Cursive - By Phoebe Lane Page 0,36

dark path. She wasn't one to beg, so she decided to give him his space after that.

This is why you shouldn't have gotten involved. This is why you should've left when you had the chance. Now you're hurting. Haven't you had enough pain for one lifetime?

Aislynn excused herself to use the restroom. On her way out, she heard voices coming from around the corner of the hallway. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but that changed the moment she heard her name mentioned.

"When is your appointment?" It was John's voice.

"Tuesday. I should know the results by the end of the week," Jace responded.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay, you know. There's nothing there to do but get through it."

"Have you told Aislynn?" John asked.

"No, so please don't bring it up," Jace responded in a harsh tone.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I assumed...From the way you've been talking about her these past few weeks, I figured things were getting pretty serious between you guys, and that she was in the know."

"Yeah, well. I don't know what's going to happen with her…with us, so don't mention anything. It's unnecessary."

Unnecessary. The word wounded her deeply. The decision became crystal clear to her at that moment.

Leave. Now.

Aislynn discreetly said goodbye to Nina and Alex, who were casually talking out in the deck. She texted Ellie on her way out, apologized for leaving the party without telling her, and assured her she was fine. She should've known better that to think the explanation would appease her.

"Aislynn, what's wrong?" Ellie asked on the phone.

"I'm fine," she said, as she pulled up in front of their apartment.

"That statement just proves something is wrong. What happened?"

"I just…It seems like Jace has some stuff going on. I don't think he needs me around right now."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing. Just, please, leave it alone. Go back to Evan and the party. Enjoy your time in the limelight. You deserve it," Aislynn assured her.

"Evan is here, and he wants to know what Jace did so he can go kick his ass."

"Guys, just please! It is what it is. There's no drama. I'm just giving him his space."

"She says she's giving Jace space," Ellie told Evan.

"That fucker," Aislynn heard Evan say in the background, obvious anger in his voice.

"Tell him to stay out of it, please. This is all very…unnecessary," Aislynn said bitterly. "Talk to you later."

Aislynn found herself at home alone, glass of wine in hand, overthinking things and driving herself mad. She texted Ellie and convinced her to stay over at Evan's for the night, explaining she needed some time alone to think.

You call it "thinking." I call it "wallowing in misery without an audience." Fine, I'll stay Evan. But you call me if you need anything.

The irony didn't escape her. She had been on the verge of leaving town and skipping out on Jace just a few weeks before; now he was the one pulling away. She felt lonely, hurt, and despondent. The last person who had made her feel that way had been Christopher.

Aislynn attempted to organize her thoughts and tried to figure out what might've happened to make Jace pull away from her in this way. She had a few ideas based on what she'd overheard him say to his dad, but nothing solid.

She then questioned what her next step would be. Things not working out with Jace provided her a second chance at moving on and moving away from San Diego.

But would that really be taking a step forward, or rather a step back?

As a boy, Jace had always loved the story of The Three Little Pigs. He liked to think of himself as the mature, intelligent, well-prepared piggy that defeated the big bad wolf by building a house of bricks. He now realized that brick houses could come down too, and bury people deep within the rubble if they weren't careful.

Jace sat on the last step of his deck, digging his toes in the cold sand, slightly dazed by the repetitive sound of the waves and the effect the alcohol was starting to have on his system. He took in the darkness all around him and felt smothered by it.

"How poetic," he said sarcastically, taking another swing of his scotch.

He thought about Aislynn, her cold demeanor as she'd quickly left the party without calling any attention to herself.

Without saying goodbye. Without giving me an explanation. I knew she'd run away, he had thought at the time.

Fear had been slowly creeping into his mind for a few weeks. Every day