The door closed behind Ace and he walked into the kitchen. He could see Professor getting up and stretching on the top of the coffee table. "Meerooww~" the little black cat yawned as it trotted over to Ace. Ace sighed, still thinking of Hannah, and put his plastic bag on the counter. He fed Professor then headed to his room. Of course it took a little acrobatic work to get over all the dirty clothes, pizza boxes, and cans but he eventually made it. He put on some comfy baggy pajamas and rolled into bed. He had grown to dislike his bed, since there had been so many times where he would lay for hours and not sleep, but he felt like this time may be a little different. 

"Was I finally just so drained that I fell asleep? Or maybe if I had a clean apartment like Hannah's I would be able to fall asleep here too?" he said to the big bellied cat as Professor strolled in. Ace gave a weary smile. Maybe he could get in a few hours today. He shut his eyes and let the sounds of passing cars and a purring cat take over his mind. 

Soon his breathing began to even out.

~~~~~~

*Clank*
Ace woke up to a noise. He slowly sat up in his bed and wiped the small line of drool from his mouth. Professor sat innocently on his dresser looking down at a fallen clock. Ace glared in frustration, but then noticed it was dark outside. "I! I slept!" he shouted happily. He hopped out of bed, feeling a lot better than this morning and pet Professor. "I should celebrate!" he declared as he worked his way to the living room to get to the phone. He picked up his cordless phone, and then looked under his coffee table for the phonebook. He knew the pizza delivery guy's number by heart, but always looked it up anyway. It just felt more official that way. He flipped to their page, and then suddenly there was a ringing in his ears. "Ah!" He dropped the phone onto the couch and looked up with an irritated looked. 

*WHHHOOOOOMMMPPPP~*
The room filled with light and Ace was pushed into the sofa by an unseen force. His hair blew violently backwards, papers fluttered all over the place, and a strange sound was piercing throughout the apartment.

~~~~~~

*Clank*
Ace woke up to a noise. He slowly sat up in his bed and wiped the small line of drool from his mouth. Professor sat innocently on his dresser looking down at a fallen clock. He was halfway up when he then bolted out of bed, scaring Professor and making him run away. "Huh?! What the f- was that??!!" He looked all around and checked himself. No wounds. He ran out into the livingroom which looked perfectly normal. (Messy, but that was normal) He gave a confused look. "Was I dreaming?"

He calmed down a bit and decided to poke his head out the window to see if everyone outside was okay. He looked and everything seemed okay. The cars were in no rush to get around and people on the streets weren't panicking. "It must have just been a dream. Ha. How bizarre. Guess that's what happens when you don't get enough sleep..." 

His dream was beginning to get a little fuzzy in his mind now so he decided to stop thinking about it. Professor cried out in hunger. "Look buddy, if you're going to continue to eat so much, you're going to have to help pay some bills!" he joked. "But food does sound good!" He gave Professor some smelly, salmon-tasting wet food and ordered a pepperoni pizza with extra, extra cheese from the local delivery place. 

While waiting Ace just sat around watching cooking shows (which wasn't helping his hunger much but they were entertaining). Soon Ace forgot about his dream all together. *Knock knock knock* The Pizzaman was at the door. Professor hopped off Ace's lap as he got up and headed to the door, grabbing his wallet along the way. He opened the door. "Heeeyyyy Ace." said the oily faced teen girl in a peppy tone as she fixed her uniform a little bit. Ace gave a refreshing smile, "Hey ..uh.."  

"Alice." she reminded him with a shy smile. 

"Ah." Ace nodded. He usually got a guy named Steve but every now and then he got this girl. He wasn't sure if she had a thing for him, or just was like this with everyone. His experience with girls was very limited. He kept their chatting to a minimum. She told him the price and he took out his wallet. However, it slipped in his hand and change went all over the floor. 
"Aw man. I'm sorry." he apologized then went to pick it up. But as he reached for the coins, they slid backwards on the floor away from his hand. Alice noticed this and gave a curious look but laughed, "How are you doing that?"

Ace didn't answer. He was confused himself. He slowly reached again, but it was almost like a magnetic effect. "Um.." he started as he stood up again with the coins still on the ground, "Here." he gave her all bills (which he didn't really like to do when he had change) but he just wanted her to leave so he could figure out what was going on. "Okaaaayyyyy." she whispered as her eyes went towards the stairs with her body following along. Ace watched her leave, and then stood in his doorway looking at the coins. He felt very concerned.


[@SlashInfinite]