Crush

Crush Day 4 (Metaphor)

As Jace finally came into focus, he noticed two things: one, the girl that held his attention was already talking to another girl in class as if they had already met some time ago, and two, she had a small, heart-shaped tattoo on her left ankle.

Jace swallowed, thinking that this girl had already gotten him in trouble and he hadn't even met her properly, and Joe was right, she was hot. Smoking hot.

"Didn't I tell you she was bangin?"

Jace rolled his eyes at the adjective. "Yeah, you did. What's her name?"

"I don't know, doesn't matter."

"Why?"

"Because I don't need to know her name to-"

"Dude, shut up. Find out her name for me."

Joe gave Jace an odd look and then looked to the guy next to him, Nate. He then looked back at Jace. "Nate says it's Hilary or something."

"Hilary," Jace whispered to himself. "No, that's not..."

And then she looked over and grinned. Her mouth was his kryptonite. Every part of her was. Jace mouthed hi. Her grin widened.

"Emma," she mouthed. Jace could feel his face heat as he watched his newfound obsession.

Emma bit her bottom lip.

Jace was in bad shape. If she kept doing that, he'd...well, it wouldn't be decent. "Jace."

Emma tilted her head to the side, so it looked as if she was still paying attention. "Nice to meet you," she mouthed once more.

The silent conversation went on for a few more minutes until they split off into groups. Jace nearly tripped getting to Emma.

"Hey," Emma said softly. "Jace, right?"

"Yeah."

Emma grinned. "I haven't had to read lips in a while."

"Yeah, me neither. So..."

"Hilary, do you want to be in our group?" Nate asked as he nearly bumped Jace out of the way. Jace turned fast to see Emma frown.

"Um, no thanks, I'm with Jace."

Jace didn't mind the way that sounded.

"And it's Emma."

Joe laughed, and Nate walked back over toward the corner with Joe and plopped to the ground with his history book.

"So, you just move here?"

Jace knew it was a stupid question, because she was obviously new to the area, but he didn't know what else to say. Emma just smiled.

"Yeah, we actually got here last week. I have a brother, he's eight."

"Ah, that's cool."

"Any brothers or sisters?"

Jace shook his head. "No, no sibs. Just mom and me."

"Oh, are your parents divorced?"

Jace could feel his insides tighten once more. His breathing felt stifled. He wasn't going to hyperventilate. He was going to be just fine. "Uh, no. My dad died."

There, he said it.

Emma frowned. "I'm really sorry about that, Jace." Emma pat him on the shoulder and then gave him a gentle squeeze.

"It's okay, it was a while ago." As he said that, he couldn't help but hear Mrs. L's voice in his head, "It was a very long time ago, but that doesn't matter, does it? The pain is still there."