Mismatched

Chapter 9

"Hey, I'm here," I suddenly heard and looked up.

"Hi, Jace," I replied with a smile. "You came here faster than I expected."

"I came here as fast as I could," he said. "I ran to my car as soon as you said yes. A quick search gave me the way here. Anyway, where are we going to go for lunch? Sorry, I didn't plan this. I planned for Times Square."

I chuckled, "It's fine. We can go to French Louie. I go there every time I come here to visit my mother. They serve good food. I'm not sure if it's open, though. It's like only nine now." I searched up the opening hours and sighed, "Well, it opens at ten."

I don't usually come and visit my mother this early so the restaurant is always open when I'm there. I don't know what came over me that made me decide to wake up this early to clean my house and visit her. If only I had woken up an hour later...

He nodded in acknowledgement. "Cool, let's go there. It's good to try new food. Anyway, we have one whole hour. We can visit our dead ancestors in the meantime."

"Are you serious?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," he replied, grinning sheepishly. "Besides, I don't think a cemetery is a good place to hang out. Let's drive to somewhere near the restaurant and walk around. We can go to eat when the restaurant opens at ten. How does that sound?"

I nodded slowly. "It's not like we have any other choice anyway," I replied. "But I drove here so we both have to drive there. I would've taken the subway had I known you will be giving me a free ride home," I sighed.

He shrugged. "Let's drive there, then. Wait, which part of Brooklyn is that?"

"Uh, Boerum Hill," I replied.

The look on his face changed at that instant. "Ah, crap. Of all places, why does it have to be there? Is there any other place you dine at when you come and visit your mother? Cobble Hill? Downtown Brooklyn? Somewhere that isn't Boerum Hill?"

I shook my head and replied, "No. What's wrong?"

"Mark lives at Boerum Hill," he groaned. "Oh, the most arrogant person in the world has to live there of all places! That asshole. He thinks he's on top of the world. It's not like his family business is one of the top ten most whatever companies in the world!"

"Neither is yours," I pointed out.

"Do I look like I flaunt my riches?" he asked. "I don't. But he does! Oh, he flaunts his wealth so much that it's so sickening. He's always showing off his new watch or new shoes and he thinks I'm ashamed of my wealth because I don't do the same! So annoying!"

I rolled my eyes. "I know, Jace. You told me about him before. The exact same thing. Who knows? He might be a better person now. Aren't you a better person than you were before? Don't judge someone based on who he was before."

He nodded in agreement. "Okay but I still hope we won't bump into him. The last time we did that didn't go very well. You remember, right?"

"Yeah," I muttered. "Now that I think of it, I hope we don't bump into him either. Anyway, French Louie isn't an exquisite restaurant. What are the chances of us seeing him there? He's probably having brunch at some high-class café at the moment."

"You're right. What are the chances?" he muttered.

With that, we made our way up to Boerum Hill. We parked along the streets near the restaurant and walked along the pavement. We've never been here together before. We met Mark in Manhattan once and that was it for us. We never wanted to bump into him again.

He's the worst. Of course, he may be better now but I wouldn't count on it. After all, I believe that a leopard never changes its spots. Jace is... an exception. I still don't fully trust that he has changed but I can see that he is better now.