Living at 2AM

Chapter 2

Parties weren't really my thing but Lici personally invited me. She is persistent when it comes to her parties. I wasn't really in the mood for a party since Alise and Mai were away, but I knew Zoë and Quin were going too so it couldn't be that bad... right? As soon as I walked into the house, I wanted to leave. People were already drunk. I couldn't deal with this.

I decided to give myself a little tour of the house. I left the chaos that was this party and walked down a long hallway leading into what seemed like the family room.

Felicity had a piano collecting dust in her family room. I knew she had never used it because she didn't have a single musical bone in her petite body and there's no way her parents played because all they did was work. All work, no play. Lici was more of the outgoing social type. She was rarely alone-- she always had to have someone listening to her talk about her extracurricular activities or getting into all the ivy leagues.

I learned how to play piano when I was in 5th grade but I lost interest after a couple of months. I sat down at the bench and lifted the maple wood to uncover white and black keys. It's been so long since I've played that I couldn't remember a tune. So I just played with the keys a little waiting for me to remember something.

"Beethoven?" I heard a voice behind me say. I looked over my shoulder to see a boy standing at the doorway. He was tall, had dirty blonde hair, a leather jacket-- your typical boy crush. "Um no. I wasn't actually playing anything." I smirked.

He was cute. Like young Leonardo DiCaprio cute.

"Oh. Are you like a musical prodigy or something?" He walked over towards me and leaned against the side of the piano.

"Hm, no. I don't think.. I mean I used to play but not anymore-- I don't really-- uhh no." I chuckled nervously.

Who was this guy? Why was I so nervous?

"Do I know you? You look familiar." He asked as he rubbed his chin pretending to be in deep thought. God he was so cute.

Shhh, Irie. Be cool.

"Nope. Never seen you before. What school did you go to?"

"Newland High. I just graduated. Got accepted into U-of-M with a full scholarship to play football." He smiled proudly and combed his hair back.

Oh. He was one of those. A jock.

"Well, congrats-" I didn't know what else to say. I didn't want to say anything stupid or make it look like I was trying to hard to be funny or witty. "What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Jace." He stuck out his hand in waiting for me to shake it. Very formal, I see.

"I'm Irie." I said as I shook his hand. My hand fit perfectly into his.

"What a beautiful name for such a beautiful girl." He said. I blushed, definitely.

Be strong, Irie. You can't go falling in love with every cute guy who tells you you're beautiful. Get it together!

"Is this what you say to all the girls? Does your girlfriend know about this?" I said flirtingly.

He looked at me for a second and squinted his eyes before answering. "If that's your way of asking if I'm single? I am. I'm not tied down in any way or form Miss Irie." he smiled his perfect smile once again. I can get used to this boy.

I looked away trying not to seem too interested. I noticed the clock said 2am. It was already 2am? Good thing I was staying over Quin's house. My parents would kill me if I was coming in at 2am.

"So what's up? Why are you all the way over here when the party is out there?" He asked seeming mildly interested.

"I could ask you the same thing, Mr. Jace." Irie. You're flirting again. Chill out.

"I was actually looking for the bathroom. What's your excuse?" He moved a little closer to me while crossing his hands over his chest. His body language was telling me something. What was it? Am I reading too far into this?

"I'm a loner." I said blatantly. Great, Irie, he probably thinks you're a freak now. However, this was actually true. Well, only when I'm not around Alise, Mai, Lici, Zoë and Quin. At this point, who knows where Lici, Zoë and Quin were. They were party animals, and I... I was the opposite. Whenever I attended parties with them, I always left to play with the family cat or check out the rest of the house.

"A loner? Really? Hm, you don't seem like the type." What was that supposed to mean?

"Always have been, always will be." I smiled up at him. This wasn't all the way true. When I was younger I used to be so open with everyone and enjoyed people's company. Now, I like being alone... most of the time.

"Yeah... I was like that until I met Theo in the 9th grade. He really opened me up to a whole new world." He looked sincerely happy in that moment.

I didn't really know what to say so I didn't say anything. I turned my attention back to the clock (it was now 2:08am) and then to the piano. I noticed one of the F keys wasn't working. I wondered how long it had been since this piano was actually played.

"Hey, so not to be weird or anything but are you busy next week? How about we hang out?" What was this? Was he asking me out? Boys usually didn't ask me out. Inside, I was jumping up and down like a 5 year old schoolgirl. It's okay Irie.

"Sorry I'm busy, summer break is a really hectic time for me." I said sarcastically. I was trying to play hard to get. That's the only way I could find out Jace's true intentions. I couldn't show him how interested I actually was. My plan backfired and he instead just looked at me like he was confused.

"Um....okay." He said. Wow, Irie. Your first joke and he didn't even laugh.

"I was joking... I guess we can hang out."

"Here. Put your number in my phone and I'll call you." He handed me his phone already with the "new contact" page open. I put my number in quickly adding a smiley face next to my name and handed the phone back to him. Our hands touched just slightly and I blushed, again. I looked up at him just as he was looking back at him and noticed his eyes were the prettiest blue I had ever seen. This boy was really something.

"Um.. uh.. My friends are probably wondering where I am by now so I'll see you later. You enjoy the rest of your night Miss Irie." He smiled and bowed as he left like we were in some type of cheesy 80's movie.

"Bye." I smiled and waved... awkwardly. Perfect, Irie, perfect. Wait. I gave him my number, he never gave me his. Great. Now I have to wait for him to text or call. This could be a fun waiting game. 

                                                                             ☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼