Cursive - By Phoebe Lane Page 0,37

that passed, he added a new brick to the wall that protected him from her. But tonight, the wolf had messed with his house.

"Oh, honey. What happened? Aislynn looked so sad when she left," Nina had said at one point.

The house of straw was blown down.

"Dude, that girl was great. Why did you give her the cold shoulder the whole night?" Alex had pointed out later in the night.

The house of sticks was blown down.

"Aislynn seems like a well put together and mature woman. Maybe you should tell her what's going on with you. I'm sure she can handle it," John had added.

The house of bricks shook, but held together, somehow.

"You're a prick. You ruined this one up all by yourself," Evan had said before leaving.

The house of bricks came crashing down.

Ellie didn't even have to say anything. Her stare as she left the party was lethal.

"Fuck!" he yelled at the sky. I need to fix this. Now.

He was able to see clearly now what he didn't see before. The image of Aislynn's face as she left the party came back to him with a newfound perspective. What he had originally thought was coldness was, in fact, raw pain and disappointment. He had hurt her, and the realization wounded him more than the rejection he so desperately wanted to prevent.

She wasn't running away.

He needed to know one way or another how Aislynn was going to handle this situation; how she was going to handle him and his baggage. Jace needed to confront his fears, and unfortunately, he needed to face her in order to do it.

I'm at the door. Please open up. I need to talk to you.

"Jace, it's two in the morning. What the hell?" Aislynn said as she opened the front door.

"Can I come in, please?" he said softly. She sighed, and opened the door fully to let him in. She was still wearing her dress, which was now wrinkled as if she had slept in it.

"If you really expect me to have a coherent conversation right now, I'm gonna need coffee. Want some?" she asked flatly.

"I'll make it." He walked to the kitchen and Aislynn followed. She sat up on the countertop next to him and watched as he gawked at the coffee maker. "Are you kidding? What is this?" he asked, motioning to the drip coffee machine.

"Yeah, I know. Pick that fight with Ellie, not me."

"I'd rather not. That girl scares the crap out of me sometimes."

Jace made the coffee in silence. Aislynn tried to read his body language, and speculated as to why he had come to her apartment after the way he had treated her at the party. She could tell he was anxious and stalling, but she had no more energy for this dance.

"Jace, I don't mean to be rude, but talk."

He stalled for a few more seconds before he started to speak. "My brick house came crashing down tonight. So I'm here because, instead of trying to find a stronger building material for my house, I've decided to camp outside and weather the elements."

Aislynn stared at him for a few seconds, clearly dumbfounded. "I'm sorry. I don't talk code this early in the morning."

Jace took a deep breath, moved to stand in front of her, and just hugged her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, buried his face in her chest, and closed his eyes tightly.

At first, Aislynn didn't understand what was happening. She held him for what seemed like forever, running her fingers through his hair in a sign of comfort, but she felt wary. The dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach intensified with each passing second, and the conversation she had overheard between him and his father at the party kept replaying in her mind. Going on instinct, she asked the question she felt needed to be addressed first.

"Are you sick?" Aislynn whispered, finally breaking the silence. He immediately gasped, and stepped away from her. The areas of her body he had embraced suddenly turned cold, and she watched him lean against the counter top in front of her, his face pained.

"I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma," he finally said. "I went through radiation and chemo, and I've been in remission for two years."

Aislynn's chest ached as things started coming together in her mind. Her suspicions had been right on target.

This is getting more complicated than I expected.

"You have your six month checkup on Tuesday," she said, matter of fact, as Jace looked up at her in surprise. "I