Chapter Text
Nancy knew that Ace was attractive. He had that floppy blond hair and cute smile, but his affable personality was disarming that she often forgot how muscular he was. It’s not that she hadn’t noticed, but she tried not to think of him that way. He was a friend. In her head, she had two categories of boys—her friends and fuck buddies. She wasn’t very good at the boyfriend think not since her not-mom died nearly two years ago. She had firmly placed Ace in the friends category and not in the other which meant she tried to put his disarming good looks out of her head. But, that didn’t mean she was blind and it didn’t mean she took to kindly to other people noticing.
The first time, it bothered her. A group of girls from her high school came into the claw. They were short a bus boy, so Ace was wiping down several tables behind them.
“Oh my god, who is the hottie?”
“I don’t know but he certainly is yum.”
Nancy stared the group down and said, “Can I help you?”
The red-head shook her head and said, “Yeah, call him over?”
Nancy rolled her eyes.
“He’s busy, bussing the tables.”
The brunette placed her hands on her chin and sighed, “I wish he were our waiter.”
Nancy blinked with annoyance and found herself smacking the gum she was chewing. “Well, you’ll have to settle for me.”
“Is he like your boyfriend or something?”One of the girls asked. “You seem mad.”
“I’m not mad,”Nancy said firmly.
She took the order and slapped on the counter for the cook. Ace came in carrying dirty dishes and rags and placed them in the sink. Nancy snuck a quick peak at his behind and then quickly looked away.
“Stop checking out Ace’s ass and get back to work!”George hollared.
Ace turned around quickly. “What?”
“She’s imagining things. I was not checking out anything.”
George placed her hands on her hips and said, “Oh! Please I see you sneaking little looks at him. Not really my type. But, this is why I don’t like him out front. He’s a distraction.”
Ace pointed a finger at himself and said, “Are you talking about me or someone else? I think you have me mistaken for someone else?
George rolled her eyes. “Oh stop, with the false modesty.”
Ace shook his head and went back to washing the dishes.
It’s not that Nancy didn’t know he was good looking, but she was just so protective of what they had and every-time sex got involved she managed to ruin it or they died. With her track record, she’d get hurt or hurt him and she was unwilling for either to happen. So, she preferred to admire him from afar. But, that didn’t stop her from being annoyed when others pointed out the obvious. But, sometimes, she couldn’t help but look at him. There was this one time when he was bringing in some boxes from the storage room and he only had a white tshirt on and those arms of his were flexing. She leaned against the counter and watched him as he placed the boxes down and started to put the new dishes in the dishwasher.
“Psst, Nancy. This is a place of business and not a house of pleasure. Get to work!”
“Shh!”
“Oh please!”George said as she rolled her eyes. Ace turned around and wondered what the two of them were fighting about again.
“Come on! You two are always fighting.”
“We’re not fighting. I have a business to run and she is a lazy employee who is taking our friendship for granted.”
Ace pulled the two girls towards him. “Group hug.”
George looked uncomfortable while Nancy let out a small breath. He smelled good too.
“She’s right. I have to get back to work.”
Ace looked perplexed, “Did I do something wrong?”
“No, you were just you.”
*********
The tension was getting to her. Nancy was tired of pretending she didn’t find Ace attractive and his perpetual cluelessness made it worse. Nick and George watched the two play their little mating game with amusement. Well, more Nick than George.
“I’m tired of this. They just need to bang already so maybe things would get done around here.”
Nick looked at her with smirk. “You know then it will only make things worse.”
“It’s better than her wasting all her time mooning over him,”George said.
“We barely have customers. You know if they did something they’d just start randomly disappearing if you catch my drift.”
George punched him on the arm. Nick looked down at her with smirk and grabbed her hand and led her into their office. He locked the door and pushed her against the doorframe. He started kissing her neck and she immediately started purring like small kitten. “Stop. We’re at work.”
He let her go and said, “Okay.”
She reached for him and said, “Oh no you don’t” George pulled him into a kiss.
*****
Nancy was in the middle of changing her clothes when Ace walked in and immediately turned around. “I’m sorry, I didn’t, um...”
Nancy quickly put her tshirt on and walked over to Ace, “You can turn around now.”
He was so adorable when he would stammer that she found herself unconsciously licking her lips.
Oh the hell with it
She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer to her, so that she could feel his breath on her. Nancy could feel his heart beating and said, “One kiss. I need to get this out of my system.”
“Just one?”he said with raised eyebrows.
“Oh shut up!”she said before kissing him. His hands found her waist and he pulled her even closer. Ace deepened the kiss and ran his finger tips under the hem of her tshirt. Before she knew it, he had her pinned against the lockers and she knew that one kiss would definitely not be enough.
TBC