Chapter Nineteen
I have a surprise ;)
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Three weeks into dating Myah, Jace had learned several things.
First, she couldn't walk into a room normally. Every entrance was an event.
Second, she somehow knew every customer in the city.
Third, she was physically incapable of ordering food without stealing half of his afterward.
And fourth—most importantly—being loved by Myah was loud. Not in a bad way. Just… in a Myah way. Everything about her existed at maximum volume. Her laughter. Her affection. Her excitement. Her personality. And somehow she'd decided all of that belonged to him now.
It still didn't feel real. Some mornings he'd wake up to a text message from her and spend a full minute staring at it. Not because it was unusual. Because it wasn't. Because it had become normal. That was the part that kept catching him off guard. Normal.
He'd spent so much of his life feeling like relationships belonged to other people.
Confident people. Outgoing people. People who knew what they were doing.
Not him, not the quiet guy who spent his days organizing records and recommending albums to strangers.
And yet, every morning his phone buzzed.
Every night she kissed him goodbye. Every day she chose him. Over and over again.
His phone vibrated. Speak of the devil.
From: Myah
I have a surprise.
Jace immediately frowned. That never ended well.
From: Jace
Should I be worried?
Three dots appeared instantly.
From: Myah
Absolutely.
From: Jace
Myah…
From: Myah
Just meet me at the coffee stand.
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The coffee stand was busy when he arrived.
The lunch rush had hit and cars wrapped around the building while people stood outside chatting. Music drifted from the open service window. And behind the counter stood Myah. Chaos incarnate.
She spotted him immediately. The grin that spread across her face should have been illegal.
"Boyfriend!" She shouted, opening her arms.
Several customers turned and Jace immediately regretted coming during rush.
Myah looked delighted.
A customer, Jace had never met, laughed. "Oh, that's him?"
Jace froze and Myah pointed dramatically. "That's him."
The customer examined him. Then nodded approvingly. "Good choice."
"Myah."
"What?" She looked completely innocent. It was a lie. She'd never been innocent a day in her life.
Another customer leaned forward. "She's been talking about you all day."
"Myah." Jace tilted his head to the side and widened his eyes, letting her know he was annoyed.
Unlike his girlfriend, Jace did not enjoy attention.
"Still not hearing a problem."
The entire line seemed invested now. Wonderful. Exactly what he wanted. An audience.
"My boyfriend works at a record store."
Jace closed his eyes. "Myah, please."
"He has tattoos."
A woman in line gasped dramatically.
Jace considered walking directly into traffic.
Myah laughed so hard she nearly dropped a cup. The sound made his irritation evaporate instantly. Because it always did. That was the problem, the absolute worst part. He couldn't stay annoyed with her. Not when she looked that happy. Not when she looked at him like that. Not when she smiled.
Myah eventually slid a drink through the window. "Here."
Jace accepted it. "What is it?"
"Trust me."
The drink was somehow perfect. Of course it was.
"What is that?"
Her smile widened. "You like it."
"Maybe." Jace smirked, now teasing her.
"You do." The victory on her face suggested she'd just won an Olympic event.
Jace shook his head, completely and hopelessly in love with her.
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The record store became their second home.
Or maybe third. Depending on whether Myah's apartment counted.
Which it probably did considering half of Jace's belongings somehow lived there now.
Not intentionally. They'd just… Accumulated.
A sweatshirt here, phone charger there. A toothbrush, a favorite mug.
Little pieces of him settling into her life. Little pieces of her settling into his.
The first time he'd noticed, his chest had tightened, not from fear but from something dangerously close to happiness.
Today Myah sat behind the counter while he organized inventory. Technically she wasn't supposed to be there. Technically.
But Issaky liked her and she had basically become best friends with Ellis.
"You know," she announced. "You look hot when you alphabetize."
Jace turned to look at her and nearly dropped a record. "Myah."
"I'm serious."
"No, you're not." Jace argued, “No one looks ‘hot’ alphabetizing records.”
She pointed at him. "You've got your serious face on and your arms are all flexed and shit."
"I always have my serious face on," Jace countered, purposefully ignoring the arm comment.
A customer browsing nearby snorted. Traitor.
Myah continued. "Look at him."
"Please don't." Jace begged.
The customer glanced over. Then shrugged. "She's right."
Jace stared in horror as the customer smiled. "My wife says the same thing when I organize the garage."
Myah looked genuinely vindicated. Of course she did. She had this strange habit of putting him in awkward positions because she thought, in her words, ‘It’s the most adorable thing in the world when you get all flustered, J.’
"I win." Myah lifted her shoulder up and smiled like a proud child.
"I’m taking away your record store privileges," Jace grumbled, returning to the ever growing stack of inventory.
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They had routines now. Little habits. Things that happened so naturally neither of them remembered when they started.
Morning texts. Goodnight calls. Coffee dates before work.
Movie nights. Shared playlists. Inside jokes.
The comfortable rhythm of two lives weaving together.
And maybe that was Jace's favorite part. It wasn’t in the big moments but the small, mundane ones.
The ones nobody else saw. The way Myah automatically reached for his hand when crossing a street.
The way she stole his hoodies. The way she climbed onto his couch and immediately took over all available blankets.
The way she tucked herself against his side whenever they sat together.
The way she looked for him first whenever something funny happened.
As if her instinct was always: Did Jace see that?
The thought alone made his chest ache, because nobody had ever looked for him before. Not like that. Not first. Not instinctively. Not consistently. Until Myah.
"You're thinking again." Myah said, pausing the movie that Jace was one hundred percent not watching.
They were sprawled across his couch as some movie about gorillas played in the background. Neither of them had paid attention for at least twenty minutes. Myah lay partially on top of him, one arm around his waist and one leg tangled with his. It was comfortable and warm.
Every time she cuddled like this he completely lost the ability to think.
"I'm always thinking," Jace said.
"What are you thinking about?" Her fingers traced lazy circles against his shirt.
The answer came immediately in his head, You. Always you.
But saying things like that still made him nervous. Which was ridiculous because she loved him, he knew she loved him, but still, some habits were hard to break.
"Myah?"
"Hm?" She hummed, not lifting her head from his chest.
"Can I ask you something?"
She lifted her head, immediately attentive. "Anything."
Jace hesitated before just saying it, "Why me?" The question escaped before he could stop it.
Silence followed. She didn’t seem uncomfortable, just surprised.
Myah blinked. "What?"
"Why me?"
Her expression softened instantly. The teasing that always seemed to be on her face, disappeared. Replaced by something gentler and honest.
"Jace."
He looked away, embarrassed. The couch suddenly seemed fascinating. "Nevermind."
"No." She sat up, forcing him to meet her eyes. "Look at me."
He did and her gaze held his. Steady. Certain. "Do you really not know?"
Jace shrugged. Which was answer enough.
The smile she gave him was heartbreakingly soft. "Oh." The single word carried so much affection it almost hurt. "My sweet idiot."
"Heyyyy," Jace almost whined.
She poked his chest. "You are kind." Another poke. "You are patient." Another. "You actually listen to me." Another. "You remember things." Another. "You make people feel safe."
Jace swallowed. "Myah—"
"You love people carefully." The words hit harder than everything else. Because nobody had ever described him that way. Nobody.
Myah smiled. "And you're funny."
"Funny?" He cocked a brow, “Really?”
"Well, not as funny as me. But yeah!"
Jace rolled his eyes but she ignored him. "Seriously, Jace. You care about people." Her voice softened further. "Really care."
The room suddenly felt smaller and more intimate.
"And when things got hard..." Her fingers found his hand and wrapped around them, "You stayed.
" Her thumb brushed across his knuckles. "You had every reason to leave, but you didn’t. You’re the first person in my life to see all the bad parts of me and stay. "
He stared at their joined hands and then at her. "You stayed too."
Something vulnerable flickered across her face. Because they both knew that mattered. Maybe more than anything.
She smiled, a small, real smile. "I was always going to."
The words settled deep inside him. Finding places that still hurt.
Places he rarely acknowledged. Places that had spent years convinced nobody would ever choose him.
Yet here she was. Choosing him. Again, every day.
The woman who had crashed into his life like a hurricane and somehow taught him what home felt like.
"You know what your problem is?" Myah asked.
Jace groaned. "Here we go."
"You think you're harder to love than you are, and you aren't."
Jace stared at her. At the pink hair. The bright eyes. The ridiculous confidence. The endless affection. Everything. And for maybe the first time in his life, he allowed himself to consider the possibility that she was right.
Maybe he wasn't difficult to love. Maybe he'd just never met someone determined enough to stay. Until now.
Myah leaned forward and pressed a kiss against his mouth. Quick and sweet. Then another. And another.
Jace laughed. "What was all that for?"
She grinned. "Just reminding you that I chose you too." Her smile softened.
The words settled somewhere deep and permanent inside Jace’s chest. And as she curled back into his side, stealing his blanket for the thousandth time, Jace wrapped an arm around her and held her close.
The movie continued playing. The evening stretched comfortably around them.
And for the first time in a very long time, the future didn't feel frightening.
It felt hopeful. Because whatever came next, he wouldn't be facing it alone.
Myah had chosen him. And somehow, impossibly, she kept choosing him every day.