The party was in full swing, which basically meant that everyone was drunk, having s*x or on some kind of chemically induced high.
As much as he hated going to these things and pretending to relate to these people who just had no f*****g clue that there was a depth and darkness in him no one could touch, he couldn’t deny that there were some perks to being dragged along.
Jace smiled lazily as he handed the joint back and let his head fall back on the couch.
Numb. Was there any better feeling in the world? A reprieve from guilt, shame, anger, anxiety and self loathing.
His smiled broadened, this was his favourite part of being dragged to parties. The carefree buzz that filled his head every time he took a drag, the feeling of being freed as all his worries drifted away in a puff of smoke
“Hey baby,” a seductive voice murmured.
A weight pressed on his knees and he looked down to find his ex, Kimberley smiling at him.
He fought against every urge to roll his eyes. “Not now, I’m buzzing.”
“I can make you feel even better,” she whispered into his ear as her hand trailed across his pant line.
“No,” he told her in a sigh.
Her eyes blazed. “Are you kidding me?”
He sat up and just looked at her. Her red hair was a tangled mess as it stuck to her chest and face, her brown eyes were blood shot and lazy. Her thin frame was looking emaciated with only a few scraps of clothing covering her and she was giving off intense waves of ‘f**k you’.
He couldn’t believe he ever thought she was beautiful. He tried to blink away the haze and focus on her features. He supposed he could still see how she could be classified as pretty but honestly the way her mascara was caked on thick and foundation wearing on her skin, her lips blood red and cheeks smeared with a truck full of bronzer she was doing everything she could to ruin it.
He finally pointed to a group of guys in the corner. “Try there, they’ve been eyeing you all night.”
She dug her nails into his hip and he could feel the clouds dispersing and the blinding reality crashing through his high.
“I’m not leaving until I get what I want,” she hissed.
Rage. Blinding rage penetrated his mellow defence and he pushed her off him roughly.
“Then I’ll leave, you’ve killed my buzz any way.”
“Don’t walk away from me, I’m not done yet!” she screamed.
He half turned and shrugged at her. “But we are, remember? Didn’t you say I wasn’t worth your time? That you needed to find someone better suited to your lifestyle?”
Her anger faded and she softened. “Jace, I was wrong… I was…”
“You were right,” he said bluntly. “Tell Matt I bailed.”
Without waiting for a response he breezed out of the door into the crisp air and stumbled his way down the street.
It was eerie how quiet it was around him. There were no animals making any noise, no television sets playing or people even up and socialising. It was like walking through a dead, empty town which was pretty fitting seeing as that was how he felt most of the time.
Screw Kimberley. With every step he took he became more and more aware of the feelings he had been pushing deep down. He was starting to feel the slap of reality beating at him and the spectrum of emotions he had done all he could to shelve rearing their ugly head.
It was too hard. Making his mum proud, picking up the pieces his dad left, keeping a social life, being a good student. It was all too much and he was breaking under all of the pressure. He was failing everything and he just couldn’t seem to make it right no matter how hard he tried.
He was even awful at not caring about anything.
He stared up at the sky, noticing how bright the stars were. He was envious, he would give anything to be up there in the sky. Never alone, always surrounded by light and knowing you always had a place.
He sighed deeply as he jogged down his street. He was living in a dream world, one he couldn’t seem to wake up from.
He got to his front door and sniffed his jacket.
There was no way his mum was going to buy that he walked passed a smoker this time, and he was sure his breath wasn’t minty fresh either.
He checked his watch. Two a.m. There was a pretty good chance she hadn’t bothered to wait up, but he wasn’t sure if he could risk it. He knew she wouldn’t punish him and that was the problem, he was too much of a coward to face her sad, disappointed eyes and the silence that would follow.
With a deep breath he headed around the side and began to climb the drain pipe up to his balcony that lead from his room. With his buzz gone he only slipped once and made it up with minimal noise.
If he was lucky his mum wouldn’t even stir and he could try and clean himself up before crashing.
He was just about to open the doors and head inside when he felt it; the feeling of being watched.
He spun around suddenly and found a shadow watching him from the balcony next door.
He jumped in surprise, rattling his door slightly in the process.
“s**t!” he swore, knowing his mum would definitely have heard that.
The shadow person said nothing, just remained sitting in the dark and watching.
“Um…hello?” he called, praying he wasn’t actually starting to lose his mind.
“Sneaking out?” a pretty voice asked.
He moved toward the voice. “Technically I’m sneaking in, what are you doing up at this time?”
A small hand gestured to the clear sky. “I like to watch the stars when I can’t sleep, it’s a comfort that they never change.”
He just stared, convinced he was making this up in his head, he was obviously not as sober as he thought.
“Are you ok? You look weird.”
She moved forward so the moonlight illuminated her face and he gasped. Holy s**t.
She was small like a fairy with long blonde hair and creamy white skin, he couldn’t see what colour her eyes were in the dark but they had a bright intelligence in them.
“Are you real?” he whispered.
She raised an eyebrow. “How drunk are you?”
He shook his head to try and clear it. There was a hot as f**k girl right in front of him and he was making an i***t of himself.
“Not very. So, any reason you can’t sleep or were you instinctually waiting for me to arrive?”
He moved forward so he was at the edge of his balcony, his body yearning to get as close to her as he could.
She shuffled back a bit and turned her face so a curtain of hair shielded her from his view.
“You’re pretty cocky for this time in the morning.”
He held his hand up. “Self aware, not cocky.”
She turned enough so he could see her roll her eyes.
“Ok, that was lame, I’m sorry,” he said ruefully.
She moved slightly forward and gestured to his jumper. “You’re going to need to burn that, I can smell you from here and there’s a rip at the back.”
Jace grinned. “You were watching me.”
“I was waiting to see if I needed to call the police or not. Seeing someone jimmy up a drain pipe at two in the morning isn’t exactly normal behaviour.”
Jace smiled and leaned as far as he could on the rail. “So, what’s your decision?”
A tiny smile played on her full lips. “I guess you’ll find out. If you hear the sirens getting close, I suggest you run.”
“You’re not going to turn me in,” he said confidently.
“Oh really? And why is that?”
He grinned. “Because then you won’t get to have these delightful late night talks with your new friend.”
“Friend?” she asked sourly. “I barely know you, I’m still not convinced you’re not a criminal.”
The smile on her face faltered as her words sunk in and she shifted backwards.
“I’m not meant to speak to strangers,” she told him as she turned to head back inside her room.
“But I’m not a stranger. I’m your friendly neighbour Jace Scown.”
He watched as she froze and wondered if he’d said something wrong.
She half turned. “As in Jason?”
Instantly he knew by the way she choked out the word that she’d been hurt by this guy and not just in a small way. A simple break up wouldn’t cause the kind of horror that darkened all her features.
“Nope, just Jace but if you think another name is better suited I’m up for suggestions.”
She half smiled. “I’ll think on it.”
He turned his back to her and took a slow step away.
“Wait! Where are you going?” she called.
He turned with a wicked grin. “Oh you see my mum told me I should never speak to strangers.”
Her hands crossed her chest and she glared at him. “Is that so?”
“It is, however if you were to tell me your name that would fix this problem right up.”
“Is that what you think?”
“Yes indeed,” he replied, really enjoying himself for the first time all night.
She turned back to her room. “Good night Jace.”
“That’s it?” he called. “You’re really not going to tell me your name?”
“Nope,” she called back as she shut her doors.
“Well, then I’ll just have to call you beautiful until you tell me.”
“You’ll be waiting awhile,” she called through her doors.
“Beautiful, I got nothing but time.”
He heard a faint giggle that made his heart pound faster.
Maybe the holidays weren’t going to be so bad after all. In fact, he just figured out how he could keep himself busy.
Time to help the neighbours move in.