~~~~
Excuse the mistakes
Picture of Jace on the side
~~~~
Benedict isn’t a living thing, I know, but I felt like his black Sharpie eyes were peering into my soul.
I’d been staring at the egg ever since I’d parked in my driveway. Parker would be over any minute, and I was still trying to calm down the mutant butterflies in my stomach. I felt like I was going to vomit, and as I heard Parker’s motorcycle pull up behind me, my heart started to thud quickly.
“Here we go,” I muttered to myself, and I opened my car door. I grabbed my backpack, and with Benedict in my other hand, I climbed out of the Grouch. “Hey,” I said, giving Parker a small wave as he pulled his helmet off.
“Hey,” Parker echoed, swinging his leg over the side of his bike so that he was standing next to it, “I didn’t see you in health class today. We read a fascinating article about the experience of the third trimester of pregnancy.”
“Damn,” I said, and I tried and failed to snap my fingers. “I had a counselor’s appointment during health,” I explained, addressing Parker’s question. Honestly, I’d scheduled the counselor’s appointment myself, making sure that it was during health class. This was the first time I’d seen Parker since my bold kiss, and today I’d avoided him like the death plague.
As you can see, I’m being so mature about this.
I walked up the front walk of my house with Parker right behind me, and I let us into my house. Parker slipped past me as I held open the door, and I swear he could hear my heart beating. Man, I felt like such a generic teenage loser.
“Reed!”
My mom burst from her office just as Parker and I were walking up the stairs, and when her eyes fell on Parker, she pursed her lips. “I just wanted to remind you that Jace is dropping by around five thirty to meet you,” My mom said, but she was looking at Parker rather than me. “I want you to be done with your schoolwork by then.”
“Yeah, sure,” I muttered, and I glanced over at Parker to see his jaw clenched. I glared at my mom, since we all knew she was trying to get a rise out of him, and I grabbed Parker’s wrist and ignored the flutter in my stomach that touching him gave me.
“We’ve got a lot to do, Mom, so try not to disturb us,” I said, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from yelling or swearing at her. Then, with a final death glare, I dragged Parker up the rest of the stairs and into my bedroom.
“Who’s Jace?”
“What?” I asked, turning around to look at Parker as I closed my bedroom door.
“Your mom mentioned someone named Jace,” Parker said, shoving his hands in his pockets and giving me a sheepish look. “Who is he?”
“Oh,” I replied, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear uncomfortably, “He’s my mom’s friend’s nephew. He’s going to be here for the next couple of months, and I’m supposed to show him around school and stuff.”
Parker got this weird, almost jealous look on his face, and I raised an eyebrow in confusion. “You alright there?” I asked, and Parker nodded quickly. His traditional crooked smirk stretched across his face, and I found myself instantly smiling. Parker just had that effect on me.
“Let’s get this final report done,” Parker said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them.
“Yes sir,” I replied, giving him a mock salute, and I sat down at my desk and opened my laptop. To my surprise, instead of crashing on my bed like he usually did, Parker grabbed my stool and settled down next to me. “I thought that insulted your masculinity,” I commented, giving him an amused look.
“I’m confident in my manliness,” Parker stated, sticking his chest out dramatically. I couldn’t help but flash back to his defined muscles when he’d stripped after I’d barfed all over him, and I felt my cheeks redden in embarrassment.
“Right,” I muttered, overemphasizing the “t”, and I clicked on the already half-done final report. I pulled out the sheet of questions we had to answer, and Parker and I started to run through them, with me typing up the answers.
As I finished the last sentence to the answer of the last question, Parker cleared his throat. I glanced over at him to see that Parker was staring intently at me. I felt my face burn with self-consciousness, and I ran a hand through my hair instinctively.
“What are you looking at?” I demanded, and thankfully my voice didn’t falter, like I thought it was going to.
“Nothing,” Parker said, shaking his head like he’d been zoned out. After a questioning look, I turned and pressed print for the report. We might have about a week before our presentation, but our report was due on Thursday. I had dance rehearsal all day tomorrow so Parker and I couldn’t meet.
“Well,” I said, swiveling in my desk chair, “I guess that’s the end, Baby Daddy.”
“That it is, Baby Mama,” Parker replied, and he sighed and stretched his arms in the air. Once again, I pictured his half naked body.
Man, I am the embodiment of a hormonal teenager.
I glanced at the clock on the bottom right corner of my laptop screen and frowned. “Jace is going to be here soon, and I think it was obvious to both of us that my mom doesn’t want you here when he does.”
“Yeah, she made that message pretty clear,” Parker replied bitterly, and he scowled. Again, there was this element of jealously that I was sensing in Parker, but I couldn’t be sure that’s actually what he was feeling.
“C’mon,” I said standing up and stretching, “I’ll walk you out.” I extended my hand to Parker, and when he took it in his, I smiled. I liked when Parker held my hand because for a minute, I felt special.
“Reed,” Parker said slowly, “Can I ask you something?”
“Go ahead,” I replied casually. On the outside, I might’ve sounded chipper, but on the inside, my nerves were going through Armageddon. This is the part I hated about liking a guy; it made me freak out and read into things that were really little. Parker asking me a question was a perfect example.
“It’s about that kiss you gave me on Friday.”
Shit.
Slowly, I let go of Parker’s hand and turned around to face him. Okay, so maybe freaking out was okay now. “Parker, look,” I said, searching for words, “let’s just forget that happened, okay?”
“What?” Parker asked, looking genuinely taken aback, “Reed, I—”
“Stop,” I interrupted, putting my hand up. “Parker, I honestly regret doing it, and I just really don’t want to talk about it right now. Please. Please, just drop it.” I bit my lip, and Parker reluctantly nodded.
“Thanks,” I whispered, and I turned and started out of my room again, this time without holding Parker’s hand. I pulled my door open and walked down the hallway, and when I reached the stairs, the doorbell rang.
“I’ve got it!” my mom called in a sing song voice, and before I could even go down more than one stair, she was swinging the door open. “You must be Jace,” my mom said. She stepped aside to let him in, and I got my first look at Jace.
He was tall, but not taller than Parker, and he had dirty blonde hair that was cut close to his head and gelled up. Jace was just wearing a t-shirt and sports shorts, which made me feel a lot better because chances were good that he was honestly just stopping by.
“Jace, this is my daughter, Reed,” my mom said, gesturing towards me as Parker and I walked down the stairs to where they were standing.
“Nice to meet you,” Jace said, and he extended his hand. However, before I could respond, Parker cut me off and shook Jace’s hand.
“I’m Parker,” he said, a little bit gruffer than required, “I’m Reed’s boyfriend.” Jace’s eyebrows shot up, and he looked past Parker at me, and I just shrugged and felt the blood rush to my cheeks.
“Ah, yes,” my mom said, frowning. “Parker was just about to leave.”
“Wow, Mom,” I said, giving her an annoyed look, “That wasn’t at all rude!” With that sarcastic remark, I wrapped my hand around Parker’s upper arm, and I pulled him towards the door.
“Where are you going?” my mom called after me as I opened the front door.
“I’m just walking Parker out,” I said, and then the door banged shut behind me. As I walked Parker down the front walk to his motorcycle, I released his arm and crossed mine over my chest tightly. “I’m sorry about my mom,” I said quietly.
“It’s fine,” Parker replied with a sigh, “She’s never really liked me anyways.”
“Yeah, but she shouldn’t be so rude,” I stated firmly.
Parker shrugged, and he climbed onto his motorcycle and grabbed his helmet. However, before he put it on, he turned his head and looked at me. “There’s this party on Friday,” Parker said, “It’s at Ben Collins’s beach house. You should come.”
I wanted to say no. Ben Collins went to our school, and he was notorious for the ragers he would throw at his parents’ beach house when they were out of town. I’d been to one before, and let’s just say I felt like hell at the dance competition the next day.
Like I said; I wanted to say no. However, the look on Parker’s face wouldn’t let me.
“Fine,” I said, nodding, “I’ll meet you there.”
“Awesome,” Parker said, and he grinned. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow, Baby Mama.” He pulled his helmet on and turned on his motorcycle. I watched him speed out of my driveway, and then I sighed and walked back to the house.
When I opened the front door and reentered my house, my mom was fawning over Jace, who, instead of looking cocky, looked plain uncomfortable. “Sorry about that,” I said, stepping over to him and extending my hand, “Like my mom said, my name’s Reed.”
“Hey,” Jace said, shaking my hand, “I’m sure you already know, but I’m Jace, Lorraine’s nephew.”
“Why don’t you two go into the living room?” my mom suggested, “I’ll go get you something to drink!”
Before I or Jace could say anything in response, my mom turned and hurried to the kitchen, her heels clicking loudly on the wooden floor. I sighed and rolled my eyes, and then I led Jace into the living room. I plopped down on the couch, and Jace sat down next to me at a comfortable distance.
“Sorry about my mom,” I said, and I found it more than slightly annoying that Jace was the second guy I was apologizing to about my mom in the past ten minutes.
“It’s okay,” Jace replied, “My mom can be overbearing too.”
It was then that my mom walked into the living room, a toothy grin spread across her face. “Here you go,” she said, handing Jace a cup of dark brown soda. I noticed that my mom didn’t bother to bring me a drink, but she was just too focused on Jace. I didn’t even bother to feel at all offended.
My mom hesitated a moment before recognizing the awkward silence, and she nodded before walking quickly from the room. Jace placed the soda down on the coffee table and rubbed his neck as he yawned.
“Sorry,” he said, “I just got to my aunt’s house forty-five minutes ago, and she insisted I come here before going to bed. I’m supposed to talk to you about school, since my first day is tomorrow.”
“Right; school,” I replied thoughtfully, “I guess if you have your aunt drop you off here around 7:15 tomorrow, I can drive you to school so that you can get your schedule before homeroom, and then I might have time to show you around a little.”
“Are you sure your boyfriend won’t mind?” Jace asked, gesturing towards the door where Parker had stepped between us, “I mean, he didn’t seem to like me very much.”
“Oh, Parker,” I replied with a sigh, “No, Jace, don’t worry about it. I can deal with him.”
Jace looked skeptical for a moment, but then he nodded and said, “Thanks for agreeing to do this. It wasn’t exactly my suggestion, but I do appreciate the help.”
“No problem,” I replied, shrugging. It wasn’t like I had the choice not to help Jace out at school because of my mom and her craziness, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. Besides, Jace seemed like a nice guy, and I didn’t mind helping him.
“I should probably go,” Jace said, his words muffled as he yawned once again, “My aunt is waiting for me at the coffee shop down the street, and I’m exhausted.”
“Yeah, I can tell,” I replied, standing up, “You’re probably gonna wanna get some sleep before school tomorrow, since the new kid always gets a ton of attention.” Jace nodded and stood up, and I led him to the front door.
“Well, it was nice to meet you, Reed,” Jace said, “Thanks again for showing me around.”
“You’re welcome,” I responded warmly, and I pulled open the front door, “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Jace.”
“See you then,” he replied, and then he stepped out of the house and onto the porch. We waved at each other once more, and then I shut the front door. I turned around, and with my back against the door, I slid down to the floor.
Suddenly, I felt extremely tired.
~~~~
WOO UPDATE!!
What do you guys think about Jace?
Also, I want to thank everyone who congratulated me on getting "Coming Home" published! This has been a great week! I found out today that I was invited to audition for my high school's morning show, which is sorta a big deal to me!
The song on the side is Give Me a Reason by Pink with Nate Ruess... this song is literally stuck in my head...
FAN
VOTE
SHARE
COMMENT
~~~~