"Hey, Ash. Your brother's looking for you. I didn't tell him anything though. I'm sorry about last night, I was...actually, you know what, never mind. Just meet me in the gym at lunch. Bye."
Jace's voicemail played in my head as I approached the gym. After I'd listened to the voicemail, Macie and I had ignored each other for the entire lesson, but I could still feel her glaring at me without even looking at her. I was scared when she said Jace and I were acting weird. I couldn't have her catch on, because I wasn't even sure what was going on with us. First, he acts all tough, and now he wants to talk?
God damn this boy.
I spotted Jace and went up to him, smiling lightly at him. "Drew will be wondering where we are."
Jace waved away my concern and pulled me into an empty classroom nearby.
"I promised him I'd try to talk some sense into you. He was worried sick last night. I thought you'd call him last night about not coming home. He called me, fretting over you. I didn't tell him we'd talked earlier though." Jace explained.
"I know, you said." I grumbled in response. I was sick of this; Jace couldn't keep going back and forth with me. He either leaves me alone or talks to me.
I felt anger rising up in me as I added, "You also said sorry for last night. Are you ready to talk about it now?"
Jace hesitated, before shaking his head.
"There's nothing to talk about."
Oh, that's it.
"There's nothing to talk about?! How can you say that?! You act like you hate me, and then you kiss me. And to make matters worse, you keep doing the same thing over and over again. You can't keep doing this to me, Jace!!" I yelled.
Jace looked at me for a second before wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me close.
"I'm sorry, I'm just...scared." He admitted, avoiding my eyes.
"Don't do this. Don't go back to sweet Jace, I know it won't last." I had to cut this off before it got any worse. I had enough stress without worrying about what the hell was going on with us.
"I'm straight, but then there's you. My best friend's brother." He continued, letting out a humorless laugh against my ear. His arms were still around my waist, so I tilted his chin and made him look at me.
"You say you're scared, but I'm scared too, Jace. You go from just an annoying pest that's always around to an attractive annoying pest that kisses me." I said, trying to lighten the mood. Jace let out a chuckle.
"But we can't keep doing this. You either like me or hate me, make a choice."
Jace held me closer and put his lips against mine. Our tongues worked together skillfully as a moan escaped my lips. Jace pulled away from me breathlessly and gave me a slightly scared expression.
"I want this."
"Are you sure?" I questioned. "You don't look sure."
Jace nodded and pecked my lips once more. "I really do. We just can't tell Drew."
"We really can't tell Drew." I confirmed with a laugh. Knowing Drew, he'd go crazy. I didn't think he could handle the knowledge that his best friend and his brother were tongue-fucking right now. I pushed my thoughts away and looked at Jace doubtfully. "How am I supposed to trust your word? That you won't change your mind?"
"I'll never talk to you again if I hurt you, Ash. I'm just asking for this one chance." Jace said hopefully. I hesitated for a second before nodding, deciding to trust him once more and give him another chance.
"We'd better go back to the cafeteria." Jace said, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the classroom. He let go of my hand once we were out and looked at me. "Come to my house after school."
"Sure, I'll meet you at your car." I said, as we both walked to meet our friends.
~~~
After all our lessons ended, I met up with Jace and Drew at the lockers. Louis and Macie had a date after school and since Macie was still mad at me, Louis was too, so they'd left as soon as they could.
Lunch was pretty awkward, although I was happy. Happy that Jace didn't hate me. Happy that things were working out with us, even though everything else seemed to be falling apart.
"Hey, Ashy." Jace greeted me as I came to stand with them. I smiled at Jace and looked over at Drew.
"Are you coming home?" Drew asked me coldly. Great, now both Drew and Macie were mad at me. Wasn't I the one who was supposed to be mad at Drew?
"No. I'm going to Jace's." I said, pulling Jace away before Drew could respond. Once we made it to his car, he turned to me.
"You know he's going to call me and ask what that was about, right?" He asked, starting to drive away from school. For once, the sad look in his eyes wasn't there and was replaced with a joyful smile. I was happy that he was happy, even though my life was hell.
**Jace's point of view**
"Good, you can deal with him." Ash grunted in response. I smiled at him, even though seeing him sad killed me inside. For once, I felt happy, and I wanted him to be as well.
"What happened?" I asked, concerned, as I drove. After what happened at lunch today, I felt that I needed to talk to him more. I was tired of pushing him away and fighting how I felt about him. I could see the toll it was taking on him. Plus, I liked Ash a lot. I loved the way his hair fell, the way he smiled and his personality.
"Nothing. Keep your eyes on the road, you have valuable cargo." Ash said sarcastically, gesturing to himself. I laughed at his sarcasm, even though I knew sarcasm was only his defence. I turned to face forward and felt hatred rise in my chest. I hated his dad for making him like this. He used to be so carefree and happy, but now you could see his painful struggle to get that back. He wanted to be happy for real, but just didn't know how.
He was just lost, and I planned to help him as best as I can.
We spent the rest of the drive in comfortable silence until we pulled up at my house, we got out and went inside. Once inside, my ears picked up the sound of the TV.
"Jace. Hello. Hello, Asher. " My dad said to us as we reached the lounge room.
"Jace, your principal called. We will talk over dinner." My mum said sternly to me, then turned to Ash.
"Hello, Asher."
"Hey, Ben and Judy." Ash greeted and I winced. My parents hated to be called by nicknames.
"It's Benjamin and Judith, Asher. You're so forgetful." Mum said, with a fake smile. My parents had always liked Ash and Drew, but were greatly disappointed by their informal language.
"Yeah, sorry." Ash apologized, as I pulled him upstairs. Once we reached my room, Ash turned to me curiously.
"Why'd the principal call your parents?"
I looked at him guiltily, before sighing. "I got into a fight with a guy on the field. You know McKay?"
Ash nodded. "Yeah, he's an asshole. But you don't look hurt."
"That's because I'm not the one that lost the fight. It wasn't that serious though, I just hit him in the leg with the lacrosse stick." I confessed, sitting down on my bed. Ash rolled his eyes and sat down with me.
"I'm not sure I really want to know why." Ash chuckled, putting his head on my shoulder and sighing.
"I forgot how much I disliked your parents."
"Ditto. Although I could never forget." My parents were assholes. They were always caring about work and never about Damo and I.
"True, that." Ash said. "Now, why'd you want me to come over?"
I sighed before kissing him gently. I wrapped my arms around his waist and smiled at him. "Just because of that."
"Alright, you sap." Ash said, laughing. I was glad that I managed to put him in a better mood.
"Let's watch a movie." I suggested, laying down on my bed. Ash nodded and laid next to me, resting his head on my shoulder. I searched my Netflix for a suitable movie to watch.
An hour later, the movie finished. Ash turned to me and sighed. "I'd better get home, before Drew flips his shit."
"Good idea." I said with a chuckle.
"Hey, Ashy?"
"Yeah?" He asked, getting up from my bed and picking up his phone from my nightstand.
"I'm glad that we're... You know..."
Ash raised his eyebrow at me and smirked.
"Yeah, me too, although I have no idea what we are." He stated, scrolling through his phone and putting it against his ear.
"But we'll talk about this later. I'm calling my mum to pick me up. She's on break right now."
I nodded and sighed as Ash's mum answered the call. Once they hung up, Ash smiled at me and leant down to kiss me.
"I'll see you at school tomorrow. Let's hope Andrew doesn't kill me because I brought you to my house." I said, as he pulled away.
"He won't kill you, I'm not that lucky."
"Alright, smartass. I'll call you. I can't be bothered to get up, so let yourself out." I said.
Ash smiled at me and left. I sighed as my door closed, smiling to myself.
I guess I'll just talk to him about us another day.
Edited by: LarryShipSails
Hi guys!! So I got my phone back for a day but I was out with friends, so I couldn't edit more. But I'll try my best to edit more chapters asap, I promise!!