"Why are you so quiet over there?" Jayce asked from the drivers seat.
He was currently driving the both of us to....well I don't exactly know where he was taking us. From all my pleading, he still refused to tell me where our destination was.
"Oh you know, I'm just thinking of ways to escape from you once you decide to kill me at this unknown place." I said, sarcasm filling my voice.
He chuckled, keeping his eyes on the road, "How can I kill someone who's practically my personal library now?"
"It was one book Jayce, and you're definitely not getting anymore from me. Those books are like my babies, and if you ruin them more than your girlfriend did, I will get you." Ending my statement, I huffed then crossed my arms over my chest. I know that what I said didn't sound so threatening coming from a petite girl who can't even kill a spider without screaming, but still, those books were officially off limits if I see one little crease in the spine.
He laughed out loud, and muttered something incoherently, that sounded like, "Cute."
Regaining his breath from laughter, he said, "So I never got to ask, how'd you manage to get away from Cameron?"
Okay, let's get one thing straight, I'm not good at a lot of things. Well actually, that's kind of a lie. Not to sound conceited, but I do pretty well in school, not that bad in sports, and I could sing a note or two.
Although the one thing I'm not good at is - lying.
Now don't get me wrong, I could definitely keep my mouth shut about how I feel about certain things, but when I'm forced to literally tell a lie to someone, I honestly can't.
So when it came down to the moment where I had to tell Cam about where I was going after the team had won the game, I told him something along the lines of, "buying groceries at Target." And shockingly, he believed me, even though I had no money to buy things and no car to get there.
How gullible can he be?
"Really," He flatly said, and averted his eyes towards me for a second, "buying groceries won't last an hour or two."
A vibration caught my attention, and apparently his as well. I looked towards my phone, which was lying on the middle console separating Jayce and I. Gazing at the screen; I had gotten a text from Colton.
"hey alex, I just climbed up to your room, and you weren't there. you home? I need to tell you something ASAP."
I wonder what was so important. I grabbed it, typing back a quick reply, before setting it back down.
"So what's up with you and that guy?" Jayce questioned.
I furrowed my eyebrows, "What guy?"
He cleared his throat, "Uh, Colton? I think that's his name?"
"Yeah," I nodded, "we've been friends since first grade, but he was in the same kinder class as us."
"Oh right." He replied. "Are you guys like, together or something?"
I let out a laugh, "If you want to know personal information about me, I'll have to get some in return."
He sent me a look of amusement, and agreed, "Alright. How about this? We'll play a game. I ask you a specific question and you do the same, and you have to answer it, honestly. And if you can't answer the question, you owe the other person a favor of their choice, at any time they want. How does that sound?"
Hmm, this game sounded reasonable. I guess it wouldn't hurt for me to play along.
"You've got yourself a deal. So when do we start?"
I felt the vehicle stop, and all I saw in front of me were trees, a forest.
My eyes widened, "Oh my gosh, you are going to kill me."
That's when I felt a spark from my knee. It was his hand. And it just lay there, as if it was okay. I looked at him, and his eyes were focused on the forest in front of us.
"Wh-what are you doing?" I stuttered.
He shifted his eyes, meeting my gaze, and chuckled lightly, "I'm calming you down. So are you calm now, knowing that I won't kill you here?"
I nodded slowly, wondering why this seemed so funny to him.
He smiled slightly, and clapped both of his hands, "Alright then, now lets head out."
♔
He led us through the wilderness. And due to the night sky, he used his phone as a flashlight to see where he going. The whole time as we walked together, it was silent. The atmosphere felt not at all awkward, but comfortable. It was freezing at the moment, and I was stupid enough to leave my jacket in the car, which was probably a mile away from where we were now.
Trees, trees, trees. That's all that came into view, and I was starting to get annoyed from it. I mean I knew California had forests, but I didn't know it would literally look like those deserted forests on television.
Jayce stopped at some moss and vine-covered hedge that was a few feet tall, which was blocking our view from what were probably more trees in front of us. But the usual sound I heard wasn't the wind blowing leaves away; it was the sound of... water?
He felt around the hedge, until his hand pushed back a vine-covered section. His face lit up. He gathered a few of the long vines, and lifted them up, then gestured for me to duck through the now empty space. I was suspicious at first, although I complied.
As I crouched a little, the view in front of me was spectacular for something so, so, simple.
In front of me was a lake, with sparkling water that reflected the full moon in the sky. There was a long wooden dock that led up to about midway of the lake, then separating towards the left and right. The lake was circular, and surrounding the rest of it were, yes you guessed it, trees.
He came up behind me, and took in the view, "You're not afraid of water, right?"
"I was on a local swim team for 2 years of my life, so I think I'm good." I smiled at him, before turning my gaze back to the lake.
The scene in front of me was perfect. It was so secluded; it was as if we were the only people in the world at the moment. Now I sounded like I was in some romance novel.
I followed behind him towards the dock, and he took a seat at the very end, letting his legs dangle over the edge. I sat next to him, smelling the salt water coming from the lake.
"So are you with that Colton guy?" He questioned, breaking the silence.
I let out a small giggle, "Definitely not."
"Are you serious?" He asked looking so shocked.
I nodded, "Yeah, why is that so hard to believe?"
He shrugged, while running his hand through his hair, "I don't know. You guys seem so close, and earlier today he stood up for you when..." His voice trailed off, knowing where he was leading to.
I cleared my throat awkwardly, breaking the tension that was building up, "Well yeah, like I said before, he's been my best friend since first grade. Besides, he's had his amount of girlfriends before, and none of them seemed to please him, I guess he's still trying to find the right person."
My answer seemed to please him, until a slight frown formed on his face, "Don't you ever think that right person could be, you?"
Why was he so persistent in thinking that Colton and I have something together? I mean, there were those rumors every once in awhile consisting of Colton and I, but I just ignored them because I knew we would never end up together.
"I never really thought of that." I replied nonchalantly.
I immediately cleared the expression of confusion on my face and said, "So, I would make you answer the same question about Quinn, but I think everyone knows the answer to that."
The two corners of his mouth turned up a bit, but then went back to a blank expression, "Yeah, everyone does know about Quinn and I, and that's what bothers me the most."
"That your relationship isn't as private as you wanted it to be?" I questioned him.
He shook his head, " No, I'm fine with people knowing. But what bothers me is how she just flaunts around our relationship as if it's some parade float. Sometimes I think she's only with me for show, you know? Like there's no actual connection in the relationship, that thought always crosses my mind, but I just push it away, trying to convince myself that it isn't true. I'm always trying to make myself believe that she actually likes me for me, not because I'm Jayce Reynolds the football player, but because I'm just Jayce, who sometimes likes to read novels and do other things besides party with cool kids, and just plays football as a hobby."
"I didn't know you felt that way." I replied.
He smirked with no amusement behind it, "No one ever does. They see me as the popular football guy, who dates the pretty cheerleader, hangs out with all the cool kids, and sticks to what looks right in our school. But what if what looks right - isn't what I want?" He stared down at his reflection in the water, looking at it with disgust, "Everyone expects something from me, to be the perfect all around guy, with a perfect life, and everyone just expects me to go along with what they want, and sometimes I just can't. And it sucks because no one understands that, not my parents, not Parker, not Miles, not Quinn, no one."
"You're not the perfect football guy, Jayce. You're life isn't perfect, because let's face it, no ones is. You say everyone expects you to date the pretty cheerleader and to hang out with the cool kids, but it's obvious that's not what you want. I don't understand why you can't just break out from the clique you're in." I glanced at his face, the light from the moon cascading onto it, "Just because cheerleaders and football players hangout with each other, doesn't mean you have to be with them all the time. I know you want to be different from everyone else by hanging out with whoever you want, but unfortunately that's how things work." I inhaled, trying to get more oxygen into my system from my little lecture to him, "You go out there, and you sit next to people like me, everyone will talk. Quinn will drag you back to the 'popular' table and your friends would talk some sense into you. You go out there and you talk to me openly in public, it'll ruin you. Everyone will call you a loser for talking to someone like me. And as much as you want to change how things are with yourself, truth is you can't because everyone expects something from you, and you're too nice of a person to let them down."
I sighed, rubbing my hands over my bare arms due to the cold weather. Just then, suddenly I felt something soft wrap around me. I turned to look, and wrapped around my back was Jayce's letterman jacket. As usual, all football players earned one. I've never really worn one, besides the one time Cam let me wrap his jacket around my waist when I had a little Mother Nature stain on my pants in sophomore year. But I liked this time better.
"Put your sleeves through, it'll help you keep warm." He insisted.
I shook my head, trying to give it back to him, "Uh I better not. The girlfriend is supposed to be the one wearing this, not me."
He declined and wrapped the jacket around me tighter, "Quinn has never even worn this before. I don't believe that she is special enough to get the honor of wearing my leather man."
I raised an eyebrow at him, "But she's your girlfriend."
"Yes I know, but maybe I'm reconsidering that." He replied with all seriousness.
I shook my head and laughed, he was probably joking. I did what he told, and put my arms through the sleeves. The jacket smelled like firewood, lavender, and vanilla, which seemed to be what he smelt like. I could feel the warmth of him around me, even though it was just a piece of clothing. The end of the sleeves covered my hands, and this could basically be a dress on me if I stood up.
"Anyways, next question." I said, continuing on the game. "Why were you in my room yesterday?"
He grinned and swung his legs back and forth, "Simple. I was looking for you."
Looking at him suspiciously, I took his answer, "Why were you looking for me?"
He made a 'tsk' sound and replied, "I believe it's my turn to ask the question, wait your turn bookworm."
"Ask away then." I said. "And, might I add, that nickname will never catch on, just wait and see."
He muttered a "whatever." and scooted closer to me, his shoulder touching mine. His right arm was stretched out behind me, his hand leaning on the wooden platform for support.
"Why don't you stand up for yourself? I see the way you act around me, your friends, Parker, Cameron, but when it comes to Miles and Quinn, you lock yourself up. You don't act like the real Alexandria Simmons, the one who stands up for herself by acting sassy and confident."
"I really don't know how to answer that Jayce." I said honestly.
He smirked, "Well then let me."
I laughed, "Whatever you say, I'm not that girl that you think I am, believe me."
"Oh, but you are that girl Alex. You put up an act; you show other people that you're some shy and naïve girl who hides behind her books and long hair to give people a message saying that you don't want anyone to bother you. You built up these imaginary walls that have no intention in coming down because you like how things are now, you like things when they're normal and boring. But guess what?"
"What?"
He then pushed a lock of hair behind my ear, and came closer towards me, "I think I changed that for you, and you don't like that. Normal and boring is something safe for you, but I'm the person in your life who creates the risk. And I think that a little part of you likes that."
Maybe he had a point.
Or maybe he was just stupid.
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