I hardly remember my family being here tonight - of course I hadn't gone down to greet them or hang out so that may have something to do with it. I've also been on and off sleeping, having nothing better to do.
It's dark out now, and I'm pretty sure my parents have gone to bed so now is the time to get something to eat. Leftovers are a known after Sunday dinners.
I sit up, looking around my room before sighing and swinging my legs over the edge of my bed. I feel the ghost of Jace between my thighs, bringing on a wave of sadness, but love as well. It lets me know that last night was real and not a dream like I've been hoping today is.
Shuffling to my door, I quietly open it and step out into the hallway. It doesn't take long to make it down the stairs and when I do I halt in my steps. The light is on in the kitchen, my parents standing in view.
"She's seventeen," my father says, in a hostile way that has me questioning their conversation right off the bat.
"And I was fifteen when we got together, remember?" Reminds my mother while moving to be closer to him. In the meantime, my eyes are perked at attention, wondering what they are talking about.
"Are you insinuating Nina and Jace are behaving like we did?" A slight flinch courses through me as my father snaps, but I make sure I don't make any noise.
"God, I hope not," she makes a face. "We were very reckless back then."
Now this leaves me further confused. Reckless? In what way? My parents never told me anything about their beliefs as a teenager, but I assumed they were the same. Is it possible that they weren't god fearing?
"Too late, Nikki, I already told him he's not allowed to speak to her anymore."
I freeze in my mini rant and panic, my dads words ringing in the silence of the house. Did he just - is he talking about Jace?
The heart in my chest begins to beat erratically while my eyes follow to the counter behind my parents. There my phone lays, screen showing my recent call log.
And like a twig, my self restraint snaps.
"You what?" I seethe, stepping into the entry way. Both of my parents turn to me with deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression. They know they've been caught red handed, and I know they have.
"Ni - how -" my dad stutters, eyes wild. "-what did you hear?"
"Are you serious right now?" I have to ask, my brain can't fully comprehend whether he's being truthful or not.
He looks back at my mother who - having been quiet thus far - looks just as shocked.
"Who were you talking about, dad?" I ask, clenching my fists tighter than they were before. I don't even remember them closing.
"First of all," he points out, hardening his voice. "You don't call the shots here, I do, so watch it. Second of all, it's none of your business. You're grounded remember?"
"If the conversation had to do with me," I correct him. "Then it is my business."
"We're not playing this game," he tells me, glaring daggers at me. I block his exit, him staring down at me and me tilting my head to do the same.
"Who. Were. You. Talking. About?" I reiterate, showing my seriousness through my sternness of tone. If my father thinks he can just control every aspect of my life then there really is no respect left for him.
Protecting me or not, I won't be bossed around anymore. I understand I'm only seventeen, hardly able to make decisions for myself, but this is different. This is something that has to do with me and my feelings. Key word is my.
"Jace," he answers and I'm grateful. I thought I would have to further pull it out of him, but maybe he does have a little respect for me.
I feel my heart begin to break at the mention of my boyfriends name and the reason for why it was sad. If my dad honestly dropped this low, I don't even know what to say.
"Why?" My voice cracks for the one syllable word. "For what reason would you be talking to him or about him?"
"He's not good for you, Nina," my father instead replies. I shake my head at him, my eyes stinging with unshed tears. We're back to this again. "I know how guys like him behave-"
"Because you were just like him, right?" I'm not sure if it's meant to be sarcasm or seriousness, though I don't think it really matters. This is when I truthfully find out about my parents past because they've been trapped. And the best part...they walked straight into it willingly. "Right?"
"Yes." My eyes widen slightly at his omission and my mothers do as well. Seems they didn't quite discuss telling me their true teenage years. "I was. I'll admit that. I slept around, I drank, I was into illegal shit. That is why I can't allow you to be with him."
I can't blink and I can't move, I stand still as my father passes me with a harsh movement, leaving me and my mother alone. It takes me a minute to realize what's just happened, and that's why I begin to follow him.
"How could you?" I further the conversation, my tone angry.
"Drop it, Nina," he says over his shoulder, heading for the front door. He grabs his car keys out of the bowl by the door and then his coat, which I take away from him.
"My entire life you and mom lied to me, made me think that being god fearing is what was best for me," I scoff. "But you know what? That was far from the reality. You made me naive, sheltered, and foolish-"
"-Did you ever ask yourself why we did that, Nina?" He asks, glaring at me. I stay silent once again. "The whole point of being a parent, is to make sure your kids have a better life than you did."
"By depriving me of the reality of the world, dad?" I exasperate, shaking my head. "That's not helping me."
He pierces his lips and I scoff.
"You can't keep me away from him," I admit, keeping my voice stronger than the way I feel.
"I can and I will," he voices, tone gravely and serious beyond compare. He turns his back on me and places a hand on the doorknob.
"I'm in love with him," the lump in my throat grows and his hand pauses where it was pursuing. "You should care about that, dad."
I bite my lip as tears form in my eyes and wait for him to respond. My hopes are completely crushed as he doesn't turn around.
"I don't." And he opens the door only to slam it behind him as he walks away. Against my control, my bottom lip quivers and tears begin to leak out of my eyes. Before my mother can say anything to try and console me, I sprint up the stairs.
For the fifty millionth time today, I begin to cry.
•••
It's amazing the lengths that my father is willing to go to in order to not see me. After he stormed out last night, I never heard him come back. When I came down for breakfast this morning, though, there were blankets neatly folded on the couch along with a pillow.
Seems my mom didn't agree with his tactics yesterday.
Unfortunately - or maybe not - he left before anyone woke up. Chances are he went to Uncle Jackson's, but that's a guess. He could've gone anywhere.
As for my mom, she seems to be in an awful mood clearly having to do with my father, so I don't see much of her this morning. She gave me back my phone for school along with my car keys before I left, though.
I noticed the attempted calls from Jace before anything else, making me feel sorrowful and practically speed all the way to school.
"Dad will get over it," Caleb mentions as we pull into the parking lot. I glance at him. "You're his daughter, I can see why he wouldn't want you with Jace. Hell, there's a part of me that doesn't want you to be either."
"What?" I turn to him, slightly shocked.
"I know all about Jace," he responds. "What he's in to, the things he does. You're my sister, sue me for trying to care for you even in the slightest bit."
I drop my eyes, putting the car in park before shifting towards him completely.
"I understand, Caleb," I nod. "I do, but you don't see him when it's just the two of us. He's a completely different person, someone that I truly feel cares for me. Why can't that be enough for dad?"
He shrugs. "He's blinded by wanting to protect you is all."
I sigh and soon enough we leave the car. I do text Jace telling him that we need to talk, but he hasn't responded. It makes me a little nervous that he could've possibly taken my Father's words to heart, but when I see him standing outside of the school with Damon and a few others friends, relief floods through me.
This weekend was long and grueling, but amazing for all the right reasons. I'm telling myself this, because I'm now realizing how childish we have been by keeping our relationship a secret. Maybe it was for good reasons, but after Saturday night, I want to put that past us. At this point in time, I don't think it can get anymore out there.
So, with this in mind, I take a deep breath and walk over to where Jace stands with his back to me. Damon spots me first, staring at me enough to where Jace then turns around. He doesn't say anything or show any form of emotion, my guess because of his conversation with my dad.
"Jace," I breathe and he clenches his jaw. For a second - maybe even just a millisecond - I fear he's going to shut me down or say something to ruin my mood, but when he grabs the front of my jacket and pulls me to him, that assumption is thrown out of the window.
Our lips meet in a tango of heat and love. I can feel his fear, passion and relief in this kiss, automatically making me feel light headed. I clutch on to him, while subconsciously trying not to think of all the students probably watching us right now.
I don't think anyone has ever seen me without Eric much less with a guy of Jace's type.
He pulls away from me, our foreheads together to maintain the connection. Our eyes meet in a hooded notion, while he breathes against my lips and I try to catch mine.
"I love you," he whispers, only loud enough for me to hear. I know this for the mere fact that even I barely caught the words.
"What?" I gasp, and go to pull away, but he holds me still, smiling slightly.
"Don't act so shocked," he mutters, eyes twinkling. "You must've known, or else we wouldn't have done what we did Saturday."
I lick my lips, considering his words. There is a possibility that I knew he loved me without actually knowing, leaving the ability to do what we did. I don't care, though. It doesn't matter. Hearing him say the three words is something extraordinarily unfamiliar, but welcoming.
"Maybe," I breathe, and bite my lip. "Look, about my dad-"
He pulls away to cup my face, staring at me with the most certainty and raw emotion I've ever seen.
"I just told you that I'm in love with you and you want to talk about the shit with your dad," he smirks, not seemingly mad. I smile slightly. "In that case, you should know that I don't give a fuck."
I furrow my eyebrows. "Really?"
"Well, at first I did," he sucks in a breath and my eyes dart to his lips. "If slamming my phone into near pieces is any indication."
That explains why he hadn't texted me back this morning. Relief falls through my body even though he's speaking to me right now and easing the tension.
"But, I got over it and there is no way I can just leave you alone. Not after the feelings I have for you," he looks stressed and I touch his cheek where his eye lashes flutter against the skin there. "So, unless you want me to leave you alone-"
I press my lips to his in a short, but lasting kiss before I pull away with a smile.
"I'm in love with you too, Jace West," I bite my lip and cast my eyes to his, Where he can barely contain his excitement.
He grins and pulls me in for another kiss of the day - this one leaving me reeling far beyond light headedness.
___________________
Well?!!! How the hell was it? Because I've been working on this chapter every day since the last one, but for some reason could not come to the perfect setup which is beyond stressful :/ but summer vacation is only three weeks away and after that I will be back to an updating schedule!!! Yay!!
What do you think? Did Colten and Nina's conversation go as you expected? Are you glad Nikki is slightly mad at him too? How did the Jace love omission go?? Did you love it? Hate it?
Don't be a silent reader!!
Enjoy. Love you all <3
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