My Complicated Love

Chapter Sixteen: Broken-Nosed Drew

*Chapter Sixteen: Broken-Nosed Drew*

"So, how'd the dance go?" Kelli asked her two kids that went the next morning. Alex smiled a completely fake smile. "It went really well. I had a lot of fun." Lie. The truth of the matter was all she could do when she got back was think about Jace. What he said really got to her. "I can't say anything nice about a guy that's with you that's not me." Did he still have feelings for her? Was he regretting being with Amelia? If so, why didn't he break up with her? Ugh, why couldn't she just be a normal girl who worried about her weight and pimples?

"Yeah, me too," Jace lied. After the dance, he and Amelia had gone to a motel and, well, you know where this is going. He felt insanely guilty, especially because he wished she was Alex more than once. But he knew that she was probably happy with that football playing idiot, so he shouldn't even try.

The two made eye contact for a minute, before looking away quickly.

"So, what are your plans for the day?" Roger asked before taking a sip of orange juice. Alex laughed, "Sleep. Lots and lots of sleep..." Roger chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

When they were done eating, Caleb, Alex, Jace, and Lucas went upstairs to practice their songs for Les Mis. Lucas had gotten a solo in the "Lovely Ladies" song; he sang the first verse that the sailors sang. "Do you guys think I should focus on being creepy with my voice or singing well?" Lucas asked. Alex answered, "I think you should focus on singing well, but make your facial expressions really creepy, like a creepy smile or a wink or something like that. Ms. Ferris will probably give you a girl to be creepy with too." Lucas smiled, looking thoughtful, and nodded. "Okay, I got it. Thanks."

They sat and sang all the songs they were in a few times, with only a few fights between Alex and Jace, before their throats started hurting. "I'll go make tea," Alex volunteered, standing up. "I can help," Jace offered. She smiled in thanks, going downstairs with him following close behind. "So uh..." Jace said as the tea was heating up, "how've you been?" Alex flinched. It was a rare occasion that Jace didn't know what to say and it usually only happened around her.

"I've been alright, I guess. What about you?" He laughed kind of bitterly. "I think you know the answer to that question." She flinched again. That was worse than him not knowing what to say. She just looked at her mismatched socks, one had cupcakes and one had polka-dots. She just didn't want to look at Jace. "Did you and that meat-head have sex last night?" he asked suddenly. She looked up at him, wide eyed. He was staring down at the honey and lemon, refusing to look at her.

"No..." she finally said, "He wanted to, but I don't want to rush things with him..."

"You don't want to make the same mistake twice?" As if on cue, the tea kettle whistled. She sighed in relief, going to grab it. When she was finished making the tea, she handed Jace two mugs and gave herself two, going ahead of him up the stairs. "Here ya go!" she said brightly, handing Caleb one as Jace handed Lucas one. She was glad she was good at hiding her emotions or they would definitely have been able to tell something was going on.

Caleb and Alex sat on the bed, Lucas sat at the desk, and Jace sat in the beanbag chair. They drank their tea, telling Lucas stories about their past years in the musicals. "Wow, Conner was angry about something?" Lucas asked disbelievingly. They had just told him about the time that some guys came up onto the catwalk and started breaking stuff and there wasn't a teacher, so Conner went up and started screaming at them, threatening to put them in the hospital if they didn't stay out of their auditorium. She'd never heard him that angry before. After the people had run off, he calmly got a broom and swept up the glass. Nobody told a teacher or talked to him about it since. "It was a version of Conner nobody had ever seen before..." Jace said, "I think he was so mad about that because it was his senior year and he didn't want anyone to ruin his auditorium."

"I'm surprised he didn't hit one of them, with how loud he was yelling and how red his face was," Alex said, shaking her head and taking a sip of tea. "I don't know," Jace said, shaking his head, "Conner isn't really the violent type. I couldn't imagine him hitting anybody, no matter what they've done." Alex nodded slightly. She couldn't picture Conner hurting anyone.

"So, changing the subject," Caleb said, sitting up straighter. "Remember when Drew broke his face because of your Alex?" She covered her face, flinching. "I remember that!" Lucas said, sitting up. "Yeah, it was when I was in sixth grade, wasn't it?"

"Wait, I knew that Drew got hurt, but how was it your fault Alex?" Jace said, leaning towards her in interest. She groaned, covering her face. "He stole my phone, so I chased after him. He jumped off the stage and ran into the house, and as I was chasing him he fell, hit his face on one of the armrests, and broke his nose."

"Oh my god!" Jace gasped, covering his mouth. "I can't believe you made Drew break his nose! How is he still friends with you?"

"I don't know!" she squeaked, covering her face and falling back on the bed. Jace smiled, reminded again of how amazing that girl was. "He forgave her right away," Caleb said, laughing, "She apologized for like three weeks after and brought him cookies and brownies and cupcakes, which I think was the only part that he didn't mind."

"Wow, can you break my nose too?" Lucas asked. "Shut up!" she exclaimed, throwing a pillow at him, "It's not my fault he fell!"

"Keep believing that," Jace laughed, which earned him getting a pillow thrown at him too.

As the day went on, Angie eventually joining them too, Caleb noticed something. Jace and Alex had barely been fighting that day. And usually it was teasing or flirting. He knew that Jace liked Alex, but could she actually like him back? Was he the one that got rid of her interest in Miles after all these years? If so, what the hell were they waiting for?

Damn, he was going to have to get involved, wasn't he?

***

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