Before It Ends Amanda Jackson
Before it ends—
"You're not mine to think about, but I still do."
I REMEMBER THE FIRST I saw Jace McCormack.
It also happened to be the last time I ever went out with my then-boyfriend Brant.
It was outside the only movie theater in Surrency, and Brant and I had been dragged along to make it less awkward for my best friend and the college boy from my neighboring town that she'd just recently met.
When I saw an unfamiliar car approaching, pulling over to the shoulder of the road, I'd been waiting in line with Brent. He'd said that he would spring for both our tickets, and I should've known then that he was only trying to chase the guilt away.
He broke up with me only hours later.
Olivia stepped out, her heeled boots clicking against the sidewalk, and I watched every red blooded-male within a one-mile radius do a double-take. Even my then- boyfriend. Ugh.
What had I been thinking when I'd agreed to date Brant for those three months? Seriously. It should've been clear from the very beginning that he was just using me to get closer to my best friend- popular, perfect, Olivia the head cheerleader.
With her caramel colored skin, eyes that were not quite brown but not quite hazel, full lips, and long, corn silk hair that fell around her shoulders in loose waves, June was breath-stealing beautiful. It wasn't surprising that she'd snagged the interest of an older, college guy. And she looked like a pin-up model that night, standing beside her boyfriend's vintage Camaro, her red lip sticked mouth curling into a big smile as she spotted us.
As my best friend closed in on Brant and me, the driver's side door opened, and Jace McCormack climbed out.
He was wearing an Emory University baseball cap that shielded his eyes, his dark hair curling out from under it, and a varsity jacket that was zipped all the way up to his collar.
There was no sizzling attraction, no jolt of hot want that rushed through my veins or anything even remotely like that, but I could let myself appreciate how good-looking he was. And judging by the college apparel that he'd donned, I knew that the rumors I'd heard were true. He was only a freshman, but he was on a full scholarship to Emory, drafted by scouts and predicted to play the big leagues after he graduated.
Ironic, seeing as he was dating the daughter of Paul Sullivan, who was on the Trustee Committee at the university.
Jace introduced himself to Brant and me as if there might be someone in Surrency who didn't already know his name, as if he wasn't the best amateur baseball player that the south had seen in years.
When he finally did tip his chin up and his gaze locked on mine, I remember thinking that his nose had a slight hook in it, like it'd been broken a long time ago, and that he had such vivid ocean-blue irises, which remained on my best friend for the duration of the double-date.
There were no sparks, no dumb butterflies- something I was yet to feel, even for Brant. And it certainly wasn't love at first sight- something I was also yet to feel, and quite frankly, didn't believe in.
Jace was my best friend's boyfriend. End of story.
There were only a few words exchanged between us. A cursory glance. An awkward smile. And then I was turning away, sliding my hand into Brent's as we moved to the front of the line at the ticket booth.
I didn't know it back then, but one-night Jace would stop being just my best friend's boyfriend. He'd become much more than I ever thought he could, to the point where trying to remember him as anything less would seem next to impossible.
And, after the first night, there was almost a creeping sense of destiny. Because, as I'd learn, sometimes it only took a flicker of a second, a heart- stopping moment, for everything to change between two people- two colliding worlds that probably should've been kept apart.