Expected ("Unexpected" Book #2)- ON HOLD

Chapter Twenty-Two: Jake

I walked into Biology Wednesday morning, yawning and trying to keep my eyes open. I was still in pain from the fight but it didn't hurt as bad as it did that night. Marissa and I agreed that since the pain has subsided that it shouldn't be serious enough to go to the hospital as Cal recommended. I had a bruise on my abdomen and Marissa said she'll help me keep an eye on it. It's already pretty large and nasty. Not a pretty sight if I was to stretch my arms up and people saw the bruise.
  When I entered the classroom, I saw Jace already sitting in the seats we sat in on Monday. His head was turned to me. He was frowning. Not his usual peppy self. I wasn't sure if I should be mad at him about what happened Monday night. He didn't mean to defend Trish for groping me. He probably was just joking around. I don't know. But now that he is looking at me for the first time since I left the party, he looked guilty and scared. He's a nice guy who just made a couple of mistakes in the heat of the moment.
  I didn't realize I was staring at him until he raised his hand and motioned me to come to sit in the seat beside him. He seemed eager. I slightly nodded my head and walked over to him, lowering myself onto the seat beside him. We sat in awkward silence for a little bit before he spoke up. He wasn't loud or sarcastic when he spoke. He sounded scared.
  He took in a deep breath and slowly let it out as he turned his head and looked me in the eyes. "I'm really sorry about what happened on Monday night."
  I didn't know how to respond so I just nodded my head and traced a finger over my tattoo.
  "Are you okay?" he asked when I wouldn't reply to him. "You looked pretty bad." He was referring to the fight. I was glad he didn't want to go into details about Trish.
  I nodded and lowered my head so I could watch my finger circle Marissa's name. "I'm fine. I'm used to it."
  He wrapped his hand around my wrist to get me to stop tracing the tattoo, drawing my attention towards his face. His facial features were a mix of confusion and worry. "What's that mean?"
  I sighed and removed his hand from my wrist. "Shawn's done stuff like that to me at least a million times in high school. He doesn't really like me."
  "Why doesn't he like you? You're a really cool dude."
  My thumb started rubbing against the tattoo again, my gaze never leaving Jace's. "We went to high school together. He used to date Marissa. Then she and I got together shortly after she broke up with him. The dude was cheating on her before she broke up with him so I don't know what his problem is. He basically looks for ways to make my life miserable as if it were his job."
  He shook his head and mumbled, "Asshole."
  "Then it just got worst when Marissa found out she was pregnant the weekend after Thanksgiving. When he found out, which I'm still trying to figure out how, the hell he rained on me just grew bigger and bigger. Ben and I went out for lunch one day last spring and Shawn was back and started saying all these inappropriate things in front of my son. Ben was so confused and I refused to explain to him what Shawn was talking about."
  He pointed at himself with raised eyebrows. "I'm an asshole with no fucking filter to my name but I would never act out like that. Especially in front of kids."
  I nodded and looked back down at my wrist. "I know."
  He tilted his head so he could try to make eye contact with me. "I'm sorry about Trish, by the way." There it is. He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms, looking to the front of the classroom. "That was uncalled for and I should've done more to stop it."
  I turned my head to look at him. His face filled with remorse. "Jace, it's fine," I said as nonchalantly as I possibly could. It wasn't right for Trish to do that but it's good that Jace notices that his response to the situation wasn't the correct one. "Honestly, I forgot all about it once Shawn showed up."
  He nodded but still had a frown plastered on his lips. "For your information, Trish gets a little touchy grabby when she drinks. The girl can't fucking hold her liquor if her life depended on it."
  "I understand."
  He was silent for a moment before his finger came up and poked a small bruise that has been plastered on my face since that damn party. "That's gross." He kept poking it. It really hurt.
  I forced a laugh and removed his hand from my face. "Dude, that hurts like hell."
  "How bad did he hurt you?"
  I sat up straight in my seat and lifted my shirt above my stomach to show him the real damage. His eyes grew wide and I could see his hand moving as if he wanted to poke it but had to restrain from doing so. This guy is weird.
  "That is sick," he said, his voice suddenly sounding deeper than it already was.
  "Hurts like a bitch too," I said with a laugh and pulled my shirt down.
  "That sucks."
  At that moment, Parkinson entered the classroom. She seemed happier today and Jace was actually behaving himself during the whole lesson. His feet weren't propped up on the seat in front of him, he paid attention to the lesson without making any asshole comments, and when he raised his hand to ask or answer a question, he gave a serious answer. Parkinson seemed to appreciate it. As did I.