Chapter 5

                To say that Jace Wasson’s house was larger than the average was a complete understatement. His entire house looked like it came straight from the Hollywood Hills neighborhood. The Wasson’s residence had gates revolving around the house, and I was pretty sure that the garden in front of the house with rose bushes wasn’t something Jace’s mother liked to work on during her spare time. Walking along the stoned pavement that must’ve been specifically designed to meet the Wasson’s desires, I followed Jace up to the front steps of his house. Jace stuck a key into the lock of his French door, twisted the doorknob to allow me inside.

               “Would you close your mouth already before you catch flies?” Jace teased lightly, closing the front door behind him. “You’ve had his dazed look in your eye since you’ve stepped out of the car.”

                I snapped back into reality, still realizing that despite how extravagant Jace’s house was, he was still a jerk. I shot him a glare from the corner of my eye, scoffing. “Can you blame me?” I asked. “You told me you were bringing me to your house, not Paris Hilton’s vacation home.”

                “Hate to break it to you, princess, but this is house.” Jace smirked.

                I grumbled, rolling my eyes. “Do you have to call me that?” I snapped.

I reached down to pull my shoes off, not wanting to ruin anything in Jace’s house. Everything looked so fragile yet expensive. I glanced over at the decorative vase by the corner of the entrance room, wondering if that little vase would even cost half of everything I owned. Before I could take off my shoes though, Jace stopped me, shaking his head. “That won’t be necessary.”

                I raised an eyebrow, suddenly confused while I stared down at my beat up canvas shoes that I’ve own for at least a year now. They weren’t exactly beat up and disgusting, but at the same time, they weren’t in the same mint condition they were when I’d first purchased them. “Why not?” I asked. “I’m going to get stains all over your floor.”

                “Don’t worry about it.” Jace assured. “Keep your shoes on. I’m pretty sure those Hello Kitty socks you’re wearing will give me an eyesore after a while.”

                A gasp escaped my lips as I turned to shoot Jace an accusing glare. “Excuse you, but these happen to be my favorite socks.”

                “I’m still trying to figure out why a child like you is tutoring someone more mature like me.” Jace chuckled, running a hand through his hair. Before I got to argue back with him, he interrupted me, signaling for me to follow him. “Do you want to study in my room?”

               We were already halfway up the grand, spiral staircase when Jace asked me. My cheeks suddenly turned bright red, and I silently thanked God that I was walking behind Jace. Otherwise, he would’ve seen me blush, and we all know that I would never hear the last of that if he did. “Y-Your room?” I asked hesitantly. “Are you sure?”

                Once we were in the hallway, approaching his room, Jace turned to me with a malicious smirk. “What? Don’t tell me you’ve never been in a guy’s room before.”

                “O-Of course I have!” I stuttered. “There’s Jeremy, Benjamin, Logan-,”

                “Relatives don’t count.” Jace cut me off abruptly, leaning against his door teasingly while he crossed his arms over his chest.

                Shit, he got me there.

                I took in a deep breath of air, slowly releasing it all out. “Okay, so what if I haven’t?” I spat. “Big freaking deal! Why would I want to go into a guy’s bedroom anyways? I bet it’s disgusting in there. What does your species have in there? Month old pizza boxes? Underwear lying on the ground? Video games all over the floor? Rotten cheese-,”

                I was rudely interrupted by a tug of my arm pulling me inside Jace’s room. “What are you doing?” I protested, trying to squirm out of his hold. “I’m not ready to attack this!”

                Jace pushed me inside his room, closing the door behind him as he switched on the lights. I hadn’t yet opened my eyes yet, and I made sure to keep them squeezed shut. “You can open your eyes, Everly. You aren’t in a room with crawling snakes, stop worrying.” Jace huffed, my eyes slowly opening. To my pleasant surprise, Jace’s room was the complete opposite of what I had pinned it to be. In all fair honesty, it was quite clean. His floor was spacious, free from objects lying over the floor. The only flaw in his room had to be his messy bed, but that wasn’t such a big complaint of mine. Overall, Jace’s room had completely shocked me. I wasn’t expecting it to be this neat. “See? No underwear and pizza boxes.” Jace pointed out, scoffing at my clearly surprised expression.

                “S-Shut up,” I stuttered, narrowing my eyes at him icily, “you’re acting as if I’ve portrayed you as some kind of mutant.”

                “That’s because, I don’t know,” Jace paused, giving me a surly expression, “you kind of did?”

                Childishly, I stuck my tongue out at him, placing my book bag down on his plush carpet. Taking in everything with my eyes, I focused on a frame of what looked like Jace when he was younger. He was standing beside a little girl with shockingly resembling features to Reina. “This is you and your sister, right?” I asked, picking up the picture frame from the surface of his oak dresser.

                Jace nodded while I caught a small grin making the corner’s of his lips twitch up, just barely. “Yeah, that was when things were easy.” Jace muttered under his breath. “It was before Reina became-,”

                There was a sudden knock on the door, surprising both Jace and I. I immediately put the picture frame back where it originally belonged as Reina’s head poked into Jace’s room. “Hey, you’re home already?” Reina asked before realizing that I was there, as well. When her gaze met mine, a small smirk appeared on her glossy lips, an eyebrow rising. “Oh, Everly, you’re here too? I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”

                I felt my eyes bulging as I choked on my own saliva. My cheeks turned red from excessive coughing, and from the corner of my eyes, I could see Jace sending his sister murderous glares. “Get out of my room, Reina.” He grumbled.

                Reina snickered, staring back and forth between her brother and I amusedly. “It’s okay, you know?” she winked. “I won’t say a word to mother.”

                Jace smacked his forehead with his palms, shaking his head. “Reina, don’t you have better things to do right now?” Jace mumbled. “You could do your homework, call Lana and flaunt about how hot Ryan is?”

                Reina made a face of disgust, glaring at her brother. “Ugh, Jace!” she shrieked. “That’s gross!”

                “Speaking of Ryan, he’s coming over in fifteen minutes.” Jace added on.

               Reina rolled her eyes, taking out her phone from the back pocket of her jeans, tapping away on the screen. “Alright, then I’ll just tell Lana to not come over tonight.” She mumbled under her breath as if it wasn’t even a hassle.

                I interrupted their brother-sister feud, staring at Jace accusingly. “Wait,” I stopped momentarily, shooting him a glare, “you invited your idiot friend over? Didn’t I come here to tutor you?”

                Jace smirked, shrugging loosely. “Change of plans, princess.”

*

                “Well, wasn’t that just a waste of two hours of my precious time?” Reina muttered under her breath sarcastically as the credits began to roll for the latest Saw movie. “Movies that have sequels are never as good as the original.”

                Jace got up from his seat on the couch to flicker the lights on, blinding my eyes from focusing on the television screen in the dark for just under two hours. “Is it even possible for you not to complain about the littlest things?” Jace scoffed at his younger sibling. “Besides, wasn’t it you who suggested this movie?”

                Reina rolled her eyes, shoving a mouthful of buttery popcorn in her mouth. “Whatever.” She groaned, narrowing her eyes over at Ryan, who had passed out on the couch when we were barely halfway into the movie. “Is anyone going to wake him up? I swear, Ryan can sleep through just about anything.”

                The doorbell of the Wasson’s residence suddenly rang throughout the house, but that still didn’t budge Ryan in his deep slumber. I let out a quiet chuckle, staring at the way Ryan’s messy blonde hair fell over his eyes, his mouth slightly parted. “I’ll get the door.” Reina announced, removing her weight from the couch.

                Once Reina left the living room, Jace glanced over at me from his shoulder, shoving the disc back into the case. “So, how scared were you?” Jace asked, almost amusedly as he placed the case of the movie back into the cabinet where his family stored their collection of movies.

                I narrowed my eyes at him into tiny slits, giving him a challenging stare. “What are you talking about?” I rebuffed. “I wasn’t even the slightest bit scared.”

                Jace rolled his eyes, a tiny smirk lifting the corners of his lips. “Oh really?” he asked. “Is that the reason why I saw you nearly pissing your pants back there?”

                From the couch, I picked up a burgundy decorative pillow, tossing it at Jace with force. It hit him straight across the chest, landing in his arms with a light thud. “Shut up,” I held back a smile, forcing myself to glare at him, “you didn’t see anything.”

                An unfamiliar teenage girl, who must’ve been in the same age category of Reina, came bustling in the living room, a frantic look across her face. Her wide eyes scanned the room before they stopped on a sleeping Ryan. The teenage girl squealed, clapping her hands together with excitement. “See? I knew Ryan was here!” she beamed. “Why didn’t you tell me, Reina?”

                Reina clenched her jaw, raising an eyebrow at her friend. “Because I knew you would react like this.” She muttered under her breath, not quiet enough for her blonde friend not to hear. “Lana, why are you even here?”

                The girl, presumably named Lana, brushed her blonde curls behind her ear, shrugging innocently. “I happened to be walking by this neighborhood and I saw Ryan’s car parked outside.” Lana smacked her lips together. “No big deal, right?”

                Reina groaned. “Well, you’ve seen Ryan now.” She gestured towards the door. “Close the door behind you when you leave, okay?”

               Lana gasp, clamping a manicured hand over her glossy lips. “I can’t leave, not without getting a few pictures of Ryan, at least!” she gushed, whipping her phone from her purse, hurrying over to wear Ryan was asleep. The sound of Lana’s camera clicking filled the room as she took one after another. “Ryan is so adorable when he’s sleeping. Can anyone take a picture of the two of us?”

                Lana shamelessly held out her phone towards the three of us, waiting for someone to take a picture for her. Reina looked extremely irritated while Jace shifted his weight on each foot, staring at the ground uncomfortably. Lana noticed the remorse between the two siblings and let out a disheveled grunt. Her eyes finally locked into mine, a devious grin spreading across her lips. “Can you take a picture for me?” Lana asked me, a sugary sweet smile appearing on her face.

                Reina shot me a look, shaking her head slowly. I contemplated on what or what not to do, nervously glancing back and forth between Reina’s murderous glares towards her friend, or Lana’s long eyelashes batting towards me. Finally giving up, I snatched Lana’s phone from her palms, holding it out in front of me. “Okay, fine.” I groaned. “I’m only taking one picture, so you better be quick.”

                Lana giggled, kneeling on the floor beside Ryan, inching closer to him. She ran a hand through her blonde hair quickly, showing off her pearly white teeth at the camera. “Okay,” I muttered, “one, two, and three.”

                The second I said ‘three’, Lana quickly emerged towards Ryan, pressing her lips onto his. I captured the picture at the very moment, my eyes widening as I did so. After taking the picture, Lana was still kissing Ryan, who seemed to be conscious by now. He slowly stirred in his sleep, slowly opening his eyes.

                “What the fuck was that?!” Reina shouted before Ryan realized what was going on.

                Lana finally pulled her lips apart from Ryan’s, her eyes glowing from exhilaration. “Oh my God, my first kiss was with Ryan Leighton!” she gasped.

                Ryan, who seemed to be awake now, scratched his head, seemingly confused as to why a thirteen year old girl was so excitable next to him. “Guys,” he mumbled, blinking, “what’s going on?”

                Reina seethed, grabbing Lana away from Ryan by her shirt from behind. Reina dragged her friend out of her living room, all while cursing and scolding her. Before Lana left, though, she turned her head around, eyes locking with Ryan’s. “Ryan, I love you!” she screeched, earning a kick from Reina.

                “What happened?” Ryan asked again, sitting up from the couch.

                Jace looked back at me for a split second before his eyes returned to Ryan’s. “I think you just took a thirteen year olds lip virginity.”

*

                “So, I’m guessing after tonight, you never want to come back to my house ever again?” Jace asked, on his way driving me home.

                It was a little past ten o’clock, and before Jace decided to take me home after we watched movies, he took me out to a little diner that was well known in our town for its pancakes. We had dinner- well, technically it was more like breakfast because of the food we ordered, but it was dinner time, nevertheless. We stayed at the diner for just under an hour, and within the time, I tried to convince Jace to do a little bit of his calculus homework with me, but he obliged, ignoring me every time I brought up something related to school.

                “What makes you think that?” I asked, turning my head slightly to face him. “I had fun today.”

                Jace raised an eyebrow, snorting. “Really?” he asked with disbelief. “You had fun with my idiot best friend, who was drunk when he got to my house, my bi-polar little sister and her love struck best friend?”

                I frowned, suddenly tensing up to his words. “Wait, what?” I stopped him. “Your sister is bi-polar?” If Reina was really diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, then that would explain a lot, actually. It would explain why she visited the same therapist that Julianne saw every week, and her excessive aggressiveness. It would also explain what Jace meant earlier today when he said that Reina wasn’t allowed to be left home alone.

                Jace pressed his lips together in the tight line, clearing his throat. “Forget I said that.” He muttered. “That’s a different story for a different day.”

                I didn’t want to pressure Jace upon the topic. I wouldn’t blame him for not wanting to tell me that the moment, though. If Reina really was bi-polar, then I was positive that Jace wouldn’t tell me something so personal. He and I weren’t even remotely considered friends.

                “Right.” I said softly, playing with the fingers that were intertwined on my lap. “Well, to answer your question from before, I really did have a good time. I haven’t had that much fun in a while.”

                Jace seemed to lighten up from my question about his sister before, a smirk spreading across his lips. “Oh, really?” he asked. “Watching a movie and dinner at some run-down diner is considered fun for you? What, have you been living under a rock or something?”

                The truth was, I never get to hang out a lot because I was always too busy. Between balancing out school, taking care of Julianne and my lack of sleep, I almost, never have time for myself. Today was one of those rare days where I had no responsibility, and it felt amazing. “I guess I do.” I simply answered back to Jace.

                Jace chuckled, pulling his car up to my driveway. He killed the engine of his car, leaning back in his seat as he removed his hands from the steering wheel. “Then I guess I’m just going to have to take you out some more, huh?” I looked up at Jace, unsure of what he meant by that. He instantly flinched when he realized what he said, letting out an uncomfortable cough. “What I meant was, you and I should hang out more often, as friends, so that you can finally come out of that hole you’ve been living in for God knows how long.”

               I laughed, feeling a smile etching its way onto my face. I nodded slowly, pressing the release button on my seatbelt. “That sounds good,” I paused, “but I’m only going to agree to that if you finish your calculus homework tonight and show up to class tomorrow.”

                Jace hesitated at my offer, but reluctantly, he nodded. “Deal.”