Holding Back [COMPLETED]

Chapter 43 - "There's the Haley Day I know."

The ceiling offered very little in the form of entertainment but still, Haley stared at it, stretched out across her bed. Music swirled in her ears, the melody bouncy, the embodiment of cheeriness, though Haley couldn't completely harmonize with the emotion. Still, the song kept her from sinking lower. Beyond the song, she heard a faint plink. Knowing the sound well by now, she removed her headphones and rolled off the mattress.

The house was quiet around her, her mother working, father at work, and Matt already left to meet up with friends before the night. On the evening air, the smell of grilled meat and laughter floated about. But that was not what Haley noticed as she opened her balcony door.

Instead, it was Jace holding a bag of M&Ms. His hair was damp and parts of his arms hadn't been completely dry.

"Why did you call?" she asked.

Jace tossed up a blue candy and caught it in his mouth, chewing as he talked. "Cause we only have an hour to prom and you didn't look like you were getting ready."

Letting out a slow breath, Haley leaned on the doorframe.

"That's cause I'm not sure I want to go."

Jace let the M&M he had thrown up into the air fall without catching it.

"What? Haley Day, you can't skip prom it's the night of our lives!"

Haley just cocked her head at him. "Not according to Ty, it isn't."

"Okay, it's not but come on. It's a night where you get to hang out with friends and dance. Not life-changing but fun."

Knowing how pathetic she would sound for saying it, but needing to say it anyways, Haley said. "Isaac asked me to go with him then when he got mad the first time he said to forget it."

Jace scoffed. "Isaac smIsaac, go for yourself. You got a dress, right?"

Haley thought of the dress both Josie and Ty had picked out for her and nodded.

"There you go, get dressed, look good and rub it in his face that you're hot and he can't have you."

This teased a smile out of her. "So girl power?"

He pointed at her, serious. "Exactly girl power."

For a moment, Haley debated whether she wanted to go. Thinking over all the effort she had seen Rachel and the Council put into making prom even happen made her decision for her.

"Okay," she said.

Jace threw a fist into the air. "There's the Haley Day I know."

She laughed, shaking her head. "What about you? Are you going to pick up your date?"

Jace leaned against the railing, the shifting light falling over his shoulders.

"No. As you know I asked Josie. Thinking I was asking cause she was close by, she said no. But I will show up alone and she will see that I was serious."

Haley studied him, her brows inching together with curiosity. "You really like her, don't you?"

The edge of his mouth curled. "She's opinionated, argumentative, frustrating, brilliant and beautiful, yeah I like her."

The certainty in which he said this made Haley strangely happy.

"When did you start liking her? Was it these past weeks working on the project."

Jace shook his head, then ran a hand through his damp hair making it stick out.

"No, I've liked her for the past...three months I think."