Different

13.

My heart picks up its pace, as I break eye contact with Jace right away. This is really happening, he is coming straight in our direction. I stop dancing right away and contemplate on leaving the room immediately. What did I do? 

"We're talking. Now!" Jace breathes into my ear angrily,  yanking on my hand like I'm a little child.

"Hey!" the blonde guy that was dancing with me says.

Jace gives him a light but rough shove on the shoulder. "Fuck off!" he says, with a look that could kill.

The guy stares at me weirdly, but I avoid his eyes out of discomfort. Nevertheless, he obeys and leaves us alone, and I'm thankful that he decides not to cause a scene. That gives Jace the chance to continue pulling on my hand, and I notice that he is leading us upstairs, to the same room we were in last week. I can feel the stares of people on me as we walk past them. I can imagine what they're thinking about us, but I push the thought to the back of my head. Before we enter the room, I finally get my courage back. 

"What do you think you're doing?" I ask him angrily, releasing my hand out of his grip.

Jace opens the door, pulls us inside and locks it behind us. Up here the music is so quiet that I start to notice how drunk I really am. It always dawns on you when you're in a quiet place. I hear Jace taking a deep breath. Here it goes.

"How much have you had to drink?" he asks calmly, trying to pull himself together and crossing his arms over his chest before me.

His t-shirt rolls up a little, revealing more of his tattoos and I have to pull myself together to stare at him for too long.

"None of your business. You're treating me like a child and I don't like it" I say mimicking him, crossing my arms just like him.

"Then don't act like one" he takes one step forward, so that he's right in front of me. 

I feel intimidated, his heavy breaths are hitting my skin.

"What did I do? I'm just trying to have a good time."

"Yeah, I saw you having a good time with that guy down there. And don't think I didn't see you getting cozy with that guy in the kitchen" he says, getting angry again.  

That means he's also getting louder. I can almost see a vein popping out on his forehead. If I wouldn't know his sweet, gentle side, then I would probably be  a little scared of him right now.

"You don't own me, I'm free to do whatever I want" I tell him, trying to stay calm myself. I'm failing. "And if you're so busy watching me, then take a closer look. I didn't want that guy in the kitchen anywhere near me" I say, getting all worked up again.

We're quiet for a few seconds, before I  think of more things to say. 

"Don't you have better things to do anyway, like selling drugs maybe?" I say, calmer again, ready to talk to him about what I saw last week. It's probably now or never.

"Here we go. So you can talk all of a sudden?" he says, scoffing.

"I had to process, Jace" I say honestly, crossing my arms over my body, to give me a little comfort.

"Process? You mean judge."

He is still avoiding the topic instead of just talking about it after I jut offered. He's just blaming me for something I didn't even do, and it pisses me off.

"Who said I'm judging you? It's just kind of a big deal to discover something like this about a person you..." I almost shout back at him, not able to finish the sentence. 

"You what?" he answers, trying to get the words out of me. 

The room starts spinning even more, and I start to feel sick to my stomach. The arguing doesn't make it better.