The Hopeless Romantic ✔️

Chapter fifteen.

His friends were coming our way, laughing and joking with one another. I felt a huge rush of nervousness as they came closer. I didn't hang out with these people, I barely knew them and here I was hanging out with Jace O'Conners.

"Avery," Jace finally said as his friends came up to us, "these are my friends. Seth, Amber, Ryan and Grace."

I smiled, my stomach going crazy with the fact that I was talking to the popular kids at our school. "Hey."

"Hi, Avery." Amber said with a smile that I couldn't quite understand. "Jace has said so many nice things about you!"

I found that hard to believe but I went along with it. I smiled and said nothing just as Gwen appeared beside me. "Hey, guys!" They all greeted her and I was standing awkwardly in between Jace and Gwen who linked her arm with mine and she was suddenly pulling me off in the opposite direction. "We'll be back in a minute."

Gwen dragged me away from the group and we ended up by the forest near the parking lot. "Why'd you drag me all the way over here?"

"Because," Gwen sighed, "I want to know how it's going. Have you kissed yet?"

I wanted to slap her as I rolled my eyes. "No, Gwen and I don't plan on doing it anytime soon. We're just friends, okay?"

Gwen looked gorgeous with her medium length blond hair and her eyes sparkling with the night sky. "I can tell he likes you, Avery. Why else would he have asked you out?"

I sighed, my hands feeling sweaty. "Stop saying that, I'm nervous enough as it is."

Gwen smiled and linked my arm with hers. We were walking back to the group who were standing around a game stall. Seth, Ryan and Amber were playing at a game stall while Jace was talking to Grace. They were all laughing about something but Jace seemed unsure with that uneasy smile of his.

As we approached quietly, Jace's eyes caught mine and he smiled and walked towards us. "I thought you ditched me." He flashed a smile and his eyes were a perfect shade of blue.

"I'm not that cruel." I replied with a small smile, trying not to avoid eye contact with him.

Gwen squeezed my arm and eventually let go. "I'll catch you later." For a minute, I didn't want to be left alone with Jace or his friends again. They seemed nice but I wasn't apart of their crowd.

"Bye." I said as she left to talk to a few other people from our school.

Jace never took his eyes off me. I felt self conscious in that moment, with him staring at me like I was a piece of artwork hanging on the wall of a museum. "Wanna get out of here?"

I wasn't expecting that at all but I nodded, smiling. "What do you have in mind?"

My stomach was filling with an entire zoo as Jace and I stood in a crowd full of people, unaware of our surroundings. "Someplace better than here."

My smile grew wider as his hand reached out for mine. I was hesitant at first but, I shook the fear away and took his soft hand in mine. I wasn't thinking about how incredibly nervous I was or how my hands could sweat at any given moment. I was in the moment with Jace leading me out of the carnival and to his car.

"What about your friends?" I suddenly remembered, wondering why he decided to leave with me instead of them. My thoughts got the better of me and my nervousness was taking over once again.

Jace looked over his car towards me before getting in. "What about them?"

"Well," I looked back to see the carnival still going through the night, "I thought you would wanna hang with them."