before you guys read, please know that i'm really sorry for slacking off on this story. i didn't expect school to get in the way so much? but, thank you for being patient with me! in advance, merry christmas and happy new years!

Chapter 9

                It was no secret that I’ve been trying to keep my distance away from my own mother.

                Ever since the big blowout that caused my father to leave, I’ve been trying my very best to avoid any communication and eye contact with my mother. The only times I would be home was to sleep. Other than that, I was always staying later at school to tutor Jace or having dinner over at Julianne’s place and staying until I knew it was safe to go home without any confrontation with my mom.

                I still haven’t forgiven her for ripping my family apart into shreds- I don’t know if I would ever be able to.

                “Everly, what time are you going to be home tonight?” my mother asked before I got to sneak out to go to Jace’s house.

                My back was turned to her, so luckily for me, she didn’t see my lips moving as I cursed under my breath. I closed my eyes, squeezing them tightly before releasing a sigh. “I don’t know.” I managed to muster without any emotion being shown in my voice. “I won’t be home for dinner, though.”

                There was a momentary pause and for a second, it was so deafening quiet that the only audible noise was the sounds of us breathing slowly. “Again?” my mother asked, trying to break the thick tension that had managed to build up between the two of us these past few weeks. “You haven’t been home for dinner in quite a while.”

                “Well, I’ve been really busy with-,” I got cut off.

                “Please, honey.” My mother begged. For the first time in a long while, I turned around slowly to face my mother. I looked her straight in the eye, finally noticing that for all these weeks, her emotional state has been deteriorating. It instantly sent a pain to my chest to see my own mother in such misery. I didn’t know if it was right for me to pity her or not. “I know I messed things up, but I don’t want to lose you either.”

                “You didn’t have to lose dad.” I snapped. “You chose to.”

                And there it was again, that awful, God awful silence.

                “Everly,” my mother began.

                I glanced over at the clock that hung on the wall over my head, noticing that I was already running behind. I took the time to interrupt her, shaking my head slowly. “I have to go.” I muttered coldly under my breath.

                Before I could escape, though, my mother’s cold hand shot out to grasp upon my arm. I immediately flinched from her touch, pulling away quickly as if the contact of our skin had burnt me. My mother looked so defeated at my instant reaction as a frown made its way upon her ageless skin. “Please come home for dinner.” She pleaded one last time before letting me go.

*

                When I reached the Wasson’s residence, Reina was the one to open the front door for me. I quickly noticed that she looked a bit more dressed up than usual. Her dark hair was neatly curled, falling just past her elbows in large ringlets, and she was wearing a lilac purple dress- the kind you see girls wearing to formal events only. “Someone looks extra fancy today.” I commented right after Reina escorted me inside. “You look great.”

                Reina snorted, giving me a grin. “Thanks, but I don’t feel too amazing right now.” She groaned, tugging at her very high heels. “Lana insists that everyone must wear heels; the requirement is five inches. They’ve been killing my feet since I put them on two minutes ago.”

                I laughed, watching as pain etched on Reina’s face as she wobbled around the living room in her heels. “What’s the occasion?”

                “It’s Lana’s fourteenth birthday party today.” Reina said with faux enthusiasm. “Apparently, there’s going to be a life-size cutout of Ryan at the entrance of her party.”

                I vaguely remember Lana barging into the Wasson’s house one night while I was over, stealing a kiss from Ryan while she made me take a picture of them together- all while Ryan was dead asleep. “Someone needs to tell your friend that she needs help with her obsession.”

                “I’ve been trying to convince Dr. Roberts to take her in, but she won’t take Lana seriously.” Reina smirked. “She didn’t believe me when I said my best friend has an obsession with my brother’s best friend.”

                “I didn’t believe you either when I heard you talking about it, but when I witnessed it myself…” I trailed off as Reina released a laugh, trying not to mess up her lip gloss as she covered her palm over her mouth.

                There was a sudden honk from outside of the Wasson’s house. Reina hobbled over to the front entrance of her house, peering out at the window. “Oh, I think my ride is here.” She reached over me to grab her tiny clutch. “Jace should be in his room. Tell him I left when you go up to see him, yeah?”

                I nodded, smiling as I opened the door for Reina since she was struggling to walk with her extremely high heels on. “Okay, have fun!”

                “Not in these heels, I won’t.” Reina sarcastically remarked as I watched her take tiny steps to the limousine that pulled up by the driveway.

                I closed the door once I saw Reina get into and drive off of the limousine. I started to make my way upstairs to Jace’s room, where Reina told me to specifically go to find him. The door to Jace’s bedroom was slightly opened and from standing outside, I could hear faint sounds of buttons being pressed on. I knocked twice before pushing the door open to reveal Jace sitting at the end of his bed, facing his TV. He was deeply focused on his video game console, shooting man after man with just a click of a button.

                “It’s nice to see that you’re playing Grand Theft Auto instead of studying the notes I gave you yesterday.” I interrupted Jace.

                Just as the words left my mouth, the words written in bold appeared on the television screen reading, “Mission Failed”. Jace immediately groaned, tossing his game controller on the carpet below his feet as he turned to me with an agitated expression. “I had one more person to kill before I passed the mission.” He grumbled. “Why did you have to distract me?”

                I rolled my eyes, propping down on the edge of his bed. “Big deal.” I muttered with evident sarcasm. “Reina left, by the way. She told me to tell you.”

                Jace reached over the press the power button of his television set, the screen turning black almost instantly. Jace hopped back up to his bed, his hands resting just behind his head as he lowered himself back indifferently. He didn’t, not once, acknowledge the fact that I was on the bed with him, as well. Even though he was lying down and I was not, we were so close to the point where if he’d just moved a mere centimeter, his arm would be brushing against my hip. That was enough to get the slightest reaction out of me. My immediate instinct was to move away, even if it was just slightly.

                But, I didn’t.

                I didn’t move an inch as Jace’s fingers nonchalantly tugged against the loose thread from the hem of my shirt, fingers brushing against my skin every so often.

                “What do you want to do tonight?” Jace’s hoarse voice spoke, breaking the thick tension that had somehow managed to build in between us within a span of just two minutes.

                I gulped, snapping back into reality as I took the grand opportunity to finally twist myself around so that Jace and I were no longer as close as we were before. I felt disappointment register inside me, but I quickly brushed it away before I let it all get into my head, once again. “I don’t know.” I said honestly. “I’m supposed to be home in a few hours for dinner with my mother, but I think I’m going to skip out on that.”

                Jace looked up at me through his thick eyelashes, cracking a joke. “Why? Is she that bad of a cooker?”

                I released a laugh, shaking my head. “No, she actually makes a pretty mean lasagna.” I admitted. “But things have been kind of different between us lately.”

                Jace studied me carefully, giving me a small smile. It was one of those rare ones that I only got to see on Jace if I was lucky that day. “What’s going on, Everly?” he asked. “You never told me why you skipped out on school for an entire week.”

                I bit my lower lip, digging my fingers into my palms as I thought back to mother and the anger I still had for her. “It doesn’t really matter.” I gritted through my teeth, not wanting to involve Jace into my personal problems.

                “It does.” Jace insisted, sitting up straight now to look at me carefully. His fingers somehow to find its way to my chin, holding me carefully as he tilted my head up just slightly. It was enough for me to look at him directly in his eyes, making me realize just how close we’d gotten. “You can trust me the way I trust you.”

              I hadn’t even notice that I was holding my breath until I became light-headed. “I-I,” I stuttered, “I barely know you.”

                An invisible smirk made its way onto Jace’s lips, making my eyes flicker to them just momentarily. “That’s funny because I think you’re one of the only people who actually know the real me.”

                After that, I told him everything relating to my parent’s recent split.

                And, I didn’t regret it, not the least bit.

*

                “Are you sure you don’t want to just order a pizza and have dinner with me?” Jace asked as the killed the engine of his car.

                We were parked at the driveway of my house. From the distance, I could see that the dining room’s lights were on, and a figure similar to my mother’s was sitting at the end of the table, waiting for me to come home. Every so often, I’d see her glance up at the clock, sighing when she noticed that I was either late or not coming.

                I shook my head, glancing over to give him a weak smile. “The offer sounds tempting, but no thanks.” I sighed. “I’ve got to face this sooner or later.”

                Jace unlocked the door for me, giving me a small smile. “Good luck.”

                I stared at him for the longest time before nodding slowly. “I’ll see you at school.”

                Just as I turned away, I heard the engine of Jace’s car starting up once more. I took a painful step towards the front door of my house, dreading the confrontation that was bound to occur between my mother and I. It had only been such a short time, and I was almost a hundred percent sure that I wasn’t ready to face her.

                Not yet, at least.

                “Jace!” I called out before he could drive away.

                Jace immediately noticed me running back towards his car, stopping at his window. He rolled the window down staring at me with a frown. “Is there something wrong?” he asked.

                I shook my head. “No, everything’s fine.” I assured. “But, I was wondering if maybe you’d want to join dinner with my mother and I?”

                A look of surprise registered across Jace’s face as his expression quickly morphed into confusion. “W-what?” he stuttered.

                I gulped nervously, giving him a shaky smile. “I mean, you don’t have to.” I quickly said, trying to cover up the fact that I was trembling at the knees. “It was dumb of me to ask, anyways. Just forget I said anything and we can both move-.”

                “Shut up.” Jace cut me off, already getting out of his car. “I’m coming.”

*

                “I wasn’t expecting any guests tonight.” My mother said with a warm smile, greeting Jace immediately when we walked through the front door. “But, I’m glad you’re here with Everly. The house has been lonely lately.”

                “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Winter.” Jace shook my mother’s hand, shocking me at how polite he could be behind that tough exterior of his.

                “Oh please, feel free to call me Evelyn.” My mother lightly joked, making my eyes shift towards the other direction. “Calling me Mrs. Winter makes me sound quite old!”

                “Alright then, Evelyn.” Jace joked lightly with my mother as I cringed the uncomfortable feeling that overcame me.

                My mother guided Jace and I towards the dining room, which was set up so formally to the point where there were candles lit in the center. I frowned when I noticed that my mother took out the fine China that she’s only allowed us to use once within the eight years that we’ve had it stored in our cabinets for God knows how long. “I only expected Everly for dinner tonight, so you two can just grab a seat while I quickly get another plate for Jace.” My mother smiled sweetly before disappearing off to the kitchen, where the sounds of plates clattering caught my attention.

                “Your mom seems nice.” Jace whispered, taking a seat across from me, leaving the head of the table empty for my mother. Before I got to answer back to him, my mother came back from the kitchen with a heaping plate of lasagna in her hands. She settled the plate in front of Jace as he thanked her politely. “This smells great.” He commented, waiting until my mother sat down in her seat to poke his fork into the pasta.

                My mother’s cheeks turned bright as she gave him a humble look. “Oh please, don’t flatter me!”

                We sat in silence for a little longer while everyone ate. I poked at my lasagna here and there, and only took a few bites out of my dinner. I didn’t have an appetite- at all, which was strange for me because usually, I’d be the one to finish the lasagna first. I loved my mother’s lasagna.

                “So, how did you and Everly meet?” my mother asked, breaking the silence between the three of us.

                “Everly’s been tutoring me in Calculus for the past month.” Jace nodded, holding the rim of the glass cup to his lips before indulging a gulp of iced water.

                My mother’s eyes widened as she gave me a surprised stare. “Really?” she asked. “Everly, how come I never knew about this?”

                That comment from my mother stirred anger inside me as I resisted the urge to lash out at her. Instead, I clenched my jaw, gripping my fork tightly as I took in a deep breath. “Maybe you would’ve noticed why I’ve been coming home later than usual if you weren’t too busy having meetings with your boss.” I hissed.

                I knew at that moment that everything was ruined. My mother stared at me deeply in the eyes, and I knew that in her vision, Jace was no longer there. It was just me and her, at war. “Why would you ruin a perfectly good dinner?” she whispered, her voice breaking.

                “Perfect?” I spat out the word with disgust, pushing myself up as my chair scraped against the wooden floorboard behind me. “This dinner was nowhere near perfect, mother. Nothing in this household will ever be perfect ever again.”

                “Everybody makes mistakes.” My mother quivered. “I’m only human.”

                “Mistake? Cheating on my father, your husband of seventeen years, does not count as a mistake!” I screeched feeling my eyes well up with tears as I let them fall down my cheeks helplessly. “It’s betrayal.”

                I felt my walls tumbling down as I turned my back against my mother, hurrying out of my house. I needed to get away from there as soon as possible because I know if I didn’t, I would break down.

                I felt my feet leading me outside of my house to the driveway, where Jace’s car was still parked. I stared over my shoulder, feeling Jace’s presence amongst me as I released a croaky laugh. “I can only imagine how awkward that must’ve been for you.” I said weakly, my shoulders shaking with every word I spoke. “I’m sorry.”

                “Out of all things that you’re thinking about right now, it’s about that?” Jace teased lightly, turning me around so that my tear stained face was completely exposed to him. “You’re okay, right?”

                Jace’s thumb brushed away a salty tear as I stared down at the concrete ground pathetically. Out of all people of whom I never want to see me cry, it was Jace. But here he was, standing right before my eyes, completely exposed to my vulnerable and weak state.

                “I-I’ll live.” I whispered. “I’m sorry I made you come tonight. It was a disaster that I’m pretty sure you wish you never experienced.”

                Jace chuckled, giving me a faint smile. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

                I closed my eyes as Jace’s warm hand rested against my cold cheek. We stood there for God knows how long until I released a ragged breath, taking Jace’s hand away from me. “I think you should go home now. It’s getting late.” I mumbled.

                Jace nodded slowly, turning his body away from me as he faced his car. “Right.” He said, glancing over at me one last time. “Call me if you need anything.”

                I nodded, giving him a weak smile. “Okay.” I whispered. “Thanks again.”

                Jace frowned. “For what?”

                “For coming.”

                Jace stared at me, long and hard before he noded slowly. “Anytime you need me, Everly, I’m here.”

                I watched as Jace got in to his car without another word. His car’s engine roared as he pulled out of my driveway, looking back at me just once before he sped down the street.

                “I know.” I whispered under my breath before returning home.