When Confidence Collides

Chapter 14: Life

Ivy's POV

The ethereal stars winked at me from the endless void of darkness, the sun hid away. We laid on Jace's apartment roof observing the magical colours: birth-stone blue, pearl white in other places. They danced around the luminous moon, showing off their angel like beauty. The ones furthest away flashed like eager children wanting as much attention as the others. I felt finally at peace with everything, my worries floated away with the light wind.

The feeling of Jace's hand brush against my own brought me back to reality. We both laid on our backs on the roof of his apartment, something he showed me we could do after I mentioned my love for nature and stars. We must had just lied there in silence, listening to the sound of people having late night drives in their cars and useless chatter from miles away for at least 20 minutes.

I turned my head to the left so that I was now facing him, his body right next to mine. He was looking straight forward, up in the sky.

I found myself staring at him, watching as his amazing blue eyes moved constantly from one star to the next. I memorised every little detail of his face. His deep blue eyes, the light trail of freckles over the bridge of his nose, the way his hair moved in different directions caused by the night breeze, his full lips. I resisted the urge to trace his sharp jawline with my fingers.

His eyes met mine, his warm breath hit my face. He lazily smiled at me and I returned the favour. A wave of understanding ran through my body as we stared at each other, making me want to tell him what had been on my mind.

I looked back up at the night sky and sighed, feeling my previously buried worries and problems resurfacing with what I was about to say. I took a deep breath in and out, carefully planning what I was going to say in my head before I said it out loud, something I do when I am nervous.

I could feel Jace watching me, studying me. I opened my mouth to finally release what I had been holding in for days, maybe even years but nothing came out. Nothing. I had choked made myself look like a fool, gaping like a goldfish.

I tightly closed my eyes, my thoughts going 100 mph in my head drove me insane when I felt Jace move my hand with his, intertwining our fingers, reassuring me. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, he was still looking up almost as if what he had just done was nothing.

I felt calmer. I relaxed my body and allowed myself to talk and not overthink it.

"Something that happened years ago keeps showing up, completely throwing me off. I thought I had left it in the past, you know."

I noticed how he had started tracing circles on the palm of my hand with his thumb in a comforting way.

"What's that then?" He asked, his voice soft.

"When I was at the park that day you saw me, I watched a little girl and her Dad playing soccer. It reminded me of how my Dad and I were before everything turned to shit between us."

I had never really told many people about what happened. I had always kept it to myself and it was proving harder than I thought to tell Jace. I was not entirely sure what was making me talk to him of all people about it, it probably had to do with the feeling of security I felt when I was with him. It was almost as if I could tell him anything and it wouldn't turn him away, and I felt like that towards him too.

"What happened between you two that made 'everything turn to shit'?"

I could tell that he was being patient with me, not wanting to over do it with the questions and I deeply appreciated it. Not many people understand and respect people's boundaries, Jace, however didn't have that problem.