10. Jace
ten
Jace
I’m starting to think the scientists were right…Sleep is an essential part of daily life and heartbreak can kill, especially if it’s dealt to you by a pink-haired dance teacher who could care less about you or your feelings.
My minds been running off images of what could and did happen between Sienna and that fugly green sweater wearing jackass. I mean come on…my girl couldn’t have at least picked someone with a sprinkle of style?
Last night, I purposefully fell asleep on the phone with her. You want to know what I woke up to instead of a purple bonnet and her soft snores?
I woke up to Blake fucking Wilder and Alec goddamn Tu staring down at me with devious smiles on their faces, dressed in their workout clothes for today’s morning skate. My phone, the same one that I was almost certain Sienna fell asleep on, was dead when I checked it.
But to top everything off, when I checked my call log with Sienna, it said that our call time was only ten minutes. She hung up on me as soon as I shut my eyes!
“Run that play again for Heart! Heart, get your head out of your fucking ass!” Coach shouts from center ice.
His words are like icing on the cake to how shitty I feel.
I can’t eat, can’t sleep—granted, it’s been less than forty-eight hours since I found out that Sienna was going on a date with a dude who dresses like Oscar The Grouch—but still.
By the time practice is over and I’ve sat through my Graphic Design course, I’m antsy and ready to get the hell off of this campus. But first, I need to eat. I hadn’t eaten anything before practice this morning, and only had half a granola bar and a bottle of water in the middle of class today.
Stopping at Cafe Iteri, the new tiny industrial style cafe that was opened over the summer, I make my way up to the to-go line. This place has seen me every single week since its opening, whether for breakfast or dinner.
I order my food quickly, getting a Jambon Beurre—which is basically a fancy way of saying ham and cheese on fancy bread. I park myself at one of the tables near the large floor to ceiling windows before opening my laptop to start on some homework.
One of the waitresses, Kaila, brings my sandwich and water to the table, and I immediately dig in. The smoky flavors of the ham mixed with brie makes my mouth water. Fuck…nothing can ruin this—
“Oh my God, who let you in here?”
And just like that, it’s ruined. Georgia sneers as she looks down at me, placing her food on the table right in front of me. My eyebrows furrow as my childhood best friend rolls her eyes, taking a piece of the chocolate chip cookie I’d been saving for later, popping it into her mouth.
My mouth drops as she smiles at me, the sandwich I’d eaten settling into my stomach like lead. Who the hell let her in here? Does this place have no ethical standards?
“So,” she says, popping a French fry into her mouth.
“So?” I challenge.
“Why are you being so weird lately? What cat crawled up your ass?” she asks. Her word choice is harsh, but her delivery is sincere.
I’ll bite.
“More like what girl…” I mumble, taking another bite of my sandwich, but the blonde hears it. She always does. Georgia has the hearing of a bat .
She takes slow bites of her fish and chips, contemplating my words. Nearly five minutes go by before she responds, I almost assume that she hadn’t heard me.
“A girl?” she asks, her voice guiltily soft.
I tilt my head at her, eyeing the way she fidgets in the seat. She knows something…
We finish up our food in silence with me observing Georgia for her tells and her completely ignoring me.
We walk out of Cafe Iteri, and I’m thinking we’re about to go our separate ways when Georgia speaks up.
“You know…I do miss our friendship a bit,” she says softly. Pausing in my steps, I turn to take a good look at my oldest friend.
“It’s just, we used to be best friends and yeah, we argue like siblings all the time…I just wish our friendship was back to how it was before I walked in on you two that night.” Georgia frowns, her eyes falling to the ground as I stop to ponder her words.
I never truly thought about how that night with Sienna affected Georgia and I’s friendship until now.
Before New Years Eve, the three of us—Georgia, Ryan, and I—went into SFU closer than ever.
We hung out on weekends and attended each other's events. Hell, Georgia went to a hockey game alone for me because both my parents were sick with the flu and couldn’t make the hour long drive down here.
After Sienna virtually ghosted me, I now realize that I did the same exact thing to everyone else. I stopped texting Georgia back and kind of resented her for interrupting us that night.
Looking at my friend now, seeing the hurt in her eyes, my heart breaks.
I didn’t mean to leave her behind, and we’ve just grown to be assholes to one another.
“It wasn’t your fault,” I say with a shrug, patting her shoulder. “You couldn’t have known what we would do…We didn’t even know we’d kiss one another…I should’ve talked to you about it instead of being a dick.”
“Yeah, you were a dick.” She chuckles, side hugging me as we walk .
It feels nice to have my best friend back, but I know it won’t last long. Georgia and I are like fire and ice. Always arguing and fighting.
This moment feels too soft for us…all this sappy nonsense.
“You know our moms want us to get together?” I ask, smirking as her green eyes bulge out of her head.
“Eugh!” she gags. “You’re not my type, I wouldn’t touch a krampus like you with a ten foot pole.”
“ Krampus —” I’m about to start up an argument with the asshole when someone bumps my shoulder while walking, talking loudly on the phone.
“Yeah, bruh. That Sienna bitch wouldn’t put out and then had the nerve to walk out, leaving me with the bill.”
Now…growing up my mom would always say, “Let sleeping dogs lie.”
Well, that stupid bitch is about to be lying his ass on the ground, because I’m 99.9% sure he’s talking about my girl.
Georgia looks up at me, her eyes blazing with fury, but I could care less about how she feels right now. My issue is with him.
“Yo, watch your mouth.” My voice is eerily calm as the jackass turns on his heels, his face scrunched up as he tells the person on the other line to hold on.
The style-less fraud tilts his head as if my words offend him.
“What?” he asks, squaring his chest. I want to laugh as he stands to his full height, because even though he’s tall, I’m still taller.
“Did I stutter?” I ask with a humorless laugh. “I said watch your mouth.”
The idiot has the nerve to laugh in my face as he takes a step closer to me.
Coach, I swear I have no control over my body if this motherfucker says— “And why the fuck do you care? It’s not like the bitch would give it up for you—”
In an instant, my fist connects with his jaw, sending him flying to the ground like the little bitch he is. I clench my jaw at the burning sensation in my knuckles as the idiot tries to stand back up. I kick him down again, my mind blank as I pound into his face.
“Jace Eros Heart, you better stop this shit right now!” Georgia’s voice filters into my numb brain as she tries pulling me off of him .
I send one last satisfying punch, leaving him on the ground, still alive and looking exactly like how he acts.
Idiotic and ugly.
Georgia, who’d just moments ago was eager to get me off the guy, runs up and kicks him in the balls.
“That’s for being an asshole to my best friend, you dick!” she shouts, grabbing my sleeve as she runs off towards the parking lots near the cafe, leaving The Grouch where he lays.
When we get inside of my car, we sit in complete silence, thinking about our actions.
“Oh my…I was an accomplice to your crazy ass.” Georgia breathes, her green eyes wide and crazed as she turns to look at me.
“No one told you to kick him! I was doing fine on my own.” I sigh, resting my head on the seat.
At this, Georgia scoffs.
I need to call Blake, he’d know what to do.
Pulling out my phone, I hit the third number on my emergency contact list and sigh, running a hand through my hair. As soon as Blake answers, all of my actions flash before my eyes.
“I fucked up!” I shout into the mic as Georgia whispers something beside me. My ear tingles as I hear Cleo’s name.
“Did you call fucking Cleo?!” I yell, twisting in my seat to glare at the girl.
“Yes! Because you’re a fucking bleach blond sociopath who won’t leave me the hell alone! You—”
Bleach blonde?! Won't leave her alone? Did she forget that she harassed me and interrupted my lunch? Or that she was the crazy person who kicked a man—albeit he was an asshole—while he was down?!
“ I’m a sociopath?! Have you looked in the mirror, peach? I’m pretty sure your name is plastered beside the definition in the dictionary!” I shout, feeling my blood pressure raise just from the sight of her.
“You’re such a fucking cunt, asshole!” she shoots back, her voice sharp .
“Takes one to know one, dick!” I say, sticking my tongue out at her as she scoffs, but Blake’s chuckle causes me to go still as it echoes through both Georgia and I’s phone.
He didn’t…
“You fuckers are together without me?!” I screech just as the line goes silent.
Assholes.
The air is frigid between Georgia and I as we sit in silence, thinking about our actions.
“I know why I kicked that fucker, but why did you punch him?!” she asks, spinning in her seat, her eyes accusatory.
My heart thumps out of my chest as I look at her, hoping my mask of indifference is still in place as I reply, “I don’t answer to you.”
Georgia rolls her eyes, scoffing at me. “Yeah, well…you’re going to have to do a fuck ton of explaining if Sienna finds out you beat up her date.”
I hadn’t thought about that…Sienna could hate me for what I did. I’d hate myself for making her feel that way, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat if anyone decided they’d open their mouth to speak against her.
It’s silent for a moment between us. Georgia’s beady eyes stare into my soul before she gasps softly.
“You don’t…You’re not over Si Si, are you?”
My eyes widen as my neck snaps to face her. “Keep this between us. All of it. Cleo doesn’t—”
“I promised you two years ago that I wouldn’t tell Cleo about what I saw, and I’m not going to now.
But you’ve got to figure this shit out. You can’t just go around banging on your chest whenever someone talks bad about her.
” Georgia frowns, her eyes holding something close to pity as she looks at me.
Who says I can’t protect her? I don’t see anything wrong with teaching these guys out here how to respect women. Specifically, my woman.
“How am I a sociopath?” I ask, trying to change the subject, but Georgia only sighs .
“Oh…I don’t know, you’ve only like the same girl your whole life and refuse to be a human around her…I don’t know how you’re a sociopath, Jace.” She cocks her head to the side, rolling her eyes at me.
Memories of Sienna and I throughout the summers of our childhood play before my eyes as Georgia’s words register.
Every summer since I turned eight, I waited for the day Clef Jones would bring his niece home for the summer.
Sienna was like the moon, quiet and shy, but always there when we first met.
She’d pay attention to everything and everyone, but never spoke too loud or out of turn.
It wasn’t until she and I were alone one day sitting in my backyard, eating chocolate chip cookies, that she opened up to me about not having friends. I vowed that day to always be by her side, and she did the same for me.
Sienna was the only person I could be my true, authentic self around for years. I didn’t have to be the funny and outgoing friend when I was with her, I could just be Jace.