10th ♬

Fingers snapped in front of me, and I stopped walking. Turning to my right, I saw the stumped look on Nick's face. Nick was supposed to equal the words I'm on a date now, although I was far from realizing it.

"Good luck with your date," I remembered Jace saying those words last night, after that eerie event. Okay, maybe it wasn't eerie at all. Yes, my heart did react well to what he'd said, even if I knew in the back of my head that they were probably all lies. We shouldn't have played that game. If he had said all those things on purpose just to distract me today, he had succeeded... again. My mind was clearly elsewhere.

Good going, jerk.

That was really a nice call. It was a very splendid way to make go on a date and still think about what he had said. It was as if even with no words from him today, he had a way of making sure that I would certainly never forget, even for a second, that he was here to make me miserable this summer.

"Why are you so absent-minded today?" Nick asked, motioning to the empty bench to our right. He wasn't wrong about that. My mind was continually thinking over things that I was only half senseless for the last few hours I had spent with him.

The storm last night barely did any lasting damage to the town. Except for the puddles of water here and there, the town was still intact. And the sun did come out this morning, just like I had expected it to—all bright and strong. Today was expected to be a good day to spend outside.

And I was supposed to be doing that now, with Nick performing the part of my supposedly budding summer flare. But in my case, it was far from happening. Ever since Jace said all that, I was bothered, thinking what were really the truths and the lie, if there was even a truth behind those words.

The third one, he told us.

Everyone was disappointed, with the exception of me. Okay, so maybe I was also a little bit dismayed. I used to think that what we had before was close to love. Almost. For me, it was so. There was no denying it. But then, was it the same way for him? Or had I been played all along from the start?

Bummer.

He already said that he didn't love me back then. Why was I asking myself these questions?

"Come on, tell me what's on your mind," Nick said to me, staring as he rested his right elbow on the bench railing.

"It's kind of complicated," I indistinctly replied.

"Well, we can always start with who's on your mind. Obviously, it's not me or this date," he said lightly. "Come on, tell me. Anything. I'm here to listen."

"Sorry about me today," I muttered in response.

"Come on, let me hear it," he encouraged.

"Well, you see, last night..." I started, pausing as I searched for his reaction. Surely, he must have remembered last night's awkward call.

"Is this about Jace?" Nick asked me straightforwardly.

"Well, a little," I timidly admitted.

"And he was with you yesterday?" he asked again. It sounded more like a confirmation of the truth that we both knew.

"Yes, he was with me. But wasn't like it was just the two of us. But when you called, we were sort of..." I said, holding back the last word as if it held so much meaning on my part, "together."

"It could happen," he answered coolly.

"Well, it did," I replied.

"And?" Nick asked once more.

I eyed him inquisitively. "What else?"

"If you don't explain it any further, it would seem like there's something going on between the two of you," Nick suggested, his blue eyes, the same as Jace's, holding mine.

"No, there's nothing like that!" I said, avoiding his gaze. He was taken back by my strong response, and laughed after seeing how defensive I was. Taking it that he was far from stopping, I added, "I'm sorry. It's just that when it comes to him, I put so much effort on things without even knowing."

"I can see that," Nick agreed, still laughing.

"I can't help it." I shrugged. "You already know that the things that happened between the two of us were not that simple."

Nick nodded in response, still laughing as he did so. After a good laugh, he composed himself and straightened his shirt. "Well, for me the feeling is mutual."

"Mutual?" I echoed, wondering if he was talking about himself or if it was about Jace.

"The um..." Nick searched for some words, "...strong feelings for each other."

"Strong feelings?" I repeated, hoping that he would elaborate the very distracting matter of me having mutual feelings with someone else.

"Your ways of dealing with each other is the opposite. He moves forward, you take a step back. But it's still very obvious that you deeply care about each other. It may not be something romantic or such, like you said. But for everyone who's watching, it's not that hard to notice," Nick explained.

I shrugged, uneasily.

"If we're talking about magnets," Nick was saying, holding his right hand in the air. Then unfolding the other one, he continued, "I'll say that you two attract each other because you two are so different."

"Huh?" That was the most intelligent reply that he got out of me. I was, to the core, mind-blown about what he was trying to tell me.

"I could sense some strong emotion entangled along. He's overprotective of you. And you're so defensive when it comes to him. I know it doesn't make sense, and I'm not good with this. But what's the real deal, Reese?" Nick threw me the question after one long explanatory phrase, which for the most part, I didn't understand.

Magnets.

Jace and I.

How were we supposed to be likened to magnets? And something was definitely off with us attracting each other. For me, I was repulsive about him. And for him, he was... hovering around to get back at me?

But what exactly was his tactic to get that revenge? With all the I was so helping you acts, it wasn't even clear.

I tried to put my thoughts on it for a while. After one long shot, I suddenly figured something out.

Snap.

"It all makes sense..." Maybe his new plan was to make me fall in love with him, and then he would dump me for someone else. That might be his ultimate revenge. With all the words he said to sway my thoughts, the nice things he did, and for making me think like crazy, I wouldn't be surprised if he was doing just that.

"What? The magnets?" asked Nick, feeling a bit excited about his awesome deduction.

"Yes, your idea is great. But no, because," I said, dragging his expectations back to zero, "I'm actually thinking about his plan."

"Plan? Whose plan?" Nick asked me.

"Jace. He planned all this," I said.

"The magnetic attractions?" Nick repeated.

"No, not that. I was talking about his sort of over protectiveness thing that you were saying, and the fact that he was doing good things to me," I explained to him. So he changed his ways of approaching me. From being the taunting Jace when we first met and then turning into someone else for the last few days, it all made sense now. Since being the menace wasn't playing the part quite well, he used another plan of attack—to make me feel like I could trust him again.

Like the way he did before.

The Jace that I had once liked. That person I believed him to be. He was turning into that same guy again. I should have been smarter and should have realized this days ago. He was using that same approach, because that was what he had used before to make me fall for him. And it worked back then, before he pulled that prank.

But not now.

I suddenly laughed, feeling relieved that my unsteady heart should not fret because it was all for show. Once or twice, it had crossed my mind that maybe he was not here for revenge, and that he only wanted to make amends.

"He planned this?" Nick repeated.

I silently nodded with a smug smile.

"So you're telling me that he's only using this to get his revenge on you?"

"I think."

"But he sounded so real last night," Nick tried reasoning out, giving it a thought. "Like him saying, 'Stay away from her, I'm warning you.'"

"And you sound like you're now okay with him?" I noted. We had a few conversations before. And once in a while, we would eventually talk about Jace. From what I'd heard, he didn't like the guy. At all.

"It's—"

"Don't tell me you were also captivated by his charms?" I grinned.

"No," Nick laughed. "It's just that maybe you two are fun to observe. He seems to be acting out his part well if that's what you're saying."

"And that's how it's supposed to be. He must sound real for me to believe him," I pressed on.

"Maybe. Well, you do have a point," he said, considering all the possibilities.

"Thank you." Now, I could breathe. I finally knew his tactic and moves. All the energy I'd lost after he declared his two truths and one life last night were now slowly coming back to me.

And everything he said last night? Not a single one sounded any true to my ears.

First, he knew why I got angry, since he was the one who had sent me that message. Second, he never liked me anyway. If spontaneity could account for what I did to his band, for sure, there would be no liking on his part. And thirdly, if he used to love me before, he would never, ever let the school and his own friends make my high school days a living hell.

Freakish chicken costume.

"So what's the plan now?" Nick asked, leaning against the wooden bench and staring at the busy Sunday streets. "If he's still into making you fall for him?"

"Play along," I said, confirming the solid idea in my head.

"How?"

"He's irritated by you. Maybe it's because of your old days' feud. So I'm hoping that if it will not affect whatever is going on with you and Brittany, will you do the part of participating with me in a one of a kind act of the century?" I asked him.

"Brittany?" Nick asked, surprised. "You know about us?"

"Well, Jace told me about it," I said to him with a smile. "And I think I also saw you two before, but I had second thoughts. I'm okay with you and Brittany, with the guarantee that I will be safe from her. I seriously don't have any idea why you're always approaching me, but I'm the one who needs a favor here."

"Coming from you, it seems like I've always been putting you on a pedestal while going out with someone. I'm deeply sorry about that," Nick said, nervously scratching the back of his neck. He took out his phone, dialing a number. "I'll try asking her."

I nodded.

"We should always have choices." I shrugged off my shoulders, uncaring. If this were any real, I would have smacked him in the face to let him know better than crossing the line. And the ugly truth was, it was still Brittany and I, like the old times.

I waited for him as he had his conversation with Brittany, also known as my mortal enemy. He came back after a while and told me, "She said that it was cool with her, and that there was also another guy."

"Right," I nodded. The two should be awarded as the most honest people around. They just said it like enumerating one, two, three.

Easy.

"So, we're going to pretend?" Nick smirked.

"Yeah, sort of. I just want to annoy him to the core, and make him think that I'm so into you and way over him. Then, if that happens, I believe that he'll eventually show his true colors," I wistfully told him.

"You're not going to take me seriously anyhow, so what should I expect?" Nick said, smiling a bit as he told me the apparent truth. "Better something than nothing."

"Sorry about that. I'm really not your type if you'll look closely," I encouraged him.

"I'm not yours?" he said, pretending to be hurt as he made that expression like someone shot his heart. "Ouch."

"And I'm not the one for open relationships. Not my thing," I said, disregarding his question. I didn't want him to feel bad about himself.

Seeing that I was only laughing about it, he composed himself back to his normal look and added, "It happens. Some people are just not meant to be together. Some are just really lucky to find one in a number of billions."

I smiled a bit.

"So how do we start this?"

"Let's keep it simple by irritating him first. How about you walk me home?" I suggested, standing up from sitting and heading toward him.

Even with his pale features, he managed to put on a dashing smile as he extended his arm and I linked it with mine. This was where it would all start. I now officially played his game.