Love Is Blind

When we got back to the house, I wasn’t ready for Jace to go. I knew he couldn’t stay forever, that he had to go home eventually. I hoped tonight wouldn’t be that night.

Stepping out of the car, I looked over at Jace, “Stay over, please?”

“I doubt our parents will let me stay over. We just met.”

“You obviously don’t know our parents very well. My mom built a room for Alex, why wouldn’t she let you stay over? I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Jace walked over to me and pulled me into him, “Of course I want to stay over. I’ll go get my stuff.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you inside then.”

Jace kissed my cheek and then started walking across the lawn to his house. I stood outside watching him until he disappeared through the door.

Walking through my front door, I looked at my mother, “Jace is staying over.”

“Okay, Abbie. You two have a good night.”

“You too, Mother. Sleep well.”

I went upstairs to my room. Digging through my dresser drawers, I found my cute pajamas. I hoped to shower before Jace arrived at my house.

I was just stepping out of the shower when I heard a knock on the door.

“Abbie?”

“I’m in the bathroom.”

Jace probably just thought I was fixing my hair because he walked in.

Looking at Jace standing there staring at my half naked body reminded me of a time not so long ago; a time when Alex stood in the exact spot where his twin, Jace, now stood.

“Is there something on my face?” I was almost unnerved by how Jace was looking at me. It was the exact same look Alex gave me whenever he said he loved me or when he thought I wasn’t paying attention to him.

“Abbie…” Jace started to say as he stepped over to me. Brushing my hair out of my face, he continued, “You’re beautiful.”

“Stop it, Jace. I am not,” I caught myself from calling him Alex just in time. I didn’t want Jace to think I was keeping him around as a replacement for Alex, even though I really was. I hadn’t gotten to know Jace well enough to like him for only him and not the fact that he and Alex are like one entity.

“No, Abbie. You stop. Have you even looked in the mirror lately?” he didn’t wait for my answer before he continued, “You are the most gorgeous person I’ve ever seen. No, wait, gorgeous isn’t a good enough word. Abbie, words can’t even describe how beautiful you are to me. And I know you probably aren’t keeping me around for me. And honestly, I’m okay with that. I just want to be near you.” He sighed and after a brief pause, “Come here.”

Tears were forming in my eyes as I listened to Jace. Not because he called me gorgeous, but because he knew I was using him as an excuse to not think of Alex as dead and he didn’t care. He didn’t care that I might not ever see him as his own person. I walked over to him and practically fell into his arms. As soon as I felt his arms around me, the tears started falling. “I-I’m sorry,” I stuttered out.

“Shhh. You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Abbie. Absolutely nothing,” he whispered into my ear as he held me close.

Jace led me out of the bathroom and I had calmed down just enough for him to let go of me to pull back the covers on my bed.

“Don’t leave me.”

“I wasn’t going to Abbie. But unlike someone, I’m not wearing something I can sleep in. I have to change.”

I nodded, “Hurry, please?”

He kissed my forehead before disappearing into the bathroom. He came back out a short while later wearing just his boxers.

“I figured if you’re only wearing underwear, I would be, too.”

This made me smile. Or maybe, it was how yummy Jace’s abs looked without a shirt covering them.

“Well, I’m happy you’ve cheered up enough to smile at my ugliness.”

I slapped him, “Never say that again. You are far from ugly.”

“Now you know how I feel.”

“Will you stop standing there smirking at me and come here?”

Jace crawled over me to lie next to me in bed. He started to turn away from me before I stopped him, “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m going to sleep. We have school in the morning.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

Jace just laughed at me, “I know. Come here.”

I cuddled up next to him and clapped my hands to turn off the lights.

“Goodnight, Jace,” I whispered into his chest.

“Goodnight, Abbie.”

I was soon asleep. For the first night since the crash, I didn’t wake up screaming.

Jace heard the alarm before I did and got up to shut it off. He tried waking me up, but I was just in too deep of a sleep to respond to anything he was trying. Finally, he just jumped on top of me.

“Ahh!” I screamed. “Jace, did you really have to do that?”

“Well, actually, yes. You weren’t waking up to anything else and I didn’t want to dump water on you.”

“You’d be dead if you dumped water on me. Now, get off.”

“What if I don’t?”

“I’ll throw you onto the floor.”

“Not good enough.”

“What? Not good enough?” I asked, slightly confused.

“Your threat. It’s not good enough.”

“Fine. If you don’t get off right now, this will be the last time you come over to my house. Ever.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“How do you know I don’t mean it?”

Jace knew there was the possibility of what I’d said being true, so he climbed off me.

“Thank you, I win.”

“I wasn’t aware we were playing a game. What exactly do you win?”

“A kiss.”

Jace smiled, “I can do that.”

We finished getting ready for school rather quickly and arrived with enough time to show Jace where all of his classes would be.

As soon as we walked through the double doors, heads turned to stare at us.

“Alex?” a younger student asked hesitantly.

“No. I’m Jace, Alex’s twin. I moved up here the day before he died.”

The younger student was no longer looking at Jace, he was looking at me and the annoyed expression on my face made him scurry off.

“Do you always scare the younger kids away?”

“Not always, just when they are being bothersome.”

“He wasn’t bothering me, though.”

“Wait until you get to know him. You’ll be grateful for me scaring him away. He used to follow Alex around like a puppy. Come on,” I said, pulling on Jace’s arm, “let’s go find out what classes you have.”

Considering the fact Jace had to take aptitude tests for placement before he could begin classes, the administrators learned that Jace and Alex were on the same academic level. Jace was then placed in the classes Alex had signed up for the previous spring. Thankfully, they had the same interests for the electives.

I walked Jace to where each of his classes would meet. When we got back to the quad, we sat down at my usual table, “Guys, this is Jace, Alex’s twin.”

My friends who hadn’t been previously introduced to Jace seemed fairly shocked by his presence, but they recovered quickly.

Other than being stared at by even more people than usual, the rest of the day was the same as every other day.