Cruel prince

Jace snorts. “No. He’s messing with you.”

“Messing with me how?” 

A

A strange feeling brews in the pit of my stomach. It’s not that Jace isn’t right. Tommy is most likely using me. 

But the dismissive way he’s implying that Tommy couldn’t seriously like me ...

It’s as if the notion of anyone having feelings for me was utterly ridiculous.

“Why aren’t you playing?” Jace questions after a few minutes go by.

“What if he’s not?” I whisper. “What if Tommy really does like me?” 

Jace rolls his eyes. “He doesn’t, trust me. It’s not possible.” 

Ouch. The sinking feeling in my stomach travels upward until it wraps around my heart. 

I have to leave…before I make an even bigger ass of myself. 

When I became a teenager, my aunt Crystal warned me the next few years would be some of the best and worst of my life. 

When I asked her why, she told me it was the time most girls had their first crushes, first kisses, and first loves…followed by their first heartbreak.  

I, however, thought I was safe, because the person I gave my heart to…was my best friend. 

And best friends aren’t allowed to break your heart. 

It’s against the rules.

“Whoa. Where are you going?” Jace asks when I stand up. “We finally made it to the next level of Zombie Warfare. We’re close to the apocalypse.” 

The irony. I’m pretty sure this is it.  

“Is it really so hard to believe someone might be interested in me?” The question erupts out of my vocal cords like word vomit. 

He grips the back of his neck as he stands, looking about as uncomfortable as I feel. Great. 

“I don’t…what the hell is going on with you, D?”

God, he really doesn’t know. My vision becomes hazy and I close my eyes. Why would he? 

“Is it because I don’t have huge boobs like Britney?” 

Disgust rolls through me as the first tear makes its way down my cheek, but I can’t stop. 

It turns out there is something even worse than unrequited love. 

Being forced to pretend it doesn’t exist at all. 

My feelings for Jace are slowly eating me alive…and it’s not fair that I’m the one forced to deal with them. 

Jace—who always appears unflustered and in control—looks so confused, I almost feel bad for him. “What do Britney’s boobs have to do with anything?” 

Ugh. He’s acting so dumb I could scream. “If I looked like Britney did, would it be easier for you to believe Tommy was into me?” 

A

I’ve never wanted to punch someone so badly before. Perhaps if I did, it would finally knock some sense into him. 

“I already told you, I don’t like Tommy. I like yo—” 

“Jesus. Stop ruining everything,” he shoots back. “We’re friends, Dylan. That’s all we’ll ever be.” 

We stare at one another for what feels like an eternity as the full magnitude of his outburst seeps in. 

Jace doesn’t feel the way I do. Far from it. 

Holy shit. It would be more humane if Jace ripped out my beating heart and bludgeoned it with a mallet. 

I wipe my tears with the back of my hand. The only thing worse than having your heart smashed, was crying in front of the person responsible for it. 

Pain swells in my chest, and I draw in a heavy breath. The way I see it, I only have two choices. One—I can shove my love down as far as it will go. Keep pretending I don’t feel anything for him. 

But I’m done with playing pretend. And now that everything I’ve been holding inside has come to the surface…it’s a long way down. 

So long, we’ll never be able to get back to the place we started. 

Our friendship is doomed. 

Which only left option number two. I need to find out why. Given Jace has clearly made his mind up about the possibility of us ever being more than what we are, I deserve to hear all the reasons we can’t be together.  

“Why?” I whisper. 

My heartstrings are no longer pulling…they’re hanging by a thread tethered to Jace Covington.

His throat bobs. “Because we’re friends.” 

I hate the way he emphasized the word friends. In the blink of an eye, he managed to turn a positive into a negative. 

Apparently, my heart isn’t a fan of his answer either because I have the urge to dig deeper. 

“Would you rather date someone you didn’t get along with?”

He shakes his head. 

I take a step toward him. “Do you like being with me?” 

He nods. I take another step. 

My pulse is beating so hard it echoes in my ears. “Are you happy when we hang out? Do I make your day a little better?” 

“No.” My lungs freeze…until he peers down at me. “You make it a lot better.” 

If that’s true…it could only mean one thing. 

“Am I not pretty enough for you?”  

I’m not gorgeous like Britney. Much like my height, my features are perfectly average. My nose is a standard size. My cheekbones aren’t carved from stone. My eyes are blue, but they aren’t piercing blue. A handful of freckles sprinkle the bridge of my nose and cheeks, but they’re inconspicuous things and only come out when I spend time in the sun. 

Unfortunately, my most noticeable feature is the dimple in the middle of my chin. 

The one that made Britney call me stupid names like butt-chin. 

Even on rare occasions when I dabbled with makeup, I was never a drop-dead knockout. 

My aunt once referred to our similar looks as girl next door cute. She claimed it was a good thing, but I disagree. 

I’m a mediocre girl with small boobs and a ski

Mediocre doesn’t equal sexy. It’s basic and boring. 

Embarrassment twists my guts. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

Jace isn’t attracted to me. My ordinary looks are a deal-breaker for him. 

The ass is more superficial than I thought. 

Then again, his mother was a former Bollywood actress. I’d seen a few pictures of her…even before her death, she looked just like an angel. 

Heck, Jace’s entire family—with the exception of poor Liam who had a few scars from the car accident that killed their mother— is flawless. 

No wonder he doesn’t want someone like me. We’re not in the same league. 

“That’s not it.” His voice is so low I can barely hear him. 

I inch closer. “Then what’s wrong with me?” 

I hate sounding so desperate, but I need my best friend to make me understand how it’s possible for me to feel so much for him…while he feels nothing for me. 

The small space between us tightens as I place my hand on his chest. His heart is beating even faster than mine. 

“Nothing.” A heavy breath lodges in my throat when his hand grazes my hip. “You’re perfect.”

Tension hangs in the heavy silence between us. It’s obvious Jace is fighting this, I just don’t know why. 

Heat rises to my cheeks and my palms grow sweaty. It’s now or never at this point, and if I’m going down, I might as well go down swinging.

“I never gave you your dare.”

Jace and I have a stupid game we play. Every Friday before school ended, we exchange notes with dares on them that have to be completed by the end of the upcoming week.