What Happens, Happens

Chapter 9

"Life is 1 percent what happens and 99 percent how you respond."- ?

Monday mornings aren't the best. They are even worse when the weekend was total shit. So, Monday wasn't Jace's best day.

Jace walked into the office, sweatpants on and hair a mess. He had his backpack in one hand, a plastic bag in the other.

"Rough morning, Jace?" The ladies behind the desk giggled at his appearance.

"Rough weekend is more like it." He sighed and stopped in front of Sam's office. He hesitated before knocking on the door.

A muffled,"Come in." was what Jace got as a response.

He stepped into Sam's office, setting the plastic bag on his desk. "These are yours." Jace looked at Sam, his eyes wandered all over his face before settling on his eyes.

"Thanks, I have your stuff, too." He handed Jace a pile of neatly folded clothes with his phone on top. "You left these behind. I thought you would want them back." Sam smiled at Jace, trying to make his bad mood a little bit better. "You know, we should talk about what happened. Get the awkwardness between us away."

"I'm pretty okay with it being awkward between us." Jace nodded, trying to get out of this conversation.

"Well, we can talk about it at lunch. Or tomorrow morning, on the plane. Whatever works for you. But, we are talking about this." Sam said in a stern voice.

"On the plane? What plane? Where are we going?" Jace was completely confused. I guess not having or checking emails for a few days would be the reason.

"Well, you didn't have your phone, so I understand. But, you and I are going to Louisville, Kentucky. We're giving a presentation at the National Ag Expo there in a few days. We leave tomorrow morning." Sam explained.

"Alright. I'll be in my office if you need me." Jace started walking out of Sam's office but was stopped as Sam started speaking again. He sighed and began shifting his weight from foot-to-foot.

"I can pick you up if you want me to. We have to be awake at 4:15 to be at the airport, to catch our flight on time." Sam smirked as he saw how he was making Jace uncomfortable.

"Okay. I'm really leaving, now." Jace walked back into his office and closed the door behind him. "Dammit!"

~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(6:43 am the next morning)

"So, are we going to talk about this now or on the plane?" Sam asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Talk about what? We have nothing to talk about!" Jace turned to face the window.

"Dammit, Jace! The kiss! I want to talk about the kiss!" Sam yelled, obviously frustrated with how stubborn Jace is being.

"Why? It was one mistake! And, a stupid one at that. Why do you want to talk about it so bad?" Jace yelled back.

"I want to talk about it because...I don't know...I kind of liked it...and I've been questioning myself since it happened." Sam mumbled, somewhat embarrassed about what he said. "A drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts."

"What are you saying? Do you think I like you or something...because that's..." Jace sighed. "More accurate than you might think..." He hid his face while Sam was trying to get over the initial shock.

"This is going to be a fun trip." Sam's voice dripped with sarcasm.

This is going to be a rough few days.