Silence.

Silence was all I heard. That and the sounds of utensils against plates.

Everyone was eating with not much conversation. Mrs. Emerson and Sam on one side of the table and Jace and I on the other.

I glanced over to Jace out of the corner of my eye to see him eating with his eyes trained onto his plate. He hasn't said a word since his mom mentioned I would be staying for dinner.

"So." Mrs. Emerson spoke up. "How was everyone's day?"

Silence.

"Anyone?" She tried again, but Sam was more interested in his game that he was playing on his phone and Jace was focused on eating.

Mrs. Emerson's shoulders slummed in disappointment and I felt awful. She put so much effort and time into preparing this meal and no one is appreciates it.

"Um, my day was great actually." I spoke up from the deafening silence.

"Really?" Mrs. Emerson pipped up. She was just excited just to hear a response.

I felt Jace's eyes on me. "Definitely! I mean school is school, but I did get some great cooking lessons this afternoon." I told her smiling. "Which honestly, I would love to learn some more."

"Yes of course!" Mrs. Emerson said. "It was great having you help. If only I got that from my children."

Yes, Mrs. Emerson! You tell them!

I looked over to Jace to see him gaping at her. "Wait a minute mom, I help." He defended himself.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Sure, when was the last time?"

Jace looked thoughtful for a moment and muttered a few words under his breath. "Damn she's right." Was all I heard.

"Okay fine. You got me there. But what about Sam?" Jace pointed out.

Sam looked up from his phone with big doe eyes. Innocent as ever.

"What? I didn't do anything!" He whined.

"Exactly." Jace teased as he took a bite of his chicken.

"Mom, Jace is being mean to me." Sam complained.

"Maybe if you help once in awhile, he wouldn't be." She said but couldn't keep a straight face. A slight chuckle slipped her lips.

Sam gaped at her with wide eyes.

At a sight like that, even I couldn't contain myself.

"What are you laughing at, Leah?" Sam asked with narrowed eyes. "It's your fault that we're talking about this."

I gave him a thoughtful face before speaking. "You know we wouldn't be on this topic if you actually did help."

No one came to his defense.

"I can't believe this!" He said exclaimed. "I'm leaving." Sam slid back his chair and stomped away to his room.

Mrs. Emerson let out a small laugh. "I'll go check on him." She said then proceeded to follow her son.

The room fell silent and I was very aware that Jace and I were alone. I felt his eyes on me.

I looked up to his direction. His hazel eyes filled with curiosity. "Why did you come here?" He asked bluntly.

I thought for a moment.

What could I tell him?

"I came to make sure that you were alive." I told him. "But I didn't expect to meet your mom or brother."

"I'm alive and well as you can see." He said taking a sip of his water.

"I can see that. So why weren't you in school?" I questioned.

"Leah." Jace said in a warning tone.

"Jace." I answered back.

I was going to get some type of answer one way or another.

"What has been going on to keep you away from school?" I added.

"Sometime, I just don't want to go." He said firmly. "Stop asking so many questions."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Excuse me, I can ask as many questions as I want to."

"And I can choose to answer them or not." He retorted.

"You're impossible. I can't stand you sometimes." I huffed and sat back in my chair. "You know what, since this is obviously useless, I'm going home. Tell your mom I'll be back again for that amazing cake another day."

I stood up from my seat and grabbed my things before exiting the house. I didn't want to hear another excuse from Jace.

The night air was cool and sent a small shiver down my back. October was here and it was evident by the cooler weather.

Honestly, why do I even care about what's going on with Jace?

It could be I have a soft heart towards him.

Or we've actually became friends and I may care.

Who am I kidding? I do care and as a friend I should help if Jace needed. Even if he wants it or not.

I pulled my sweater closer to my body and started to walk down the driveway. As I edged closer to my car, I felt a strong hand grab my arm.

I turn back to see Jace. His hazel eyes glistened under the street light. His jaw set firmly in place. He slipped his hand into mine and without another word pulled me in the opposite direction of my car.

"Jace, where are we going?" I questioned.

Nothing.

"Jace." I called out again.

Nothing again.

"Jace!"

I was so focused on gaining his attention I didn't notice when he stopped causing me to crash right into his back.

I found my balance and looked over to see where were. It looked like we were at a park. There was a long stone pathway in the middle that was lined with green grass and tall trees. Down the end of the path was a playground and a sitting area.

Jace again pulled me to walk down the stone pathway to enter the park. This time side by side.

"This park. It holds so many memories." Jace spoke and I stayed silent. "I remember coming to this park often with my family. We use to have picnics every other weekend. Mom would pack a whole basket filled with food just so we could spend the whole day here." He smiled at the memory and I couldn't help but follow suit.

"My dad would make sure we always had a great time here. We would play hide and seek, soccer, baseball and fly kites. You name it, we did it." He continued.

"So that's you're as good as you are at sports." Jace was known to be super good at any sport he participated in gym. The coaches of different sports would try recruit him, but Jace never took an interest.

Jace gave me a cocky smile. "At least you pay attention." I rolled my eyes at him.

We made it down the pathway to the playground and sat on the two swings. "It sounds like you are close to your dad."

Jace nodded. "We definitely were close."

"I saw your family photo back in your house. Everyone looked so happy in it."

Jace let out a sigh. "Yeah." Was all he said.

We fell into a comfortable silence.

I glanced over to Jace. His eyes were focused ahead they were filled with so many emotions. Sadness, anger, resentment?

"Did it all change?" I asked softly. I felt like if I spoke any louder, I would break something specifically him. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"It did. My father died four days after that photo was taken." His voice filled with sadness and anger.

I was taken back. Shock coarse through me.

I felt so horrible for push for answers. I shouldn't have asked. I didn't want to open old wounds.

I grabbed his hand and held it, our fingers intertwined. "Jace, I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

Jace let out an emotionless chuckle. "It's not common knowledge."

"Still, I shouldn't have asked. I'm sorry I pried."

"It's okay. I really have talked to anyone about this in a very long time." He placed a light kiss on the back of my hand. "Thank you."

A warm feeling rush down my body. It felt like we hit a new place in our friendship, a place where we can be open and honest.

I gave him a smile. "Anytime, that's what I'm here for."

"Really? I thought you were here to steal the cake from my house." Jace teased.

"Hey! I put a lot of time and effort into that cake. I think I deserve a piece of not the whole cake." I pouted.

"Okay okay, you can even have my piece." Jace offered as we stood up from the swing set.

"And they say you're an asshole." I teased as we started to walk down the path. Still hand in hand.

"Wait a minute, they? Who is they?" Jace questioned.

"Just some people." I said vaguely.

"It was Ian and Luke, wasn't it?" He asked with narrowed eyes. "Those bitches." He muttered under his breath.

I let go off his hand and started to walk backwards. "I'm not telling!" I sang teasingly.

"No fair." Jace pouted. Even his pouting face was handsome. How can someone be so annoyingly perfect?

"I can't let al-" I started to say when my back hit something hard.

I turned around to see the same man that was in the parking lot the other day. His jet black hair was slick back, his green eyes held mischief once more as he towered over me.

I felt a cold chill run down my back as I meet his eyes.

"Hello, Leah."