Being confused was an understatement. I felt like pulling my hair out. There were so many questions running through my mind and I needed answers quick or else, I was going to go crazy. I felt a little at ease as I settled in the back seat, when the taxi arrived.

Couch. Natasha.

Oh my. I face-palmed myself. Natasha was the drunk blonde I also met at the club that night. She’d told me to get up from the couch. But that still didn’t answer any of my questions. I was pretty sure Dad hadn’t spoken to Miranda about mom leaving. The only thing he could’ve said was that they got a divorce. No back story. The topic about Mom was so awkward that we never spoke about it to anyone or else it was really necessary to do otherwise. Even then, we never went too far with it.

I turned my phone over in my hand. I noticed that Jace had sent me a response few minutes ago. I hadn’t seen when it came in.

‘I’ll drop by your house at ten.’- Jace, 9:30pm.

It was 9:55pm now. I needed answers and I was going to get one now. The reason Jace had been acting weird. Another question was why he was hanging out with that crowd I wasn’t trying to tell him what kind of friends to have but I just had to know why. So, that was two questions. I was going to get two answers actually.

The cab pulled up by my house at 10:09pm. I had kept Jace waiting for about nine minutes now. Well, he kept me waiting for the whole week.

I sighted him standing on the porch, scrolling through his phone and occasionally looking up at me as I fished out money from my purse to pay the cab. He was wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants with running shoes. His hair was combed forward and it fell slightly over his eyes.

As I approached him, he shoved the phone into his pocket, putting his left hand into his left pocket. His eyes looked uneasy. That look was familiar. He always looked at me like that when he had to say something that I didn’t like to hear. I braced myself up for whatever was coming.

“Hey.” He raised his right hand. “Hey.” I replied as I sat down on the little stairs leading up to the porch to put off the white wedge I wore and he sat down next to me.

“You’re finally attending parties.” I didn’t know if that was a statement or a question but I replied anyway.

“Umm…no. I went out with dad.” He looked at me and sighed. “I know I’ve been avoiding you lately and I’m so sorry about it.” Yeah, he was finally getting to the point.

“Annie, I debated whether to tell you this or not and I finally thought that it would be best if you knew this.” I held my breath. This was it. He had avoided me to keep something from me. For Jace to do that, it was definitely something that could hurt. He saw as I drew in a deep breath and he hesitated. “Go on.” I urged him.

“Your dad is seeing someone.”

“What?!” I burst out. “I know, Annie. You just have to try to be cool about it. I found out about it some weeks ago. I knew what your reac-” He was caught off by my loud laughter. He furrowed his eyebrows at me. “Are you okay? Is this some kind of defense mechanism?” I stopped laughing to apologize to him and then I started laughing again. I couldn’t help it. Now, he was looking at me like I was some kind of psychotic patient. I knew I had to stop laughing when I saw light come on in one of the rooms belonging to the opposite house.

“I actually found out about it a week ago. Dad introduced me to her today, officially. That’s why I’m dressed like this.” I gestured to my dress. He wiped his hands over his eyes and broke out into a grin. His expression changed again to one of concern.

“Are you okay with it?”

“Of course, I wasn’t okay with it at first but the man looks happy. There’s nothing to be done.” I sighed and he wore a grin again.

“I’m sorry for avoiding you so blatantly. I should’ve tried to find other ways until I was ready to tell you.”

“That’s what good friends do. You care, that’s why you tried to keep it from me. Thanks for your concern but I agree. Avoiding me was the worst thing ever. I almost cried.” I admitted, grinning.

Yeah, I saw the look on your face that day.” He laughed.

“You have to pay for doing that, though.” I mock-glared at him. “With a kiss?” He puckered his lips, making me smack it with my thumb and pointer finger.

“Oww!” He winced. “Gimme a hug?” I requested. He frowned and pouted, turning the other way. “You kid, come here.” I pulled his arm and tackled him into a hug.

“Be a gentleman and pay back your depth.” I muttered as he reluctantly unfolded his hands from his chest and patted my back.

“Thank you.” I didn’t know why he was thanking me but I thanked him too. “Thank you for being a good friend, Jace.”

“So, how was your meeting with her?” Jace asked me as he let go. “She’s a nice person and she seems to like dad too.” I replied.

“Is she a divorcee? Does she have kids? Any?” I knew why Jace was asking these. He didn’t want me to become some Cinderella with her stepmother and step siblings.

“She does. I only met with one so far and…” Jace frowned at my hesitance. “She’s okay.” I completed.

He could see right through my lie because he said, “Annie, stop looking away from me. I know you’re not telling the truth.” I looked at him and sighed.

“Well, she isn’t okay. I mean, she acted mean on our first meeting but she isn’t that bad right?” I questioned rhetorically. I didn’t want Jace to worry, though.

“Don’t worry. I know how to deal with mean girls alright.” I winked at him.

“Pull out all her hair?” He asked, grinning. I laughed as I replied. “Nope, not all. All except the middle.” We both laughed out.

“And then, she’ll look like those people we see in Chinese action movies.” I laughed again. I was glad we were finally able to share a laugh after the tension-filled week between us.

“How’s the team?” I asked Jace. “We’ve been busy all week. Coach has been a little too hard on us because of our last fail but we’re good.” I checked my phone to see that it was already late.

As if on cue, Jace got up to stretched his legs and I got up with him. “Thank you for coming over.”

“I had to.” He replied and I pulled him in for another hug, laughing. He was laughing too. I loosened my grip on him as I remembered I had another question for him.

“Jace, I was wondering. The other day I met you in Chloe’s new neighborhood, what were you doing there and how do you know Jamie?” His smile faded.