The World Beyond Us

t h r e e

Needless to say, our magical dinner was more or less two teenagers sitting in some French bistro.

I get home around 11:30 pm. Keegan is still out, while my parents are asleep. I trudge upstairs, and peel away the dress.

I know I treated Hudson unfairly tonight. He doesn't realize that he's a hamster, but neither do my parents or my best friends. I can't get mad with them for that. The only real solution that I can paint right now, is that I need to find another hamster who's sick of being a hamster.

I glance down at my running shoes, and in the spur of the moment decide to go for a run. For me, jogging has always been a great release of stress.

I pull on a pair of leggings and some random cropped top. I plug my earbuds in and quietly slip outside.

I squeeze my eyes shut and start off.

I'm jogging.

I'm running.

I'm sprinting.

I'm not just running. I'm running away, that idea is incredibly liberating.

My legs burn, my chest feels empty but I don't stop. I feel like a tiny wind up monkey who can't stop clapping its symbols together until the knob stops turning. Suddenly, I slam into something. I land hard on my ass.

I glance up at what- who- I ran into. Jace Bryer. His letter flashes through my mind, like it has been doing all day. I'm afraid I'll die in this stupid town. I pull my earbuds out of my ears, and apologize.

"I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking-"

"Are you okay?" He cuts me off, an intense gaze shines down on me.

"Yeah." I lie.

"Well, you're crying." He kneels down next to me.

I stare at him, sketching his features into my memory. His coffee brown hair. His sharp, straight-lined jaw. His pink lips. His bright silvery blue eyes.

"Did you hear me?"

I blink myself back into reality. "Sorry, what?"

"I asked if you were okay?" He repeats himself.

"You already asked me, and I said-"

"And you lied. You're not okay."

I glance down at the ground. "Yeah, I know I'm not." I whisper.

"Do you feel like talking about it?" Jace shifts himself into a sitting position across from me.

I smile, although nothing is really funny. I shake my head. "You wouldn't understand; no one does. I'm starting to doubt my sanity."

He breaks into this disarming crooked grin. "I doubt my sanity almost everyday, Wynter. Trust me, I'll understand."

Then Jace leans in so close that I can smell the minty gum on his breath. "And if I don't, make me."

I can feel my cheeks getting warm. There's something very provocative and tempting about his offer.

"I'm dating Hudson Deckland." I say very randomly.

"I know. I see you two in the papers all the time." He explains.

Yet another reason to keep up a perfect appearance. Keegan and I are often featured in the newspaper, for no other reason that bragging rights for my parents.

"The paper is a bit outdated, isn't it?" I can't help but giggle.

"Well, yeah." He shrugs, smiling. "The Sunday Funnies are in there you know?"