The Outskirts: The Sky Raiders (Jace x OC)

Part 19 *

That night, I couldn't sleep. It was after dark, maybe eleven o'clock. Mira had left earlier that night, and hadn't come back yet.
I needed someone to talk to. I opened the door quietly and peeked out. The hallway was empty.
I started walking toward Jace and Coles bunk, not exactly sure why.
I rounded the corner and, quite literally, ran into Jace.
"Kendal?" He said. "What are you doing out here?"
I shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. Plus, Mira isn't in our room, so I have no one to talk to."
He frowned. "Miras gone? That's weird. She sometimes trains with Durny at night, but she's usually back by now. You know what's even weirder? Cole's gone too."
"That's . . . really weird." I said slowly.
"Tell me about it. Do you think they're together somewhere?"
"They could be. But why? Can't you get in trouble for being out this late?"
Jace shrugged. "Yeah, but most of the time they don't enforce it. We should see if they're on the porch."
I followed Jace as he quietly crept down the hallways, making so many twists and turns, that I would have been totally lost without him. As we were walked by the doors that led outside to the deck area, I saw two people sitting on the porch steps. It was Cole and Mira.
I put a hand on Jaces arm to stop him from walking, then pointed at them.
Understanding dawned on his face. Then it was replaced with a mischievous smirk. He grabbed my hand and gently pulled me down the hallway.
"Where are we going?" I said.
He smirked at me. "You'll see."
"Jace," I whined.
He took a couple turns more turns. Finally he led me to the balcony that hung over the Brink.
He turned around to face me, suddenly serious.
He took my other hand in his. "Do you trust me?"
"Yes, but what are you—" I started, but he cut me off.
"Hold on," he said as he pulled his golden rope out of his pocket. He wrapped and arm around my waist and flicked his wrist. The rope grew about forty feet longer than it was. The rope tied itself around something on the roof and pulled us up.
I yelped and wrapped my arms around his neck and closed my eyes.
When we landed, he said. "You can open your eyes now." I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.
When I pulled away from him, we were standing on the roof. I looked up at the sky and gasped.
The sky held more stars than the sky on Earth.
Some of them, blue or red or yellow. The moon was a milky white color. It looked like a hundred milky ways were in the sky.
"It's beautiful." I breathed. "The moon is so different from what we have on Earth."
"Its Naori." Jace said. "The Shiver moon. We don't see it that often."
"I didn't know you were an astronomer." I teased.
He laughed. "Blame Mira. She loves the stars."
I felt a stab of jealousy. "Have you taken her up here before?"
"Nope. You're the first person to see it. This is my secret spot."
I looked over to him. He was gazing up at the sky, his gorgeous brown eyes reflecting the stars, he had a small cast of bed head, but he still looked adorable.
He looked over at me and smiled. "I come up here every so often to think. To get away from the raiders, and . . . everything else."
We sat down together on the edge of the roof, our feet dangling off the edge.
"Couldn't we get in trouble for this?" I asked
him.
"Yeah," he said with a smirk. "But that's what makes it more fun."
"You're such a troublemaker." I said, rolling my eyes.
"Yeah," he said laughing. "You love it though."
I did. But I wasn't going to admit it.
"Oh yeah. All the girls love a bad boy." I said jokingly.
He raised an eyebrow. "All the girls?"
I hummed and looked away, not sure how to respond.
"So are you and Cole like—" He started, but I cut him off.
"God, no. Cole is like an annoying older brother." I said with a snort.
"But do you have a boyfriend?" He pressed, looking intrigued.
I looked over at him, a confused smile on my face. "Why are you asking?"
He shrugged and looked away. "I don't know. Just wondering I guess."
Was I imagining it or did he look embarrassed?
I smiled. "No boyfriend."
His shoulders relaxed. "Oh."
"What about you? I heard that you're quite popular."
He snorted. "Yeah, no. No girlfriend." He looked thoughtful. "There is this one girl . . ."
I frowned, and he must have saw me, because he laughed.
"What?" He said.
"Nothing," I said, biting my lip. "But . . . who is this mystery girl?"
He laughed again. "She's not mysterious. She's pretty easy to read. But I guess that's one of the things I like about her."
I tried not to show my jealousy as I turned to face him. "So? Tell me about her."
He grinned and looked skyward. "She's beautiful. Her eyes . . . And her smile . . . I don't know. She's sarcastic and snarky, which I love. She's one of the bravest girls I know, and I haven't even known her that long."
With each word, it was like someone took a knife to me. But I tried my best to be happy for him.
"She sounds great. I'm happy for you." I said.
He looked over at me, a goofy grin on his face. He opened his mouth once, twice, then laughed. "You really are oblivious."
"What?" I asked. Where had that come from?
"Nothing." He stood up peeked over the porch side of the roof. "We should probably head in. Mira and Cole are gone."
We used his rope to get down and he walked me to my room. When we got there, I felt kind of sad.
"Thanks for taking me up there." I said. "It's was beautiful."
He smiled. "Don't tell anyone about that spot, only Mira knows because she caught me going
up there. It'll be our secret."
I gave him a small smile. "My lips are sealed."
I reached to open the door, but hesitated.
"Goodnight Jace." I said, then opened the door.
"Goodnight." He said, his cute lopsided smirk played on his lips.
I went inside. And leaned against the door, smiling.
The light flipped on.
"Care to explain where you were?" Mira asked, her arms folded across her chest.
I was mentally scolding myself for not seeing her, but I smirked at her and pretended like I was innocent. "I could ask you the same thing. I saw you on the porch with Cole."
"How could you possibly have . . . wait," she said. "We're you on the roof?"
"No." I said, biting my lip. I'm pretty sure she didn't believe me.
"But Jace is the only one that can get up there." Understanding dawned on her face. "You were on the roof with Jace!"
"No—well yes—but we weren't spying on you guys." I said stuttering. "I left the room and ran into Jace who was going to ask us if we had seen Cole, but someone was gone." I gave her a pointed look. She blushed. "Anyways, we went looking for Cole and saw you guys sitting on the porch, and Jace took me up on the roof. We talked for a while, and he walked me back here. It was no big deal."
My face was probably as red as a tomato.
"Talked?" Mira said, now smiling. "About what?"
"Nothing." I said.
"Mhm. Sure. Thats why you were smiling like an idiot when you walked in the room."
My face flushed. "Shut up."
"Only if you admit that you like him." Mira said, smirking.
"No."
"Okay. Then i'm going to ask Jace what you talked about." Mira said.
"No!" I said quickly. "Fine. I like Jace. But . . . It doesn't even matter. He said there's this other girl that he likes, and he told me all about her, and he seems to really like her."
Mira was still smiling. "Did he say a name or what she looks like?"
I shook my head. "I didn't want him to know I was jealous, so I said 'I'm happy for you,' and he just smiled at me and said, 'you really are oblivious.' What's that supposed to mean?"
She smiled wide. "It means, that Jace is picking his moment."
I just stared at her, confused.
She sighed. "Never mind. Let's just go to bed."
She flipped the light off, and I fell asleep immediately.