I laid there with my mouth open in shock while she just stared at me with big wide eyes, looking like she wasn’t sure what to say or how to respond. I gulped. What the hell was that? Did I really just say those words? Why the hell did I say that? Why, Jace, Why? I’d just said the three words that I had never said to a girl in my life. I’d just told her that I loved her. What. The. Fuck? Seriously, how do I make this right? Quickly, Jace, think of something. Take it back. Rewind. Rewind! Shit! “I… I… sorry… I…” Fuck me, stuttering is NOT helping! She pulled back slightly and sat next to me on the bed, clutching the sheet and pulling it to cover her chest. She looked like she was terrified, like she was literally scared motionless. Oh God, help me! “Ashley, I-I haven’t been with a girl for a long time and that was just… I was… er…” Where the hell was I going with all this stuttering? I groaned and closed my eyes, wishing that a big bolt of lightni
We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the beach with my sisters, and, of course, Robert, who seemed to have somehow wangled an invite, yet again. “You think we should head home, Stripes?” I offered, looking at my watch, it was already almost four in the afternoon, DJ would be back for half past seven and we had to get back first. She pouted a little but nodded at the same time. “Okay yeah. I had a really great time here with your family. They’re all really nice. Thanks for bringing me,” she agreed, smiling happily. I grinned and stood up off our lounger we were laying on, and pulled her up too. “Thanks for coming. Maybe we could bring DJ next time; I bet he’d love swimming in the sea,” I suggested. She frowned. “We can definitely bring him, but he doesn’t swim too good.” Slipping my arm around her shoulders, I led her back to the house, wishing we could stay here forever. “DJ doesn’t swim too good?” She shook her head. “Nope. I can’t swim, so I neve
The following two weeks passed quickly. I was hanging around Ashley and DJ like a bad smell; I literally couldn’t get enough of their time. The kid seemed to like me more and more each day. We hung out, laughed, played and joked around, it was fun. Even though it wasn’t his turn to have him, Josh had kept true to his word and had picked DJ up for a few hours, taking him to the park to play ball the following weekend after I’d given him the money. Although it was nice to get some alone time with Ashley, deep down I didn’t like the fact that Josh was making an effort. I knew that I should like the fact that he was trying to turn over a new leaf, but part of me wondered how long it would last for, and if he would hurt them both again in the long run. DJ especially would be hurt if he suddenly changed and stopped calling him every other night and turning up when he was supposed to. Ashley had obviously hardened herself to it because they’d been apart so long, but the kid would be
Oh fuck. Nice one, Kid! I winced and looked at Ashley. She hadn’t liked it when I did that either – until I explained that it was empty and that the safety was on anyway. I’d even removed some of the inside parts so it couldn’t shoot; it was basically just a worthless piece of metal when DJ held it. George made a snorting sound in the back of his throat. “Very responsible.” Ashley stepped forward and slipped her arm around my waist. “Yeah, we all had a go. It was an old gun that was out of service, so it wouldn’t shoot or anything. I asked Jace to bring it around because we’d never seen a gun up-close before. Right, Jace?” she lied, smiling at me, telling me to play along. I nodded, wondering why she’d just said that. “I still don’t think that handling a real gun is something that you should be allowing,” George countered. Ashley shrugged. “Wasn’t your decision, Dad, it was mine. Jace said it was safe, so that’s good enough for me.” She held up the flowers to show
As I headed back to the group that I arrived with, I heard Ashley doing the introductions between our parents. I had no idea what George was going to think of my mother and all her craziness. I stepped to Ashley’s side just as they all finished shaking hands. Ashley turned to me and smiled. “You’re mean to him,” she whispered, slipping her arm around my waist, nodding at Seth. I laughed and shook my head. “No I’m not. He hit on your mom,” I replied. I looked back to my mom who was still crouched on the floor next to DJ, looking at him like he was the best thing since sliced bread. “Don’t scare him with your weirdness, Mom.” She beamed up at me happily. “I’m not scaring him, we’re doing stickers. Right, sweet pea?” She nudged DJ gently. He grinned and nodded, pulling out more of them. Bryson wandered back with Seth next to him. I stifled my laughter at Seth’s disgruntled face as he complained about the security. “What was that about?” I asked, nodding back to the do
Rick nodded and headed over. The girl he was talking to had walked off when he dropped his beer anyway. “Seriously, Seth, don’t you ever give up? You must have hit on every girl in the room under the age of thirty,” Ashley laughed, shaking her head. He smirked at her. “There’s one thing you should know about me,” he stated. Ashley grinned. “You’re a hugger?” she interjected before he could continue. I burst out laughing, knowing that was one of Lotso Hugging Bear’s lines from Toy Story 5. I’d seen that movie enough to know it word for word. He looked at her like she was crazy as she started laughing too. “I’m a what?” She shook her head quickly. “Nothing. Ignore me, I’ve had too many orange juices, I think I should move onto something stronger.” My gaze flitted to the table where DJ was sitting with my parents and Ashley’s. He was busy playing with one of the games that my mom had bought for him – they were all playing actually, even George. My mom was fus
I stood there with my mouth open in shock, staring at her because she’d just argued with her dad for me, she’d just told him that she was crazy about me and was fighting my corner. Part of me wanted to point at him and shout, ‘Ha! In your face, old man!’ The other part of me wanted to grab her and hold her so tightly that she wouldn’t be able to breathe. I loved those words coming out of her mouth, because I was totally crazy about her too. A smile pulled at the corners of George’s mouth as he shrugged. “Just checking.” “Just checking what?” she huffed. He laughed. “I was just checking if you were serious about him. It appears your mom was right.” What the hell? Was he testing her? Her mouth dropped open in shock. “You mean you were just trying to get to me say all that stuff about Jace, just to see if this was serious or not? Why didn’t you just ask me if it was serious, instead of making me blurt all of that out in front of him, probably making myself look li
“And you’re sure you can’t come with me somehow?” I checked for the hundredth time. “I’ll be there in spirit,” Ashley replied, shrugging sadly. I sighed dramatically. This was all Josh again. He had failed to pick up DJ this weekend, ruining our plans to go out with friends tonight. My sister, Paige, and her best friend Coraline were in LA for the weekend, so we were supposed to meet them out for a drink. But no, Josh had to go and cancel a couple of hours ago, saying he was ‘too sick with the flu’ to come and get his son. Too sick my ass, we both knew he was lying but no one said anything about it. The great dad routine had lasted a grand total of five weeks after I gave him the money for DJ’s ticket. Exactly three weeks after Cameron’s christening, Josh ‘forgot’ to turn up when he was supposed to. He left DJ and Ashley sitting there on a Friday night, waiting for him to arrive, with not even a phone call to explain. She had called him after an hour, and it turned out