Just a Game

Moonlight

A/N: We got to 100k reads and I don't know how to thank you guys enough for this. I saw this when I was writing this chapter and I had to take a break because I was just so baffled. Thank you so much. Thank you. I hope you enjoy this.

Alice // chapter twenty-two

"I want you to know that it's okay if I'm the only one who says these words tonight. These past five months alone have taught me more than I'd bargained for and they've given me so much."

My heart dropped, almost in fear of what he would say next.

"I love you, Alice," he whispered, his voice firm yet more raspy than usual.

I froze.

Did he just say he loves me?

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

"You're serious?" I quietly stammered. It was an abnormal response, but I wanted to make sure that this overwhelmingly satisfying happiness that was beginning to overflow my mind wasn't just for nothing.

He nodded, bringing me closer. "I've never meant anything more than I mean those words, love."

I actually laughed, because I didn't know what else to do. I was officially shaking. "Oh my God."

"I'm sorry, did I spring that on you?" he laughed lowly, shaking his head as iffiness began to flood his eyes.

I opened my mouth to reject his opposition but closed it when I knew that words of objection weren't what I needed to say to him. Rather, I reached to run my fingers through his unbelievably soft hair. "Kind of. But that doesn't matter. Those words mean more to me than I could ever express. I'm just shocked, that's all."

He smiled, his slightly drifted confidence resurfacing. He looked up at the sky, staring at the moon for a moment before returning his eyes to mine. The passion in them was too much for me to bare and I feared that I might pass out in that moment from how lightheaded I'd gotten. And when he spoke again, I knew my fate had been sealed. "You're my moonlight, baby. In everything that is dark about my life, there is you."

Hearing him speak, I couldn't stop the tears that fell. I was actually crying. I haven't genuinely cried in years.

He wiped the tears away and when more followed, he smiled sweetly at me. "Why are you crying?"

I swallowed hard. "Because of you. You're so sweet to me, so good. Sometimes I fear it's all good to be true. You can't be real."

He chuckled. "I'm as real as my love for you."

"See? That's what I'm saying," I cried softly, cupping his face with one of my hands, "you're too precious."

He shook his head and brought me closer. "You deserve more than what I've given you, love, I just hope that I can give you more in the future."

"You've already given me all that I deserve and more," I whispered as my tears slowed down. Incapable of waiting any longer, I reached up to connect our lips in a kiss that was more powerful than anything I've ever felt. It was almost as if a power exceptional to this world had been shocked through him to me. I could feel every emotion he'd expressed to me and more through how his lips moved with mine. Every feeling was left exposed and the beauty of it all was that it was in that moment that I realized the one thing that I've yet to tell him.

It surprised me the moment I realized it. It was so shocking that I felt this way about someone that wasn't my mother or my father. But this feeling for Jace was different from the way I felt about them. Of course, I loved them. I cared for them. I would take a bullet for them any day.

However, the feelings I had for Jace were different. I realized in that moment that my life had shifted; it had changed immensely since I met him. He'd allowed me to see the world I couldn't have experienced alone. He'd shown me that no one can ever go through life alone and be thoroughly happy.

I was already confident in who I was and who I wanted to be in the future before I had met him, but having him in my life made me realize that it was okay to need someone; to need help. It was okay to not be okay and that was something I never could've learned without him.

He'd made such a difference in my life, to me, so easily and without even knowing what he was doing. Sometimes I wondered if he was my guardian angel because everything about him was perfect. His flaws, his strengths, his beauty and just every part of him was perfect.

He was imperfectly perfect and he was all mine.

When he pulled his lips from mine to look at me, I nearly blurted out the words right then and there. However, he spoke before I could gain the courage to do so. "Dance with me?" He whispered.

"Here?"

He nodded simply. "It's a slow song and I don't care about where we are; I just want to dance with you in my arms."

I breathed out heavily. He had such a way with his words. It surprises me that he hates romance novels as much as I do.

I wrapped my arms around his neck as his landed on my waist, holding me in a tight embrace. I rested my head against his chest as we began to move to the beautifully sung slow song that was humming through the restaurant doors.

"Can I ask you something?" he whispered in my ear, his low voice sending shivers down my back.

I pulled back to look into his eyes that were looking at me with caution. I smiled reassuringly at him. "Anything."

He smiled back. "I want to introduce you to my family."

My breath hitched as his words sunk in. "What?"

"Yeah, my mom has been bugging me about introducing you to the family. I wanted to wait until I knew that this was long term and now that I do, I want you to meet them," he explained softly, his eyes showcasing the love he'd expressed to me earlier. They also showed his happiness and my entire being shot up into cloud nine knowing that his happiness was because of me.

I hope he knows that he makes me just as if not even more happy as I make him.

I shook my head slowly in disbelief as a huge smile split my lips. "I would love to meet your family, J."

He laughed, a hint of shock hidden in his voice. "Saturday, then."

I nodded way too fast as he pulled me into a hug.

The slow song was coming to an end and we both knew that we had to go back inside soon. Regardless of how much I wanted to stay out here with him, Blake and Katie will probably start worrying about us soon. Plus it was about time the birthday boy got inside his own party and got on the dance floor. God knows the entire class of 2017 was here and knowing how crazy our class was, this party wasn't ending anytime soon.

He tightened the hug in its last moments and whispered, "I love you so much."

I stopped breathing in that moment. I knew what I wanted my response to be. The words were at the tip of my tongue, waiting to be spoken, waiting to spill over.

But I couldn't do it. I couldn't say them. Instead, I pulled back and offered him an awkward smile. "Come on, you've been away from your own party way too long, birthday boy," I said, pulling him towards the doors.

He looked at me thoughtfully before hiding all of his emotions behind that brilliant smile of his and following me inside.

And as the night went on and the party got crazier, regret started to creep up my mind, gripping my heart with such intensity that it almost hurt.

I was such a damn coward.