What Happens On The Balcony

6 - first supper

later that day | 7: 30 p.m.

i heard jace's window open with slow creek, his lanky body stepping through a moment later.

he took notice of me right away, nodding his head with subtlety in my direction. "hey," he said with a big deep breath before settling himself on the balcony with his legs dangling through the railing.

"hey." i said, looking down at my dinner plate in my lap. i pushed the mashed potatoes around my plate with my fork before scooping some up and bringing the food to my lips.

we both stayed silent for a while, listening to the soothing spotify playlist playing from my phone. i wasn't sure where jace and i stood with each other. last night, or rather this morning, after i joined him on the balcony,m we only said a few of sentences to each other and the rest of the time was sat in silence. it wasn't awkward though, just strange. were we supposed to be friends now? i didn't know much about his (ex) girlfriend, but i had listened to their very harsh and abrupt breakup and then sat outside with him in a half-assed attempt at being a supportive neighbor.

"no family for thanksgiving?" jace finally broke the silence.

"no." i shrugged. "i'll see them for christmas and my brother's visiting me tomorrow. i'd much rather handle my family one at a time." I explained with a soft chuckle.

"not a family girl?"

i shrugged. "well what about you?"

a friendly grin tugged at the corner of his lips. "am i a family girl?"

i smiled back, amused by his joke. "you're obviously not with your family for thanksgiving." i pointed out to him, getting back to my point.

"my family lives in oregon. i spent a lot of time and money trying to get out of oregon, so i'm not exactly trying to run back any time soon."

i nodded, taking another spoonful of my mashed potatoes.

"so why do you hate your family?" he asked after a moment.

i shook my head slightly offended. "i don't hate my family."

"okay, why do you only want to be with one family member at a time."

i sighed. "i just have a big family is all. i have 5 siblings."

"5?" he repeated incredulously.

i laughed. "yeah it's always very loud. thanksgiving isn't that important of a holiday for me to go home and see them all."

he nodded, chewing lightly on his bottom lip as his fingers tapped against the rail.

"so why do you hate your family?" i asked filling the silence once more.

"i don't hate my family." he shook his head.

"okay, why do you hate oregon?"

he smiled, clearly amused by the repetitive conversation. "i'm from a really small town. small towns suck." i nodded my head slowly as i watched him shift in his seat to pull something out of his jeans pocket. the familiar package of cigarettes were soon visible and i grunted in disapproval, causing him to shoot me a confused look.

"really? is your only regular consumption made up of cigarettes? have you even eaten anything for dinner?"

"sorry mom." he groaned sarcastically through the cigarette he had placed between his teeth as i talked. "what's it to you anyway?"

"i have extra food. let me fix you a plate." i offered.

"no that's okay." he chuckled as he fished through his pocket for his lighter.

"oh come on. i can't just sit back and let you have cigarettes for dinner."

"yes you can. i believe in you."

i frowned. "jace."

he laughed. "it's not a big deal. really. you don't have to."

without another word i stood up and climbed back through my window into my apartment. after five minutes, i returned with a plate of food in my hand.

"you really didn't have to do that."

"well i already did. it's thanksgiving. it's practically a crime not to eat turkey and potatoes. now take it. eat food." i said shoving the plate toward his face.

the corner's of jace's mouth tugged up involuntarily. "thanks." he said quietly, replacing his cigarette to its packaging. he grabbed the plate from me and i nodded in acknowledgement.

we both settled back in our seats with our legs dangling through the railing and over the street. the rest of the evening was silent, just the quiet hum of the music from my phone and the chatter and car horns from the street below filling our ears. nothing more was needed.