One Day

Part 15 - Late

The ringing of my phone jars me awake. I look at the clock and jump out of bed while yelling at Jace to wake up.

"Crap!" I yell as he sits up staring at me like I've lost my mind. "We're late!" I grab my phone off the nightstand and answer it knowing it will be Elena. "I'm so, so sorry. We are leaving right now. We will be there in 20 minutes." I hang up the phone as she is yelling about being late.

Jace's brain finally catches up with what is going on and he jumps out of bed and grabs the clothes he had on the night before while I rip off my pajamas and grab the first thing I come to in my closet. "She is going to be so mad at me."

"We are only a little behind. Their flight doesn't leave until 1:20 so as long as we have them to the airport by noon, they will have plenty of time to get checked in," he says as he finds his phone and rushes into the bathroom. "It's Sunday so surely there won't be much traffic."

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how we slept so late, again. I'm calculating the time in my head as I find my flip flops and run into the bathroom behind Jace. I brush my teeth and am pulling my hair into a knot on top of my head when he wraps his arms around my waist and rests his chin on my shoulder.

"Stop worrying. It's only 9:30 so we have plenty of time." His version of plenty of time and my version of plenty of time are totally different. I like to be early, have spare time scheduled just in case something were to come up and not have to be in a rush to get somewhere. I drop my hands and turn around quickly giving him a kiss.

"Let's go!" I say wiggling from his grasp, a tinge of sadness seeping in as I remember the night before but I brush it off as quickly as it came. "Elena is going to be so pissed at us."

He laughs as we lock up the house and head towards my car. We've never taken my car anywhere together but you wouldn't know it by the seamless way he gets into the driver's seat and I take the passenger seat without hesitation.

Elena is waiting in the driveway as we pull up while Matt carries the last of their luggage out of their house. We both jump out of the car to help load the luggage in the trunk and manage to stuff everything and are back in the car in no time.

"I'm mad at you for making us late but I'm going to let it go since I'm not going to see you for two weeks," she says as she smiles at me. "But if we miss our flight, you are getting the worst souvenir I can find."

I laugh and sigh at the same time, relieved that she's letting it go. It's absolutely no fun being on her bad side, especially during a two-hour long car ride. "It won't happen again," I smile sweetly back at her.

Jace and Matt start talking about the remodel of Jace's house and Elena interrupts. "I think before we start in on any other conversation, we need to have the most important one here. What is going on between the two of you," she asks as she points between me and Jace. We look at each other and I shrug but don't respond.

"Did you break up with January?" Elena asks looking at Jace in the rearview mirror.

He glances back at her, "I did...on Friday."

She nods, "Well that makes me feel better about you staying the night with Lay then." She reaches up and playfully smacks him in the back of the head.

"What was that for?" he laughs bringing his hand up to where she just hit him.

"That was for waiting so long to do it and for not telling me sooner," she replies glaring at him. "I'm starting to question our ten year friendship."

Elena's and Jace's families have been friends since before they were born but Jace's dad was in the Air Force so they didn't move back home until Jace was eleven. They say they were forced to be friends because their parents took turns driving them to middle school together. They weren't as close throughout high school and after but they still talk on a regular basis. Although Elena is my best friend and her and Jace are really close, we've never all hung out together. A relationship between me and Jace had never crossed her mind because we were both in serious relationships with other people until recently – Jace with January and me with my high school sweetheart, Jacob, with whom I had just broken up with five months before.

"I don't see how you put up with her," Jace says glancing back at Matt.

"But I'm glad you do," Elena says sweetly.

We spend the next two hours fielding questions from Elena about our relationship or whatever it is that is happening while trying to change the subject as much as possible.

We arrive at the airport at 11:45 and unload the luggage while saying our goodbyes. Elena grabs Jace by the arm and pulls him to the side, I'm sure giving him her best "don't break her heart" speech and I use the opportunity to slip a little black box out of my purse and into Matt's waiting backpack. He smiles as he zips up the pocket and acts like nothing happened. He has been planning his proposal for a long time and wants everything to be perfect. I'm pretty sure a romantic night in Germany will tip the scale for best proposals ever. Elena is terrible with snooping so I've been hiding the ring at my house since he purchased it.

Elena finishes her quiet chat with Jace and she pulls me into a hug. "Don't be late picking us up," she laughs into my ear. "And try to give Jace some time to get over her before you start over-analyzing everything that happens." I swear this girl knows me better than I know myself. "He really likes you but it may be hard for a while until he can get his head in the right place." She kisses me on the cheek and squeezes my hand. "See you in two weeks!" she says as she walks toward her waiting luggage and Matt.

Jace shuts the trunk as I watch them walk away. He drapes his arm across my shoulder and kisses my hair, "You ready to go? I have a surprise for you."

I look up at him wondering what in the world he could be surprising me with since he only knew he was coming on this trip 24 hours ago and he's been with me every moment since. "Yeah..." I say suspiciously.

He laughs and nudges me towards my side of the car, "Then let's go."

Thanks for reading One Day! I try to post each weekday and look forward to where this story takes us as it is a work in progress.

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