “I’ve got a feelgfing we should go to Sunset Beach.”
Lee stifled a laugh, “You’ve got a feeling?” First he woke up with a nightmare. Then instead of leaving that day to find answers, he insisted on going to the beach. As Lee stood there holding to his gaze, she couldn’t help but feel that maybe the nightmare and this beach idea were somehow connected. But that was silly. What supernatural event had the power to connect two irreverent points?
“Yes.” Ace replied as the cabbie honked again. “I’m putting my faith in this feeling and I want to know if you’ll come with me.”
Lee shook her head and shrugged at the same time. “Yes, Ace, I’m coming.” Before Lee could reach the car, Ace had opened the car door and slid down beside her. He told the cabbie where they wanted to go, and the driver replied with, “It’s a forty five minute drive.”
“Is that why you have a movie playing in the back seat?” Lee asked.
The driver flipped his car around and began heading north. “They aren’t movies,” the man corrected, “They’re advertisements. I find them annoying actually since I have to listen to them all day.”
“Can’t you just turn them off?” Asked Ace.
“I wish.” The driver grumbled. “The only way to turn them off is by turning the car itself off.”
Lee nestled down beside Ace and kept her eyes glued to the commercials. She watched as they flashed several beautiful images of the island along with hotel lobbies and erupting volcanoes. It wasn’t until the seventh or eighth commercial that Lee finally caught a glimpse of Heleow. She stiffened as her eyes remained glued to the silver towers. They reflected the Hawaiian sky so well that the city almost appeared invisible. Her ears strained as the narrator advertised its new beaches and marvelous hotels. Finally at the conclusion of the add, Lee glanced up at Ace.
He smiled, “We’ll go tomorrow. But today it should just be about you and me.”
“I don’t mind that.” She whispered back. Her cheek buried against the soft cotton of his shirt and once more the commercials were ticking the time away.
~Shouts of excited surfers and children with plastic shovels infested the beach. For something that seemed so remote, Sunset Beach was abnormally packed. So many towels and sunbathing tourists covered the warm white sand that several times, Lee and Ace had to weave themselves into the shallow water to avoid stepping over someone. Even the sky was dominated by tourism. Kites and presales drifted off shore as seagulls hung dangerously low ready to snatch up the first lonely sandwich.
As another wave dampened the hem of Lee’s pants, she glanced up shore at the deep green forest blanketing the mountains blocking out any sign of civilization aside from the small stretch of highway just through the palm trees.
“But I have a boy’s name!” she was saying, “That’s not attractive at all!” Lee couldn’t remember how they even got on that subject. It didn’t matter. One of the things she loved about Ace was that they could talk about anything.
Ace couldn’t help but to chuckle and tighten his grip on her hand. “Lee is a name that can be used for both genders.”
For the second time in that kooky conversation Lee set her face with disgust. “But it’s so gross! Like, even the spelling is icky! L-E-E, how boring is that?”
Ace clicked his tongue as he sidestepped a child sprinting up the shore with a boogie board over his head. “You have a point. Three letter names are seriously boring.”
Lee’s lips pursed together, “Okay, well I only have two different letters in my name so, I just one upped you… or downed, since two is less than three. Whatever.”
From the corner of her eyes she saw Ace shake his head as an amused twinkle remained in his eyes. Slowly she turned to look up at him. The warm white sun lightened his eyes so that they were some bluish hue in-between the color of his shirt and the sky. When their eyes met, Lee felt that familiar tugging in her gut. The kind that only Ace could make her feel; the kind that was usually followed up with a faint blush and she pulled her eyes away to set them on the cluster of mountain boulders along their path before her cheeks flared. “Since I am an orphan,” she continued, “Technically, I guess I don’t have a spelling to my name. It could be L-E-I-G-H for all I know. Or L-E-E-E.”
Ace chuckled, “L-E cubed.”
“Ha!” Lee exclaimed slapping her knee reflexively. Silently she blamed DH for the habit as she said, “I get it! It’s like a math term but with spelling. That’s a good one; you’re very clever, Ace.”
“Anything for you, angel.” He mentioned. Lee didn’t have to look up to see him smiling.
She smiled back. “Yet you don’t even call me by my name.”
Ace shrugged beside her as he replied, “I don’t even think it matters. You’re you. What’s in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
“You just quoted Shakespeare!” Lee exclaimed blushing all the way to her toes. “And we’re having a long walk on the beach! You’re so romantic!” Lee stopped walking so that she could throw her arms around him tightly. “I love you, Ace, why do you have to be the best thing that’s ever happened to me?”
Ace stroked her hair, “I ask myself that about you every day.”
Lee blushed. Ace wasn’t sure what was going through her mind, but what he did know was that watching her cheeks burn red was one of the most adorable things about her. It was so nice to be alone with her. For a moment he forgot about everything that had been bothering him for the past several months because in that moment she was beautiful. She was like a precious jewel; a million times more valuable than anything he could ever deserve. But she was right there with her arms wrapped around him, and she was in love.
He swallowed hard and tucked some of her silvery
hair behind her ear. Slowly Ace leaned in and closed his eyes before his lips touched hers. The feeling of her lips on his was gentle and soft. She was so gentle with her movements that her kisses felt like clouds. But Ace didn’t want subtle, at the moment. His chest felt as if it had been set on fire and he pressed his lips hungrily against hers. He was just about to scoop her up in his arms when Lee pulled away with an uneasy giggle.
“Not here.” She muttered and her face was pink all over. “There’s a lot of people around.”
“I don’t care.” Ace answered quickly, even though he knew he should. Hundreds and hundreds of eyes were probably staring at them at that moment.
As Ace sighed, Lee felt his breath against her face. No words escaped him as his fingers descended from her cheeks until they were once more holding hands. With a slight tug, he was leading her back down the tourist infested beach.
“What do you think your real name is?” He asked trying to ignore the fact that he was a little irritated that Lee didn’t want to kiss him.
This was always a reoccurring topic since neither of them knew their true identities. “I don’t know.” she confessed, “I don’t even think I have one since I’m an orphan.”
Ace nodded, “Understandable.” He muttered with a grunt.
As they walked along the waterline, Lee didn’t have to look up to see that Ace’s eyes were folded unhappily. For a moment she nibbled on her lip and wondered if pulling away from his embrace so hastily was the reason he was suddenly in a bad mood. She should have asked him about it but she knew she would have felt embarrassed for bringing it up.
Quickly, she thought of the silliest thing she could say that would make him laugh. “But like, what if our lives were being written down in some book? Then the author would have to constantly be writing out our real names!” she exclaimed.The moment the idea left her lips she knew it was a silly one. But it was the first thing she could think of that it could never come off as bitter.
And it worked. Ace chucked as he collided his face with the palm of his hand. “Wow Lee. You are so silly sometimes I don’t even know what to do with you.”
The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural Page 15