Like Yesterday

Chapter 24

I stared at him, for a good long while, in utter disbelief. I probably had the most laughable expression ever, because as I was doing so, he had that amused grin on his face. Repeating his words, I slowly echoed, “You mean she's Jace cousin?”

“Uh-huh,” he nodded. “Got that right.”

“But how... why...” I stuttered, getting all the questions out in one go.

“Don't ask me anything more than that. I have no idea why she suddenly said that she's his girlfriend,” he shrugged his shoulders.

Although the fact that he was saying more than one sentence to me was surprising enough, my amazement was instantly replaced by confusion. Well, at least I was sure that he was saying the truth. I just knew that with all those things that he had revealed to me, without even blinking. He was definitely telling me the real deal. But why? Why did they all pretend that Hayley was his girlfriend?

There must be some cosmic reason for this whole thing. It couldn't be something that they did for fun, unless they all studied in Brittany's School of Making Reese's Life Miserable. But then, that didn't seem to be the case. There must be one good reason why Hayley came over all the way from where she lived and went here to pretend to be his girl.

First emotion, checked – I was frustrated. For two days, I had been dreading about my sudden unrequited feelings and out of the blue revelation of a girl in his life. I mean, how could they do that to me?

Standing from my seat, I stomped my foot in frustration as I got down the high chair. Alarmed with my sudden reaction, Drake instantly asked, “Where are you going?”

“I'm going to see Jace,” I told him, slamming my hands on the table as I tried getting my heels out of the odd space between the wooden floor. It really had to be stuck now. After another attempt, which almost cost me to owe Claire a pair of boots, I somehow managed to snag the heels out.

“Maybe you don't want to ruin the surprise. It's only a little after ten in the evening. I'm sure that they're only halfway through with whatever they're doing,” he reminded me, pointing to the wall clock above the back bar.

The fountain area. At eleven.

But could I really wait that long? I mean, after everything I'd learned just now, surely, I couldn't afford sitting here and not knowing the answer for all of it. Not now. And definitely not today. With such a little time I had, three days might pass in the blink of an eye.

“No, I don't think I can wait that long. And thanks for telling me all that,” I said, smiling at him.

Although I was feeling frustrated, somehow, those frustrations were driven away by the thought that there might still be a chance for us. I suddenly remembered the way he had been acting towards me. It wasn't just because. He didn't seem to be the type that would play games, like Mason told me. Maybe all along it was because of that same reason, that he was feeling the same way too. And with no Hayley in the picture, everything was starting to make sense.

“No prob,” Drake casually replied.

As soon as I emptied the seat, another girl took it and started a conversation with him. Well, she did try to start it. For the rest, anyone who knew Drake could tell what had happened after. Shaking my head, amused at him, I started asking where the fountain area was.

“It's on the left side. Just take that door right ahead,” said one of the waitresses.

“Oh okay, thanks,” I replied.

Bumping to someone here and there, I found my way past the hovering crowd. The loud music hadn't done anything good in my attempts to think over things. And I wasn't sure if the loud throbbing of my heart was due to the huge speaker banging at my right or my response to the overwhelming feeling rushing over me.

Opening the door, the cool winds blew softly on my face. I inhaled a mouthful of air. True enough, I was starting to be nervous. In just a while, the moment I had been waiting for would finally happen. I could only place my hopes that everything would turn out well, and not the other way around. Just for this single night, I wanted things to be perfect.

But then with me dropping by at the fountain area an hour before that surprise? Would that really be a good idea? Something was telling me that maybe it wasn't. And I was about to heed to my intuition when someone grabbed me from my side.