Songbird

Chapter 11 ~ Truth

It had only been a week, but to Jace, it felt like a month. He and City didn't visit each other at all, and by the time the next weekend arrived, Jace was starting to notice his old emotions resurface. He was speaking harshly to his friends, staying curt and cold toward them. Even Tim couldn't get a smile out of Jace during that week.

Sometime in the middle of the week, his friends had tried to talk to him, thinking he had cooled down.

"Is this about City?" asked Devin cautiously one evening as they all sat around the TV in the living room.

Jace stayed quiet, staring ahead. His silence was answer enough.

"I'm sure you two will work it out," continued Devin.

"What did you do this time?" asked Isaac, never one to sugar-coat his words.

"She said she would wait for me to tell her whatever secret I was hiding..." said Jace after a pause.

"So, tell her," said Isaac. "Simple as that. Man, I should be a counselor."

"She said she would wait, and then she got mad that I was still making her wait," continued Jace, his eyebrows furrowing.

Devin adjusted his glasses. "Seems like you made her wait too long. Sounds to me like she was more than patient in waiting until she realized you were never going to tell her."

Those words cut into Jace. He couldn't handle it; he stood and walked to his room, shutting the door harder than necessary behind him.

After that conversation, Isaac and Devin didn't bring up City again, and Jace continued giving them the cold shoulder. He really didn't want to. He knew he was hurting his friends by shutting them out. But there was that darkness inside him that was threatening to surface the longer he went without seeing his Felicity... And Jace was afraid he would snap at his friends if he stayed around them. The alternative -- avoiding them -- was better. Right?

And then, Saturday night had come, and Jace found himself staring at the bright neon lettering of the Indigo sign that hung on the outside of the club. He had refused to come here all week as he had been deciding what to do about City. Tonight, he was just waiting for his friends.

Isaac and Devin came out and met him outside.

"City is working tonight," said Isaac. "I'm sure she would have liked to talk, Jace."

"She won't want to talk unless I tell her everything," said Jace angrily. The three of them started walking to the street again, Isaac hailing a taxi.

"Then why don't you?" asked Devin, a hint of rare annoyance in his voice. After this comment, he seemed to find even more bravery in his words. "You've been moping around all week over something that you can fix with one conversation! Just tell the poor girl!"

Devin's harsh yet truth-filled words struck Jace like a hard blow. It was his fault that he and City weren't speaking.

"I don't want her to be scared... or get hurt... or leave..." spoke Jace. The taxi came and the three of them piled into the back.

"You're an idiot, don't I keep tellin' ya?" said Isaac nonchalantly. "Her making the choice to leave you is better than you making that choice for her by shutting her out!"

Another hard blow. Jace grew quiet as he weighed what his friends had just said. He was being stupid, he concluded. City deserved the truth; she had been so patient, but Jace had kept her waiting too long, even when she graciously gave him time to tell her...

"I'll talk to her after these two fights," said Jace. "We can swing by Indigo on our way back home."

"That's the spirit!" exclaimed Isaac, his blonde hair falling in front of his relieved eyes.