Chapter 10 - Hidden Talents and Hidden Truths
------------------------------------------------------------------
"My face hurts," I complain, for the millionth time.
"I know, Callie," Jace sighs. "Do you want me to take you home?"
"Not yet," I say, after a moment. Jace holds open the ER exit-door for me, and I step out, thanking him. Two stitches later, and my lip is as good as new. I will have a scar though, apparently. Oh goodie.
"Does my lip look bad?" I ask.
"It looks swell," Jace remarks, and I swat him in the chest, laughing.
"Jerk, that's not funny!" I wail. "It hurts."
"Well, next time, don't go on a death-trap ride like that," he says, putting his arm around my shoulders.
"I won't," I say. We walk to his car together, and we get in. "Where to now?"
"I have two ideas," he says, turning towards me, holding up two fingers.
"Okay," I say, grinning.
"Pick a number, one or two," he offers.
"One," I say, and a smile forms on his lips.
"I was hoping you'd say that," he says. He turns on the ignition, and pulls away from the hospital.
"Okay, so what did I pick?" I ask.
"Well, I'm going to show you something I've never shown anyone else before, okay?"
"Aw, so not your dick then?" I ask sarcastically.
"Very funny."
"I thought so," I grin. We drive in a comfortable silence, partly to the fact that talking makes my lip hurt. I look at myself in the rear-view mirror, and pull a face. "I look gross," I decide. My mouth is swollen up to twice it's normal size, and it's really bruised. The ugly stitches and bandage don't really make it look much better, either.
"You look beautiful," Jace says, quietly. I look at him thoughtfully. "What?"
"Can I ask you a question?" I say.
"Yeah."
"Why are we suddenly talking again? Why did you suddenly ask me out?"
"After I found out about Chase, I just couldn't stop thinking about how much better you deserved. I still cared about you, after all these years. Just because we didn't talk much, doesn't mean I forgot about you."
"I know," I say, a slight blush on my cheeks.
"And, I dunno, after seeing you in that restaurant a few weeks ago, I just couldn't get you out of my head," he admits.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," I say. "Why were you there anyway?"
"I was at a meeting," he says, his tone serious. I don't push any further, knowing that there are some things in Jace's life that I just shouldn't ask about.
"Ah, I see," I say.
"Yeah. We're almost there," he says. I nod. A few minutes later, we pull up at a small lake. It's surrounded with trees, and there's a small picnic bench on the grassy verge that dips into the water.
It's beautiful.
"C'mon," Jace says, leaning over and undoing my seatbelt. I shake my head, laughing, and step out of the car. The sky is dark, the moon sending a shadow across the lake. It reminds me so much of my date with Chase. A wave of sadness washes over me, the realisation of the last few days finally sinking in. I crumble onto the bench, a tear rolling down my cheek. "You okay?" Jace asks, worriedly. He sits down next to me, wrapping his arms around me.
YOU ARE READING
Senior Year
Teen Fiction"Jace Jenson. He's the school bad boy, the type of person who can make your life a living hell if you just so much as look at him wrong. And he just so happens to be in most of my classes." Callie Watt has glided through high school mostly unnot...
