Before I can even ask what he’s doing, Jace walks around the car and takes a picture of me. The flash makes me jump, not expecting it at all while Jace snickers at my reaction and looks at the screen of his camera to inspect the photo.

“Nice face,” he says, holding it up to show the wide-eyed and dumb expression he got of me.

“Delete that,” I order, holding out my hand for the camera that he refuses to give. Instead, he holds it up and takes another picture of my annoyed scowl.

“This is a nice face too.”

“Delete them both or I will castrate you.”

“Before we have sex? I doubt you would do such a thing.” Jace grins mischievously, the sight of it makes my cheeks heat up and, no, it’s not in anger. My anger is actually diminishing bit by bit even if I’m still pretending to be pissed off.

“Seriously, give me the camera,” I demand, stepping towards the boy that is circling around his car with said camera raised. He’s still taking pictures of me and for some reason that makes my heart race. “Jace, stop!”

“I promise you won’t actually want me to.”

Did he just…?

I glare at the boy before hissing, “Do not steal my sexual innuendos. That is my gig.”

Jace only chuckles and snaps yet another picture. The soft sound of the shutter makes me growl before running at him. Jace doesn’t seem to expect it but he’s quick to react, barely dodging me to bolt into the park with me right behind him. Any chance he gets Jace takes a picture. When he tries to hide behind a tree or ducks under some branches, when a couple walks past and I’m left smiling sheepishly after nearly running into them or when I have finally reached my exhaustion limit for the day.

While Jace is also breathing heavily, he isn’t nearly as bad as me. Seeing that I am no longer a threat, Jace makes his way over, seeming to look through his pictures with joy. I’m leaning against a tree trying to regain my breath. My hair is all frizzy from the hot weather and a few strands are stuck to the side of my face.

We’re silent afterwards, the two of us simply standing near one another beneath the shade of the tree. A cool breeze blows by, successfully cooling me down so my skin is no longer warm. I’m not sweating nor do I stink, thank god for functioning deodorant. It takes a few minutes for me to finally think up something to say though.

“You better delete all of this,” I end up saying with what I hope to be intimidation but it doesn’t work. I’m breathless and tired.

“No way,” Jace practically sings, holding up his camera for me to see the ridiculous pictures he’s gotten. “These are gold.”

“I swear I’ll-”

“What?” Jace steps forward, so close that my personal bubble has been more than broken. It has been completely demolished with Jace being so close that I can feel heat radiating off his skin and it’s definitely not from the running we did earlier.

With his hazel eyes falling half mast, Jace whispers in a voice that he has to know is seductive or by God he is the most naturally sexually frustrating person I’ve ever met, “What will you do, Mylo?”

It seems my humor has decided to take the back seat for this and enjoy the ride because I can’t come up with a response. Instead, I’m left standing before Jace in basically a predator vs. prey scenario and while, yes, I would be fine if he ate me I am only ok with it in the sexual sense. Why can’t I say that? Come on, say something witty, don’t just stand here like a doe in—

My thoughts are put on hold when Jace does the unthinkable. Without any warning, he leans in to press his lips to mine in an unexpected kiss.

The shock is so intense that I can’t even respond other than kiss back even if I am meant to still be mad at him. What can I say, I have priorities and apparently my priority is kissing Jace above all else. Feeling his lips against mine, the soft pressure that’s so innocent yet my stomach is knotting in ways that I can’t describe, it’s making me realize how much trouble I’m actually in.

When Jace pulls away the first thing I see is a smile, soft and warm in a way I haven’t seen before. There are no words and I kinda hate myself for admitting it.

“What was that for?” I ask, growing annoyed with the breathiness of my voice.

“I won the race,” Jace says like that is meant to make sense. My confusion is evident because he chuckles. “I never said what I wanted if I won.”

“And...you wanted to kiss me in public?” I tease, grinning at the wide eyes he suddenly makes. “If I knew that was what got your engine going I would have tried it sooner.”

“That’s not—” Jace rubs his temple but I know he doesn’t have a headache purely based on the adorable way he’s biting his lip. “You ruined the moment, Mylo.”

I shrug, trying to play it cool although I know my cheeks new favorite color is making it impossible. “It’s what I’m best at.”

Jace shakes his head while looking to his camera once more. Curious, I try to peer at the screen but he turns away from me with a grin. Before I can comment though, Jace holds it out to allow a better look at the shot he managed to sneak.

“I think I’ll frame this,” he says while my mind basically implodes at the picture he managed to get of our first kiss. It’s a little blurry, the lighting isn’t the greatest yet I can’t help but feel this is the best picture I’ve ever seen.

This fucker. He is literal cheese. I can’t deal.

Jace pulls the camera away before I can attempt to delete the evidence. There’s a sort of proud smirk etched on his face that makes me bite the inside of my mouth to keep my own smile at bay.

“I’m going to give you a copy too.”

“I’ll burn it.”

Jace gasps. “Why? It’s a cute picture.”

“I don’t do cute.”

Jace cocks a disbelieving brow then says confidently, “Eres muy lindo.”

Shit, I forgot to look up what that meant. Pouting, I try to ask what it means but Jace refuses to tell me. What the hell? He can so easily change the topic of conversation by speaking a few words I don’t understand. This is bullshit and I want a rematch!

Our date ends not long after that. It’s getting late, we both have work tomorrow and so Jace drives me home. Once there, I find myself shocked again when Jace leans over to press a lingering kiss to my lips that, if I were in the right state of mind would have lasted much longer.

However, my brain is currently mush when he pulls away and says, “Buenas noches.”

All I do is dumbly nod, which appears to amuse him judging by the pure glee on his face. I try to gracefully step out of the car but end up tripping and nearly face planting. Sadly, that doesn’t mean I’m not completely humiliated so, before Jace can say anything, I slam the door shut and create a new record on how quickly I can get from the parking garage to my apartment.

It isn’t until I am in the safety of my room that I realize just how stupid I’m acting. What the fuck, Mylo? This isn’t your first rodeo, stop acting like a dumbass! Holy shit, I need to calm down. My heart’s racing way too fast and it’s insanely hot. I end up undressing quickly before realizing that isn’t helping and I need an absolutely freezing shower.

My dad is home and he asks me what I’m up to when he sees me walking from my room to the bathroom in nothing but a pair of boxers. The only reply he gets from me is a quick “shower” before I locked myself in the bathroom.

The moment I look into a mirror I’m ready to lose it.

Pressing my fingers to my completely reddened face, I have to ask myself if I’ve looked like this all day. My cheeks are red, eyes sparkling like I’ve seen the answers to the universe, my hair’s a mess and there’s this dumb smile on my face I can’t get off. Try to think of dead puppies or something, stop looking so happy!

Except it doesn’t work and all I can think about is that stupid kiss at the park. Then he had to be all boyfriend like and kiss me in the car, what the hell, Jace? Hijo de puta! Yeah, I know Spanish, of course it’s a curse word but that isn’t the point!

I’m supposed to be angry. I need to be angry with him. He’s lying to me about something. Whatever it is will likely affect this...relationship or whatever. I need to step up my game and find out what’s going on rather than melt the moment he looks at me!

This is bad. This is so very bad.

Because now I know he’s at least bisexual. I was wondering this whole time what I could do. Kiss him? Don’t kiss him? Because if I made the first move and it made him uncomfortable then I’d feel like a complete jackass but...Jace has made the first move, which means I can make more moves? Right?

Standing beneath the cool water beating against my back, realization hits me.

Fuck, I can’t do this anymore. We started dating because I wanted a quick fuck. Yeah, Jace was someone I had been interested in for some time but not...actually romantically. Now, now it’s only getting worse. All these feelings are pointing to something I’m not ready for, especially if Jace isn’t ready either.

Shit, thinking that he’s possibly cheating on me, if I were my normal self I wouldn’t care. I would have kicked him to the curb by now, called him out for it and moved on but that’s the problem. I’m not myself. I don’t want to call him out on it. For some dumb reason I want to keep believing everything is fine...because if it isn’t I don’t want to face that fact.

I need to end this.