Counting Down with You

by Tashie Bhuiyan

  “I don’t want to hear it!” Samir says, hopping out, but there’s laughter in his voice. Ace looks similarly amused. The interaction makes my stomach twist with sudden awareness.

  Not for the first time, it hits me.

  Even knowing I shouldn’t, I have feelings for Ace. Feelings that are nearly brimming over the edges.

  “Karina, if you want to go with them you can,” Ace says, holding open the door for me.

  I shake my head. “I’ll come with you.”

  The smile I receive in return causes my heartbeat to stutter.

  Ace parks the car a few blocks away. Before we walk back, he takes off his coat and tosses it in the back seat. For the first time, I see the dark shape on his wrist clearly.

  “Is that a tattoo?” I ask, reaching for him without thinking.

  Ace nods, presenting his arm. The solar system is tattooed neatly across his inner wrist, the planets in shades of black and white. It’s a simple design, not meant to be flashy. It fits him perfectly.

  “I got it on my sixteenth birthday. I had to forge a note from my dad and drive to New Jersey, but it was worth it.”

  My jaw drops. “You did what? How are you still alive?”

  “He doesn’t know yet,” Ace says, a mischievous glint in his eye. “I usually wear a watch over it.”

  “You’re ridiculous.” I shake my head. “I hope for your sake that he never finds out.”

  “What’s the worst that can happen if he does?” Ace asks, shrugging. “I’ll be fine. It’s not like I got a tramp stamp.”

  Right. Our situations are different. Even as I learn more about him, Ace remains an oddity to me, someone bold and defiant. Things that I can’t help but be drawn to, even as they leave me reeling.

  I have a better understanding of him than I did before, but there are still some things I can’t put my finger on. Mysteries yet to be unraveled. I still don’t even know why he asked to be tutored, much less why he orchestrated the fake dating situation. I understand parts of it, but the rest is muddled.

  After watching him in the car with Samir, a firm resolve has taken place. A conversation sits on the tip of my tongue, and with two blocks between us and the bowling alley, I’m tempted to give in.

  In light of my discussion with Fatima, it’ll be good to know all the facts. If this is something I’m going to take a chance on, if this is something I have to put everything at risk for at some point in the future, I need to know it’s worth it. I need to know with absolute certainty that this isn’t just a passing amusement for Ace. Not when it’s growing to mean so much to me. “Why did you arrange this?”

  Unsurprisingly, Ace isn’t following my random train of thought. “Huh?”

  “The tutoring thing,” I say, biting my lip. “And the whole fake relationship thing.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I shrug, even as my brain buzzes, my leg bounces, my fingers tremble. “Everyone knows your reputation. I’ve seen it myself. You don’t care about school, and you definitely don’t care about your classmates. Why bother studying for English? And why bring me home, where you’d have to explain the situation to your dad? I just don’t get it, I guess.”

  Ace falters, running a hand through his hair. The world moves in slow motion as he turns toward me. “I brought you home because I felt bad about missing our first session and I wanted to make up for lost time. But after Xander came into my room while we were studying, I knew he’d catch on inevitably. The only explanation I could think of for us spending so much time together was dating. And I wanted to keep spending time with you. I still do.” He swallows, his throat shifting. “In retrospect, I should have warned you before making that announcement during dinner. It was wrong of me. I’m sorry.”

  I blink, attempting to process that. “Okay, but...the rumors...”

  “There are a lot of rumors about me.” There’s a short pause. “But I’m here with you right now, aren’t I?”

  “Yeah,” I say, my throat impossibly dry. “But why? And why me? Miss Cannon told me she tried tutoring you first. What happened?”

  Ace looks at me, pressing his lips together. “I couldn’t focus,” he admits. “She wasn’t holding my attention, and I wasn’t learning anything. But with you, it’s different. I... I see parts of myself in you, Karina. I know you can see parts of yourself in me, too. I think your heart runs as wild as mine and that’s why this works. It’s why you keep trying, even when anyone else would have already given up. You see me.”

  “Do I?” I peer up at him through my eyelashes.

  Ace takes a step forward and I take an uncertain step back, causing him to smile faintly. “You do. Maybe that means you’re foolish and reckless, but that’s what I like about you. The spark you keep inside here.” He taps once above my heart before his hand drifts up, his palm resting against my neck. “In your heart.”

  “How do I keep from going up in flames?” I ask, the words hoarse. My own hand drifts up to graze his, my fingers brushing against the back of his knuckles. He’s so close. Too close. We’re in broad daylight, and Ace is only inches away, his skin touching mine. None of this feels real.

  “You don’t,” he says, his thumb skimming along my jaw. “Become a blaze.”

  I take another step back and inhale sharply when my back hits a brick wall. “Next you’re going to call me an inferno. I’m a fool for indulging you, aren’t I?”

  He shakes his head and leans closer, our noses brushing. “You’re a lot of things, but not a fool.”

  I laugh, nervous, breathless, afraid, hopeful. “Then what am I?”

  He smiles. “You’re a lionheart.”

  I let out a shaky breath. “Maybe I’m a foolish lionheart then.”

  Ace’s gaze drops to my lips and my heart thuds painfully in my chest, too hard and too fast. “Yeah. My foolish lionheart.”

  “There you guys are!” Samir’s voice calls, startling both of us. My head knocks against the wall and I wince, both at the sudden ache and the fact that I got so caught up in the moment I lost all sense of my surroundings. Ace’s hand immediately comes up to caress the back of my scalp, his fingers cool against the sore spot, but I gently push him away. “Mia sent me to make sure you didn’t get lost.”

  Ace takes a step back, his fingers running through my hair. Samir is standing at the end of the street, his eyes flickering between us.

  “We’re not lost,” I say swiftly, gathering my wits and walking forward. Somehow, my heart is beating even faster. Samir is staring at me, a question in his eyes, and I quicken my pace, reaching out to grab his wrist with shaking fingers. “Please don’t say anything. Please.”

  Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

  Samir blinks at me, his gaze darting over to Ace before returning to me. His lips curve, a smug expression overtaking his features. “I was right. You do have a crush.”

  “Samir,” I say, my voice cracking. “You promised. Please.”

  Ace catches up, and I let go of Samir’s wrist but keep staring at my brother desperately.

  “Are you all right?” Ace asks me, eyebrows furrowed.

  “Yes.” I swallow. “Right, Samir?”

  My brother nods after an achingly slow moment. “Yeah.”

  Ace frowns but after observing my expression, he doesn’t push. “I guess we’d better head inside before Mia has a conniption then.”

  “Yeah, let’s go,” I say and squeeze Samir’s shoulder, the material of his shirt clenched between my fingers. “We’ll talk more about this later, okay?”

  My brother nods again, expression pensive, but my worry doesn’t dissipate. Ace tugs gently on a strand of my hair, and I jolt, realizing I haven’t moved.

  “Right, let’s go,” I say, walking ahead of both of them.

  Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, on
e.

  31

  T-MINUS 15 DAYS

  The inside of the bowling alley is a shock of loud voices matched with loud music, and it takes a few blinks for me to take in my surroundings. Little kids are running back and forth, parents are laughing together in the common area, and teenagers are shrieking in protest while bright strobe lights flicker overhead. It’s utter chaos and distracts me from the disquiet tearing up my chest.

  Ace laughs at the expression on my face and leads me to the counter, where Mia hands us two pairs of shoes. In response to the confusion on my face, she nods toward Samir. “He told us your shoe size.”

  I look at my brother, but he’s already moving toward the bowling lane, grinning. My shoe size isn’t the kind of thing I ever expected him to know. Maybe...maybe everything will be okay. I just have to pull him aside and explain everything as soon as I have the chance. My brother is a lot of things, but malicious isn’t one of them.

  Some of my anxiety eases, and I take a deep breath, counting down over and over until my pulse returns to normal.

  Mia and Daniela head to get some snacks and I sit down and slip on my bowling shoes. When Samir goes for a bathroom break, I almost follow him so we can talk, but he disappears too quickly.

  I groan and resign myself to doing it later. Hopefully our promise will keep him from doing anything stupid before then.

  A few minutes later, Samir runs up to us holding a sparkly pink bowling ball. “I found the perfect ball! Let’s do this!”

  I squint at him. He seems unbothered by our earlier conversation, more focused on the game than anything else. I wish I could let things roll off me that easily.

  I turn my attention back to Ace, who’s fiddling with the touch screen in the front of the table. When Mia and Daniela return, I realize I shouldn’t have left Ace in charge, since he put me in as the first player.

  With a sigh, I walk over to the lane, testing the weight of a ball in my hands. “For the record, I suck at this.”

  Ace does nothing but chuckle in response.

  “I’m serious,” I say, but now he’s grinning. His smile is like a punch to the heart, and my ribs are becoming steadily bruised.

  “Give it a try,” he says. “I promise I won’t laugh.”

  I roll my eyes but look back at the lane. There’s a smile on my own lips, slipping free without my permission. Still, I know it’ll be a miracle if I knock down even one pin. Giving me a ten-pound piece of plastic that I have to throw down a lane is like asking me to do rocket science.

  I take a deep breath and swing my arm back and forth before letting go. My eyes track the ball’s trajectory nervously. As anyone could have predicted, it makes to hit one of the pins but skids to the side at the last second, falling straight into the gutter.

  I sigh, shaking my head. “Why does this always happen to me?”

  “It’s not that bad,” Ace says. His hand is covering his mouth, and I don’t have to see behind his fingers to know he’s smirking.

  I glare halfheartedly and retrieve my ball from where the machine spit it back out.

  When my ball goes into the gutter a second time, I plop down in the seat next to Samir and mutter, “This game is stupid.”

  “Sore loser,” my brother says, grinning at me. I huff and stomp on his foot, but I doubt he can feel it through the bowling shoe.

  Ace laughs and stands up, cracking his back and knuckles. He holds out a fist toward my brother and they fist bump.

  “Gross,” I say, more for the sake of saying it than anything else.

  Ace sticks his tongue out at me like a child before strolling over to the lane, grabbing a red ball on the way. He studies the pins before swinging his arm back, and the bowling ball rolls steadily down the lane. My jaw drops as it hits dead center, knocking down all the pins in one easy motion.

  Of course. He’s gorgeous, sweet, and he can hit a strike on his first try.

  Ace winks at me, holding his arms out. “It’s just simple physics, sweetie.”

  “Simple phy—” I cut myself off and take a deep breath when I notice Mia and Daniela are giggling.

  “You two are so silly,” Mia says fondly. “We’re here to have fun. It’s just a game.”

  “That’s because you’re going to lose,” Samir says without missing a beat. He’s almost bursting with hyperactive energy. “Guys are just better at bowling.”

  I flick Samir’s ear. “Stop being misogynistic.”

  “I’m not!” Samir protests. “Is it my fault you and Ma suck at bowling?”

  I give him an unimpressed look. “Don’t make me call you an Uber.”

  Samir immediately mimes zipping his lips.

  Mia just looks amused. “We’ll see how much better you really are. Want to bet ten dollars?”

  After they shake on it, Mia lines up for her shot. When she hits a strike, I cheer loudly, pumping my fist.

  “It’s a fluke,” Samir says dismissively.

  I glance at Ace and he shakes his head. “Your poor brother,” he whispers. “I’d never bet against Mia.”

  Daniela takes her shot next and hits eight of the pins in one go. She hits the remaining two in her second shot.

  Samir only manages to hit nine pins during his turn. A look of horror is spreading across his face.

  I’m feeling a similar sense of dread. I’m definitely the weakest player here, which means I’m going to bring down the girls’ side.

  I’m lining up to swing when fingers brush my arm, stopping me. I freeze before I realize it’s Ace, whose hands are reaching down to press against mine.

  I glance at Samir, but he’s arguing with Mia again, showing her something on his phone.

  “You’re holding it wrong,” Ace says, lips brushing my ear. I try not to shiver at the touch, my attention falling back to him.

  When Ace uses his body to maneuver my own, I move easily, even though I think my hands might be shaking. I’m pliant as he turns me the way he pleases and then pulls my hand back.

  “Now let go,” he says, giving my hand a gentle push. I do as instructed. I’m so busy keeping myself from freaking out that when the ball hits the pins, I jump at the sound.

  I focus in time to see all the pins fall over and I stare with wide eyes. “No. Way.”

  Ace laughs in my ear and pulls away. Almost instantly, I miss the feeling of his lean body against mine before realizing what a stupid thought that is.

  “Ace! What the hell, dude? Whose team are you on?” Samir asks in disbelief. I look back at my brother, searching his expression nervously, but apparently he’s more concerned with the competition than...whatever Ace and I were doing. “It’s guys versus girls!”

  “Nah, dude,” Ace says. “It’s you versus Mia and Dani. Your sister and I are on our own team. Right, Karina?”

  I tug at my collar, trying not to blush. I hope my brother doesn’t read into that, either. “Right.”

  “You guys suck,” Samir says and thankfully turns all his attention toward Mia. “Their scores don’t count then.”

  “Fine by me,” Mia says, grinning a toothy smile. “You’re going down, Rafiq.”

  The next hour is more fun than I expect. Ace’s laughter is like music in my ears, and his smile greets me at every turn. I’m starting to worry I might be more besotted than I’m supposed to be for the two weeks we’ve known each other. If this were a movie, there would probably be literal hearts shooting out of my eyes every time I looked at him.

  I think there might be hearts shooting out of his eyes too, though.

  At the end of the game, Mia and Daniela average their scores and beat Samir, to no one’s surprise except my brother’s.

  “Girls rule, boys drool,” I say jokingly.

  “Ace does drool every time he looks at you,” Mia says. “But you’re pretty, so I guess it makes sense. What do yo
u think, Dani?”

  “She’s gorgeous,” Daniela agrees before turning to Mia, playing with one of her curls. “I can’t wait for us to be sisters-in-law. We’re all going to have such cute little babies.”

  I nearly choke on air, and Ace has to pat me on the back. I glance at Samir to make sure he didn’t hear that, but he’s too busy frowning at the scoreboard, which is a huge relief.

  Except then he turns to us, his brows climbing into his hairline. Oh no.

  Ten, nine, eight, seven—

  “I think we can all agree I’ll be having the cutest babies of us all. Look at this face.” Samir gestures. “Unparalleled beauty.”

  I stare at him, eyes wide. Is that it? That’s his only comment?

  “Let’s move on,” Ace says, offering me a bottle of water. I take a sip, but I can’t stop looking at Samir. He meets my eyes and offers me an awful wink that does nothing to settle the nerves playing ping-pong in my stomach.

  I promised, he mouths.

  I stare at him for one more beat, trying to comprehend what that means. Is...is this okay? Is he going to keep all of this to himself? Am I safe?

  “I’ll return our bowling shoes,” Samir says, looking away from me and hooking his fingers into his pair. “Be right back.”

  I watch him go, breathing a little easier. Maybe this really is okay. I’ve been so paranoid, so certain Samir would slip up, but maybe I underestimated him.

  Next to me, Ace asks, “Santos, I heard you hit ten thousand followers on Instagram?”

  I tune back in to their conversation and see Daniela smile bashfully. “I did. It’s so weird that people like my photography that much.”

  “You should take our prom photos,” Ace says, gesturing to me. I flush, unable to meet anyone’s eyes. “Can I get a brother-in-law discount?”

  “No, but Karina can get a sister-in-law discount,” Mia says, slinging an arm around Daniela’s shoulders and smiling broadly at her. “You know, I should get some credit for your new wave of followers. I’m pretty sure half of them are there to see the pictures you take of me. You’re so lucky to have such an inspiring muse.”