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When Nancy was twelve, all she thought about was solving mysteries. At that same age, many of her peers, on the other hand, started thinking about lipgloss and mascara and all the pretty, shimmery things that one could put on their face.
She was a bit of a late bloomer when it comes to all that stuff.
But she remembers one afternoon at the mall with her mother when Kate had applied a pink gloss on Nancy and Nancy had been memorized. It shone in the light and made her feel pretty in a different way. And, sure, Nancy would always focus on searching for clues above anything else, but she never forgot to pack a lip gloss with her flashlight and pocketknife from that moment on.
Nancy doesn’t remember it until afterwards, but when she does? She can’t stop thinking about it. It’s during the Grimathorne incident, the second time the group of them had lost their memories. Nancy and Ace had been standing in front of the whiteboard, going over all the notes while Bess was rifling through Nancy’s bag.
“Ohh,” the brunette pulled out a pink lipgloss. “This is such a pretty color.” Then she stood up and leaned into Nancy, applying a quick swipe.
Nancy didn’t even have a chance to react before Bess was pulling back and applying some on herself as well. “This looks great on us.”
And though Nancy doesn’t have her memory of life before this moment, she feels a rush of warmth and amusement for this girl who she is clearly close to. Bess practically skips away.
When Nancy turns back, Ace is staring at her mouth. He’s standing so close, and she realizes they’ve been standing that close the entire time and she had never even noticed—some natural state for them she guesses. But now she notices and now she feels some thrumming throughout her body, an undercurrent that she doesn’t think she’s ever felt before in her life. And, no, she may not remember her life before this moment, but she thinks she’d remember having felt this before. She knows she hasn’t.
Ace’s gaze remains on her lips for a moment longer before he meets her eyes. “She’s right. That lip gloss looks great on you.”
A shaky exhale leaves Nancy as she tries to give him a casual smile. “Thanks-thank you.”
He smiles back, and it calms her nerves while kicking her heart into overdrive. “You’re welcome. Nancy.”
She thinks he knows what he’s doing then, when he says her name like it’s his favorite word, when he leans in slightly closer to her. She thinks if they were alone in the room, she’d grab him and—
“Guys,” Nick calls. “I think I found something.”
The duo move away from each other, and Nancy can’t meet anyone's gaze as she rushes to Nick to find the notes. It’s all she can think about, though, up until the moment they erase their memories again. But her last thought—and this comes back later—is remember how Ace makes you feel.
And now, the night after defeating the Grimathorne, she remembers. It’s a fluke, she tells herself. Random chemistry that occurred right at that moment. She shakes her head as she gets into bed that night. No, she definitely does not feel that way about Ace.
But if she wears that same lipgloss that next day at work, knowing Ace is also working, well it doesn’t mean a thing. And if her stomach swoops every time she catches Ace staring at her lips throughout their shift? No. Does not mean a thing at all.
Except it does. It did, it always did. And she can’t deny it now, as she prepares herself to confess her feelings to Ace after her dreamscape, after the wraith, and her shaky hand applies that same lipgloss on herself.
She was right during that grimathorne incident, when she’d thought she’d never felt this way before. Ace makes her feel seen in a way she didn’t know was possible. Her parents have always understood her, but Ace knows her. He’s always noticing her, always paying attention, always exactly what she needs.
It starts an ache in her to know how much he cares for her, how he’s willing to drink poison for her, how he was the only one who knew when she wasn’t herself. He’s always trying, and not just with her, and she’s fallen completely for his earnest ways. She’s done trying to deny it to herself.
Nancy looks at herself in the mirror. Lipgloss—ever since her mother introduced it to her—has always been something just for her. But now, a little part of her is wearing it for him too. And she thinks that's okay. She wants to share parts of herself with him that she’s never given to anyone else before. Wearing lip gloss that she knows he can’t keep his eyes off of…well, a girls gotta use all the weapons in her arsenal. So she smiles at herself, nervous but excited, as she leaves to go tell him how she really feels.
Nancy isn’t thinking about anything when she puts the lipgloss on. Her mind has been blank for the past two hours, ever since her and her friends ended the curse that had been on her and Ace.
She thought that when this would happen that her and Ace would immediately—it doesn’t matter. It didn’t happen. Ace had seemed hesitant since breaking it, and Nancy isn’t sure why. But she’s going to find out.
She sits parked in her car outside his apartment complex as a heavy rain falls outside and she twists her lip gloss close. So she’s lying. A million thoughts are running through her head right now, and the gloss feels like good luck. Even though the last time she’d worn it for him he’d gone on a roadtrip with Amanda. This is different. She knows he feels the same now. She just doesn’t know why he’s acting like this.
Taking a quick, steadying breath, she gets out of her car and briskly walks to the complex door, but right before she opens it Ace walks out. For a moment they both stand there, staring starstruck at each other in the rain. Her heart swoops into his stomach as she sees him register her lip gloss with a quick quirk of his lips.
“I was just coming to see you,” Ace says softly.
She can’t help but smile. “I was just coming to see you.”
He takes a small step closer. “So we caught each other at the perfect time.”
How can she describe how he makes her feel? Like a lightning bolt is striking her and like she’s floating on a cloud. Like a blazing fire and a calm river. Like her favorite ice cream and the warmest cup of hot cocoa. He’s every contradiction, every good thing she’s ever known, and he’s warming her to her bones with just a look even though they’re standing outside in the pouring rain. And she’s tired of keeping it all bottled inside.
“I love you,” she smiles at him as she says it. “I love you and I’ve loved you for a long time now. And I know things have been a mess and it’s been really, really hard to get here, but you make me feel things I thought I’d already felt. But I was wrong. You changed everything when you walked into my life and I don’t ever want to go back to how things were. I don’t know why you’ve been avoiding me since we broke the curse, but I figure you have a good reason and either way I want to tell you that I love you.”
She doesn’t get to say anything else before Ace’s fingers are tangling in her curls and he’s tilting her head back and he’s kissing her. Nancy’s dreamt this so many times, and she thinks she was an idiot for believing any of those times. Because nothing could compare to what it really feels like to kiss Ace.
His lips are slightly chapped and the rainwater is soaking through her blazer and it’s perfect. It’s a kiss that could start the world over again. A kiss she could make a wish on. A kiss that is a wish.
When Ace pulls back he’s smiling at her and he’s looking at her like she’s his dream come true. She knows how he feels. “I wasn’t avoiding you,” he says. “I was just…we’ve tried to say this to each other so many times. And I wanted this time to be perfect. Not surrounded by people or in that creepy forest. I wanted it to be us. I wanted it to be perfect for you. Because I love you too. You changed everything for me too, Nancy.”
“Ace,” she presses herself closer to him. “It would have been right no matter how it happened. Because you’re the one for me, and this thing between us…it’s perfect to me.”
He brushed a wet strand of hair behind her ear. Then his smile grows slightly as he traces her bottom lip with his thumb. “I love that lip gloss.”
Nancy laughs. “I know you do.”
“Every time you’ve worn it, I’ve wanted to kiss you.”
“Every time I’ve worn it, I’ve wanted you to kiss me.”
“Guess we have a lot of catching up to do,” he brushes his lips against hers softly.
“Guess we do.”
And though Nancy was a late bloomer when it comes to make-up, she thinks she’ll be wearing this lipgloss every day from here on out.