I Left My Heart In Cafe Craeneburg

Chapter 16 

I awoke to the sound of the loud snoring. Sitting up, I noticed that I was in a bed and that the room was tidy. But I then turned around to see Jace huddled up on the bed next to me. I say huddled because that's what he was; sometime in the night, I'd starfished out and left no room for him to sleep. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, almost younger and more vulnerable. I never noticed how sculpted his face was; clear cut cheek bones and supple lips that were perfectly kissable and emerald green eyes that sparkled like the sun when he was happy, and was also staring up at me. His bushy eyebrows were raised in confusion before one just stayed up and his lips curved into a smirk. 
"See something you like?" he grinned maniacally. 
"Nah, I was just thinking how ugly you are" I retorted.
Suddenly, everything dawned on me what had happened last night. 
"Last night wasn't a dream was it?" I asked burying my head in the palms of my hand. 
"Nope" Jace replied cheerfully. I just shook my head and looked around the room for a change of subject. 
"Oh, you cleaned up your room then?" I stated; everything was tidy again. 
"And laid you on the bed. The floor isn't very comfortable to be honest" he winked. "but I'm beat, so I might go back to bed if that's ok?" he asked, which I found really sweet. 
"Yeah sure", I replied nonchalantly, "I had plans to meet up with Paige anyway" I grinned as I stepped out of the bed. 
"Love you" Jace called out as I left the room. 
"Oh I know" I called back. 
"Marco" he shouted cheekily. What was this, nursery? But I played along anyway. 
"Polo" I replied. 

Once outside, I did a happy dance. Completely oblivious to the fact that Jace could see me out of his window and was doing so, or to the fact that I had no ride to the coffee shop. 
"Cute dance" I heard a chuckle from above me. I cast my eyes upwards and saw Jace casually leaning from out of his window.
"Shut up. And I thought that you were tired" I replied. 
"I was, but I heard the shrieking and remembered that you had no ride" he shrugged like it was no big deal, but to me it was; he saw my crappy dance? Oh kill me now. 
"Urm, ok?" I didn't really know what to say to that, "thanks?"
"No problem" he replied with a grin. 

~ Once at the coffee shop, I bid goodbye to Jace and went to search for Paige. 
"Hey chicca!" she said from behind me.

"hey!" I exclaimed in a grin. 
"Hello to your friend too" she grinned. 
"Huh?" I asked in confusion. 
"That love bites so big, it has it's own gravitational pull" she replied with a smirk. 
"Ah crap" I sunk down in the nearest available chair. 
"Was it Jace?" she asked. 
"Nail on the head"
"thought so!" she exclaimed happily. Seriously, she looked about ready to burst out singing show tunes.
"He said he loves me Paige" I wispered. 
"Hang on, let's get a coffee and we'll talk, ok?" she asked. 
"Ok"
After we got our coffees- hot chocolate for me- we finally settled down to talk. 
"Do you love him?" she asked me. 
"Yes” I whispered in a gasp. I’d never actually said that to anybody about anybody. I still didn’t like admitting it though; it was like I was giving a piece of me away. And I couldn’t trust people enough as it was. But something, deep inside me, told me to trust him, to go out on a limb and just go with it.
"Then it's simple, make it work." she replied with a shrug. 
"Oh, it really is that simple" I realised out loud, "what would I do without you Paige?" I sighed. 
"Die" she said very matter of factly before bursting out into a full blown giggle fit. I joined in too after a couple of moments. 
It seemed like I had nothing to worry about. 
Yet.