Afterglow

05

I freeze in place.

He's speaking to me? Kind of? He doesn't hate me? I think?

But a smile quickly replaces my confusion as I hold up my pointer finger, telling him to hold on.

This might be a bad idea, but what's the harm I guess.

I grab my backpack, pulling out the first notebook I grab, ironically my chemistry one, and flip to the first clear page. I scribble down my response.

"What is this? You belong with me?"

I question my joke. Would he even think it's funny? Is this a bad response?

My body holds up the sign before I could flip to another page and write down another response. I brace for impact as I see Jace reading the sign, immediately laughing afterwards.

The sight warms my heart. I haven't seen him laugh in years, and it's one of the best feelings in the world making him laugh. I'm surprised I still have that touch on him.

He says something before going to write down his response.

"Alexa play 'You Belong With Me'" It reads.

I laugh, a full laugh, one that I haven't experienced since I moved away.

He starts singing along dramatically to the song, cracking me up even more. I pick up my notebook, glancing at him and laughing as I write.

"My nonexistent abs hurt from watching this"

This time Jace bursts out laughing. Starting to scribble something down again.

It's nice like this. It feels like the old times, like we picked up right where we left off.

"Glad you enjoyed the show, will be here all night."

I chuckle at the message.

He scribbles something down again. "Jk, I need to go eat dinner."

With that he waves at me before closing his blinds. I wave back before the blinds close completely, and I realized how much I've missed having Jace Lockheart in my life.

———————————————————————

School passed uneventfully. Parker kept it entertaining though as he cracked jokes anytime he could. It's a sweet jester, and I appreciated his efforts to keep my sanity.

I walk into chemistry after saying goodbye to Parker seeing I'm one of the first people here again.

A loud male voice I heard form yesterday booms through the class as he argues about some drill they did in hockey yesterday.

So he's apart of the hockey team. Must be new because I've never seen him at a game before I left, and I attended pretty much every game I could.

Jace's buddy looks over at me, smirking at Jace, before confidently striding over to my seat.

"Hi. You must be the lovely Juliana Walker." He says, grabbing my hand and shaking it furiously. "I'm Devin Archer, left wing for West Point High, and best friends with that loser over there." He mods towards Jace and winks at me.

A chuckle escapes my lips causing Devin to light up a little.

"Ok bro-" Jace interupts. He places a hand on Devin's chest causing him to let go of my hand. "you're making her uncomfortable."