Listening to Mandy lead the conversation back to his phone catching an opening, Ace sighed heavily crushing the empty soda can. Seeing her wait for his answer, maintaining a steady eye contact with a calm and composed expression, his gaze hardened as he leaned in and softly muttered, "Why can't you just let it go?"
"Why can't you just admit you were chatting with a girl?" With her eyebrow arched, her shoulders squared, and a subtle smirk on her lips, Mandy sharply retorted in a clear and steady voice.
"Fine, it was a girl, happy?" Ace admitted with his jaw clenched. Leaning heavily on the hard cedar, he rapped the crushed can against the railing, a frustrated exhale escaped his lips as he pondered, 'Mandy has a point, why was he avoiding telling her the truth? She was family, a trusted friend, he couldn't fathom why he went through the trouble of hiding it from her in the first place.'
