Falling Apart

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

                “Let f be a continuous function on the closed interval…” I muttered as I attempted to go over a homework question with Jace during a tutoring session following the events that occurred at Ryan’s party.

                “Listen, princess, we should talk about-.” Jace started off.

                My cheeks immediately turned red unknowingly as I buried my head further into my notebook. What happened at Ryan’s party between Jace and I wasn’t something I was too fond of. Needless to say, I was incredibly embarrassed that for even a second, I thought Jace wanted to kiss me. It didn’t help much either that although he rejected me, he was kissing his ex-girlfriend without any problems later that same night.

I cleared my throat loudly as I continued to do my work, cursing when I noticed that the answer I’d gotten wasn’t one of the choices. “Let’s try it, again.” I sighed, erasing my work as I redid the problem. Normally, a problem like this would be extremely easy for me to solve, but I’ve been stuck on this same problem for literally fifteen minutes. I blamed Jace for being such an annoying distraction.

                Jace went silent for a moment, and for what seemed like the longest minute ever, there wasn’t a word exchanged between us. “Can I just tell you that Christiana and I are just friends?”

                I let out a bitter laugh.

                Does being friends include casually making out with one another?

                “You don’t have to tell me anything.” I said, truthfully. “You mean nothing to me and I mean nothing to you. After all, I’m just your tutor; nothing more.”

                I watched painstakingly as Jace’s face fell, his expression quickly morphing into a frown. “I mean nothing to you?” he asked lowly.

                I couldn’t bring myself to look him in the eyes because I knew that if I did, he would know that I was lying. “No.” I whispered. “You’re just someone I’m tutoring for Calculus, that’s all.”

*

                “Oh my God, you’re so dumb!” Julianne slapped me across my shoulder with such force that it actually stung. “You told Jace that he meant nothing to you? What was going through your mind?”

                I winched, rubbing my arm, which was now red, thanks to Julianne. “I don’t know.” I groaned. “What was I supposed to say? He made it obvious that he didn’t care when he practically rejected and shitted all over me.”

                “Maybe he actually did want to kiss you.” Julianne retorted. “He was probably just about to when he found a reason not to.”

                “Exactly!” I said. “He found a reason.”

                “You didn’t let me finish!” Julianne snapped. “What if it wasn’t a reason against you? What if it was because Ryan secretly liked you and Jace just couldn’t find himself to go for you while his best friend liked you?”

                I rolled my eyes, throwing a pillow at Julianne as it smacked her across the chest. “That’s fucking pathetic and you know it,” I snorted, “especially since we all know that Ryan has feelings for you, not me.”

                Julianne shrugged and sighed exasperatedly. “Is that why he was paying attention to any girl that wasn’t me last Saturday?” Julianne mumbled, rolling her eyes. “Whatever, Ryan doesn’t matter. You really shouldn’t shut Jace out, though. Just hear him out because you’ve probably created this assumption in that thick little skull of yours.”