Chapter Three: Maxxie

I stared at the gray undergarment, studying the yellow Batman symbol on it. My mind was bouncing around one thought: Jace Storme liked my underwear. Or at least he'd said. My mind was dancing happily—Jace Storme had liked my underwear!—but my heart was telling me that he was just joking. Nobody, especially not Jace Storme, could like anything I owned. I was a nobody. He was a somebody. No, he was Jace Storme.

"Maxxie!" My mom's abnormally high-pitched voice rang through my ears. "The phone is for you!"

I threw the briefs onto my bed and leapt off of it. I hurried down the hallway and down the stairs, stopping on the second one. My mom was standing in the foyer, phone in hand. Her honey blonde hair was in curlers and her ageless face was touched up with makeup. My heart froze—my mom was going on a date. It would be her third one this week.

"Where are you going?" I asked as I grabbed for the cordless phone. I already knew the answer; I just hoped I was wrong.

She gave me a small smile before putting her finger to her pink lips. She then walked back down the hallway. I sighed. My parents had gone through a nasty divorce three years before, which resulted in my mother spiraling into a deep depression. My father had moved somewhere on the West coast, cutting off all communication with his one and only child. Sometimes he sent me birthday cards decorated with slogans like, "You're the best son in the world!" but I just threw them out.

I pressed the phone to my ear and said, "It's Maxxie."

"Hey!" the familiar sexy voice I knew all too well said. "It's Jace Storme."

I sucked a deep breath. Jace Storme? Impossible. I probably just heard something wrong. The person probably said Chase Stern. Chase was in my homeroom. He was probably calling me for math homework or something. Yeah, that was it!

I cleared my throat and said, "Erm, who is this again?"

I heard a soft chuckle before they said, "Jace Storme. I'm in your P.E. class."

I exhaled softly. So I had heard right the first time. But the question remained, why was Jace calling me? How did he know my number? He's the most popular kid in the school, I thought. Of course he has your number.

"Uh, hi," I stuttered, my tongue tying. Talking to him was always so hard, even over the phone. His voice made my heart flutter in my chest.

"Hi again," he replied. "Are you busy tonight?"

My heart jumped. Why was he asking? Was he asking— No, that was impossible. I completely etched the idea out of my mind. There was no way that Jace was asking me out. He wasn't gay. He was straight. There was no way that the blue eyed, brown haired, bright smiling boy could be gay.

I swallowed and said, "Uh, no. I'm not busy."

"Good. Do you and Brian want to come to my party tonight?"

Everything in my body stopped working. My heart stopped beating, my lungs stopped breathing, my brain stopped functioning.

Three things were wrong with this. 1) A popular kid was asking me if Brian and I would like to go to a party, 2) It was Jace Storme's party, 3) Jace Storme was asking me.

I racked my brain for an answer. I could say yes and end up going to my first—and probably last—high school party. But that might mean that I would get horribly humiliated. But if I said no, I would be embarrassing myself. Plus, I could possibly be missing the party of a century.

"So?" Jace asked. "Are you in?"

I took a deep breath. It was now or never. A chance to go to the hottest guy in the world's house.

"Yeah, we'll go."

>>><<< 

Brian hobbled on the sidewalk next to me. I could see sweat threatening to drip down his forehead. The kid was always sweating. He could probably fill ten Olympic sized swimming pools just from anxiety-sweating alone.

"I can't believe I let you convince me to come here," Brian huffed. "I could be at home playing Batman: Arkham City right now!"

I slipped my trembling hands into my jean pockets. I myself was second guessing my choice to come to this party. I wasn't friends with anybody that was attending. They all thought I was a loser.

I shrugged. "Maybe it'll be fun," I lied.

We arrived at 459 Andersen Street, Jace's house. We shuffled up the long driveway and stood on the white front porch. I stared at the large green door. Would I knock? Would I ring the doorbell? Would I run? I was contemplating on doing the third, when all of a sudden the door swung open. Jace's face lit up as he saw me. He seemed almost excited to see me.

"You guys made it!" Jace shouted. "Come on in!"

He slung his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his house. Though there were bodies everywhere, there was a chill. I shivered as Jace led me to his house. I was fully aware of his arm around me, though. It was mesmerizing the way he seemed perfectly at ease with his arm on my body. It was as if he didn't care that it was me.

People were scattered all around the house, either in clusters or in pairs. Some were making out while others were giving each other evil looks. Some were drinking while others were smoking. Everyone seemed to be having a carefree and satisfying time.

We entered what I assumed was the kitchen. People were on the countertops and tables playing tonsil hockey or drinking. At the far corner of the kitchen a small group of guys were having a beer chugging contest. One guy couldn't hold his liquor and he threw up all over the floor. My nose twitched at the strong stench.

We arrived at the far side of the kitchen and Jace unwound his arm. My heart suddenly felt empty, as if it were longing for his touch again. But Jace just fished out two bottles of beer from the ice cooler. He smiled and handed them to us.

"I'm assuming that you two have never drank beer before," Jace admitted, "so just take it slowly. Remember, you have all night."

I slowly nodded. I stared at the moist burgundy bottle in my hands. I could feel Jace's startling blue eyes staring at me. I glanced at Brian who looked just as hesitant as I was. I looked back up at Jace. He smiled and took a sip of his own beer.

"You don't have to drink it if you don't want to," Jace said.

I frowned. Not drinking the beer made me seem like a coward. I sighed before twisting the metal cap off the bottle. I slowly brought the bottle to my lips, hovering it over my mouth. I could smell the foul liquid. I closed my eyes before tipping the bottle. The cool drink drizzled into my mouth. My taste buds immediately told me that they were not satisfied. My mouth felt fuzzy as I swallowed.

Jace beamed and patted my back. "Hey! You did it! Congrats!"

I gave him a weak smile, my stomach feeling a little queasy. As I looked at Jace's smiling face, I wondered why he was all of a sudden talking to me. He had all of last year to talk to me but he never had. Now it was just so sudden.

Jace looked at me and chuckled. He took the bottle from my hand and said, "Hey, I understand. You don't like the alcohol. Technically that's a good thing." He winked.

I blushed. Jace leaned against the counter and stared at me, a smile still on his face.

>>><<< 

About an hour later, Brian and I were awkwardly leaning against a wall in the living room. We watched as people were grinding and dancing to an upbeat hip-hop song. I wondered where Jace had gone. I stared at a clock above the fireplace and saw that it was ten o'clock on a Saturday night. I would usually be playing some Batman games on normal Saturday nights. I sighed. I wished that I could be playing on my Xbox.

Somebody poked my side. "Hey there."

I turned to see Jace smiling at me again. He leaned one arm against the wall and looked around the room. He turned back to me. I couldn't get over how perfect he looked in the dim light. His eyes were still sparkling and his lips were looking so glossy.

"Are you having fun?" he asked.

I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to lie to him, but I didn't want to seem lamer than I already was. I didn't have to say anything though. He just laughed.

"I know you're having a lousy time." He slipped his hands into his jean pockets. "In truth, I invited you so I could give you something."

I raised a confused eyebrow. He wanted to show me something. I wondered what it was. My mind was racing, trying to figure out what it may be. But Jace just took my hand and led me through the crowd. I couldn't concentrate. His hand was warm and soft and strong. I felt every single crease and wrinkle that had engraved itself into his palm. As his grip tightened while we walked up the stairs, leaving Brian behind, my body tingled.

We took a left down the hallway and arrived in a bedroom; I assumed it was his. The walls were baby blue and there were different pictures and drawings on them. The drawings were fantastic, all of different things. Jace looked sheepish as he dragged me through the room. He sadly let go of my hand and walked to his bedside table. I watched as he pulled a familiar rectangular thing out of the drawer. He turned and sat on his bed, patting a spot beside me. With my heart beating as quickly as a hummingbird's, I took a seat.

Jace smiled and handed me a comic book. As I held it in my hands, I could feel the timelessness and age in it. I could feel that it was special. I stared at Batman's figure, Robin standing right behind him. The background colour was yellow and the old Batman logo was at the top of the cover. My jaw dropped as I ran my fingers across the cover.

"This is an antique!" I whispered in shock. I stared at him. "Do you know how much it's worth?"

He smiled and shrugged. "No, I really don't."

I stared back at the comic book. Ever since I was little I had tried to collect all the Batman comics. So far I was only five comics away. This was one of them that I needed. I wanted it so badly.

I looked back up at Jace. I swallowed before saying, "Could I...could I have it?"

He laughed. I loved his laugh. It sounded like my favourite song in the summer multiplied by ten.

"Of course you could have it," he said. "I told you I was giving it to you, didn't I?"

I blinked a couple of times before smiling. I continued to run my fingers across the cover. This was surreal. I couldn't believe that Jace had just given me an antique comic book. The feelings I felt were inexplicable.

I suddenly stopped moving. I felt a cool pair of fingers brush a stray hair behind my ear. I felt my heart rate speed up as I turned my head slowly. Jace was staring at me, his eyes soft and compassionate.

He inched forward. "Can I... can I give you something else?"

I didn't have time to respond. As usual, Jace was quicker than I was. He slowly inched his face toward mine. I then felt his soft lips on top of mine. Electricity shot through me and my heart slapped my rib cage. My mind couldn't grasp anything. Jace's lips parted slightly, as did mine. His mouth tasted like beer and peppermint gum. His breath was warm.

It was everything I'd ever dreamed of.