Chapter Thirteen
From: Ellie Wellie
Heard you have a date today ;)
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Jace hadn't stopped thinking about the date all week.
It was ridiculous, almost embarrassing, honestly.
He was a grown man who had his own place, paid taxes, and had survived enough heartbreak to know better than to build something up in his head before it happened.
Yet every time he'd caught himself daydreaming over the past several days, it had been about today.
About Myah and the lake. About spending an entire day with her without interruptions, without friends hovering nearby, without someone inevitably stealing her attention. Just them.
The realization made him grin as he loaded the last of the supplies into the back of his small sedan.
● Cooler.
● Blankets.
● Towels.
● Snacks.
He checked off a mental list before closing the door.
He had everything he'd spent an absurd amount of time planning for.
Ellis would never let him hear the end of it if he knew how much effort Jace had put into a single date.
Not that Jace cared. Because somewhere between game nights, sarcastic arguments, and stolen kisses, Myah had become the person he wanted to tell things to first.
The person he looked for in every room. The person who somehow occupied his thoughts from the moment he woke up until the moment he fell asleep. The realization should have scared him, but instead it felt strangely peaceful. Like finally admitting something he'd known for weeks.
He liked her. More than liked her. A lot more.
Jace slid into the driver's seat and checked the clock.
He was fifteen minutes early which was completely intentional.
He started the engine and headed toward her apartment.
By the time he pulled into the parking lot, anticipation buzzed through his chest hard enough that he found himself tapping his fingers against the steering wheel.
Not even three minutes later, the front doors opened, and suddenly he forgot every coherent thought he'd ever had.
Long, pink hair spilled over her shoulders in messy waves.
She wore denim shorts and an oversized shawl-thing that Jace thought looked familiar.
It hung off one shoulder making a pink butterfly tattoo visible.
Sunglasses sat on top of her head and she looked half asleep.
And somehow she was still the prettiest girl he'd ever seen.
His chest tightened as he reached across the passenger seat and pushed the door open.
Myah climbed in. "Morning."
"Morning." Jace grinned, getting a hint of her candy scented perfume.
“You excited for the funnest day of your life?” Jace asked, wiggling his brows.
Myah raised her browns before her mouth turned into a devilish grin, “Better than that day at the mall?”
If Jace had been drinking something, he’d have choked on the memory. Sex in a public bathroom with Myah was definitely one of the best days of his life.
“Relax, J. It was a joke.” Myah laughed, buckling her seatbelt.
The sound settled every nerve in his body.
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The drive out to Rattlesnake Lake took about an hour. At first they filled the silence with music. Myah immediately hijacking the playlist.
Jace pretended to be offended. "You're not touching my music."
"I absolutely am."
"You don't even know what I listen to."
"Exactly. Which means intervention is required."
She connected her phone and the speakers exploded with upbeat pop. Jace groaned dramatically but Myah looked delighted.
As the miles passed, conversation came easier, more naturally.
The kind that made an hour feel like ten minutes.
Jace learned that Myah had once dyed her hair green after losing a dare.
That she hated mushrooms with a passion that bordered on irrational.
That she secretly loved old Disney movies.
That she'd once broken her wrist trying to jump off a garage roof because she'd convinced herself she could fly with an umbrella.
"You sound like you were a menace."
"I was an innovator."
"You were a lawsuit waiting to happen."
"Tomato, tomato."
Jace laughed. God, he loved talking to her. Every story revealed another piece of her. Another contradiction. She was chaotic but thoughtful, loud but observant, confident until someone complimented her, then she got weirdly shy. And every new thing he learned only made him like her more.
By the time they reached the lake, the afternoon sun was beginning to soften. The mountains reflected across the water and the air smelled like pine trees and summer. The view was gorgeous and Myah barely looked at it.
As soon as they got the supplies out of the car, she was already kicking off her shoes. Jace watched in delight as she shimmied out of her shorts and kicked them aside before grinning at him. Before he could say anything, she yanked her sweatshirt over her head.
Jace immediately forgot how breathing worked. Myah was wearing a dark red bikini. Her skin was somehow a perfect tan color, even though summer just started. Sunlight caught across her shoulders, highlighting little freckles that Jace had never noticed.
His brain was short-circuiting. Completely, absolutely. Gone.
Myah planted her hands on her hips. "Coming?"
Jace blinked. "What?"
"The water."
Right. The water.
He glanced toward the lake. Then back at her. Then back at the lake. "The water looks freezing."
She rolled her eyes. "Are you telling me you brought me to a lake and now you're too much of a pussy to get in it?"
"It's mountain water!" Jace argued, because realistically he didn't love swimming, he just wanted a change of scenery where him and Myah would be alone.
"You'll survive."
"Debatable."
Without another word she turned and sprinted toward the shoreline. Then jumped straight in.
Jace stared. A second later she surfaced laughing and splashing water everywhere.
"Jace!"
"No."
"Jace!"
"Nope."
"Chicken!"
He scoffed. "I'm not a chicken."
"Sounds like something a chicken would say."
Jace walked toward the water cautiously, like a sane person.
Meanwhile Myah looked completely unbothered.
Which was unfair. Because she also looked ridiculously attractive.
The sunlight danced across the surface of the water and her pink hair floated around her shoulders.
That dark red bikini was rapidly becoming the reason he couldn't maintain a coherent train of thought.
She caught him staring and smirked before immediately splashing him. Cold water hit his chest and he shouted. It was freezing, this was a bad idea.
But before Jace could regret the matter further, Myah burst out laughing, and everything seemed to brighten up and get warmer.
"Oh, you're dead." He scrunched his eyebrows in feign anger.
She gasped. "It’s not that cold."
He stormed into the lake and the cold hit him instantly, causing goosebumps to raise on his arms. "MYAH."
She shrieked and tried to swim away but it was too late, Jace caught her around the waist and lifted her completely off the lake’s mucky ground.
"Myaaaaaah," Jace sing songed.
"No!"
"Yes.”
"Jace!" She shrieked before plugging her nose.
Then he dunked them both underwater and the world disappeared, replaced with coldness and bubbles and the complete, utter chaos that was Myah.
A second later they broke the surface. Myah was laughing so hard she could barely breathe and Jace couldn't stop smiling. Neither of them let go. Not even a little.
The moment stretched. It was quiet and beautiful. The setting sun painted gold across the water as Myah's eyes locked onto his. Jace felt his heart pounding and suddenly his body was numb to the cold. All he could focus on was her.
He was gone for this girl. Completely.
Without thinking, he lifted her higher. Her legs wrapped around his waist, her hands settled against his shoulders. And when she kissed him, everything else disappeared.
The lake.
The mountains.
The world.
None of it mattered. Only her. The warmth of her mouth, the way she smiled against his lips, the way his chest felt like it might split open from happiness.
The sun slowly slipped toward the horizon and Jace thought he might remember that moment for the rest of his life. Because it felt perfect.
Afterward they dried off and headed back to shore before they spread out blankets, opened the cooler, and immediately discovered a problem.
Myah stared.
Jace stared.
Then Myah started laughing. "You forgot the ice."
"No."
"You forgot the ice."
"I absolutely did not."
She pointed in the cooler full of lukewarm hotdogs and what Jace could only assume was spoiled noodle salad.
Jace groaned. "Oh my God."
"You had one job." Myah teased, laughing.
Jace dropped his face into his hands. "This is humiliating."
"A little." Myah shrugged, rubbing his shoulder.
"I planned this entire date."
"You did."
"And I ruined dinner."
"Technically bacteria ruined dinner."
Jace looked up and saw Myah was smiling. She wasn't upset or bummed about the spoiled dinner. She was just happy.
"Myah—"
"Hey."
He paused.
She reached over and nudged his shoulder. "I love the effort."
His chest tightened. "You do?"
"Of course." She looked around the lake, at the blankets, the snacks, the sunset. At the cooler he'd clearly packed himself. "The fact that you planned all this matters more than the hot dogs." Something vulnerable crossed her expression. Something genuine. "We can survive one missed meal."
Jace smiled. And somehow the ruined dinner stopped feeling like a disaster and more like a memory.
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The drive home felt like a comfortable different.
The kind of silence that didn't need filling.
Music drifted softly through the speakers while the windows stayed down.
Summer air rushed through the car. At one point Myah leaned halfway out the passenger window, pink hair streaming behind her. Laughing at absolutely nothing.
Jace glanced over and felt something dangerous settle inside his chest. Because for the first time in his life, he could picture the future.
Not the vague, abstract idea of a future.
A clear, specific future of him and Myah coming back to this lake every summer.
The inside jokes, memories, traditions, years.
The image arrived so naturally it startled him. Yet it felt right, like something he'd been searching for without realizing it.
The sun had fully set by the time they reached her apartment. The parking lot glowed beneath yellow lights but neither of them moved. The silence felt heavier now, more meaningful.
Myah turned toward him, smiling and his heart pounded. Jace hadn't planned on saying it, but suddenly it felt impossible not to.
"Myah."
"Yeah?"
He swallowed. Then jumped, because he was tired of being afraid. Tired of pretending and holding pieces of himself back. "I'm falling for you."
The words hung between them. For one beautiful second, everything felt perfect. Then Myah's smile vanished.
Jace frowned. "Myah?"
Her eyes filled with tears and his stomach dropped instantly.
"What’s wrong?"
She shook her head as tears spilled down her cheeks.
"Myah, I’m sorry. I shouldn't have–."
"I'm sorry." The words came out of her broken and panicked.
"What do you have to be sorry for?"
She covered her mouth and a hiccup escaped her. Jace had never seen her this upset. It was unsettling.
Then everything exploded. Words poured out of her, fast. Too fast, like she'd been holding them back for weeks. "There was a bet."
Jace froze. "A what?"
"A bet." She kept talking. Talking and talking and talking. As if she couldn't stop. As if silence might kill her. "It started before I knew you." Tears streamed down her face. "I didn't know who you were."
Jace stared, not understanding. Not wanting to understand.
"I was stupid."
"Myah—"
"It started as a joke and then it wasn't a joke anymore."
His pulse thundered in his ears and the world narrowed. Shrinking. Warping.
She was crying so hard she could barely breathe. "I didn't mean for this to happen."
"What bet?" The question sounded hollow, even to him.
She flinched and then answered. And every word felt like a knife. By the time she finished, deafening silence filled the car.
Jace stared straight ahead, unable to look at her. Unable to process what he'd just heard. Every memory suddenly felt uncertain. Every moment questioned. Every smile, every touch, every kiss. Was any of it real?
"Myah—" His voice cracked.
She immediately started crying harder. "It stopped being a bet."
He laughed once. The sound of it was bitter and broken. "It stopped?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"I don't know."
"That's not an answer."
She sobbed. "I love you." The words shattered inside the car.
Jace closed his eyes. Because hearing them should have made him happy. Instead it hurt. Fuck, it hurt, because he wanted to believe her. He wanted to believe every word. But right now he didn't know what was true or real. Except that his chest felt like someone had ripped it open.
Finally he looked at her. Tears covered her face. She looked devastated, and somehow that made it worse. Because he still loved her. Even after this. And he hated that this was the moment that he was admitting that to himself. That he loved her.
"I need you to get out."
Her face crumpled. "Jace—"
"Please." The single word nearly broke him.
She stared at him for several seconds. Then nodded before slowly opening the door and stepping out. She stood on the sidewalk as Jace gripped the steering wheel. Every muscle locked tight. For one terrible second he almost called her back. Almost forgave everything. But he couldn't, not yet.
Myah stood beneath the parking lot lights crying, watching him.
Jace pulled away, and for the first time all day, the future he'd imagined disappeared completely. Leaving only confusion, anger, and heartbreak. And the devastating realization that the girl he'd fallen in love with had been keeping a secret big enough to destroy them both.