Journey into love

Chapter Twenty-One

Song of the chapter: Hellevator by Stray Kids.

I didn't know why but my heart started to beat rapidly like I'd been caught doing something wrong.

"Let me go." I gritted out at the boy in front of me. Was it even correct to say he was in front of me when he was standing this close?

Since my hands were trapped, I couldn't even spare Jace a small wave as he stood there, wondering what was going on. A big smirk was plastered on Jam- no, Mr. Arrogant's face as he looked from Jace- who stood about a hundred feet away- to me, who was practically shoved into his chest.

"Ah, lover boy." He said, referring to Jace.

"You guys had quite a spat the other day. I think the tables are turned now. He's the one glaring at you now."

I recalled clearly how I'd been so mad at Jace when I discovered he was avoiding me but I didn't think my glare was as intense as this. Was it? Thinking about how angry I had been, it must have been more intense. If looks could kill, Jace could've gone up in flames at that time. I wished my glare was having an effect on this boy. If it was though, there was no sign of that.

"Let go of me." I said, exasperatedly. The last thing I wanted was for Jace to think I was in some kind of relationship with this idiot. We were standing so close to each other that anytime he looked down to speak, it seemed like we were kissing. I already decided what I was going to do if he didn't let go right that minute. His family jewels were at stake. Yeah, I said that.

"Don't even think of it." He shoved me away from him that I had to plant my feet to the ground to prevent me from falling on my butt.

"Hey man." Jace said warily as he approached us. Trust Jace to be polite even when it was obvious he wasn't a fan of someone.

"Hey." Jamie replied smugly.

Before going back in, he made sure to give me his signatory smirk- which was so annoying, making me tighten my hands into fists.

"Damn, I want to snap his neck!"

"For what? For making you have a crush on him?" Jace asked as he walked ahead of me and I ran to keep up with him. He couldn't be serious.

"What? That's absurd. I don't." I scoffed.

"Annie, you should've told me he was the new neighbor. It's not like I'd ship you to another country because of that." He said bitterly and I felt bad for making him look stupid, trying to figure out what Jamie was doing here.

"I won't complain if the country you had in mind is South Korea. I love that place." I tried to make light of the situation but apparently, it wasn't so funny to Jace.

"Imagine me telling you to keep away from someone and that person is your neighbor who you probably see every day."

"Come on, don't be mad, Jace." I put my hands out to hold his elbows as I added a bounce to my steps.

"I know for myself that he's a douche and if Nicole hadn't invited me over for dinner, I wouldn't have been there and then, dad had to make things worse by calling for me to stay over because he had work to do overnight at the office-"

It was only when Jace stopped in his tracks that I knew what I had rambled about. Way to go, girl. You just had to tell him that you slept over at his probable-enemy-judging-by-the-way-he-spoke-about-him-'s house.

After some seconds passed and my best friend was still speechless, I bit my bottom lip and widened my eyes innocently.

"Aren't you gonna say something?"