The Bad Boy ✔

Chapter Eighteen-Curious is my middle name

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Chapter Eighteen

My life was changing fast and I wasn't sure if it was good.

They said that when puberty hits you, everything changes, both physical and emotional. But whoever 'they' were, didn't really explain that these changes were a lot more difficult than they seemed to be. There were those random times of breakouts or those bloated days when nothing seemed to fit and even days when chocolate cravings were best satisfied.

And then there were those days when a guy who you were fake dating told you that there was nothing going on between you and him. It was like a hard slap to my face when Jace practically painted me the picture of my future with him nowhere near it. I was no expert in romance, but I knew rejection when I saw rejection.

There was nothing that I could have done to change anything because despite all odds, I had brought this entire mess onto myself. And so, I settled myself into reminding my brain and heart that Jace Collins was a bad boy. He wasn't my type and he would never be my type. He rode a bike and got into trouble and broke the law and I owned a cat and stayed at home on Fridays.

We were nothing alike.

Except for some reason, I couldn't stop picturing Jace's inky black hair that fell messily over his forehead or his grey eyes that looked so mysterious and seductive at the same time, they made your knees turn to jelly and your heart to thud uncontrollably. Yes, it was becoming harder and harder for my mind to convince itself that Jace was nothing more than a deal.

"He told you that," Eliza asked as she chewed on her salad.

My nose scrunched at the carrots she easily swallowed before I responded, "Well technically he said that it was complicated and that I should back off in those polite bad boy ways."

She frowned. Then sipping her cola she replied, "You do know that's code for 'I'm secretly in love with you but I need to maintain my reputation so I have to tell you a lie' right?"

"In what world?" I demanded.

Eliza shrugged but managed a grin. "I don't know," she said after a few seconds, "but I can see it in his eyes. He likes you Lynn, he likes you a lot."

"Yeah he likes me as much as I like carrots," I retorted.

"On the plus side, you did get to jump off a building," Eliza offered.

"Have I ever told you how you suck as a best friend?" I asked.

Smile widening, Eliza nodded as she spoke, "All the time Lynn."

"But seriously Eliza," I murmured, "it was awful. You should have seen the way Jace got around his mother, almost as if he didn't want to know her."

Eliza took another bite of her salad and looked thoughtful. A few minutes passed when she suggested, "Well if you had a messed up parent who was obviously into drugs and dating a complete whack-job, you wouldn't want to associate yourself with them either."

I bit my lower lip as I stared at my half-eaten burger. "It's just weird," I finally managed, "that's his mother and-"

"And," Eliza interrupted, "it's his life. Not everyone had a great mother Lynn."

I went silent for a while. Memories of my own mother came flashing into my mind and I thought about Jace and how he never would have experienced a loving mother. Suddenly I felt my chest constrict as I thought about Jace having no real mother to support him as he grew and then my mind wandered over to thoughts of his father. It must have been horrible.