Take Me Beyond Me (boyxboy)

17

Shane's POV

Jace and I entered Flynn's Steakhouse, a restaurant, and we were led to a table.

"I'm starved," he said. "I had fun watching the sun set at the lake. Will we go again?"

"Of course, whenever you want. It's been a while since I was last there."

A waitress came up to us, introduced herself, and took our orders. When she left, Jace looked back at me.

"So, this is our first official date."

I smiled at him. "And no one's looking at us all weird."

"Well, they don't exactly know we're a couple, so..."

"True."

"Hey, I actually wanted to talk to you about something," he started. "It's about you, but there's something that my ex, Netty told me."

I slowly nodded. "She was talking about me? Why?"

"She wants me to stay away from you. She thinks you're 'up to no good'."

"You don't actually believe her, do you?"

"Well, no, of course not. I just... I mean, there's two sides to every story, so I wanted to hear the truth from you, not her."

"What exactly did she tell you?"

"That you guys were once friends." He shrugged. "That true?"

"Yeah, we were. I don't think I could consider her a friend because she just dissed me when everyone else did."

"But why?"

"After my dad died, I tried whatever I could to get my mind off of things. Two years ago, when I was fourteen, I had awful habits. I had gotten into smoking and Netty was basically one of my stoner 'buddies' or whatever. I would always..." I sighed. Telling Jace this was making me uncomfortable because I wasn't exactly an angel when I was 14.

Our waitress came back with our food and drinks.

"Thanks," Jace nodded at her. She smiled and went to attend to some other customers. Jace looked back at me, expecting me to continue.

"Listen, Jace," I reached out to hold his hand and I felt him freeze. I ignored it. "I promise you, I don't do those things anymore. So whatever Netty told you - just disregard it, okay? She's just tryna get into your head."

"Ok," he responded quietly, pulling his hand out of my grip and glancing to see if anyone was watching. That stung me quite a bit. It was one thing to be uncomfortable and another thing to be totally ashamed. "So what else? You were saying that you would always...what?"

He took a sip of his drink.

"I always kissed boys and girls-"

"I thought you didn't like girls."

"I-I don't. I just wanted the attention."

"What about your mom? Why weren't you strong for her?"

I shook my head. "Jace, I was wrong, I know that, but I feel like you're accusing me... Is there something else Netty said about me?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh-no, sorry. I was just wondering. How'd you get into smoking?"

"I just did." I lied with a small shrug.

He nodded and continued eating. I started eating also, overcome with a wave of depression.

He hated me now. Or at least he was starting to.