Mixtapes ♬

❷This Feeling

t h e y t e l l m e; t h i n k w i t h
m y h e a d n o t t h a t t h i n g
i n m y c h e s t

❂❂❂

After I finished admiring the piece of art named "Ty", I slowly swayed down the stairs. I felt like royalty the way the guests eyed me as I went.

"Good evening Mr and Mrs Beckett! Welcome to our loving house hold." I said trying to be polite as possible. The older couple looked at me quizzically. My gaze shifted to my dad who mouthed me the words 'Cut the Bullshit'.

'Well so much for trying to be poised and polite.'

I sighed and stuck out my hand to the woman in front of me.

"Excuse my weird behaviour. My name's Jace. Nice to meet you." All the adults chuckled lightly.

"Thank you for your lovely introduction but we've already met you!" Mrs. Beckett said, still slightly laughing. "We used to visit you and your family quite frequently when you were younger. I'm sure Ty remembers you, don't you Ty?" She quickly nudged the teenager in to make him look up from his phone.

"Hmm, sorry what?" He looked at his mother then at me. Unless my eyes were lying, he was also checking me out.

"You remember Jace don't you? Or you might remember her as Jaella?" Ty studied me carefully and at one point I swear I saw a flicker of nostalgia in his eyes but I must've been wrong because he simply shrugged replied with;

"Nope. Don't remember a thing." And looked back down at his phone. His parents gestured for my parents and I do come close so he could tell us something private.

"Sorry about Ty," Mr. Beckett peered over his shoulder at his teenage son. "he's not very keen on the idea of having to live in another family's house."

'The makes two of us.' I thought, but not daring to say out loud.

"It's alright, Kory." My dad said in a whisper tone while patting his old friend's weary back. "I'm sure he'll come around soon enough. Oh I also wanted to tell you we have a dog! Well it's actually Jace's dog. I apologize for not telling you until now, he completely slipped my mind."

"Oh it's no problem at all! We love animals!"

"Perfect! Butterball is currently outside in our backyard where he usually spends most of his day. He's too rowdy to be inside a lot."

Before anyone could say another word, my mom clapped her hands together in front of her face to gain the attention of everyone in the house.

"I think we should eat dinner now, we can get you guys settled in after. We don't want to have to serve cold food!" She exclaimed, bouncing a little with every word.

"Great idea, Yvonne! Just tell us where to go!" Kory- I mean Mr. Beckett replied with.

Our two families got comfortable in our spots and unfortunately I didn't have enough time to choose my spot so I got stuck in between Mrs. Beckett and the moody teenager himself; Ty. Kindly, my mom served everyone.

'Lamb chops. Classic.'

"So are you excited to be going into the tenth grade, Miss Jace?" The lady next to me asked.

"Actually I'm going into the eleventh. Didn't my parents tell you?" I questioned them taking a bite of my dinner.

"Oh my apologies and I don't think they have. I just assumed that you were going into tenth grade because your age." She smiled weakly probably from slight embarrassment.

"Oh no, it's alright! I've just always been one grade ahead of my age ever since I was little."

"Well now that means you'll be in the same grade as Ty! And with any luck, the same classes too!" She shook my shoulders a little bit in excitement.

"Yay." I said trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible. Not sure how, but they seemed to buy the act. The six of us ate in silence before Mr. Beckett spoke up.

"Hey Yvonne, Donovan, don't you have a son?"

"We do! Leo! He's at an end-of-summer sleepover with his buds tonight but he'll be back in an hour or so."

I furrowed my eyebrow,

"Correct me if I'm mistaken but haven't you met my little brother before? If I remember correctly, you said you've known me since I was young but why not Leo?" Mrs. Beckett looked at my mother and smiled lightly.

"Well, Jace, we haven't seen you since you were a wee-baby and your mother was pregnant with Leo."

I nodded quickly and went back to eating. Just before I bit into my lamb chop, I felt something rest on my knee. I peered down and saw a large hand on my kneecap. The followed the hand up its arm leading to Ty, who seemed unfazed by it and was just staring down at his food. A rush of nervousness electrified through my body and a familiar butterfly sensation fluttered in my stomach. This Feeling made me super anxious. Slowly, I tried to peel his hand off but it wouldn't budge, his grasp was far too firm. And so it sat there for the duration of our dinner.

After everyone had finished eating, the adults thought it would be oh-so-helpful if Ty and I washed the dishes while they lounged in the living room. Ty hadn't said a word to me all night and something told me that he was planning to stay like that unless I had said something first. The tension that was building up in our kitchen was go dense I felt like I could chop it with a knife. Faint chattering of our parents and dishes colliding were the only noises to be heard. Although my mind was still stuck on what happened at dinner. Unfortunately, curiosity got the best of me and I blurted out;

"What was that about?" I whipped my drying towel agains the marble counter.

"The hell are you talking about?" He murmured, refusing to look up from the dishes he was washing.

'Seriously, what's up with this kid and not wanted to look at people when he's talking to them? Rude.'

I glared up at him - he was much taller than me - with a disgusted expression.

"Dinner. Hand. Knee." I said.

"Oh that," Ty rolled his eyes. "just me fooling around. Why, did I make you nervous?"

"N-no." I stammered helplessly as he finally looked up at me with piercing brown eyes only a shade darker than my own. He came towards me and on instinct, I backed up onto the counter.

"Are you sure?" He asked in a whisper tone. "I know you've been thinking about me, Jace. I could tell from the minute I walked in here."

He was so close to me that I could feel his breath on my own lips. He smelt like cinnamon. Eventually our noses were touch and I closed my eyes to prepare for a kiss but nothing happened. He pulled back and went back to washing dishes, smirking evilly. I boiled with anger.

"You evil little-"

"JAELLA! YOU HAVE SOMEONE AT THE DOOR FOR YOU!" My mom cried, interrupting what wouldn't been a very harsh phrase. I waddled over to the door to see a familiar blonde teenager; my friend and ex-nemesis, Aurora Roberts.

"Ooh girl," She said, "I need your help."