Jace and Kate

Chapter 4

Jace

I woke up to the constant ringing of my phone. My head was pounding from my performance last night and pounding even more from the celebration afterwards. I wiped at my eyes and reached out for my phone that was still ringing. Loudly I might add. My hand bumped into it and it was sent onto the floor landing with a quiet thump.

I moaned as I lifted up the covers and moved out of my bed just enough to reach it. I pressed the green talk button and pressed the cold screen to my stubbly cheek. “What, yeah, Hello?”

“You, are late.” Jackie, my agent, yelled in my ear. my head pounded with a new fierceness at the disturbance in the quiet.

“For what?” I ask.

I filtered through my minds scrambled calendar but I couldn’t think of anything. My head was pounding too much.

“Your interview with E! You were supposed to be here two hours early so you could get ready. God, Jace! Just get over here as soon as possible.” she said before hanging up on me.

I dropped my phone back on the floor and rubbed my temples. I tried to remember what had happened last night, but my brain argued against that idea. I was too exhausted to be up at this time.

I peered at the glaring red lights of my clock. The red lights seemed to be burning my eyes. I had to turn away and quickly look again, but I couldn’t focus fast enough. I attempted telling the time five times before I gave up and dragged my sorry ass out of bed. I walked into the kitchen to find something edible. I pressed my remote to open the blinds but immediately regretted doing so. The light swept through the condo at a painful speed. My headache raged.

I searched through the cupboards but couldn’t find anything appealing. On top of that, I couldn’t find any coffee. I finally checked the time and saw that I had at least and hour and a half to be at E! studios. I do a quick sniff check on myself. A couple minutes later I was taking a shower. I dressed in some faded jeans, another white t-shirt, and a purple sweatshirt. I grabbed my keys and sunglasses off of the table in the entryway and slipped into my shoes.

I needed coffee and I knew the perfect place to get it.

* * *

I was walking down the street to Jo’s Dinner with my hood up and my shades on, my head hanging low so no one could get a clear shot of my face. I tried not to run into anyone or make anything to obvious, but it didn’t work very well.

I was home free to Jo’s when I ran into some woman, knocking down her purse, it’s contents spilling onto the sidewalk.

A long line of swear words went through my head as I thought about how much longer it would be until I had my coffee.

“I’m sorry.” I mumbled so she couldn’t tell who I was.

“No, it was my fault.”

I looked down to see a pretty mane of sandy blond curls. The woman was wearing a short black skirt with a tucked in, lime green blouse, and she had on Stilettos. She was kneeling down as modestly as she could as she picked up her things.

My mind ran through the short battle of walking on or helping her. Finally my nice side won, even though it shouldn't have been a battle. My mom had taught me better than that. I bent down with her and grabbed various things and handed them to her. She looked up at me and smiled. Her lips moved to say something but I couldn’t tell what it was. I was too entranced by her beauty.

She had light blue eyes that were highlighted by her make up. She had pretty, light, tan skin. When she smiled, she showed straight white teeth. She was beautiful, but somehow different from the other woman of California. And just when she was about to say something else, the wind picked up and blew the hood off of my head. I quickly put it back on but not before she saw me. Her eyes went wide and her smile disappeared.

“Are you, Jace-” she started asking before I clamped my hand over her mouth.

“Shh!” I said. “Please don't tell anyone else who I am.”

I should have said no and walked away instead but something about her made me want to stay around her longer. She cocked her eyebrows in an angry gesture.

“Mmm!” she yelled, obviously frustrated.

“Ok, I’m going to take my hand off of your mouth now, but you have to promise not to yell my name.”

She grunted. I took it as her agreeing.

“I’m going to count to three and I will let you go. One… two… three.”

I peeled my hand off of her face and she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand like it was a bad kiss. Her facial expression didn’t get any better either.

“I wasn’t going to scream your name. Not everyone is a fan of you, you know?” she snapped quietly.

Her hands furiously snatched the rest of her stuff and she got up, putting her purse back on her shoulder. I stood up also as she started walking away. I grabbed her arm, not knowing what I was doing. She turned around and glared at me.

“You want to grab a coffee with me?” I stuttered while slowly letting go of her arm.

“Why in the world would I want to grab a coffee with you?!” she asked as if I was a crazy guy off the street. Ok, well, maybe I was a little bit, but still.

“Um-” I said groping for the right words to say.

“Oh, because your famous right?” she snapped again.

I knew that this was not the time, but I started getting a little frustrated and a tiny bit turned on by her anger. She was cute when she was snapping at me.

“No, I was not going to say that. The least I could do is get you one of the best coffees in the world for knocking your purse to the ground.” I said, only a little offended that she thought of me like a spoiled famous person.

“No the least you could do is just leave me alone and go back to your fabulous life. Besides who gets coffee at-” she glimpsed at her watch, “two thirty anyway?”

“I do. Especially when the coffee is this good. Jo’s coffee is the best.”

“I’ll just take your word for it.” she answered, her eyes were jumping from here to there. She didn’t even look up at me.

“Don’t. You have to try it. It’s amazing!” I said.

I was sounding like an idiot now. I am usually good with words. Best smooth talker that I know. But around her I couldn't seem to put together a sentence that didn't sound creepy or annoying.

“Fine, but you have half an hour. I have things to do.” she sighed, giving in to my pleads.

I did a happy dance in my head. I couldn't help but smile at the fact that I had won the battle for her to come with me and get a coffee. I couldn't think of better company- even if she was a little cranky. She probably hadn't had her coffee yet either.

“Great!” I cried over enthusiastically. My head started pounding again. She fell into step next to me and I tried to refrain myself from putting my hand on her shoulder.