Roommates & Soulmates

Ch143: Jace's Fall

His little golden car swerved, barely avoiding falling to its doom. Jace punched the air, relieved he wouldn't have to see the words 'game over' across his screen one more time. There was no time for relief, however; he had a race to win. Jace tried to focus as the little car threatened to swerve off course again.

"You are gonna lose my friend," Jon stated. Jace didn't turn to see his face, but still the grin was evident in his voice.

"Not if you lose first!" Jace exclaimed right before driving his car into a ditch.

"You were saying," Jon replied coolly. Jace turned to glare at his opponent.

"Best out of ten?" he asked.

"Nah," Jon smirked. "I think it has properly been established that you suck at Mario Kart."

"It's these stupid controllers!" Jace whined. "I hit the A button, and nothing happens!"

"Don't blame the equipment for your failure," Jon replied. "It's tacky."

Thankfully, Jace was saved from more taunting from his friend by his mother calling them down for dinner. Christmas had come and gone, and Jace was starting to dread going back to school; not because of school, but because he would miss hanging out with Jon.

"Coming," Jace called back down the stairs.

"Hey Jace," Jon said, suddenly serious as they stood up.

"Yeah?" Jace replied, concerned by his friend's tone.

"Is your mom okay?"

"Why wouldn't she be?" Jace shrugged.

"Well she seems anxious, or at least jumping like she's expecting something to happen that isn't," Jon explained.

"I noticed that before," Jace observed. "I thought it was your visit that she was waiting for."

"Well, I'm here," Jon reminded him. "And I've been here since before Christmas. Tomorrow is New Years. It's not me."

"I must admit you have a point there," Jace replied. They were interrupted then by both their stomachs growling, and mutually decided without words that it would wait till after dinner. They headed down the stairs together, eager to eat, but even so, Jace's mind remained occupied. If Jon was noticing it too, then it wasn't all in his head, and he needed to find out what was making his mother so jumpy. It had concerned him a little before, but now with Jon's added observations he was really worried.

They all sat down to eat, and were talking about this and that; his mother in particular wanted to tell them about what she was serving. Jace usually loved to listen when food was involved, but at the moment he was otherwise occupied, analyzing his mother's body language.

"And there's an apple fritter for dessert," Celine was saying when Jace tuned in. "I even bought ice cream." She smiled, and for a moment it felt to Jace like nothing was wrong, but then he saw her hands shaking.

"What's going on?" Jace asked firmly. "What's wrong?"

"Noth-" Celline began, but Jace cut her off.

"And don't say nothing's wrong because I know better," Jace snapped. "I may not be the most observant guy in the universe, but I know somethings wrong. Tell me, now." He tried to say it as firmly as he could so she'd actually answer. With her avoiding questions all holiday he wasn't sure what else to do.

"There's no problem, if that's what you are worried about," Celine replied softly.

"I'm worried about you," Jace told her.

"No need," she smiled.

"Stop it!" Jace snapped.

"Maybe we should all just sit and eat," Jon suggested, clearly uncomfortable with being in the middle of a family argument. "I mean dessert is the best part of dinner, isn't it?"