Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Jace

“Nik, I’m not doing any more.” I set her computer on the desk. “You’ve dragged this out for hours.”

“I can’t help that it took this long.” She moves her long hair to one side and pets it like a dog. It was one of the things she did when we were dating that always drove me nuts.

“I was only supposed to help you with the bed and a few boxes, not spend hours moving practically everything you own. And stopping for lunch was not part of the deal.”

“I was hungry. What’d you expect me to do? Starve to death?”

“You never ate anything when we were dating. Now you’re suddenly hungry?” I walk to the door. “I’m heading out.”

“Wait.” She runs up to me. “The apartment manager said I could move back in a couple weeks. I’ll need your truck again.”

“Ask Brent. He has a truck.”

“Brent won’t do it unless I pay him.”

“So pay him. I’m not doing this again. I only did it today because I didn’t want the repair guys ruining your stuff. And then they didn’t even show up. You need to call your landlord and tell him.”

She picks at her nails. “Um, yeah, the repair guys weren’t actually scheduled to work on my apartment today.”

“So you lied to me? When are they showing up?”

She shrugs. “Tuesday? Maybe Wednesday? But it doesn’t matter. I still needed my stuff moved.”

“Dammit, Nikki. Why do you do this shit?”

“What?” she asks in that tone she uses when she plays dumb to get out of trouble.

“You know what I’m talking about. You make up drama so I’ll come running to help you. You do it to manipulate me. You did it the whole time we were together. I didn’t see it then, but I do now, and yet I still fell for it.” I roll my eyes. “I should’ve known when you called me this morning, crying and freaking out, that it was all an act. You didn’t need me to rush over. You have two days to get your stuff moved. You could’ve found someone else to do it, but instead you called me. The question is, why?” I cross my arms over my chest and lean against the door frame, staring at her. “Why’d you call me and not someone else?”

She pouts. “Because I knew you’d say yes.”

“And?”

“That’s it. I didn’t want to wait to move my stuff, and I knew you’d help me if I…” She looks to the side.

“If you made up a story about it having to be done right away? And then cried so I’d feel bad for you and agree to do it?”

“I don’t know why you’re being so mean about this. I needed help.”

“Seriously, Nikki?” I huff. “You’re seriously going to do that thing where you do something wrong and then turn it around and try to make me the bad guy?”

“I’m not—”

“Nikki, look at me.” I wait until her eyes meet up with mine. “It’s over. We’re not getting back together.”

“That’s not why I called you over here.”

“Troy texted me and said Carter broke up with you last night.”

“Yeah? So?” She starts petting her hair again.

“So now you’re lonely and want me to come back to you. You realize I was a damn good boyfriend who treated you better than Carter, or any guy, ever would. But it’s too late now.”

“Why?” She steps closer to me. “Why can’t we try again? It’ll be different this time. I promise.”

“It won’t be different. And what we had before isn’t what I want. I see that now. I know what I want, and it’s not this. Us.”

She folds her arms over her chest and glares at me. “Is there someone else?”

An image of Kenzie fills my head and I smile. “Yeah. Actually, there is.”

“Who?” she demands. “The guys didn’t say you were dating someone.”

“Because I’m not ready to tell her. I’m taking things slow.”

“Meaning you’re not really dating this girl. If you’re not dating her, you’re free to date someone else.”

“I don’t want anyone else. I want her. And if she needs more time, I’ll wait until she’s ready.”

“Why? You could have any girl on campus. Why would you sit around waiting for some girl to go out with you?”

“Because she’s worth the wait,” I say, finally admitting my feelings for her. “I love her.”

“You what?” Nikki hits my arm, but she’s so scrawny I barely feel it. “You love some other girl? What about me ?”

“I stopped loving you the moment I saw you with Carter.” I check my phone for the time. “I have to go. I’m gonna be late for work.”

As I walk down the hall, I hear Nikki slam the door. A text pops up on my phone from her that says, For the record, I never loved you.

That’s Nikki. Always having to have the last word. Making sure it’s something hurtful because she thinks hurting people will make her feel better. Her text would’ve hurt me in the past, but now? I don’t feel anything at all. She has no power over me anymore. I’m not even angry at her. I feel nothing for her, which I wouldn’t have thought was possible back in August when she broke my heart.

Now my heart’s whole again, and it’s all because of the girl who showed up on my porch. A girl I want to be mine someday. She’s scared of getting hurt again, but I’m going to do all I can to lessen those fears so that maybe she’ll consider my offer to be more than just roommates.

All night at work, I think about what I’m going to say to Kenzie. I tried to talk to her this morning, but then Nikki called and interrupted us. So I’m going to do it tonight. I’m going to tell Kenzie how I feel. I don’t want to keep waiting.

I get home just after ten. When I walk in the house, I hear voices down the hall.

“Kenzie?” I call out.

She comes out of her room. But she’s not alone. Dan is there, right behind her.

Dan was in Kenzie’s room. What was he doing in her room?

“Jace, I didn’t hear you come in,” Kenzie says as she walks past me. “How was work?”

“Good.” I look at Dan. “What are you doing here?”

“I stopped by to see Kenzie. I wanted to take her to dinner tonight, but she had to study so I brought her some food.”

She grabs a water from the fridge and says to me, “He got me tacos from that place we like downtown.”

I walk up to Dan. “You should probably go. It’s getting late.”

“I don’t have class until ten tomorrow.” He goes around me and over to Kenzie. “You want to watch a movie?”

“I would, but I’m really tired. Maybe tomorrow, after we go out.”

“You’re going out tomorrow?” I ask.

“We’re going to dinner,” she says. “Since I couldn’t go tonight.”

“We could go to a movie after dinner,” Dan says, leaning against the counter. He takes Kenzie’s hand and pulls her toward him. “What kind of movies do you like? Comedies? Romance? Thrillers?”

She tilts her head. “I guess comedies are my favorite, although I love romance too.”

He smiles at her. “You choose. We’ll go to whatever movie you want.”

Why am I watching this? If I stand here one second longer, I’m going to storm over to Dan and punch that damn smile right off his face.

He’s flirting with my girl. Holding her hand. Looking like he’s about to kiss her. And I can’t do a damn thing about it because she’s not mine.

I shouldn’t be mad at Dan. He’s not doing anything wrong. He thinks Kenzie is available, and technically she is. He has every right to go out with her.

But it still makes my blood boil seeing him with her. I go in my room and shut the door, then grab my basketball and squeeze the life out of it. I’m so damn pissed. If only I’d ignored Nikki’s call this morning. If I had, Kenzie would know how I feel about her. She’d know I want us to be together. Maybe knowing that would’ve made her turn down Dan.

Kenzie told me not to go to Nikki’s. She warned me Nikki was trying to manipulate me. But I didn’t listen. I went to see Nikki instead of staying with Kenzie, and now everything’s messed up. I was going to come home and tell Kenzie how I feel, but then I get here and find her with someone else.

They’re in the living room now. The TV is on and I hear the two of them laughing. I thought Dan was leaving. Kenzie said she was tired, so why is she letting him stay?

At midnight, he finally goes home. I try to sleep but can’t. I’m so mad at myself for not talking to Kenzie this morning. Why did I rush off to help Nikki? I should’ve known her tears were fake. That one wrong decision might’ve ruined any chance I had of being with Kenzie.

The next morning, I go to the kitchen for breakfast, but Kenzie isn’t there. She’s still in her room. We usually have breakfast together, but today she slept in, probably because she was up so late with Dan.

When I get back from class in the afternoon, Kenzie isn’t home, and she didn’t leave a note like she normally does. I text her just to say hi. She texts ‘hi’ back and that’s it. She usually texts me throughout the day, but I haven’t heard from her all day other than her ‘hi’ text.

Is she mad at me for going to Nikki’s yesterday? Or is she pulling away from me now that she has someone new? Whatever’s going on, I don’t like it. I want to go back to how things were.

That night, I work at the gym until ten, and when I get home, Kenzie isn’t there. She’s still out on her date. I’m tired, but I can’t sleep knowing Kenzie’s out with Dan. I can’t study either. Every time I try, I imagine Kenzie kissing Dan and want to go punch something. By eleven, I can’t take another minute of just sitting in my room so I grab my basketball and go out to the driveway. I need to do something to get my mind off Kenzie. I shoot baskets over and over until headlights blind me as a car drives up. It’s Dan’s car.

“Jace?” I hear Kenzie say. I turn around and see her and Dan walking up to me.

“Hey, how’s it going?” I say.

“What are you doing out here?” Kenzie asks. “It’s almost midnight.”

“Is it? Guess I didn’t notice.”

Dan chuckles. “You can barely see out here. And it’s freaking cold.”

“The cold doesn’t bother me.” I turn and shoot the ball, landing it in the basket.

“Um, Jace?” I hear Kenzie say.

“Yeah?”

“Do you mind maybe going inside so I can say goodbye to Dan? Or Dan and I could go inside if you’re staying here.”

Why is she trying to get rid of me? So they can kiss? They’ll kiss longer if they go inside where it’s warm. Being out here in the cold means less time for kissing.

“I’ll go,” I tell them. “I didn’t realize it was so late.” I give Dan a wave. “See ya.”

“Yeah. Maybe we could play ball sometime.”

“Sure.”

That’s not going to happen. Dan’s a decent guy. I’ve hung out with him before and even considered him a friend. But now that he’s dating Kenzie? I can’t be friends with him. I don’t even want to see him. Just being around him pisses me off, especially when Kenzie’s by his side.

Five minutes later, Kenzie comes in the house. At least they couldn’t do much in five minutes. But if they keep dating, it won’t be long before they do more than kiss.

“Have a good time?” I ask, coming out of my room as Kenzie’s going into hers.

She turns around. “What?”

“You and Dan. Did you guys have a good time?”

She smiles. “We did. He’s a really nice guy.”

“So you’re going out with him again?”

“Maybe on Wednesday. I’m not sure. He’s going to call me. How about you and Nikki?”

“Nikki? What about her?”

“You never came home after you went to her place. I assume that means things went well with you two?”

“No. Not at all. We had a fight. I forgot I didn’t tell you that.”

“What happened? Why were you fighting?”

“It was like you said. She made up this story about some guys coming to fix her apartment Sunday morning and that she had to get her stuff out or it’d get ruined by all the dust and paint. She was crying when she called, trying to get me to feel sorry for her.”

“Which worked,” Kenzie says.

“Yeah. I fell for it. I shouldn’t have, but I did. And it turns out, the guys aren’t fixing her place until Tuesday or Wednesday. She lied so I’d come over right away.”

“Did she try to get back together with you?”

“Yeah.” I half smile. “This is where you tell me ‘I told you so’.”

“I’m not going to do that. I know how hard it is to say no to someone you used to care about, especially when they need help. I get why you went over there.”

“I never should’ve done it. I should’ve stayed with you and finished our conversation. I shouldn’t have run off like that.”

Her phone dings and she checks it. “It’s Dan. I need to get this.” She smiles at me. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. See ya.”

She goes in her room and closes the door.

She left me to talk to Dan. Any chance I had with her is gone. I blew it. She has someone else now.

Wait—what am I thinking? It’s not over. She’s been on one date with Dan. It’s not too late. I can’t give up yet.

I love Kenzie, and I’m not giving up on making her mine.