Jace.
August 2.
It is 1 am and my entire body aches.
I walk in my apartment to find my roommate, Ethan, on the couch with his phone in one hand and a blunt in the other. "What's up man? How was work?"
"It was shit," I scoff while reaching for the blunt in his hand and taking a hit before handing it back to him, "my manager has me working stock for all the CDs and it sucks ass man. My back hurts like hell". Most of the time I really love my job, but the late hours have really been kicking my ass recently.
"I'm sorry bro, but I have some exciting news," he had a stupid grin on his face. Uh oh. I gave him a look as if to say, 'what is it?'. He continued, "a hot girl moved in right across the hall."
I should've known it was something like this. Ethan sure did love the ladies; even if he had a sort of girlfriend. "You hit on her already?" I smirked, knowing he would get pissed.
"Nah, you know I'm trying to work things out with Sophia. I thought I told you that?" he didn't realize I was messing with him. He was a dumbass sometimes. "Anyways yeah I met her. Helped her move some stuff in and everything. She didn't talk much but she was hot I'm tellin' you man".
I make my way to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and some Ibuprofen, "Cool man. I'll probably see her around, right?" I walk back towards him to take another hit of the blunt before going to sleep, "Alright man, I'm gonna head to bed now."
My life is in a vicious cycle at the moment. I wake up, hang with Ethan before he goes to work, try to work on some music and fail miserably, go to work, come home at the same shitty late hour, and then go right to sleep. There's an ache in my body and a pain in my head that doesn't seem to go away. I try to sleep it off as I dread another boring day tomorrow.
....
I didn't know it when I first woke up, but today was the day where my cycle was going to break.
Ethan and I were running low on, well, just about everything, so I agreed to head to the grocery store before going to work. Sure as hell glad I decided to leave the house because when I got back is when I saw her, the girl Ethan was telling me about, and he wasn't wrong about her looks. As soon as the elevator doors open, I see her in front of her door, struggling to get her key out of the lock.
Should I help her? This is weird, I feel awkward if I do, but I feel like an asshole if I don't. I have a few seconds before I get from the elevator to my door, if she doesn't have it out by then then I will help her.
She doesn't have it by then, and she glances at me as I get closer to her. Well now I have to help her. I set the groceries down in front of my door and walk towards her, "Here, let me get that for you," my hand brushes against hers as I reach for the key. I give it good jiggle and it easily comes out, "happens to my lock too. It's an old building," I reassure her.
She looks up at me, her cheeks flushed, "thanks, you live in the bro pad?"
"What?" I'm confused until she nods towards the sign on our door, "oh, that's embarrassing. Yeah, I live there. My idiot roommate put that sign up when we first moved in, and I try to forget about it". How is Ethan embarrassing me while he's not even here?
"I met him yesterday," she gave me a half smile and held her hand towards me, "I'm Sage".
Not really used to this formal way of greeting, I take her hand in mine and shake awkwardly., "Jace, the cooler resident of the bro pad." She has soft hands with warm tan skin and the most perfect hair I've ever seen. Long and dark like a waterfall across her shoulders and back.
She laughs. I made her laugh and it is a beautiful sound, oh God. "I don't know," she says, "he was pretty cool".
"Trust me I am way way cooler than Ethan," I flash her a smile. I probably look and sound dumb right now.
"Well," she says while opening her door, "I'll have to see about that, Goodbye Jace. It was very nice meeting you."
"You too Sage. I'll see you around, okay?". I wave and then she's gone. Silently praying that I have a chance to talk to her again and that she'll want to talk to me too. I tell myself that she's just a girl and I can't let myself get attached to a girl I literally just met, but I don't have a great history of not getting too attached.
