*Bang!!! Bang!!!*
"Open the door Ace, I know you are in there."
"Go Away!!!!" Ace replied with frustration and groaned, leaning back on his chair. Rolling the sleeves higher on his arms of his black shirt, he started to get up, his jacket hanging on the chair. Not moving in the direction, but just the opposite, towards the huge glass windows.
Outside laid the view with tall leafy trees, waving from one side to another. The wind could only be seen by violent movement but not felt. A small smile played on Ace's lips as he raised his gaze up at the sky and admired the cloudy day.
His smile grew wider as the sky got darker and he slowly placed his palm against the glass window.
"Maybe I will like living here" he muttered to himself. Suddenly the window shook with the bang on the door.
"Don't tell me you are still playing that stupid game, I told you about" he could feel the annoyance in Noah's voice. He rolled his eyes and turned around.
Moving like a relaxed panter, he covered the large distance from the window to the door in a swift movement.
He turned the knob and didn't even wait to hear a word, before planting himself back on his chair.
What he was not prepared for was the sound of another pair of footsteps entering the door, rushing towards him and jumping upon him.
"Dude!!!! Boundaries" Ace chuckled and scolded with a face of mock anger. Deep down he was happy to see his high school homie.
Without missing a single beat, the bulky man standing beside Noah huddled both Ace and Noah in a group hug. It looked like they haven't met for years when the truth was they have only been separated for three months.
After Ace's parent's sudden death and his departure, Xander wasn't able to bid a proper goodbye to his high school buddy. By the time he could ask Ace if he was okay, Ace had flown back to his hometown.
"Okay, so this is how I am going to die" Ace joked and immediately was patted on his back by a very angry Xander.
While Ace has a slender body which helped him to move quickly and with a charm, Noah was quite athletic and preferred spending his time playing basketball. Which made him a little taller than Ace, but the grace of Ace's walk would not let any eye turn to anyone else than him. Xander compared to them was a little bulkier being a weightlifter.
As soon as Xander released both of them, Ace coughed a little and slowly found his breath again.
"Hey Buddy, what's that cut?" Xander's finger signaled to the cut on Ace's lip which went pretty deep.
"Did that loser, Ty, hit you hard?" Xander's face turned to a shade of red as if he remembered a bad memory.
Ace raised his head, his finger on their own falling on his lips. He didn't know if it was okay to tell his friend about the fight he had the night before. He smiled and shook his head.
Xander was already picking up a kit and his large hands on Ace's shoulder making him sit down.
Noah had turned on the television and was changing channels.
Ace groaned again as Xander started applying cotton covered with a tonic to this face.
Ace's gaze landed on a faded blue mark under Xander's eyes and he raised his fingers examining it. He looked directly into Xander's eyes and asked, "Who did this to you?"
"Stop playing Ace, or I am gonna jam this cotton in your eyes"
"Okay, Mom" Ace raised his hands and laughed.
*Buzz Buzz*
"For the love of Lucifer, would you please answer that" Noah screamed in irritation hearing the buzzing for the hundredth time.
Xander looked at Ace and Ace just waved his hand.
"You know it's just for the sole purpose of making a girl think that I am serious about her. When you give her your number, she believes you" Ace smirked not moving an inch towards the phone.
Xander knew that things have changed for his friend, he never knew Ace would change this much.
"Also the fact that my bro knows that no girl can love him more than me," Noah said with his eyes still on the screen.
Noah cleared his throat and kept talking.
"While you are near the side table, have a look at that uni pamphlet. You should know a little about the classes you are in" Noah whispered, aware of the fact that it might turn off his bestie's mood.
Ace picked up the pamphlet kept on the side table and started turning the pages.
"So how did you get hurt?" He asked Xander while looking through the schedule.
"Ty's gang jumped on me after you left. But you know your boi could take a bunch of losers easily." Xander replied with a big proud smile.
Throwing the pamphlet on the bed, Ace looked back outside the window. Still weighing his option on why to stay.
The house was the same, his room was the same. But recently most of the things from his room had been cleared out. He didn't want any childhood memories. He might have not been here for years when he studied in another country, but his room was always kept the same by his mother. It was almost like magic. His toys, video games, tennis racket, books, comics everything kept almost as new.
He would always ask his mother how she was able to do it if she has a little spell with her. She would lay his head in her lap and brush his brown messed up hair, slightly patting his head with furrowed eyebrows.
"You have to start taking care of things now, Ace. Look..Look at your hair, it looks like you combed them last year." Still brushing his hair, his mom would finally smile and say, "Yes it's magic, soon I will tell you about the main ingredient."
"Come on mom, tell me" He would keep insisting making his Mom smile.
"Ace...Ace...brother you here with us?" Ace shook his head and looked at Noah waving his hand.
"No wonder girls get frustrated with us as we tend to get lost in our thoughts" Xander spoke lying on the bed now.
"I need to go out tonight." Ace realized he needed a break, a distraction.
"Well, there is a party on your new campus tonight. We could go there"
"Noooo, I want to sleep homie" Xander yawned with his eyes almost closed.
"I want to play!" Ace looked at Noah and Noah completely understood what he meant.
"Ready to play, Ready to score," They both said in unison and started laughing out loud.
"Hopefully you will find what you are looking for," Noah said as Ace picked up his jacket, and quietly left the room with Noah.