Tightrope

Nate is a Hot Little Piece

Knight could talk about anything and everything, but the personal stuff was not our go-to. For all his jokes about us being best friends, I kind of had the feeling that for him, at least, it wasn't exactly a joke.

But I couldn't spend too long as the proud parent, listening to my little boy make friends, because all the energy required for my eavesdropping was strangely devoted to the conversation between Jace and Callie. By conversation, I mean shameless flirting. A disgusting display of public affection. Worthy of a police patrol for indecent canoodling.

You know, if talking to someone who was sitting three feet away had become a crime since this morning.

"Wait, Jace, try and catch," said Callie with a giggle. I squinted my eyes half-open to see Callie picking up a bunch of grapes as Jace leaned backwards with his lips parted. I sat up slightly. Callie plucked a grape from its stem and prepared it between her fingers. "You ready?"

Jace was smiling. "Born ready."

Callie took aim and threw the grape at him. He caught it deftly in his mouth, but Callie had already prepared another projectile which she threw squarely at his nose. It bounced straight off, and the pair broke into a fit of laughter that somehow wound up with Callie's hand on Jace's leg.

"The fear in your eyes!" Callie's American accent was annoyingly adorable. "You were like a deer in the headlights!" If I didn't like her so much—an immediate and intrinsic like, because Callie was the kind of All-American golden girl you couldn't help but love—I think I'd kind of hate her a little bit. Because of, um, McKenna.

And the feeling that settled in my gut—caustic, like acid or poison that slowly ate away at me and was spurred on by the sound of Jace's laugh—that was for McKenna too. McKenna still liked Jace, and I was McKenna's friend. Although, I had kissed him, so it wasn't exactly a high horse I could sit on comfortably. The horse was probably trying to buck me off.

"I was confronted with a terrifying projectile. I can't be held accountable for my reaction," said Jace, and his smile was pleasant and easy-going and warm and it had not been turned toward me for what felt like an eternity. I had become accustomed to the full force of Jace Hartley's smiles, and the change was, well, unsettling. And that is all that it was. He leaned slightly closer to Callie. "You're not going to hold me accountable, are you?"

Just a little bit unsettling.

Callie smiled back. "Wouldn't dream of it."

I sat bolt upright. "I brought a football, does anyone feel like a quick game?"

Callie moved away from Jace with a small guilty smile. "Sure," she said, jumping up from her spot and brushing the crumbs off her lap. "Dibs on Alex's team!"

Alex winked at her.

"Two team captains?" I suggested. "Then they can pick a fair team?"

"Yeah, alright," said Cady. "Jace, you can go first."

Jace looked up from his conversation with Callie. "What?" he said. "Who said I was team captain?"

"You and Lena are always team captains," Chance pointed out. "Because if you were on the same team, you would be useless. And you both always need complete control of your teams so that you can beat each other."

The rest of our friends nodded, with the exception of Callie and Knight, who hadn't been privy to our intense bouts of competitive spirit.

"Wait, we did that?" Jace asked.

"You all noticed that we did that?" I asked.

"Um, yes," said Cady. "It was not very stealthy. Lena always ended every group huddle with 'let's make sure we injure Jace and all of his Jace-lings'. Now, you might think there's a lot of room for interpretation in that comment, but I think Lena may have been motivated by not liking Jace. Potentially."