Chapter Thirty-Four: Noneya
567 Words
Jace spent the entire walk home smiling.
Not a huge smile.
Not a ridiculous smile.
Just enough of a smile to make him look suspicious.
And unfortunately for him—
He lived with people who noticed everything.
The moment he stepped through the front door, he immediately spotted Max and Cole.
Both were sitting on opposite ends of the couch.
Neither speaking.
Neither looking at each other.
The tension was so thick it could have been sold in stores.
Jace stopped.
Looked at them.
Then slowly looked around.
"Should I come back later?"
Neither answered.
Cole took a sip of his drink.
Max stared at the television.
The television wasn't even turned on.
Jace shook his head.
"Healthy family."
He started walking toward the stairs.
Then Max spoke.
"What's that smile on your face?"
Jace immediately regretted coming home.
Slowly he turned.
"What smile?"
"The one on your face."
"What face?"
"The smiling one."
Jace sighed.
Cole was already trying not to laugh.
Max narrowed his eyes.
"You look happy."
"I'm always happy."
"No."
"Fair."
Max stood.
Now Jace was concerned.
Because whenever Max stood up for no reason—
Problems happened.
"What happened?"
Jace crossed his arms.
"That's a man's discovery of noneya."
Max blinked.
"What?"
"Noneya."
"What is noneya?"
Jace grinned.
"Noneya business."
For two whole seconds—
Silence.
Then—
Cole exploded.
The laugh came out so violently he nearly fell off the couch.
"Oh my God."
He was wheezing.
"That was terrible."
Jace looked proud of himself.
"It was amazing."
"It was awful."
"It was art."
Cole laughed even harder.
Eventually he stood and headed toward the kitchen.
Still laughing.
Still shaking his head.
"You two are unbelievable."
The moment Cole disappeared—
The atmosphere changed.
Max took one long sniff.
Then another.
Jace immediately froze.
"Oh no."
Max's eyes narrowed.
Dangerously.
"You were with her."
Jace groaned.
"There it is."
"You were."
"Max."
"You smell like ice cream and vampire."
"That's not even a sentence."
"You were with Elara."
Jace stared at him.
Then slowly rubbed his face.
"Do you ever hear yourself?"
Max ignored him.
"You're smiling because of her."
Jace pointed dramatically.
"The eighties called."
Max frowned.
"What?"
"They want their psycho back."
For the first time all evening—
Max actually looked offended.
"I am not a psycho."
Jace laughed.
That was the funniest thing he'd heard all day.
Then he started climbing the stairs.
"You literally sniff people."
"I was identifying a scent."
"You sniff people."
"It helps."
"You are never beating the psycho allegations."
Max looked ready to throw something.
Jace pointed toward him.
"See?"
"I didn't do anything."
"That face."
"What face?"
"The serial killer face."
Max's eye twitched.
Jace immediately took that as his cue to leave.
"Good talk."
"Jace."
"Love you too."
"Jace."
"Night, Max."
"JACE."
Jace disappeared upstairs.
His bedroom door slammed shut.
A moment later—
Max growled in frustration.
From the kitchen came another burst of laughter.
Cole had clearly heard everything.
"HE GOT YOU WITH NONEYA!"
Max grabbed a cushion.
And threw it.
Hard.
Unfortunately—
Cole laughed even harder.
And upstairs, lying on his bed, Jace couldn't stop smiling.
Partly because Max was furious.
But mostly because every time he closed his eyes—
He remembered blue-black hair.
Dark eyes.
And a girl who had agreed to get ice cream with him.
For once...
life didn't seem so bad.
- Writer
