The Step Brother

21. Making It Work.

October- two months later

Jace

"And so I asked Doug the same question. Elon Musk approaches you. He offers you a billon dollars to suck his dick. You're telling me you wouldn't be on your knees in a second? Doug's all like, 'it's not enough money.' Which goes back to my exact point I said in the beginning of the conversation. The average person cannot even fathom that amount of money. Every problem in the world is literally solved with that kind of money."

Caleb, Jace's current dorm-mate and linebacker to the Golden Bears, paces the space between their twin beds. He's clutching onto a football passionately.  He's a decent guy; he picks up after himself, he brings Jace breakfast when he oversleeps, and you're never quite sure what's going to come out of his mouth next.

Jace isn't sure how they got on this subject or what they had even been talking about before it. He's only partially listening anyways. He sits at his desk, bent over his math textbook while he works out the answer for question 11 on Mrs. Sawyer's latest assignment.

He's got a routine in place by now and he sticks to it religiously. Classes during the day. Then football practice. He eats dinner in the dorm while he completes all his school assignments. By 8:30pm, he's talking with Willow. Sometimes it's via FaceTime, other times when they're too tired it's to fall asleep on the phone together. They've found that time works best, considering the 3 hour time difference between California and New York. Caleb's been great about Jace being glued to his phone and talking late into the night. The kid passes out the second his head hits a pillow. And once he's asleep, it's like he's in a coma. He could sleep through a tornado. So Jace will stay up, keeping his voice low, and talking to his girl until he absolutely can't keep his eyes open anymore— hence the oversleeping most days.

But it's worth it. He will take whatever time he can get with her.

They're staying strong, as he knew they would. Of course long distance comes with its hardships too. Missing their phone call. Fights and miscommunication because you can't hug and make up how you normally would. Worrying that they'll find someone else and forget you. Not being able to hold or kiss them. Forgetting their smell because it's been so long. Coming home at the end of a hard day to an empty bed.

She's all he can think about the majority of the time. He has to force himself to stay focused during class and studying. He wants to know that she's okay. That she's happy. He wants to make sure she feels loved, even if he can't be with her physically.

There's a calendar he keeps on the wall right next to his bed. It's the first thing he opens his eyes to. Every night before he falls asleep, he crosses off another day. It's a week until Halloween. He's already ordered his cat costume and it should be arriving any day now. When he told Will, she was surprised to hear that he was actually keeping to his word, thinking it was just a tease when he first said it back on the roof. He even went as far to ship her a bank robber uniform— although difficult to find a female looking Clyde costume so he included the jacket he wore that night they met one year ago. There's also a hand written letter, her favorite treats, and a squishmellow stuffed toy to go along with her other one. The guys definitely gave him shit for it.

28 days until he gets to see her in person. She'll be flying down for Thanksgiving break and staying that whole week at their parents place. And she promised to come back down on December 9th, since that's when her classes end until the next year. It can't come soon enough.