The Hopeless Romantic ✔️

Chapter eight.

That was the thing, he wouldn't leave my mind. That was the problem. I had all of these questions floating around in my head and I couldn't answer them, only he could. Like, why did he sit next to me on the bus or why did he act like I didn't exist after he came into my house? I've never had the experience with boys like Gwen had and it annoyed me.

Why did I blush when one guy walked by? I knew I was not worth any guy to even look at me but whatever. I never thought about it until now. That's a clear lie. I never thought about Jace until now. Another lie. He was just another popular guy with girls floating around him. Now, he was something else. Something I've never seen before. That was the truth.

"I don't understand how you have time to watch all of those TV shows." Gwen said to me on the bus ride home, placing her iPhone into her pocket.

I shrugged. "I just do," I turned to her, "and I don't understand how you don't have time to watch anything. I recommended Grey's Anatomy to you last year and you still haven't watched the first episode!" I said with a smile.

Gwen shook her head and for a minute, I forgot about Jace. He was not even on the bus today, he got a ride home with Seth. As soon as I saw him walk past the bus, my smile dropped and my heart sunk to the bottom on my chest. Don't get me wrong, I was the type of person to run a mile when a boy even decided to talk to me (which was never) but Jace was different.

I wanted to talk to him, I wanted to see him on the bus every morning and afternoon and I wanted him to sit next to me on the bus. I wanted all of that but I realised that I was going to have to get over him because I was no type to date, I wouldn't even know how to start and was I supposed to be an expert? Most girls my age were and most people would think I was lame because I've never dated but so what?

I shut my thoughts out and turned my attention back to my best friend. "That's because I have a life, Avery. I party, go out, date and you sit at home with your cat." She said it with a friendly shrug. Gwen could be harsh at times but most of those times, she was one hundred percent right.

"Me and my cat have great times." I said foolishly with a smile and I knew she was going to make fun of me for that like she did with everything else. "But, partying isn't all that is to life."

"It is if you're a high school student who's waiting to go to college in a year." I realised that I may have wasted my high school experiences. It was almost as if I had been sleepwalking through entire four years of my life and I probably had. I couldn't even remember half of my freshman year, where did that time go?

But hey, I'm Avery Winters. I was different and maybe Jace could see that.

*

Sometimes, well, all the time, I hated hearing the loud music boom and vibrate through my house. My mom got angry, I couldn't sleep or watch my show in peace and Gwen was usually the one to get drunk first. That usually happened every second weekend or if we were lucky, every holiday.

Jace usually threw them and sometimes, Seth did. And if we're even luckier, it was thrown some place out of town from another kid who went to another school.

If I went to one, I would most likely feel out of place. I didn't drink so that was definitely out of place and I wouldn't know how to party. I heard that teenagers usually head upstairs to have sex and one night stands. We're teenagers! Wasn't that what college kids did?

"Mom," I said to her with a smile as she walked through the front door, "you do remember that guy coming over here, right? To drop off the beers?"

Mom closed the door and the wind sent tingles up my spine as it brushed past me. She thinks for a minute before answering. "Uh, yes and I believe they are still in our fridge."