I—can explain.

Honestly, I can. Just give me some time so that you'll understand how Blake and I somehow ended up in the rooftop swimming pool of our hotel at one a.m. in the morning, skinny-dipping, and obviously, freezing.

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"Are you going to pay, or not?" The cashier finally snapped with a hardened expression. "This is a waste of my time," She snorted under her breath.

I did hear her however. And though it wasn't something I minded particularly (I mean, this isn't the first time someone told me I was a waste of space, Vicky did that very often), the ache came rather unprecedented.

"What's going on?" The other customer in the store, besides me, had come to pay for his purchase. I scrambled to make way for him.

"Yes this is Xander Jaxon."

"Xander! I-I mean, Mr. Jaxon. Yeah, uh—look, something went wrong with the contract that we're supposed to go through with the...the coordinators," I bowed apologetically to the cashier and the man.

She rolled her eyes, explaining that I had not paid for my purchase.

"Your point?" Xander asked bluntly.

I swallowed. "Er, sorry for the trouble but we need you to go through the contract and sign it again..."

"The whole thing? A hundred and fifty pages?" He sounded extremely displeased. This, of course, caused me much distress.

"Yes, yes sir. The...the whole thing."

"Whose brilliant plan is this?"

"Um," I almost choked, "mine sir. Sorry."

"When's the meeting with the coordinators?"

The man glanced at the ten-dollar bill in my hands. "One-fifty huh. That's not much. I can pay for him," He flashed a smile in my direction.

Woah. He looks really cute when he smiles.

"I uh," Distracted by the customer who offered to pay the rest for me, my tongue was tied. "Hours six. I mean, at six. I can push it to seven, actually."

"Progress?"

"We're..." I mouthed a thank you to the nice man, and the cashier rolled her eyes once more. "Uh, on the way to—I mean, we're almost done. A couple of pages left."

"Get it done in the next hour and I'll sign it. If it's the express, you'll still be able to make it in time."

Oh. He...he actually agreed.

"Got it sir, I mean, Mr. Jaxon. We'll send it over as soon as possible. Thank you so much for the advice and uh, really sorry for the inconvenience."

The cashier placed my items in a plastic bag and left it on the counter for me to retrieve, going back to her dear phone.

"Yes, you better be," Xander said over the phone, though he didn't sound too angry or too frustrated. Just a little impassive. And perhaps a little indifferent. "There won't be a next time, you hear me?"

I swallowed. "Yes. Yes Mr. Jaxon."

The man who paid for my hotdog leaned against the counter with a smile, waiting for my conversation to end as he helped me with my items.

Xander dropped the call almost instantly, but I wasn't a tad bit surprised. Rather, I found the man before me strangely nice.

"Hey, uh, sorry about that. And thanks," I laughed sheepishly, taking the plastic bag from his hands. "I really gotta think twice whenever I shop—this isn't the first time I don't have enough to pay up at the counter."

"Really?" He sounded fairly amused. His laugh was dorky but sincere as we left he convenience store together. "Though I'd say you wouldn't have to worry too much about that. I'm sure there'd be a ton of people willing to pay for you."

I was flattered, at first. But then I repeated the last sentence in my mind and it sounded awfully uncomfortable.

"O-Oh. Uh, you think so?" I smiled awkwardly, walking a little faster. "Thanks. I'll be heading off first, so—"

He grabbed me by my arm, and I legit panicked.

"What's your name?"

"Holy bananas you didn't have to grab my arm," I wriggled out of his grasp gently, still smiling, and still too awkward to say anything mean for fear that I would insult him. "My name's terrible. You wouldn't want to know it."

"Can't be as bad as mine," He shrugged, matching my pace as he walked beside me. I prayed that he wasn't going to follow me all the way to the hotel. "Connor Prince."

Connor?

Now that's what I call a red-light-name. Holy bananas I'm scared of Connors—I can't do this. Connor is such a no. I mean like, it literally spells danger.

And Prince? What sort of last name is that? I hope he didn't make that up.

"Oh, uh," I tried to keep a straight face. "It's fine. I mean, it sounds find. Connor is...nice. I'm Ace, and I must go."

Well, that escalated quickly—but whatever it was, before I could turn around and dash across the road into the hotel building, I bumped into something.

I squeaked an apology and looked up, only to see Blake staring down at me.

"Blake? Wait, what are you doing here?"

"You were taking a long time," He replied simply, glancing over my shoulder at the man behind. Connor, yes Connor was the man.

Wait. Blake was worried about me?

I thought he was so absorbed in the contract that he didn't even care.

"I was...having some trouble with the expenses but all is well!" I said quickly, trying to make subtle eye signals that were obviously-not-so-subtle to indicate my desire to leave. "Also, Janna managed to get Xander on the phone so I kinda explained the thing to him and he said to...you know, hurry up so I think we'd, haha, better get going!" I laughed awkwardly, and it was this that made Blake understand.

"Trust you to be able to smile in a time like this," He snapped, so that Connor could hear. "You still have fifteen pages to work on so get your ass back in the room."

Ah Blake, you're such a life saver I don't know what I'd do without—

"And don't even think about lunch till you've finished it."

Dammit.

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A/N: Oh dear this chapter was really long but I have absolutely no idea what to preview for the version here on Wattpad ;_; Just that Ace is, again, in an unfortunate situation as always. 

I have a feeling that second-hand embarrassment is going to be a common emotion whilst reading this book, partly because we all have the times when you go to the counter and just completely wonder why your wallet is suddenly empty or the fact that the ten-dollar bill from yesterday has suddenly gone missing because you spent it on some random snack the this morning and then you find that you regret every decision in your life and then you drop your wallet and your coins run everywhere including the drain and then everyone stares at the clumsy fool you are.

Yup.

That's life. 

Or at least that's me ;_;

-Cuppie.