Heartless

Monday was possibly the worst day of the week for teenagers. Being only 16, we were still in school, and it was Hell trying to wake up in the morning, get dressed, get a shower, eat breakfast, and make it onto the bus all before seven in the morning. How Jace managed to get onto the bus looking so awake was beyond me.

I sat in my usual seat (the very last one on the right; no one ever sat in front of or across from me, thank God) and was prepared to watch Jace sit with some girl, as usual, but to my surprise he kept walking until he was throwing my bag onto my lap and sitting down with a cup of coffee in hand.

“Morning,” he said cheerily, causing me to raise an eyebrow, “Coffee?”

I stared back before glancing to the cup, shaking my head. “Too early for coffee.” I mumbled. He snorted, shrugging and taking a drink of it. “Suit yourself.”

The rest of the ride was silent until a sophomore with bright orange hair sat across from us, eying Jace until he turned to her. “Morning Jace.” she smiled. I rolled my eyes and turned to the window as I noticed Jace smile back and mumble something like “Hey BB”.

They continued talking for a bit until the bus slowed down, pulling up to the school. Jace waited until 'BB' went out of her seat before smiling wider and following her, leaving me back in the seat, and being out of sight already when I managed to step off the bus. “Love you too Jace.” I sighed quietly to myself, walking to Homeroom.

Don't get me wrong, I love seeing Jace happy and pursuing people, it's just that, sometimes, I sort of wish that person was me. Not that it would ever happen, but... I can fantasize. Right?

That's I did in Art this morning while we were painting. I didn't even notice I had spaced out yet again until Jace had snorted, snatching my brush from me and glaring. I stared back in confusion, raising an eyebrow until he motioned to his arm, which had a long, dark blue streak going down it. I was silent for a moment, then started smiling and giggling. “Oh. Sorry.” I lied. He lost the glare, opting for a neutral expression while professionally dipping the brush into some red paint and grabbing my face to hold it still. I felt my eyes widen and tried to pry his hands off.

“Okay, Jace, sorry, really, I did- No! Bad Jace! Damn it!”

I felt him swipe the brush across the bridge of my nose and under both eyes as he squinted, concentrating before writing something on my left cheek. I glared at him when he finished, taking my brush back and sighing. “The difference being that I wasn't even paying attention you asshole.” I mumbled. He shrugged, smiling and looking at his 'work'. “I think it came out rather well, personally.”

I went to the bathroom at the end of second period to inspect my face with Jace, who was scrubbing his arm off. In big, bright red letters were the words 'JACE WAS HERE :D'

Part of me didn't want to wash it off. However, I wasn't sure Jace would appreciate it, so I set to taking some paper towels and scrubbing furiously, glaring at the mirror but more mad at myself than Jace. He took notice though, ducking his head. “Sorry Willow.” he mumbled. I looked over, snorting. “Yeah, sure you are.” I sighed. He smirked slightly, drying his arm off and taking the paper towel from me, holding my face again and gently wiping at it. “You're terrible at this.” he mumbled. I glared harder, crossing my arms. “Well sorry, I'm not used to being written on.” I replied as he took off my glasses, setting them on the counter of the sink and adding more soap before continuing. “True, but scrubbing like you're pissed off at the paint isn't really going to help. If anything it'll irritate your pale, delicate skin.” he said in a mocking tone, making me roll my eyes at him. “Don't worry, it's mostly off. Just this one spot next to your eye I can't get. Not noticeable though.” he said mostly to himself before throwing the towel away and handing my glasses to me, heading out of the bathroom and to second period. I stared into the mirror while putting my glasses back on, grabbing my bag and following Jace out into the hall.

The bus ride home was full of Jace talking, most of which I ignored until, suddenly, there was an “Oh, and you're coming to Dairy Queen with me to see BB.”

I snapped my head in his direction, raising an eyebrow. “Why?” I asked after a minute, making him smile. “Because I don't wanna go alone, that's why. Besides, I think you'd like her. She's pretty cool.” he said, smiling wider. I sighed, being used to meeting Jace's 'girlfriends' by now. The first time he had one, I had been a wreck for about a week until they broke up, and steadily I had been handling it better over the years. Now there was just a sharp sting upon hearing it, but I was fine as long as Jace changed the subject afterward.

I agreed though, both of us getting off at my house since he had about two drawers full of clothes there anyway. Mom was still at work, so I threw my bag onto my bed as Jace started pulling out cloths, throwing a bunch into a 'maybe' pile on the bed. “I say go with your black jeans. You look best in those.” I commented with a sigh, making him glance over at me before smirking. “So, checking out my ass are you?”

I glared back, leaning against the wall. “You wish.” I replied. He chuckled and grabbed the jeans though and a polo, going across the hall into the bathroom to change. After a minute I found it sort of odd, since he never has any problems changing in front of me.

“You're wearing the underwear again aren't you?” I asked while smirking. There was a moment of silence before a muffled “Shut up” came through the door, causing me to smile fully. There was one pair of boxers that whenever I saw, I would pick on Jace relentlessly for- his rainbow ones. He insisted that they were very comfortable with the exception of the color. When he came out of the bathroom, dressed once again, he raised both eyebrows in a questioning way. “Do I look alright?”

I looked him over for a minute, mentally hopping BB would notice flaws (Like his over-bitten fingernails, the scars on his arms-) before smiling slightly and nodding. “You look fine.”

He nodded back, looking me up and down for a minute before raising an eyebrow. “You didn't change.” he commented. I raised an eyebrow back. “Why should I? I'm not the one she's supposed to be seeing, am I?” I responded, making Jace shrug slightly. “Guess not. We have to be there in about half an hour, so we better get going.”

We took the bus to the nearest Dairy Queen (and I was still trying to figure out why they would pick Diary Queen) and when we got into the store, I realized why. BB was standing behind the counter, smiling when she noticed Jace and pointed to her watch. Jace leaned back toward me, mumbling, “She gets off in about five minutes.”

I sighed, glancing around and sitting in the nearby corner where I expected Jace to join me. Instead, he went to BB, saying something that made her smile and lightly slap his arm. I sighed again, more dejectedly this time as I put my elbow on the table, leaning my head into my hand. A few minutes later Jace walked over, holding BB's hand as they sat down. “Willow, this is BB.” he introduced. BB nodded, smiling to me. “Short for Bailey Barns.” she explained. I nodded, smiling slightly. “Nice to meet you.”

Jace and Bailey continued to talk for a while as I sat silently, looking out the window and occasionally checking my watch and sighing. Part of me just felt like going back home alone, but I didn't have the money, Jace did. Damn him.

After a while I felt a light poke on my shoulder, causing me to jump and eye Jace with one eyebrow raised. He gave an amused expression back before folding his arms on the table. “So? What do you think?” he asked quietly. I had just realized that Bailey was gone; probably in the bathroom or something.

I shrugged back. “I don't know. Does my opinion really matter?” I asked back. He thought for a second before shaking his head. “No, not really. I was just being polite.” he smirked, leaning back as Bailey came back from the bathroom. I leaned my head on my hand again until I felt a light shove, making me turn again.

“It was nice to meet you Willow.” Bailey smiled brightly. I sighed before putting on a fake smile that was as bright as I could make it. “It was nice to meet you too Bailey.” I mumbled. As she went back behind the corner of the counter, she smiled at Jace once more until he looked over at me. “Well, ready to go?” he asked curiously, still smiling brightly.

The bus ride home was silent, though Jace was still grinning even when we got to my house. “Hey is it cool if I stay here tonight?” he asked suddenly, making me cringe, but agree anyway for whatever reason.

Mom worked late that night, so when she came home around at around ten, she went right to bed, leaving me and Jace alone in my room. A while back Mom had gotten an extra bed for Jace to sleep in, since we were getting to tall to both fit in my old bed, which I refused to get rid of. Jace was sitting on his bed, yawning and scratching the back of his neck as I read my book I had been reading for the past month. Another plus about the extra bed was that Jace, sometime when we were thirteen, decided he preferred sleeping shirtless. And while he didn't really care about it, it made for some awkward mornings in my head and lower areas. It was just a damn good thing he slept so hard. (Crawling over him in the morning had become somewhat tedious.)

“Well, I'm gonna go to bed. Night Willow.” Jace mumbled, getting comfortable and leaving his lamp on. I decided to go to bed as well, turning my own lamp off so the room was dimly lit on Jace's side. I took my glasses off before remembering I hadn't brushed my teeth.... I'd do it tomorrow. There was some movement on Jace's bed before he settled down again and I closed my eyes, sighing and falling asleep.