in between all things

Chapter Four

For the past hour, I'd been downing shots of vodka armed with my fake ID that Jace had gotten me a year or so ago.

The guy in the photo looked a little like me, except he had a lighter blonde hair colour. The guy serving me wasn't half bad, always cracking jokes and not questioning my drunken state. Basically, everything was going fine until Jace showed up.

I had always been a fun, carefree drunk, but it wasn't until Jace came up to sit with me at the bar, sober as can be, that my inner salty bitch came out to play.

"Hey, Ash," Jace said, sliding into a bar stool next to me. He called the bartender over and bought a lemonade. Usually, he got drunk every time we went out clubbing. I mean, why not drink while the club was still buzzing with energy?

"No vodka?" I said, shoving my shot glass in front of him, but he shoved it away.

"No, I have somewhere to be tomorrow. You shouldn't be drinking either."

"You're the sober one and you can't remember that you told me to get drunk?" I replied rolling my eyes at him. His mood seemed to have changed quickly. His façade was back up. He gave me an emotionless smile.

"I didn't mean that. I've had a shit day and I took it out on you."

I thought for a second before replying. "Where's Drew?"

He smiled at me again, finishing his drink. "He's with Damo. They're caught up in a conversion about a girl that had been dancing with Drew for the past hour. It's almost midnight and your mum finishes work at one right?"

"And you didn't want to join in the conversion? You're a man whore. And yeah, she does finish at one. I hope Macie hasn't woken up." I said to him.

It was true. Jace had slept with more girls than anyone that I knew but still, the stupid girls kept trying to get his attention. Why couldn't they see that he was just going to throw them away like trash once he was done with them?

"Hey, now. Don't be an asshole."

"Says the one who's been a cunt to me the whole night. What's your problem anyway? You and Drew both treat me like a little kid, but I'm the same age as the both of you!" I yelled, standing up, but I must have been really drunk, because I fell onto Jace immediately after I tried to.

He caught me and whispered into my ear. "Come on. You're gonna have a killer headache tomorrow morning if we don't try and sober you up."

After paying for a bottle of water Jace dragged me out of the club. Once we got outside, I sat down on the sidewalk. It was quiet and cold outside, yet I couldn't really feel it. Jace slid down next to me handing me the water, which I downed in five big gulps, and fiddled with his phone for a bit. While I usually didn't mind silence, I hated the silence between us right now.

"I'm sorry," I said, breaking the silence. I didn't mean to yell at him, even though he was an ass.

He looked up and grinned at me. "Don't be. Next time, I'll just take my anger out on Drew."

Jace leant over and punched my shoulder softly, then reached over and grabbed my hand. Weird. Maybe he wasn't sober after all. Even though I knew I should have, I didn't pull my hand away. We sat in silence for a minute more, watching people walk past us, laughing. I turned my phone on and checked the time. It was midnight.

"Look at you being sweet." I teased him. This was a new experience for me. Jace was never sweet.

"Don't push it."

After a moment of silence, I decided that it was time to go look for Drew. I stood up dragging Jace up with me. I was a little more sober now so I could stand okay. Jace and I looked at each other for a moment. I wanted to kiss him. Wait, wasn't I in love with Louis? Jace was like my brother! I'd never thought of him this way before and it scared the hell out of me. Besides, Jace was straight.

But as if he could read my thoughts and wanted to prove me wrong, Jace leant in and kissed me. I leant against him and smiled against his lips. I heard him moan and he kissed me deeper. Suddenly, Jace pulled away from me, a smile on his lips.

"You're a good kisser." He said, pushing a strand of hair out of my eyes. "Although all that happened so fast, I didn't mean to shock you."

I blushed and looked away. Never in a million years did I think this would ever happen! I always thought I'd just be in love with Louis until college. Plus, did I really want to get messed up with Jace? Despite everything my family had gone through, Jace wasn't exactly an amazing influence and besides, wouldn't he just shove me aside like those other girls?

"It's alright. You're a good kisser too." God, I was so lame.

"I knew you weren't straight," Jace said suddenly.

I drew my eyebrows in and gave him an annoyed look. "Way to ruin the mood."

Jace wrapped his arms around my neck and kissed me again and at that moment, I swear I was in heaven.

~~~

"Ash, go to bed. You're drunk and if Mum sees you like this, she's going to flip." Drew said to me, massaging his temples. Drew had always been good at controlling his drinking, hence why he was never drunk around me.

After Jace and I kissed, we went to find Drew and Damo. There was clearly tension between the two of us, although Drew didn't seem to notice while we walked home. Once we did get home, Drew and Jace had gotten into a conversion about something, blatantly ignoring me.

"Fine," I said, walking towards the stairs, only to fall down. Jace came rushing over to me and helped me up, earning a confused look from Drew. Usually, every time I got like this, they both just laughed at me and watched me struggle.

Well, there goes my plans to check on a still sleeping Macie, I thought with a scoff.

Once Jace got me upstairs and set me on the bed, he threw a blanket on top of me and watched me from my door. I snuggled against my pillow, avoiding Jace's gaze.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He said, leaving, shutting my door with a bang on his way out.

Yep, sweet Jace was gone.

Edited by: LarryShipSails

Hope y'all are already loving this story or are at least on your way there!! :)