Chapter Twenty- Two

"Want to get ice cream?" Jace asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. He stopped outside of an overly lit ice cream shop that was giving me a headache. There was no reason that you need that many damn lights.

"Only if I get to pay."

"You already paid for the books!" I opened the door for him this time. His face turned sour and he tried to push me out the way. We spent at least three minutes pushing each other and amusing the teenage boy behind the counter.

"Just let it go!" I exclaimed, finally getting him out the way of the door and shoving him inside. He grunted, annoyed that I won.

I decided to be a decent human being for half a second and hold the door for the same older white couple. They were surprised to see me but tried to hide it. I gave them a sickeningly sweet smile and followed behind them, trying to ignore that the lady was clutching her purse to her chest. Wow, what a cliche.

Jace was already at the counter when I arrived next to him and bumped his hip with mine. I did it a few more times before he lightly shoved me to the side so I would stop annoying him. I laughed and caught eyes with the boy behind the counter who looked at me amused at the scene.

The couple was standing a few feet behind us as I waited for Jace to order so I could do the same thing. He surprised me by ordering for me and actually... getting it right. Cookies and Cream every time. I didn't even know he knew it.

He glanced over to me after reciting our orders and I raised an eyebrow in confusion. Jace shook his head and handed the boy some cash.

"What's a name for the order?" The boy asked, not looking up from the tablet.

"Jace," he said at the same time I said

"Scarlett." We locked eyes in a stare down trying to break each other. Of course, Jace had

to cheat and blow air in my eyes causing me to blink. I slapped him on the arm and he didn't even flinch. Such a fucking bitch.

"Name's for the order is Jace." He said with a smile.

"You're such a fucking cheater Kingston!" The couple had moved ahead of us now as we took the seats next to the window. He sat across from me, long legs nudged against mine as I tried to beat him in a violent game of footsies.

"How come you never talk about your family?" He asked after I had won the game with a swift stomping of the foot. It's not my fault he tried to be gentle, I've been known to play dirty.

He sets his phone on the table and I look down at it when it pings with an Instagram notification. I didn't think much of it until out of pure curiosity I looked at his lock screen.

It's a picture of me... well of us. It's the one that he asked a woman with her family to take of us in front of the waterfall. He was still shirtless and instead of holding me bridal style I was on his shoulders, my hands embedded in his hair. I remember telling him if I fall then I'm taking his hair down with me. I completely forgot about that picture until now.

I gaped up at him only to realize he wasn't there. I swung around and searched the shop before spotting a mop of curly brown hair back at the register. I couldn't see his face but his shoulders were shaking... he's laughing. There was an Indian girl behind the counter now, her hair was pinned up in a bun and a faint smile playing at her lips.

Interesting...

There was a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I had pushed away when he returned with the ice cream. He was busy eating his disgusting mint chocolate chip as I tried to think of why he was laughing with that girl.

Does he know her?

Think she's attractive... I mean she is. Gorgeous even.

Was he flirting? I can't imagine him flirting. I never saw how he was with Marley aside from the two seconds in AT&T.

"Your ice cream's melting." Jace points out, mint ice cream smeared across his chin. I don't even bother wiping it off.

"Distracted," I answered, taking a larger than average spoonful and stuffing it in my mouth. "You got it on your chin."

"Dollar for your thoughts?" He asked, wiping a napkin across the spot.

"It's a penny, stupid."

"I don't have one," he admits, sheepishly. I shook my head, not surprised in the slightest.

"It's really nothing just overthinking shit."

"Like what?" he leans closer, eyes boring into mine. I couldn't tell him everything, but I could tell him something.

"Do you ever feel like you don't belong somewhere?" No, he doesn't. He's a rich white boy, they basically run the country. "You do everything you can to fit in and be normal when deep down in your gut you know you shouldn't be there."

I'm not even talking about belonging in Jace's life, but my own. My school... Destiny expects me to be one thing that I can never be. I tried so hard to be one of those girls, the girl that somebody like Destiny would want to be friends with. I wanted to be the girl who danced at every party, who had a boy hanging off her shoulder everywhere she went, who valued appearance and looked amazing in anything. But I just wasn't that girl and at some point, I stopped trying to be.

For a while it was fine, but what Jasper said about me. Scratch that, what Destiny said about me struck a chord bigger than what I was letting on. And then she didn't even try to deny it, just told me I was overreacting. She called me desperate and I was overreacting.

But the thing is, I tried so hard to fit into her world and it didn't work than I'm trying so hard to fit into Jace's world and that white couple reminded me that I don't belong here. I've tried too hard to immerse myself in these two different places just to be kicked back into reality.

The reality that I don't belong anywhere. Not in the city with my family and my school and my friends. The place I'm supposed to be. Not in the county with Jace and his big house and rich family. Where I want to be, more than anything.

Jace shook his head. I didn't expect him to agree. Like I said before, boys like him run the world. There's always a place for him at the top while people like me are stuck with the scraps from his perfect life.

I changed the subject, deflected all his questions as he tried to get me to open up deeper. It was no use in telling him anything further, he told me himself that he wouldn't understand. He couldn't give advice or truly know what I was going through. The only thing telling him would do is bring discomfort to both of us.

But Jace Kingston was nothing if not persistent. That's the politician in him.

"Scarlett, you know you can tell me anything." He's still pestering me long after we've left the ice cream shop.

We're just walking around the area with the now-closed stores and only the street lights to light up our journey. We walked past Bookish earlier. It was pitch black, no fairy lights glowing, or Missy with her smile that can brighten up the saddest room. Like the magic of the place had disappeared, a shell of what it once was. Then like clockwork at 10 AM Saturday morning, the magic will return and the fantasy will continue.

"Jace just let it go," I begged. "Seriously I'm good." He gave me the 'don't you stare at me and give me a bull- faced lie' look. "You worry too much. Sometimes people just say stuff that they don't mean."

"I know you, Scarlett," You don't know anything about me. "You meant what you said."

"It doesn't matter Jace." I brushed him off, walking ahead of him.

"Would you tell me if I told you that I lied?" I stopped walking and looked back at him who stopped as well.

"Lied about what?"

"I know what it feels like to not belong," I scoffed, shaking my head. "Seriously."

"You're a rich white boy with mommy and daddy issues. Oh, your life is so hard!" I mocked. He didn't say anything just looked at me, eyes filled with disbelief.

I wasn't going to apologize for once I was speaking my mind. His life isn't perfect, but there's no place that won't accept him. No cop that will shoot him. No restaurant that would refuse service. If Jace had nothing else, he would always have his white privilege.

We stared at each other in silence, anger coursing through our veins. I stepped toward him, but he stepped back.

"Is this woman bothering you, sir?" You have to be kidding me. I turned around slowly with my hands up and came face to face with an officer. My heart rate quickened, I know how bad this could go. His hand was rested on his holster, eyes never leaving Jace.

"Excuse me, officer." Jace didn't even hear him. He didn't instantly go on red alert when he saw a white man in uniform. He didn't even realize that he was holding my life in his hands.

"Is this woman bothering you?" I read his badge. Clyde. Officer Clyde. I could see the police reports now.

"What woman?" Is he stupid? I wanted so badly to punch him in the face. "You mean Scarlett?"

"You know her?" Clyde asked, hand never leaving the holster.

"Yeah, she's with me." I exhaled as he moved his hand away from the holster.

"Alright then," Clyde finally looked me in the eyes. "Have a nice night, sir." He didn't even regard me. He turned around and walked away from us. Once he was out of sight, I lowered my hands.

"I'm sorry about that," Jace apologized. I don't think he knew what he was apologizing for. "You're talking about white privilege." I nodded.

"I know you saw those people behind us in the line," My eyes widened. I didn't know he saw them. "I heard them talking about us when I went to get our ice cream from Nadia."

"Nadia?"

"She's a friend from Riverside," That makes a lot of sense. He's not the type to flirt with random cashiers. "She told me about what they said, but since you didn't mention it, I thought you didn't care. Until I saw you glance over at them every five seconds and I was about to say something, but then you said... what you said. And I thought you were going to talk to me about it, but you didn't.

"Why didn't you talk to me about it?" I bent my head so he couldn't see my face. This is embarrassing.

"Because it's stupid and it doesn't matter. It doesn't concern you." I stammered out, running my hand through my hair.

"If it concerns you then it concerns me." He tilts my head up to meet his. His eyes filled with all the love in the world. "I want to talk about this stuff. If people look at us weirdly even as friends then I want you to tell me. I want you to educate me on my white privilege."

I almost wanted to cry. He didn't tell me to suck it up or ignore it. He wanted to know.

Jace Kingston being perfect as always.

And I'm the evil bitch that's lying to him.

I don't even know why... at least not anymore. Somewhere between the beginning to the present the lines were blurred and now I'm just doing it to save face. Because I had all these excuses as to why he can't know where I'm from, why he can't be apart of my world.

Until today.

I should've told him the truth. He deserves to know.

Just not today. Let us have one last good day. Where Jace and I are separated. The county and city line being our divider. One good day before everything gets complicated.

And trust me when I say it's going to get complicated.