Page 74 of When You Had Me Adapting

“No, I’m not going to lower my voice to make you more comfortable. You’re trying to put this all on me, but I think you know this isn’t working anymore for you either. We don’t have anything in common. You find my personality over the top and my interests silly. And I find you boring and rigid.”

He walks over and grabs his duffel bag, throwing it on the bed. “So you’re ending things with me, so you can go be with him.”

“Where did you get that from anything I just said?” I let out a loud breath and walk into the bathroom slamming the door behind me. Gripping the edge of the counter, I take a few deep breaths and try to compose myself. I stare into the mirror trying to collect my thoughts. If he can’t understand why I would want to be there for my friend then he needs to leave. I’m not going to quiet myself for him. He shouldn’t have come. I don’t know what I was thinking.

I walk back out of the bathroom and he’s zipping up his bag, grumbling something to himself.

“The Uber will be here in twenty minutes. I’ll get out of your hair, so you can go fuck your teenage crush.” He throws the duffel bag over his shoulder as he walks out the door.

I follow him, yelling, “fuck you” as he descends the stairs. I turn on my heels and head back into the bedroom slamming the door behind me. I collapse on the bed and grab a pillow. Covering my face I silently scream.What a douchebag.

The worst part is that he isn’t even completely wrong. I couldn’t take my eyes off Jace tonight. The world could have been burning down around me and I couldn’t look away. Then that song played and my heart broke. I didn’t hesitate to follow him because I knew wherever he was going is where I needed to be.

CHAPTER 35: MAKE A WISH

JACE

Lacey hasn’t come out of her room since I heard her yell “fuck you” at Chris. I have to admit it made me laugh. That was the girl I fell in love with as a kid. Always willing to speak her mind and stand up for herself and her friends.

Poppy and Wren both went and checked on her after he left and assured me she was okay. They told me to give her space and that’s what I’m doing. I’m sitting downstairs while she’s upstairs and the rest of our group is down on the dock drinking and having a good time.

I’ve been staring at our text message thread for the last hour weighing my options. The girls said she needed space, but if I know her, like I think I do, what she wants right now is a hug.

I stand quickly before I have time to change my mind and make my way up to the door of her room. I pause for a few seconds before lightly tapping my fist on the wood.

“Poppy, I told you I’m fine. Please let me—” she says before the door swing opens. Her breath hitches and she stands there with her mouth slightly parted. Her blonde hair is wet like she just showered and she’s wearing the same shorts and tank top she had on this morning. A thin line of her stomach showsbetween the hem of her shirt and waistband of her shorts. Her e-reader is in her hand. My eyes immediately find her peaked nipples and I quickly divert my gaze back up to her emerald eyes.

“Oh, Jace. It’s you,” she says. “I thought you were Poppy.”

“No, just me.” I rub my hand over the back of my head. “I guess I was worried about you and wanted to come make sure you were okay. Thought you could use a hug or someone to talk to.”

“Oh, no, I’m fine.” Disappointment settles deep in my stomach because I was banking on getting to hug her.

“Not my first break up, if you could even call it that,” she laughs, “and it probably won’t be my last.” She shrugs and rocks back and forth on her heels.

“For the record, I wasn’t a big fan of Chris. I mean who doesn’t read romance novels?” I offer her a smile and she laughs again. “I found a cool spot earlier, want to check it out? Maybe we could talk?” I gesture over my shoulder. “If not, I get it, I understand the importance of needing to decompress alone, but I thought maybe…”

“I’d love to.”

She sets her e-reader on the dresser by the door. We walk down the hall toward my room. “Where are you taking me?”

“You trust me, pixie?”

“I’m trying to,” she says. Her honesty makes me pause for a split second. I know she knows I didn’t cheat, but it’s what she believed for a decade and I’d be an idiot if I thought the last ten years could be wiped away after one month. I walk over to one of the windows, slide it open, and climb out before leaning back inside and offering her my hand. She takes it and I pull her through to a flat part of the roof. My skin heats under her touch and I don’t want to let her go. She releases her grip once both feet are safely on the shingles.

“It’s like when we were kids,” she says with a hint of nostalgia in her voice.

The corners of my mouth tip upward and my head floods with memories of us sitting on the roof outside her window. “I thought you’d like it.” We both sit down. There’s a noticeable space between us, but we’re close enough that when I rest my forearms on my knees, my elbow brushes against the side of her legs that she has pulled up to her chest.

“You know I was planning on coming to find you tomorrow,” she admits.

“Oh yeah?”

“Well, yeah. I pinky promised I would find you if I wanted to talk,” she shrugs. “And I wanted to make sure you were okay after the song.”

Technically, she promised to find me if she needed to talk, but I don’t correct her. My heart quickens at her admission. All I’ve wanted for a decade was for her to want to talk to me and now she does.

“I was trying to get my head on straight before I rejoined the group,” she says.

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