The World Beyond Us

s e v e n t e e n

"Hey." Jace says as we get out of the car. "What were those binoculars for?"

We've stopped near City Park, well past curfew. It's an empty- tree sprinkled- field now. A path for running snakes through it, and near the center sits a playground.

"We were supposed to watch Hudson morn, but someone." I glance at him. "Shoved me in the car and drove off."

I'm actually relieved that Jace did so. Hudson looked so hurt. I might have seeked revenge, but I was not going to bathe in his pain. It is sick and sadistic.

"Jace, how can I take action if I can't stand to see the consequences." I round the side of the car. We meet at the back, in front of the trunk.

Jace looks at me. His eyes clench for a split second. "I've never thought about that, really. Besides." Jace helps me up onto the top of the car. "You're thinking about the past. Honestly the now is all you need to worry about."

There's really only enough space for one person on the roof of Jace's car. So Jace lays down on his back, and I lay against his chest.

"I guess so." I whisper.

"God, Wynter, isn't it gorgeous?" Jace breaths. I feel his chest rise and fall beneath me.

A moonlit Jace is unlike any other. The light glits off his jawline and sparkles in his eyes. It paints over his cheeks as well.

I look up towards the sky, where he is looking too. The streetlights have long since quit around this bit of the park, so it's a lot darker around here. The heavy, black blanket of a sky hangs over us. The stars glitter brighter, like tiny airborne candles.

I want to tell Jace that it's just the sky, that it always is- and always will be- here. But I look at Jace and clearly see how amazing it all is to him. He's intrigued and captivated with the sky.

And while he stares endlessly at the night sky, I stare at him.

"Why?" I ask, trying to understand his mental, make it a part of my own.

Jace tilts his head down to me. "It just goes on. Forever. China and France and Kenya are all under the same roof, which means the world isn't as far away as you think. It's right here, just for me." Jace grins, his arm folds tight over me. "For you too." He makes sure to include.

I love seeing him like this. It's infections. His unbreakable passion for travel is so attractive. It's amazing. He's- and he'll hate me for saying- perfect like this.

Maybe perfection is an evil, but only because it's some unobtainable entity made by society. And maybe- just maybe- individual perfection is what actually exsist. Some might think Jace is imperfect in every sense. But to me, when I look at him, I can't even find one flaw.

That's just the difference between Jace's definition of perfection and mine.

"Don't you ever think of what's past Easton?" Jace brushes my hair out of my face.

I have to stop and think. "Not really." I admit. I've always been too busy worrying about my reputation or my future.

"I do." He lays his head back down. "It's all I think about, to be honest."

There's want and desire treading through his viens and ringing in his eyes. Not for me, no. For the world, for what's out there.

And I'm jealous. I want the euphoric high of wanting something so passionately, so fiercely. I want the reckless feeling of lusting after something so much that it deforms my focus, centering on one thing.

That one thing.

I smile back at him, nodding along with him.

"So you're willing to take the world beyond us?" Jace sits up and I am forced to as well.

"Yeah, I'll travel the world one day-"

"Why not today- tonight." He corrects himself. "Even right now."

I frown, laughing. "You want me to travel the world with you right now." I humor both of us.

"Yeah, I do." His eyes are wide. He's serious.

Jace Bryer is very serious about traveling the world with me. And while I should be excited about it all- his commitment to me- I'm not.

"What are you saying?" I ask.

Jace grips my knees, his hands slide up my legs and take a hold of my shoulders. He looks me in the eyes, his gray blue eyes piercing my own.

"Run away with me, Wynter."

My eyebrows instantly yank inward. "This isn't funny, Jace. What kind of joke-"

"It's not supposed to be funny, because it's not a joke." Jace frowns. "I'm serious, Wynter. We can be gone by tomorrow." Jace leans in a nips lightly at my collarbone. "And wake up somewhere in Mexico."

I look up at the sky, listening to him, feeling him.

"We don't have to do Mexico first though. There's always the states- Canada too. It's just a rule of travel to visit New York, though." His hand slip under my shirt, he runs his hands up and down my back- cold against my warm skin.

Jace kisses my neck, muttering about Texas and Florida. His lips graze against my ear.

"-Regardless of where we end up, just know that it'll only be you, me and the road." His voice is insanely proactive. He pulls at the strap of my bra, as I breath in sharply. It snaps against my skin, it stings in way that is strangely exciting.

Yes. It's at the tip of my tounge and ready to roll out in to existence.

My eyes snap back open. "No." I scoot away from him. "I can't."

"You can't?" Jace frowns. "Are you still scared of that prick?"

I slide off of the car, a tiny shock ripples up my calf when I land in the street. "Jace, this has nothing to do with Hudson-"

"Your parents?" He follows me towards the sidewalk.

"No."

"Keegan-"

"No!" I snap. I bring my hands to my head, squeezing my eyes closed. "This has nothing do with anything other than the fact that you're being insane!" I whirl around.

"So?"Jace shrugs.

"It's unplanned and messy- how are we going to by gas or plane tickets. Room and boarding." I list off. "And what about food. Over anything, Jace, how the hell am I going to explain to my parents that I'm going to travel the fucking world with my boyfriend of a month?"

"That jar up in my room-you saw it- there's at least seven grand. I've got a savings account too. Money's not an issue, you know that." Jace tells me.

"And my parents?" I ask again.

"Don't say anything." Jace cups my face, leaning his down next to mine. "Just disappear and let them morn in your absence. Let them wish they treated you the way you deserved before you left-"

There's something unsettling about this. Its morbid, and premature. He looks at me as if he needs me. I'm not ready to take care of someone's heart.

"I can't do that to my family."

Jace's smile is bright and intoxicating, but it's not convincing enough.

I take his hands from my face and hold them.

"Jace, sweetheart." I whisper, I weave my fingers through his. "I just can't do that.
Two teenagers don't just run away and travel the world. It would never work."

Jace takes and shoves his hands in his pockets. "I'm not falling for a girl who won't take risks. I'm falling for the girl who doesn't care about the past and only looks towards the future." Jace says coldly.

This is too much. First he tells me he wants to run away with me and now he's falling for me.

I try to kiss him, but he moves away.

"C'mon." Jace says over his shoulder as he walks towards his car. "I'll take you home. It's way past midnight."

It's only 11:45.