Golden Boy

T W E N T Y- S I X

Monday came too quickly and the little Thanksgiving break was officially over. I was happy to be going back to a routine schedule of waking up and going to school because all I could think about these past couple of days was the role I was playing in Jace's life. 

Olivia got on a flight late last night back to Chicago so at least I didn't have to worry about her and Bev becoming too serious and then accidentally getting dragged into their problems as I had. The last thing I wanted was for Olivia to be put in harm's way, even though right now she probably just thinks I'm a bitch for not supporting her crush on Bev. 

My mom needed the car this morning since she couldn't take my dad to work like she normally did, so I was forced to either take the bus or call up one of my car bearing friends to give me a lift, which didn't leave me with too many options. Cami didn't have a car, let alone a liscense, and Dave got high before school and rarely showed up on time, so the only other person I could think about was Jace, the boy my family thought I was dating. 

Without letting myself overthink it, I Facetimed Jace, who picked up on the second ring, shirtless, a toothbrush in his mouth, and an eyebrow raised. 

"Hello, are you dying?"

"No, I'm not dying, and good morning to you too. I need a ride to school."

"Okay?..." He drawled with his morning voice. 

"I'm asking you if you can give me a ride to school."

"I suppose so," he sighed dramatically. "I'll let you know once I'm there," he said and then immediately hung up. I threw my phone back on my bed, feeling good about resolving that issue for myself.

Twenty minutes later, Jace honked his horn to alert me that he had arrived. I opened the passenger door to him wearing my hat snug on his head. He wore a mustard hoodie to match the hat, and I couldn't help but gawk at him. 

"Good morning," he said, not looking up from his phone as he texted a million words a minute to someone. 

"You're wearing my hat,"

He looked up then. "Yea that's what you do when it is cold outside," he said. A moment passed and he had pulled away from my street. "Stop looking at me like that, it's just a hat."

"I know, but I thought you hated being called Golden Boy? I made the hat kind of ironically assuming that you would never wear it because of the stitching."

"I don't hate being called Golden Boy, I just hate when you call me Golden Boy because you make me sound so pretentious. I am wearing the hat because it is a nice, warm hat. Nothing much else to it, so please don't make it a bigger deal than it needs to be."

"You look really hot in it by the way," I said, and he rolled his eyes but didn't hide his smile. 

A moment passed in silence, and then a couple more did, and I suddenly felt like there was something that we weren't saying. I hated being in uncomfortable silences when unspoken words hung in the air, not knowing what to say or if it even was appropriate to say. 

We were almost at school when the awkward silence broke from Jace's phone ringing. His body tensed up when he saw the phone number calling him. He lowered the music before picking up and put the phone to his ear even though he was driving and could easily get caught. 

"I already told Ben I was going to handle it over the weekend when I have time... I can't say right now," he glanced over at me. "Just know that he won't be causing you any more trouble. I have to go," he said and then hung up. 

"Trouble in paradise?" I playfully asked, trying to lighten up the mood. 

"Sure, you can say that," he said, pulling into the school's parking lot and finding the perfect spot right in front of the main entrance. It was his unassigned assigned space that no one else dared to park in because that's how much sway Jace has in this school. I wonder what everyone is going to do after he graduates and never steps foot in this place again. Will they move on and find another attractive man to put on a pedestal or will everything go back to normal and no one will be able to achieve the height of popularity that Jace has.