6:31 a.m. [✔️]

2 - Jace - 6:31 a.m to 7:00 a.m

6:31 a.m - He sat there, looking down at the brunette that was about to claim her own life.

He didn't know her story but he knew that it was almost... like fate put them together.

"Are you hungry?" She asked him, her voice raspy from crying but just as low as a whisper.

Jace shrugged. "A little," he replied and the next thing he knew, she handed him a nacho lunchable. He chuckled at the small food item but took it anyway.

Rebecca cracked a smile and said "They are so delicious, I couldn't resist." They both laughed and then began to eat their food.

He hadn't laughed in the past seven hours.

Not after what he saw when he came home from graduation just two days before. Staying in a hotel and waiting for the day before their anniversary.

Having his girlfriend not being able to come to his graduation, he felt as if he needed to surprise her.

Not only by coming home sooner than she expected but also to propose.

Jace and Diana had been together for eight years, since they were 14 years old. The two were neighbors and the freshmen varsity soccer and football player thought he should snag the beautiful blonde before anyone else could.

The two began dating and the rest is history. When senior year came along, they decided to continue their relationship even though he was going to Notre Dame in Indiana and she was staying in California to go to UCLA.

Fast forward to nine thirty at night, he comes home bags in tow and sweaty palms with the black leather box in his back pocket.

Unlocking her apartment door, he walked to the living room to find it empty. Placing his bags on the floor, he went to the bedroom. When he opened the door, he had never been so angry and hurt.

Tangled in the sheets, were his girlfriend and best friend, Finn. The two stopped and looked at Jace with surprise, shock and guilt.

"J-," before Diana could say anything, he left. He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to believe that the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with was fucking his best friend, who also had a girlfriend that was pregnant.

Grabbing his bags, he got back in his car and just drove.

The constant buzzing of his cell phone began to bug him so in the middle of the highway, he threw the phone out the window. not caring anymore.

6:45 a.m - He didn't realize that he had spaced out and started shaking until Rebecca began shaking his shoulders, scared of what was going on.

"Hey, I don't know what happened to you or what you're thinking about but it's in the past. Remember what you said? Things are gonna change for both of us." The brunette said in a soft voice, looking deep into his eyes with softness and care.

He smiled a little and then looked at the sky.

The sky says so much by doing so little.

His mother said that right before she left him and his two brothers ten years ago.

"My mom left when I was fourteen." he said out loud, wanting the stranger to know just a little something about himself.

Rebecca looked at the brown haired guy with the green grey eyes, nodding for him to continue.

"She and my dad were together for twenty years when she just started having an affair with one of her co-workers."

"What about your dad?"

He smiled widely. "He didn't change. He cared about me and my brothers. He didn't stop loving us. I haven't talk to him in about four years because of college but I was supposed to see him today."

Jace trailed off, not wanting to think about his ex girlfriend and ex best friend.

"My parents and younger sister died a year ago in a car accident that I survived," she whispered.

    His heart broke.

"My uncle, my dad's brother, took me in and at first, I thought everything was going to be OK, but turned out that he wanted me to suffer for taking his brother away. He told me that he was going to make me wish I had died that day,"

Jace gasped and before he knew what he was doing, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly as he saw her lip begin to quiver.

What man beats his niece?

What man rapes his niece?

He knew when she said he wanted her to suffer that that's what she meant.

6:50 a.m - The sun was slowly making its way into the sky, warming up the slightly chilled bodies of the two young adults.

"Where are you staying?" he asked her, hoping that the brunette at least had a fall back plan.

"Nowhere for now," she replied. As she thought about how she was going to find a job and where she was going to live.

"You could stay with me.... I'm going to stay with my dad for a while until I can find a place to live on my own," he suggested, hoping that she would say yes because he would be worried if he left her alone.

"Uh, I don't know." Her voice uncertain.

"We have a guest bedroom, food, internet and a whole bunch of other cool shit. Please Rebecca? I wanna make sure you're OK."

The hazel eyes of the beautiful but broken girl were filled with hope and security as she thought about staying with someone, who she didn't know yet felt comfortable around.

She nodded, slightly unsure but confident that he wasn't going to be like her uncle or any other guy that had been in her life.

Smiling, Jace got up and stretching his body after sitting for so long.

"Let's go Becks! I'm hungry and I think I saw diner or something about twenty minutes back," he said, giving her a new nickname, Rebecca seeming to like it.

She nodded and got up. Jace smiled a little as he saw that she was dressed in sweats and a hoodie, comfortable clothes not clothes that she would wear as if she were going to a club.

Grabbing her bags, they walked to his 1967 Chevy Impala that was given to him by his grandfather when he was sixteen.

7:00 a.m - As they drove back towards Santa Barbara, Rebecca flipped through the radio stations, when finally, she stopped on Jace's favorite song.

All I am, is a man.

I want the world in my hands.

I hate the beach, but I stand,

In California with my toes in the sand.

Use the sleeves of my sweater,

Let's have an adventure,

Head in the clouds but my gravity's centered

Touch my neck and I'll touch yours

You in those little high waisted shorts.

The two sang along to the song, the windows down and their temporaily forgotten.

"This is beginning of a new friendship Becks." he said to her as they got into town.

author's note:

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chapter 3 in a few days, hopefully. x

douglas booth as jace on side