The Hopeless Romantic ✔️

Chapter twenty one.

I couldn't exactly tell if Jace was happy or not. He gave his mother a shocked expression and I blinked a few times at what she was saying. "You're what?" Jace exclaimed, and I knew that he had no idea that his mom had done this.

"We're both Avery's new landlord," she repeated, "I kept thinking about your financial troubles and I didn't want you to have to move across town, away from Jace because you two seem perfect for each other."

"I-I don't know what to say." I said with a stutter, trying to process what was happening.

Jace looked furious and I wondered why. I thought he would have been happy that I didn't have to move. "Mom! Why did you do that without asking me first?" Jace yelled.

"I thought you would have been happy, Jace." Linda said, chewing on her breakfast.

Henry cleared his throat. "It seemed like the right thing to do."

Jace quickly left the table with his phone locked in his hand. I started eating breakfast because I didn't want to be rude. "Thank you so much," I told Linda, "it means so much that we don't have to move. My mom will be very happy."

Linda smiled. "I'm just happy to help, I'm meeting with your mom this afternoon to discuss a few things." I nodded and continued eating breakfast and when I was half done, I excused myself from the table.

I raced upstairs and went into Jace's bedroom. He was on the phone again, but, I needed to know why he was so upset about this. Once he saw me, he froze and quickly said goodbye into the phone. "What's wrong?" I asked, "I thought you would've been happy."

He sighed and sat on his bed. "I am happy." He said, but, he didn't sound too convincing.

"You don't look it," I sat beside him, "this is a good thing, Jace. I don't have to move, we can stay."

He looked straight ahead and I wanted to know what was going through his mind. "I know, but, I didn't expect my parents to suddenly buy your house and become your landlord."

"Neither did I," I said, "but, look on the bright side. I can keep annoying you for the rest of your life." I didn't know why I said that, it just came out.

He laughed. "Yes, that is true. But, what if we suddenly break up and your mom still has to deal with my mom? That won't be a good situation."

I didn't ever think of breaking up. It never crossed my mind because we were so happy. So why was he thinking about breaking up one day? "I don't think that'll happen, Jace."

He shrugged. "You're right, it probably won't." But, he didn't sound too convincing on that subject either.

*

Jace had me worried. I was the type of person to see my future right in front of my eyes. Jace was in my future, was I in his? I didn't know what Jace was thinking about our relationship and it annoyed me. Maybe we went too fast, maybe we should have stayed friends for longer.

I shook the fear off, I couldn't think about that right now. I met Jace at the bus stop on Monday morning, I was still buzzing about how we didn't have to move away from the area. The bus arrived just as Jace came into my view. He smiled, kissed me on the cheek and we went inside the bus hand and hand. 

Gwen was seated next to Seth, who must've stayed the night at her place, and Jace and I took a seat behind them. The bus roared back to life and continued driving to school. Gwen turned around and grinned. "So, you don't have to move!"

I shook my head with a smile. "No, I'm staying!"

"That's great!" Gwen smiled as she turned back around as the bus continued to drive to school.