Pretend

T E N

Do you ever feel like someone's ignoring you because you've done something very wrong but you don't know what it is? So you spend the rest of the day overthinking and feeling anxious.

That's what's happening to me now.

Jace has been avoiding me the whole day. Every time I tried to talk to him, he'll always say he's busy and walk away from me. I've known Jace for eight years, and this isn't his normal behavior so I'm pretty sure that something was wrong.

This is the reason why I'm at the Evans' residence at the moment, having tea with Jace's mom, Julie. I was waiting for Jace to come home from lacrosse practice so I can corner him later and ask him what's wrong.

"So why are you here?" Julie asked me.

"Your son is being moody towards me again," I sighed.

"That boy," Julie shook her head disapprovingly. "Probably got that from Jill."

"Hey!" Jill, Jace's other mom, exclaimed, looking extremely offended. "I am not that moody."

"But you are," Julie replied with a smirk.

"Oh shut up," Jill replied and rolled her bright, green eyes. Then she turned her head and looked at me with a grin. "So what has that boy done now?"

"He's been avoiding me," I shrugged. "And I don't even know why!"

Julie and Jill exchanged mischievous looks and I narrowed my eyes at them. "What's going on?" I asked both of them suspiciously.

"It's nothing, dear," Julie reassured me with a smile. "I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong."

"I'm home!" someone exclaimed. It was probably Jace.

"Quickly go to his room and talk to him there!" Jill whispered to me, pushing me towards the stairs.

I quickly ran up the stairs and entered Jace's room. His room was so clean and organized, I was jealous.

Note to self: ask Jace to help you clean your room.

I sat down on his bed, which was of course, made up. Who even has time to make up their bed in the morning? I barely have time to get ready for school and he has the time to clean his room? What kind of sorcery is this?

I decided to lay sideways on Jace's bed, with my elbow propped up so that my hand could support my head. Then my eyes widened when I realized that this is what you do if you want to seduce someone to get into bed with you so I sat up again. But then I remembered that I probably don't look remotely sexy because I am just a potato after all. So I went back to being in that position. Plus, it's comfy so why not?

The door of Jace's room finally opened and Jace entered. He suddenly stopped in his tracks when he saw me. The banana on his hand that he was eating was inside his mouth but he didn't bite a piece off.

"Stop giving the banana a blow job," I told him to break the silence.

Okay, wow. Can you be anymore inappropriate, Summer?

"Do you spit or do you swallow?" I blurted out. Then my eyes widened in shock and I covered my mouth.

Oh my god.

Why?!

Then Jace spat the banana out and started guffawing.

Apparently, he spits.

Shut up, Summer!

Well, at least he's laughing at my jokes. He would never laugh at any of my jokes-no matter how funny they are-when he's angry with me so this is a good sign. He was totally telling the truth about being busy.

When Jace finally stopped laughing, he asked me, "What are you doing here, Summer?"

"Oh, you know..." I trailed giving him a shrug.

"What?"

"I just wanted to see you."

"You see me everyday," he countered, raising an eyebrow.

"Fine, fine," I surrendered. "I wanted to see if you were angry at me."

"Oh."

I frowned. "Oh?!" I exclaimed. "What did I do?"

"Nothing!"

"Spit it out!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

Jace sighed and ran his fingers through his brown hair. "I found out about Austin asking you out," he finally told me.

"So?" I asked. "What is it to you?"

"You also told him that we were just pretending to date," he told me with both of his eyebrows arched.

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

"I'm really, really sorry. I just felt guilty for turning him down," I explained, lowering my head.

"So...?"

"So I just blurted it out!"

"You could've just said that you have a boyfriend!"

"But you're not my boyfriend!" I argued back.

This was becoming pointless. Why are we even arguing about this stupid thing? Why is he even upset? I don't fucking understand.

"So?" he asked challengingly.

"What's it to you that he asked me out?" I asked angrily. "I'm not your fucking property."

"Well you are if you're my pretend girlfriend!"

I gritted my teeth. That's it. That was the last straw. I walked out of his room and slammed the door as loudly as I can. I knew his parents were home but I didn't care. Julie and Jill were used to Jace and me arguing. Not that we argued often. We've just had a few arguments here and there and it always ends up either one of us slamming the door and walking out of the house.

When I reached downstairs, Julie gave me a sympathetic smile and patted me on the back.

"I think you should just go home now, little dove," Julie told me softly.

"Yeah, I will," I nodded and headed towards the front door.

"I'm sure Jace will regret whatever he's said sooner or later and apologize," Julie told me as she walked me to the door.

I gave her a small smile. "I hope," I replied and bid her goodbye.

I walked to the convertible that was parked a few blocks away from the Evans' house and drove it home. While driving, my brain was plagued with thoughts about what happened with Jace.

Why was he so angry about Austin asking me out? It's not like Austin will ruin anything. I trust him and I know that he won't tell a single soul about Jace and I pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend. And I've also already apologized to Jace for telling Austin about it.

So why the heck was he so upset?