"Watch your step!" Jace warns, urgently as I trip on yet another tree branch.
"How can I do that Einstein? I can't even see." I huffed.
We've been walking through what I assumed were the woods because of the abundance of trees for me to trip over for the past half an hour. He blindfolded me as soon as I got into his car outside of his house. I protested and argued for a while before he promised that it was worth it and he would buy me lunch if it wasn't. Even if wherever we went was the best place in the world, I wasn't going to give up a free meal.
I doubt I'm going to enjoy our destination because I'm not a huge nature fan, too many bugs and my allergies act horrendous. Of course he knew that and as soon as we stepped out the car he gave me a Zyrtec and a fresh coat of bug spray. Things like that make me like Jace a little more than I did the day before.
At the moment, he was pissing me off considering every five minutes he was running me into trees.
"Shit, my bad!" And there's another one.
"My bad," I mocked. My patience is running thin. "Are we there yet?"
"Almost," We continued walking and the sound of rushing water grew nearer. He grips onto my shoulders, slowing me to a stop. "Okay, hold on." He removes his hands, leaving my body devoid of his touch.
His hands are back in my hair which came just above my shoulders and showed off my natural curls making me feel like Yara Shahidi in The Sun Is Also A Star. He unties the blindfold, my eyes squint as they adjust to the new found light. I look around, taking in my surroundings. All I see are tall trees, large rocks and green bushes until I feel a tap on my shoulder.
I turn around and I see Jace standing in front of a rushing waterfall followed into a small river. There's light reflecting from the sun onto the water. This place seems familiar like I've seen it before. It looks like a scene straight out of a movie where the main characters jump from the rocks and make out under the water fall. Not that, that was happening today.
"Where are we?" I said in awe after staring for a few minutes.
"Kilgore Falls," I think about where I heard that from. It's on the tip of my tongue. "What? Feel familiar?" He's amused.
"Just tell me Kingston." He puts his hands up in defense before pulling out his phone. He shoves it in front of my face as I'm admiring the large rocks behind the waterfall.
I can't see the title of the video but I didn't need to. That sly bitch.
"Tuck Everlasting." The corner of his mouth twitches as he tries to hold in a smile.
It was a book I read as a child before it became a Disney movie. I showed Jace the movie last week and he cried for half of it. I knew that parts of it were filmed in Maryland and fantasized about the beautiful waterfall scene along with an attractive, shirtless Jesse Tuck, but that was all it was.
A fantasy.
Until Jace took me here. And turned my fantasy into a reality.
"Still regret coming?" I shake my head unable to form coherent thoughts let alone words. He bends down and I look over to see him removing his Nikes and socks.
"You know that water is as dirty as the harbor?" He just glances up at me, hair flopping over his eyes and resting just above his nose. "No seriously. You might get aids from that water." He laughs, ignoring my warning, before slipping into the dirty river. The water came just below his knee and looked up at me, expectantly.
"It's burning out there. Just come in for a second." I shake my head, backing up. I'm perfectly content with the nearly eighty- five degree heat if it meant staying away from that water.
He gets out the water, removing his regular blue t-shirt to reveal the faint outline of abs before walking over to me. A smirk grows on his lips as he wraps his arms around my waist. I gasped trying to push him off of me, I've seen too many movies not to know what happens next.
My attempts of escape are futile as he lifts me off the ground, easily as if me weighing 150 pounds doesn't bother him, and slings me over his shoulder. I grip on to his neck tightly, afraid of falling into the dirt but also trying to free my legs. He just takes off my slip on Vans and throws them to the side.
"I swear Jace Kingston, if you put me in that dirty water I'll kill you." He ignores me and advances towards the water. I'm afraid to look down as he steps into the river and switches me to bridal position.
"The water won't kill you Let," He still hasn't dropped me yet. "Didn't you say you wanted to live like a movie?"
"I say a lot of things I don't mean." He sighs, loosening his grip on my legs, making me grip tighter to his neck.
"I'm going to set you down now."
"I'm enjoying it from right here," I stated, my voice shaking. "Why do I have to get in?"
"Because you'll regret it if you don't."
"I have no regrets." I muttered as he lowered me down to about an inch above the water.
"Put your feet down," I shake my head.
"Either feet down or I'll drop you and get your clothes wet." I never moved so fast in my life. I was grumbling as the cool water reached my knee.
Jace left me to get closer to the waterfall, I begrudgingly followed him. I wasn't worried about missing my movie moment if it meant I had to swim in unchlorinated water.
"I'm going to get out of this and be sucked dry of my blood by leeches." He doesn't bother looking back at me.
"Live in the moment, Scarlett. This may never happen again."
"I think I can live with that."
"Winnie didn't complain this much." He muttered.
"Winnie had a gorgeous boy on her arm who was wet and shirtless." He stops and turns around to face me with a frown.
"What am I?"
"No offense, Jacey, but you're no Jesse." I snorted, pushing him to the side.
"You're right. I'm way better."
The water actually feels nice. I want to go deeper but I'm trying my best not to get my clothes wet. Jace didn't care about wet clothes because half of his shorts were already submerged. I turn back to Jace with a hint of a smile playing at my lips.
"I want to go further." His brows knit together probably thinking I'm dumb for telling him that.
"Then go further."
"I don't want to get my clothes wet." His mouth formed an 'o'.
I flash him a charming smile, moving towards him until we're only a few inches apart.
"Please Jacey..."
He searches me with his eyes before releasing a loud sigh. I get on my tip toes and fling my arms around his neck. He picks me up bridal style once again and moves deeper in the water. The waterfall grows louder and he stops before the water hits his waist. I frowned, feeling bad that he has to ride all the way home in wet shorts.
"I have an extra pair in the car." He reassures me, reading my mind.
It's silent for a few minutes. The only noise comes from the waterfall in front of us and a few birds in the distance. I feel our breathing synch up as we stare at the glorious sight. I feel bad for the people who never get the chance to see a real life waterfall which was me before today.
Before Jace.
"Is this your first time?" He asks, breaking the silence. I nodded. "Jasper and I used to go up to a waterfall near our house. We used to jump from the highest point no matter what we were wearing and splash around for hours."
His eyes filled with sorrow as he recounted the happy memories from his childhood. As he relieves how innocent he once was, the kid who thought that he had a built in best friend for life. Now he's older and all the innocence has been crushed down to the core.
If I had a time machine, I'd give it to him in an instant. Just for that smile to never leave his face. I would go back and change history for him so that him and Jasper never split up. At this moment, I wanted nothing in the world, but for Jace to get his best friend back. I wanted to take all the pain in his heart away. But I can't do that. The damage has already been done.
"I wish things were different." I whispered to myself, but Jace overheard. He let out a laugh devoid of any humour.
"Me too."
And just like that the moment of sadness was gone. Well not gone, but the master of hiding emotions showed up and plastered a smile on Jace's face. The boy who was so close to tears was gone and in his wake was a replacement of his former self.
I watched as he talked animatedly about some stupid video that he saw the night before. He talked about a new show that just came on Netflix. He talked about his family's trip to Paris a few summers ago. All over the surface things that were meant to overshadow, everything going on inside.
I watched as he closed himself off and bottled up everything he was feeling and chucked it across the world... never to be seen again.
But I saw it.
I saw it in the bags under his eyes, his scowl replacing the light- hearted smile whenever Jasper walked in the room, in his fake smiles, and scarce moments of vulnerability. Everybody can walk around him pretending not to notice the fact that behind the calm, cool and collected boy there was a hurricane of emotions that he's trying to shove down. He's trying to act like he's over something that's cut him so deep beyond repair.
Sure, I know what it feels like to miss somebody who's standing in front of you. I miss my sister everyday. But Jace lost something greater when Jasper left him. He lost his best friend. His other half. His twin brother. And he has to confront that pain every time he looks in the mirror. He has to watch his brother slip through his fingers as he sinks deeper into a hole that soon he won't be able to get out of.
"Jace-" I tried to interrupt as he spoke about visiting the Eiffel Tower. "Jace!" I said a little louder, trying to break through. Trying to let him know that he doesn't have to pretend with me, but it's too late.
He's gone.
_______________________________________
"Can I ask you a question?" Jace's voice was low but a shout in the quiet.
Our legs stretched out in front of us as I lay on his stomach, staring at the sky. We got out of the water a half an hour ago and we've been sitting in silence for a while as I tried to encrypt this memory into my brain. I wanted to remember this day forever, my first waterfall, the first time I felt truly happy in a long time.
"Is it going to be weird?"
"No- well... yes."
"I guess so."
"Are you a virgin?" I shoot up into a sitting position. Out of all the weird questions to ask, that wasn't one I was expecting.
"Why?" I asked tentatively. My eyes are watching him skeptically, but his face is blank.
He shrugged. "Just curious."
"Yes, if you must know. Are you?"
"Yeah." Wasn't expecting that answer.
"Really?" I voiced my disbelief.
Guys like him are never virgins. Rich boys who go to private schools with way better than average looks. He has to be lying. There's no possible way that this athletic, intelligent, insanely good looking specimen in front of me hasn't lost his v- card.
"Don't get me wrong. I've had plenty of opportunities," That makes sense. "But I always said no. Wanted it to be special. Is it the same for you?"
"Far from it," He looked surprised. Hate to break it to you sweetie, but like Destiny and Latrell said 'Nobody's knocking down my door to date me.'
"Seriously?" He asked. "How?"
"I've never had a boyfriend let alone a guy who wants to have sex with me."
"That's insane. You're-" I raised an eyebrow
"I'm what?" He waved me off. "No Kingston, I'm what?"
"You're too good to pass up." Blood rushes to my cheeks at his kind words. "Seriously, the guy who wins your heart will be the luckiest person on earth." If Jace thinks I'm so amazing, why hasn't he tried to get with me? Not that I'd want that, but really, is there something I'm missing?
No, stop it Scarlett. Don't question yourself just because some stupid boy doesn't want you. You're worth way more than what anybody thinks. It doesn't matter that Jace doesn't want to be the 'luckiest person on Earth' it's not like you wanted him to be anyway.
"Thanks, but you're the only one in the universe that feels that way,"
I'm tired of this conversation. It's taking me back to bad middle school memories when the most 'popular' boy in school said that nobody would ever date me. It still holds true to this day, but I'm young. I have a whole life to live and you never know what can happen.
"You think Marley might be the right girl?" I suggest, wiggling my eyebrows.
"About that..." He trails off, avoiding my gaze. What did that asshole not tell me?
"Jace... Jace!" I shake his shoulder, trying to grab his attention.
"We broke things off," I narrowed my eyes. He so conveniently forgot to tell me that my hard matchmaking work went to waste. "Well she broke things off."
"Oh Jacey, are you okay?" He nodded slowly.
I thought she liked Jace. How could somebody not like Jace?
"Did she say why?" Jace looked at me for a second, not saying anything before looking back down at the river.
"No, she didn't." He exhaled.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," He breathed out. He stands up and I take his outstretched hand. He pulls me off the rock with one hand, exerting little to no effort. "It's for the best."
"I just wish that she said something."
"Just let it go Scarlett. We only went on a few dates." Five dates to be exact. I don't want to let it go, but I'm going to respect Jace's boundaries and not look into why that evil blond haired bitch broke it off with him.
"Fine, whatever." I muttered, rolling my eyes.
"Promise me, you'll drop it." He holds out his pinkie like a child. I reluctantly latch mine onto his and he gives me a satisfied smile before turning back around.
I actually got to look at the scenery on the trail since I wasn't blind folded and running into trees. It was just a bunch of trees and sticks. Nothing that made me want to experience nature especially not when I was attacked by mosquitoes since the bug spray wore off. Jace laughed as I swatted off the evil bugs but I laughed harder when he ran into a tree because I had distracted him. Accidently, on purpose. Payback's one crazy bitch.
We made it out to the parking lot unscathed except for three new mosquito bites on my legs where my shorts couldn't protect me. On the way we decided... I decided and Jace didn't object to going to lunch at Outback. He's never been and I had to act like I wasn't deeply offended. Destiny and I have been going up to the Outback near the harbor since I got my car. My parents wouldn't be caught dead in what I consider my favorite restaurant for their wings alone.
He lets me pick the music and I serenade him with Disney songs, he especially enjoys my off key rendition of I Won't Say I'm In Love. He joins me in an awful duet of I Can See The Light from Tangled, reminding me of the first time I went over his house.
Wow, just to think that was only two months ago. Two months ago I barely knew Jace and now we're best friends. We share food and hang out every weekend. I know his habits, quirks, origin story, and while I never thought it would go this far. I'm glad it did.
We arrive at the restaurant a little after 3 in the afternoon and it's fairly crowded but we're seated quickly. Not going to lie, it's a little uncomfortable when our teenage waitress comes over with her long legs and perfectly curled brown hair, shamelessly flirts with Jace. He acts normally and his normal is charming and kind. Equivalent to flirting. She bats her eyelashes at him, ignoring me completely until I clear my throat.
"Would you like something to drink, miss?" Her words are quick as she darts her eyes over to me, disgust fuming out of her body.
All this hostility just because I'm sitting across the table from him. We aren't even touching, when she walked over I was showing him a video on pimple popping that Destiny sent me. Why would I show my boyfriend a video of somebody popping a pimple? He didn't even look the slightest bit interested in me just stared at my phone in horror. I learned that he's easily grossed out, so am I, but at least I hide it better.
She shoots daggers at me and normally I'd let it go and let her flirt with him, but she's acting like a bitch and that isn't cool with me. So I decided to fuck with her, just a little.
"I don't know," I say innocently. "What do you think, Jacey?" I dragged out his name, tracing a circle on his palm. Her eyes don't leave my hand as Jace clears his throat.
"She'll have a raspberry iced tea." He answers swiftly. I didn't think he would get it right, but he did. He knew about my obsession with iced tea. Surprising.
"That's so sweet of you, Jacey. You always know exactly what I want." I trail my finger further up his arm, trying to be as seductive as possible. That proves to be hard as I'm as seductive as a cabbage. The girls' knuckles turned white as she squeezed her fist.
"Will that be all?" She grits out.
"I don't know, is it?" My eyes never leave Jace whose sitting there oblivious to it all. He hasn't commented or moved his arm away from me as I traced his veins that were bulging out. Ugh, gross.
"You want an appetizer?" He asked me.
"Bacon cheese fries, please." I snap my eyes back to her with a satisfying grin.
"Coming right up," She storms off and I look back at Jace who's already staring at me. I remove my hand quickly and sit back in my seat, creating as much space as possible from his weird veiny arms.
"You know that girl was flirting with you." His face tells me that he didn't know.
"She was just being nice."
"To you, maybe. She looked like she wanted to kill me."
"Why?" I mentally facepalm. Jace needs a serious lesson on the female gender.
"Because she thinks I'm your girlfriend and she doesn't want that."
"She was kind of cute," He turned around, trying to find her. I glared at him. "I was kidding." His face breaks out in a grin.
The waitress comes back, her hair looking better than ever and her lips painted a deep red. Okay so this girl is ready to win.
She hands Jace his Diet Coke (cough* old man soda *cough *cough) and sets my raspberry iced tea down a little too hard. Some of it splashes on to the table, but I have a perfect plan.
"Jacey, can you hand me a napkin?" My eyes widen and he grabs a few out of the dispenser. I made sure to run my fingers down his wrist before resting them above the napkin and removing it from his grasps slowly. He just looks at me amused at my act, but I could've sworn I heard him suck in a sharp breath.
"What can I get for you today?" She directs her question at Jace. But since I already told him what he was eating, I took over.
"We will have two orders of wings. Mild," I hand her the menus. I take notice of her long olive green acrylics. "I love your nails. That's Jacey over there's favorite color." I send him a wink. She snatched her hand away.
"Mine too," She enthused, entranced by the boy who tripped on the curb on the way to the restaurant. "What's your name?"
"Jace."
"Beautiful name. Alessia."
"And I'm Scarlett."
"It's a pleasure meeting you." She throws him a wink before strutting back to what I assume is the kitchen.
"I really like her." I joked and Jace shook his head.
"You're pure evil. Leave the poor girl alone."
"She started it," I exclaimed. "And I'm prepared to finish it."
A different waitress comes and brings us our cheese fries. I let Jace have most of them because it's his first time experiencing the goodness of Outback cheese fries. He moans in delight and I took a video of him with ranch dressing on the sides of his mouth.
"Why are you such a messy eater?" I asked, handing him a napkin.
"Like you're any better."
He's right, I'm worse. I've missed my mouth more times than I can count and smeared ranch on my chin or cheeks. I stopped trying to eat nicely around him after our first three times eating together, after that I ate however I wanted. He didn't judge or comment except to laugh occasionally when it was really bad, but other than that he just handed me a napkin and continued with our meal.
The same waitress who brought us the cheese fries came back with our wings. My mouth started watering at the thought of their deliciousness. I refrain from eating mine until I watch Jace eat his first one. He bites into it and chews slowly before devouring the whole thing. I think tears came to his ears as he ate his second wing.
Our regular waitress came back a couple times, but I just let her do it. The wings put me in a better mood and it was amusing to see her find subtle ways to touch Jace. He didn't show any emotion, much less interest and she was obviously disappointed. The thing is if she wasn't a bitch to me when she first saw me I would've helped her.
Jace paid the check even though I lost the bet. He said it was because I showed him his new favorite food and he was eternally grateful. Alessia wrote her number on the check and when I asked Jace if he was going to call her, he said no. I didn't ask any questions after that.
There was still something plaguing the back of my mind that bubbled to the surface when we got to his house somewhere around five. Jasper was standing outside and so was Destiny. She didn't do anything except for a suggestive smile and a wink when the car pulled up. We never speak at the twins house, probably because I'm trying to keep my world separate from his and Destiny always has her tongue down Jasper's throat.
We weren't even out of the car yet when Jace's demeanor changed. His eyes went dark and narrowed in on his brother and my best friend. His jaw was clenched and his knuckles white, gripping the steering wheel. Jace was here, unguarded, his anger truly showing or sadness or whatever was going on inside his head.
I took a hand and placed it over his. His knuckles regained some color as he loosened his grip. I moved his head so he was facing me and not them.
"Talk to me, Jace. I'm right here," I whispered in his ear. I wanted to get through to him. Let him know that there was somebody in his corner. "I'm not going to leave."
"What are you doing Scarlett? I'm good." He tried to smile but it turned into a grimace.
"You're a lot of things, but good isn't one of them. I need you to stay here with me. I need you to not shut down. Can you hear me?" He nodded. "I'm right here Jace and I'm not going anywhere."
"But he left." His eyes darted back to his brother who stared at the car with a smirk. He knew what his presence did to Jace. He loved seeing his brother squirm. That's sick.
"I'm not him."
"What did I do to deserve you?" He asked, breath fanning my ear.
"Everything."
He was everything.
He was the friend I didn't know I needed.
He was the last thing I expected but everything I ever wanted.
And I want it to stay this way. Forever.
We didn't even get inside the house before Jasper rained on our parade yet again. He pulled away from Destiny long enough to step in front of the door, preventing entry. I was holding Jace's hand which my nosy best friend took notice of.
"Is there something you forgot to tell me Scar?" Destiny asked, eyebrows raised with a smile playing on her lips.
"I think she's forgotten to tell us a lot. Don't you think Jace?" A smile playing at Jasper's lips. A smile I wanted to wipe off. They looked more alike than ever today since Jace is wearing contacts instead of glasses.
All eyes landed on me. Destiny looked nervous like she was afraid I was about to be outed at any moment, the same fear coursing through my veins. Jasper was in control, he was the ringmaster; I had to choose my words carefully, he held my friendship with Jace in his hands. Jace... the only one who doesn't know just looks confused.
"What's he talking about?" The only innocent one here, asked. Jasper's smirk grew as I shifted nervously.
"I have no idea." The lie slipped through my lips, as easy as the truth. Except when I told the truth, my heart wasn't racing a million miles an hour.
"There's a huge Markland party happening next week. You're going, right Scarlett? Since it's your school." He was trying to get me to crack, spill all my secrets just to hurt Jace.
"I'm not a big party person."
"What a shame, really," He turned to Destiny, my best friend. "Babe, tell me about your school again in the city."
I swear if that girl exposes me...
"It's a regular school. Books, lockers, things."
"Didn't you tell me about your best friend? The desperate one whose never had a boyfriend," Her eyes darted to me. I kept my face neutral, but inside I was fuming. How dare she call me desperate in front of Jasper?
I look over to Jace, his face blank. I feel him trace circles on my knuckles. Why hasn't Jace wanted to leave yet?
"I don't know who you're talking about," She denies.
"How'd you meet again? Took pity on her because she was a loser with no friends," I gasped, capturing Jace's attention. I covered it up with a cough. "I love that about you. Taking on personal projects, a real humanitarian." She looks to the ground, too scared to meet my eyes.
"Des, just one more thing that makes you an amazing person," I send her a sickeningly sweet smile. She murmurs a thanks. "Can we go inside now?" Jasper steps away from the door, satisfied for the day.
I dragged Jace inside. He didn't say a word about what happened outside and neither did I. His house was quiet except for our footsteps against the marble tiles.We made it up to his room without any interruptions.
I was on the couch, wringing my knuckles out, still pissed from what Destiny said about me. We've been best friends for three years, she knows my deepest darkest secrets just for her to go talk trash about me behind my back. And to her asshole boyfriend at that. Jace was reading a book beside me, my head laying on his chest.
"Okay, what's up?" He shut the book and put it on the coffee table in front of him. "The anger radiating off of you is making it hard to concentrate."
"Sorry," I snapped without meaning to. It wasn't Jace that I was mad at. "Why do people suck?"
"I've been trying to answer that question my whole life," He said. "Did somebody say something?"
"No, it's nothing." Jace grabs my hands that I was still cracking and just holds them. I feel his callouses graze my knuckles.
"Why haven't I ever been to your house?" He asks, abruptly changing the subject. "I would love to meet your family. They're probably a huge step up from absentee parents and a twin brother who I never speak to."
I knew this day would come when he would ask to come over. I tried to prepare myself, but I can't come up with anything. There's no good explanation for why I've spent so much time at his house and he doesn't know where I live. Winging it seems to be the only option.
"It really isn't a step up, I promise. And my parents are busy a lot too," They are never busy except on Sundays and the occasional Friday's. My parents rarely leave the house. It's not church, work, grocery store, or a date. "It's just not a good time right now. Plus the food here is much better than it is at my house."
"I still want to see where you live."
"And you will," Not. "Just not yet." Or ever.
If I can help it, but even I know that's a near impossible goal. I can't keep him out of my house forever, he's going to get suspicious. I'm already on borrowed time, it won't be long before Jasper gets sick of mind games and just tells Jace.
And I don't think I'm ready for that.