Mr. Popular x The Emo (BxB)

Wood Carvings

Luke's POV

There really is a small park here. It's really old and decrepit looking, but it's still standing. It looks like it use to be an area used for entertaining with the open stone building with the old picnic tables and rusty camp grills. The park is small with a metal slide with broken wood around it to make it like a boat, a broken merry-go-round with chipped paint, and lastly there is a swing set. The two kids seats are broken- one seat is completely missing- and the three bigger swings aren't in much better shape. What a dump...

Jace tosses his backpack onto the cement of the stone building and makes his way to the swings. I follow his lead tossing my stuff next to his and following him towards the swings. Absentmindedly, Jace runs his fingers over the wood of the slide. When I pass I see the words- "Jace is king of the slide"- roughly carved into it in child-like writing. Has he been coming here since he was little? I wonder, stopping to run my fingers over the wood. Hmm.

When I look back up at Jace, who has taken his seat at the swings, I'm surprised to connect with his gaze. Jace must be lost in thought, because he doesn't hide his face and I get to see his eyes. The sun has come out of hiding making it brighter causing his eyes to look bluer than before, they look pretty framed by his dark lashes. I only get to admire them for a few seconds before Jace realizes I'm looking. I get to see the blush start on his cheeks before they disappear behind his bangs.

My lips curl into a grin and I walk the rest of the way to the swings. When I sit I worry that it'll break under his wait. I don't know how Jace is pushing back and forth with ease, but then again Jace weighs half my own weight plus he's probably gotten use to this death trap.

Once I finally get comfortable I glance at Jace, who isn't really swinging just rocking back and forth the length of his legs. Again, Jace was watching me as I settled. Before his face hides behind his protective curtain I see the little curl of his lips. Hmm.

Curious, I lean towards him and I brush the hair out of his face, pinning it to the top of his head. The smile is there for a second, but I wish it'd stay forever. His eyes widen in shock and his smile drops. I see fear flicker in his eyes.

"You should smile more." I blurt out without thinking. I let go of his hair, letting it fall back into his face. I lean back and start to swing to ignore the awkward feeling I created. For a second he looked like he was expecting me to hit him. "It's been forever since I've been on a swing!" I say as a swing up as high as I dare on this death trap. Jace is just swinging half-heartedly with his eyes cast downward. His whole posture is stiff. He's probably nervous to be around me. Which is understandable since we haven't really ever talked before today. Oh! Idea! I hop off my swing, landing with ease. Jace glances up at me hesitantly, trying to figure out what I was doing. I go behind him and he tries to crane his neck to see what I'm doing. When he swings back towards me I give him a little shove causing him to go higher.

"Whoa!" He squeaks at the sudden action, gripping onto the chains a little tighter. I grin and continue to push him higher and higher. Once he is going as high as he can I see him close his eyes as if enjoying the feeling. Suddenly he pushes of the swing and goes flying into the air. He lands on his feet for a second, but his momentum sends him tumbling onto the ground. Shocked, I ran over to him and knelt down.

"Are you okay?" I asked worried. His shoulders start shaking and I worry that he's crying, but then I hear it. Jace falls onto his back, eyes closed and mouth open with laughter. Something in me just feels right, sitting here with Jace as he laughs. It's just so overwhelming that I start laughing too.

Soon, we both calm down and I lay down next to him in the grass as we catch our breath. The sky is cotton candy blue with wispy clouds. It looks like it'll start getting dark soon and that makes me sad. I want to stay in this moment with Jace calm by my side. The sun warming us with the only background noise being the soft breeze and the chirping birds. Jace lets out a soft sigh.

"You shouldn't get involved with me." Jace says quietly and I turn my head so I can see him. He doesn't take his eyes off the sky.

"Why's that?" I ask.

"It'll end badly. It always does." He answers cryptically. Just then a harsh voice yells in the distance,

"Jace! Are you at that damn park again? You better get your ass over here now!" The man's voice is cruel and cold. Jace sits up with a start, his eyes wide with fear. I glance from him to the direction the voice came from. I finally notice that there's a house nearby. I can only see a bit of the door and a pickup truck through the trees. Is that his house?

"I didn't know how late it was, I really have to go!" Jace says quickly standing. His voice is shaky as if he's afraid. He rushes over to his things and I follow behind him. He gives a quick look at me and glanced back at the house and then looks at me again. "Just... Just don't get involved with me. If you need reasons ask your friends. Bye." With that he dashes off through the trees. My last glimpse is when he slips into the barely visible door. I'm left standing there baffled. Ask my friends? It'll end badly? What does he mean? And who was it that was yelling for him so angrily? These thoughts circle continuously around my head as I pull out my phone to call my mom. It's been about three hours now so I'm hoping she can come get me.

"Luke! Sweetie, where are you? Your father says you aren't home yet." She sounds a bit worried and I feel guilty.

"Sorry, Ma. I met up with a friend and forgot to watch time. I was hoping you could come pick me up?" I ask.

"Of course! I just left work a few minutes ago. Are you at Mikey's" She asks sounding relieved.

"No, it was a different friend, Jace. I'm at the old park on the outskirts of town. Give me a second." I say and walk a little bit until I can see the road sign. "It's by 300 north." I tell her. She gives me an okay before hanging up. I walk back over to the slide and run my fingers over the words there. I try to imagine a smaller Jace carving it there. Did he pretend he was a pirate on this ship. Running around like he was king of the world? Was he happy? My mom appears not long after and I spend the whole drive home thinking about a certain boy with blue-grey eyes.

A/N:

Hahaha like a year later I update this chapter. As of 11/04/2019 this chapter has been updated. That doesn't mean it's perfect grammatically or even spelling cause i'm still stupid and my eyes hurt from working all day and blahblah. Just basically me taking like 15-16 year old me's writing and matching it to 20 year old me's write. There is actually 361 more words in here not including this note :D Also, I kept trying to write it in 3rd person cause that's what I prefer now XD I hope you enjoy! I'll try to get the next one fixed soon! Thank you ❤︎