The Hopeless Romantic ✔️

Chapter fourteen.

The next day, I sat out in the courtyard with Gwen. She wouldn't stop talking about what happened with Jace yesterday. Yes, it was a miracle that he even touched me and yes, it was an amazing feeling but it wouldn't happen again.

"Gwen, can we talk about something else?" I asked her, rolling my eyes.

She raised her eyebrows at me just as Jace and his group came into our view. She squealed as they walked to a table outside. I groaned. He was with Seth, people from the football team and the cheerleading team. "You should talk to him, Avery." Gwen said as she averted her gaze back to me.

"No," I said instantly, "he's with his friends. He doesn't want to talk to me and plus, I have anxiety."

She laughed. "He can't just act like yesterday didn't exist. Unless it was all in your dreams."

"It wasn't." I said quickly as I focused my gaze on Jace and his friends. He was wearing a black leather jacket, blue jeans and a plain white shirt. He was with his best friend, Seth, who was talking to the head cheerleader, Amber Jones. Jace was talking to Ryan Lopez, the captain of the football team. They were laughing about something and I smiled.

Jace had a nice laugh.

I turned away quickly just as Jace saw me staring. I pretended I didn't see him, even though they were the loudest group here. Gwen quickly snapped her head towards me and grinned. "He's coming over here!"

My eyes widened. "Oh, God." I was not mentally prepared for this. Jace talking to me in front of his popular friends, was this a dream? And after yesterday, I felt embarrassed. I tripped right in front of him and fell onto the ground.

Gwen was right, though. Jace strolled over here and sat down beside me. He smiled and I was pretty sure his smile trumped all of the stars in the sky. "Hey." He said smoothly.

"Hi." I turned to him quickly before returning my gaze back to Gwen.

She smirked. "Hey, Jace. What's up?"

"Nothing much," he replied, "actually, there's this carnival happening tonight."

It was Friday. Of course there was carnival on tonight and I've never had the chance to go. "Oh, really? Why do you mention it?" Gwen kept on going and I was shaking my head in embarrassment, keeping my mouth completely shut.

"I was wondering if you would like to go with me, Avery?" I felt his eyes on me, "I thought it would be fun."

The only thing that was running through my head was that I would get dizzy again. I didn't know if it was the bright lights of the carnival rides or because people were everywhere. I hesitated before answering but I nodded, realising that this may be the only chance I get to hang out with Jace. "Sure."

He smiled. "Great! Meet me at mine at six." He turned around and left to go back to his friends. Why did he decide to ask me? He could have taken Amber with him or even Grace McCarthy who was the other cheerleader that was in their group.

"Oh my gosh!" Gwen jumped with joy. "He asked you out!"

"As friends." I told her. I was beginning to freak out about tonight but, how long had I dreamt of a boy asking me out to go someplace amazing? My entire life. I hadn't dated anyone and now the hottest, most popular guy asked me out to a carnival.

"You never know, Avery," Gwen said with a smile, "he might want it to be something more."

*

Was I even ready for this? I wore black plain jeans and a white crop top and I was still freaking out. Of course Jace only wanted to be friends. I knew if I got involved with him, I would most likely get hurt. He was the type to go from girl to girl so why me? I was unpopular and I hadn't even been to a party before.