"Are you okay? You seem like you're not here lately," Sierra asked.

Ace's brain was somewhere else, and he zoned back in, the smell of fries and plastic making his mouth water. He grabbed a fistful of fries from the large tray they were sharing and started munching and shaking his no. The entire tray was nothing but fries and a medley of ten different sauce packets, a sudden craving he had that Sierra joined in on.

She sat across from him, and grazed the palm of his free hand with one of her long nails, making it tingle, and he munched faster, oddly liking it and unsure why.

He swallowed.

"Gonna be honest, I'm nervous. I have a new job, and I met you," he admitted.

"Well, that's okay. It's normal to be nervous now and then," Sierra replied.

"Really?"
" I mean, yeah? Why not?"

She gave off a short laugh and held his hand, and he was surprised by the sudden confirmation that it was okay, nothing was wrong, and it was a normal day like any other. He looked around the mall, at the people, listened to the sound of the most popular songs from ten years ago playing over the food court speakerphone, and for the first time in a long time, Ace believed everything would be okay.

"You're not going to have any," Ace asked.

"I'm on a diet," Sierra lied.

She was hungry but too nervous to eat around the person she liked. They recently started dating, and she knew she was being silly, so she took a single fry and made an effort to chew while Acheus inhaled whatever was left of the french fries, his cravings finally fulfilled. With fat and salt coursing through his veins, he was prepared to take on his task for the day.

To get a pet.

Sierra suggested that he get a pet to help him deal with his anxiety because it wasn't healthy. They hadn't been dating for very long, but she could still tell something was wrong. She told him a pet would be a good alternative since he didn't want to talk about it.

And pets are the best at keeping secrets.

She held his hand while they walked through the sparsely populated mall on a Tuesday afternoon, a day they could finally find the time off to spend together. Sierra became increasingly bashful the longer she held his hand because everything was still fresh between them, and her mind was spinning until somehow they arrived at the pet store, and suddenly he let go of her hand to go look at the fish.

The glowing fish tanks were well-maintained, the insides with plenty of decorations, the tanks extra-large, and it was the biggest section in the pet store. Ace felt uncomfortable looking at all of them because they seemed to be watching him as he walked down the aisle. Sierra found him, standing in the sea of unblinking animals, and asked if he was alright.

"No. Don't you think it's weird they sell fish here when there are fish people on this planet," Ace whispered. "What if I buy one that can think?"

"Nope. They check them for higher sentience," Sierra confirmed.

Ace didn't believe it.

"They're watching us. They're listening," he said quietly. "They want me to take them home so they can get free rent."

"You sound paranoid. You need to stay off BookFace!"

"You might be right."

Sierra shook her head no, stuck her palm out, as if she was cleaning something dirty in the air, wiping it away, because she knew he was up to something again.

"Let's just go to the beach," Ace said. "We can—"

He quickly turned around toward one of the fish tanks and shouted, baring his teeth.

"Blagh!"

The entire aisle of fish started screaming, Sierra started screaming, and Ace was laughing up until they were kicked out of the store.

Sierra was trying hard to pretend that she thought what he did was wrong, but she wasn't very good at it. They were at Florentine Beach, on the boardwalk, eating popsicles and watching the eternal sunset, an improvement from the pet store.

"I can't take you anywhere. You can't act like a kid," Sierra said.

"I can take you everywhere," Ace replied. "I can show you the world."

He winked and teleported around various parts of the boardwalk, and Sierra laughed, encouraging his bad behavior. Whatever poor attempt at trying to get him to stop was gone and they spent the rest of the day kissing, eating overpriced food stall candy, and taking pictures of strange animals they found washed up on the shoreline. When it was time to go home, as they both had work the next day, it was bittersweet. With her head on his shoulder and the smell of her perfume mixed with the breeze, Ace started to trust someone once again, as he sat underneath the palm tree with her.

"Why did you come to Atlaan? You never really talk about your life before here," Sierra said.

"I... I don't know why. I just came to start over, " Ace replied. "But then when I came here, I didn't know what I wanted anymore."

She sat up, took the rubber band on her wrist off, and tied up her hair, now paying more attention to his words because he seemed to open up a bit more to her.

"What do you mean you don't know what you want?"

"I mean, what am I supposed to do," Ace asked.

He shrugged and looked around the beach as if the answer was out there and he never noticed.

She nodded and told him she felt the same.

"Maybe you're thinking too hard about things. But I understand feeling like I'm caught in the waves sometimes. School is over and now I'm an officer like I've always wanted, but now, I'm not sure what else to do," Sierra admitted. "I think I was in such a rush to become one that I never enjoyed getting there."

"I know what you mean, it was like when I went to that weird school," Ace replied.

He broke out in a weird grin and told her a few stories of his time at Slater Academy, but then faltered once he realized a few people he mentioned were gone, and he still spoke of them as if he saw them last week.

"Ever since I lost my dad I kind of felt like something is missing. I feel like there are a lot of pieces of me missing, but I feel like you're one of the few people I can talk about this with and not be judged," Ace said.

"Why would I judge you? Why would anyone?"

"I don't want anyone to think I'm a wimp...."

Sierra tried to playfully smack his arm, and Ace adeptly jerked to the side, and she missed completely. It was meant to be a joke, to cheer him up but somehow he seemed afraid of her and she didn't see what was wrong.

"You're being ridiculous. Why are you so afraid sometimes? I swear, sometimes when you look at me, it's as if you're seeing a ghost!"

Ace's stomach tightened, worried if his secret was revealed, that she had known all along what he had been trying to tell her. It was still early in their relationship, and if he told her now, maybe it wouldn't be so bad later on. That she looked like a certain someone, from her short height, long hair, and even the fancy nails she liked.

He brought Sierra in close and told himself that what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her and that it was all for the best. The fact that she looked like a certain someone meant absolutely nothing, and it was not something he should look too deeply into. The only thing he could sometimes feel was fear when he looked into Sierra's eyes, but he was also relieved about how she was so much nicer than her.

"I need you to keep me safe Officer Sena. There are ghosts and criminals in the area," Ace said.

"The only thing criminal here is your flirting skills," Sierra replied.

But she let him kiss her after pretending that she did not want to, even though there was no reason to be bashful, and she found more excuses to stay, even though she would be tired during her entire shift the next day. His horrible flirting skills somehow made her find him even more endearing than when they first met, and she knew that he would be different.

"I'm getting a dog. At least I know they can't talk," Ace chuckled.

"What is that? Sounds like a fancy dish," Sierra said.

Ace spent the rest of their date telling her about strange animals from Earth and their non-sentient fish as she was still stuck on the concept of what a golden retriever was.