At the top of the ragged apartment building was a freshly-showered blond with a tattered Boston Red Sox baseball cap on. The sun could be seen setting at the top of the apartment building, though it was only three-thirty in the afternoon. Though, this kind of stuff was the thing Jace loved the most about winter in Maine.
Fighting class at four, don't forget, he thought over and over to himself. Jace constantly checked his cell phone for the time, that way he wouldn't be late for his ride with his best friend, Sebastian.
Jace never liked spending time at his apartment building-everyone there was either a druggie or a drunk, which meant that the whole building would smell like smoke, alcohol, minty chewing-tobacco, or a mix of the three.
Finally, relaxing enough, Jace sat back on the ground and stuffed his phone into his jacket pocket. Stretching his legs out in front of himself, Jace crossed his ankles over one another, and watched the sunset. After many moments, it became darker outside and his eyelids seemed to become heavier and heavier as the sky darkened, and soon, he gave in, and finally let his eyes flutter closed.
Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeeep!
The honking of a car horn echoing woke Jace from his afternoon nap on the roof. Shit, shit, shit! Jace thought as he scurried up and sprinted toward the roof's exit door. He barreled down the stairs; as he went, he pulled out his phone and checked the time.
4:07pm, read the small, digital clock on his phone.
Not only was he late for his class, but now, so was Sebastian. And all of the annoying students in their class were going to give them crap about being late for class.
Once reaching the lobby, Jace strode forward and threw the front doors open, jogging toward Sebastian's beat-up pickup truck, and throwing open the passenger's door, hopping in. Sebastian gave Jace and brotherly smack on the arm as Jace closed his door. Jace chuckled, feeling right at home in the cab of Sebastian's truck, and pulled his seat belt over his chest, buckling it into it's holder.
"So, man, I hear we're getting to new pests to teach in our class. One is seventeen, the other nearly sixteen," Sebastian said while revving the engine of the truck and taking off into the road.
Jace relaxed back into the leather seat of the truck's cab. He took in a deep breath from his nose, held it for a few moments, and let it out in a large, gusty breath through his mouth. He'd been feeling extremely upset all week, though couldn't put a finger on why.
The cab of the truck was filled with silence the whole way to their studio. Jace rested his head against the window and watched as they passed the many closed business shops and old, worn down apartment buildings, much like his own. There was snow on the ground that had melted in patches during the day. Too bad more snow was expected on Friday morning.
And too bad it was only Wednesday.
After many awkward moment of silence, they arrived at their fight studio. Sebastian parallel-parked his truck in in between two other cars on the side of the road.
Jace threw open the door, squeezed through the limited space between the cars, and met Sebastian at his door before he had even shut it. "Excited?" he asked sarcastically.
Jace shook his head and began ushering him toward the door in a quick haste. "No. We're, like, ten minutes late. That means we'll have to stay ten minutes late. And I really want to stay eleven minutes." At this, Sebastian chuckled and began walking slower. Jace slapped his arm with the back of his hand and strode ahead of him.
Jace shoved open the door to the lobby and looked to the front desk. Usually, the secretary was unoccupied, but today, there were two people standing in front of the desk. One was shorter, with red hair tied up into a tight bun. From behind, Jace could tell she was a girl, what with just the way her body was built.
Jace's eyes then flickered to the taller person, beside the redhead. It was obviously a boy, what with his short, black hair, toned arms and shoulders. And, plus, Jace could see the side of his face from where he was standing.
On his way by the two, he turned and walked backwards. "You two here for the fighting class?" Jace asked, jerking her thumb toward the door of his studio.
The two looked up at him in surprise. The boy's eyes were a dark, dark shade of brown, almost black, and full of almost-relief. The girl's eyes, on the other hand, were a startling shade of green, eyecatching. Her eyes were boring into Jace's golden ones, as if she were unable to look away. Jace stared back, seeming to be under her spell.
They both looked away when the bell above the front door rang, and Sebastian entered the room.
He looked between Jace and the redheadded girl, raising an eyebrow.
"Am I intruding on something?" he asked with a cocky smirk on his lips.