Our Secret [Completed]

Chapter 13

The calls and texts are few and far apart now and I finally feel like I am starting to move on with my life. I have a tester date today with Jace, the guy I met at the furniture store. It didn't take him long to find my number in his phone contacts as he called me while I was driving home. The brief conversation consisted of him telling me a time and place to meet on Friday night.

The thrill of a first date is something I didn't experience with Noah but I still fell in love with him. The excitement is definitely present but in the pit of my stomach, the feelings for Noah are like a fiery rage. I don't think I will ever not love him.

But that's why I agreed to go on this date with Jace. He's definitely a nice guy and I need to feel something other than loss. I need to suppress these feelings I have towards Noah- I know they will never fade but if I can get through at least one evening without mourning the loss of a relationship that barely even began, I'm sure I'll be able to get through anything.

I'm meeting Jace at a place called Glow not too far from Millie and Archie's apartment. The walk there was only a couple of blocks but it was enough time to overthink the date. Deep down I know I'm not ready to date again. It's been seven months and he's persistent as ever trying to get in contact with me even though I keep avoiding his calls.

As I walked along the sidewalk I spot Jace leaning against the wall outside Glow. His attention was focused on his phone so as I approached him I am able to take in his appearance. There's no denying that he's handsome but there's a lack of physical attraction present.

"Hey," I said as I came to stand in front of him.

He looks up slightly startled. We exchanged greetings and the usual how are yous which was extremely awkward. The playfulness of our interaction at the furniture store last week is non-existent. I should have just listened to my guy and stayed at home searching the internet for an apartment.

Jace slipped his hand into mine as we entered the building. It felt a little odd but I'm glad he did because he then explained. "Once we go through this door it'll be quite dark. I don't want to lose you."

We walked in and I nodded but remembered he wouldn't be able to see that so I instead said okay. "What is this place?"

"You'll see," he said and pushed open the door. He walked in a little ahead of me and I watched as he spun around on his heel and threw open his arms. "Neon golf!" He shouted and I gasped as he nearly smacked a man on the head. He quickly apologised and walked back over to me.

"Have you ever been here before?" He asked as he paid for both of our entries.

"I've walked past this place so many times but I've never been in here. I assumed it was a club or something," I said. The woman working the cash register gave Jace his change and handed us a putter each and two neon golf balls. The entire room was pitch black apart from the markers of the different holes. The room was filled with neon lights and objects separating the holes. The fact that I could now see Jace clearly but he hadn't let go of my hand indicated that he was feeling a way about our date that I most certainly wasn't.

We started at the first hole which we both got in three. I started to keep score on a small pink card but once we reached the 10th hole the card was slipped into my back pocket and forgot about. Jace and I started to putt at the same time which added to the competitiveness of our game as we played the first one to get it in the hole wins which meant that there was a lot of playful shoving and not so accidental cheating.

By the last hole I had officially had enough of mini golf for a good while and we decided to get some food. "Where do you wanna eat?" Jace asked me as we handed over our putters.