A week later, Kade was making a slow but sure recovery, and we had even met his girlfriend Marie a few times. She was a sweet twenty year old girl who was unsure about having a baby so young, but had never even entertained the idea of giving it up.

Jace and I were laying on his couch when the phone call came.

He got up to answer the phone and dropped it from his hands almost immediately.

"Jace, are you okay?" I asked concerned.

He turned to me and shook his head slightly. "No." He muttered.

I picked up the phone and saw the caller ID, Dad.

"Oh my gosh." I said slowly, "Do you want to answer it?"

"Will you do it?" He asked nervously.

I clicked the answer button and held it up to my ear. There was a breath on the other line. "Jace?" A man asked.

"No, this is Lexi." I replied. "I'm his-"

"Are you another one of his hoes?" The man asked.

"No, I'm his girlfriend actually." I replied sharply.

"I'd watch what you're getting yourself into... my son's a bit crazy." He laughed excessively on the other line.

"Sir, are you drunk?" I asked him, baffled and angry at what he said about Jace.

"Figures." Jace said quietly.

"I want to talk to Jace." The man said.

"I don't think he wants to talk to you." I replied.

"Such an ungrateful bastard. Tell him I'm coming into town on Saturday, and I expect to see him at his game." The man said and hung up.

Shiiiiiiii..... how am I supposed to tell Jace?

"What'd he say?" Jace asked me in a quiet voice.

"That he's coming to your game on Saturday..." I said hesitantly.

"Oh." Jace replied.

His voice was quiet and sad, and I was worried that he was gonna start shutting himself down. There were markings of a frown etched into his mouth, but I could tell he was trying to stay positive on the outside. He was trying to put up a facade of being okay when he really wasn't.

"Well, let's just enjoy the rest of the day together." He said with a smile that was a bit too big to be real. I decided to humor him, and laid back against his chest as we continued our search for a television show to watch.

We were in the middle of an episode of The Office when I whispered, "You know I'll be at the game right?"

He just nodded and kissed me on the cheek.

~~~~~~~~~

I sat down at the lunch table next to Sebastian on Friday.

"How's Kade doing?" He asked with a hopeful smile.

"He's doing a lot better, and his girlfriend Marie is really nice, but I'm worried about Jace." I said.

"Why?" Sebastian asked frowning.

"His dad is coming back into town for the weekend, and I don't think that Jace is-" I began.

"Johnson alert." Sebastian whispered quickly, and I shut up.

Seconds later, Jace kissed me on the cheek and sat down beside me. "Hey Babe" he whispered and then looked to Sebastian with a nod "Where's Lily?"

"Right here!" She screamed from behind us, not even drawing the cafeteria's attention. They were used to her voice by now. She sat across from us and Sebastian cringed.

"Ya know what, I'll leave you two lovebirds to it." Sebastian whined as he got up to sit next to Lily.

I scooted over and Jace kept his arm around me. We had a neutral conversation... well as neutral as you can be when you have a Lily, and the rest of the day went by pretty fast.

Jace and I were making pasta casserole in the kitchen, and he had just called me beautiful when I turned to him. "Jace are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" He asked.

"Jace, you know why." I stressed.

"Lexi, just lay off." He said slightly annoyed.

"Jace, I'm trying to be there for you. You can't just shut down or pretend that what's happening isn't happening." I said, starting to get annoyed with him.

"No you're not, you're being controlling. You just want me to tell you that there's something wrong so you can play super girlfriend and say some 'it's gonna be okay' shit, but that's not gonna fix anything. you can't do anything to help me." Jace said.

"Oh seriously?" I asked. "Is that how you feel?"

"Yeah, it is. In fact I'd rather you not be at the game tomorrow, cause I don't need you there, and you don't need to waste seven dollars on a soccer game. Save your money for your precious Europe trip." He sneered.

"Are you kidding me, Jace?" I asked outraged, "Is that what this is about?"

"It's always been that, after the school year ends, you're gonna leave me, just like dad. You're gonna go off to Europe and end our casual relationship because you don't want any distractions, come back, go to college and forget about me." Jace said like he was forecasting the future.

"Is that seriously what you think Jace?" I asked hurt. "Who cares if our relationship is casual or serious or whatever else? That's just a label, Jace. I love you. It's about me and you, and you have to open up to me."

"What if I don't want to open up to you? And what if I want a serious relationship?" Jace countered.

"Well then we'll have a serious relationship! Jace Johnson will you be in a serious relationship with me? I mean, seriously, is it that hard?" I asked laughing.

Jace stayed quiet.

"Jace?" I asked.

He opened his mouth to say something, and then I realized that he didn't say it back. He always either said it first or said it back.

He closed his mouth.

"Jace?" I asked again.

"I don't, I don't think that this is a good time for us." Jace said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice wavering slightly.

"I mean, I don't know if this is a good weekend for us." Jace said lowly.

"You're breaking up with me." I said.

"No, I'm not. I mean kind of, but just until my dad leaves." Jace replied.

"That's not how a relationship works Jace. You can't just breakup with me when things get hard and then come back when things are better. You're supposed to let me be there for you."

He looked like he was struggling with his words. "I don't want you to see me when my dad is around." He admitted, "I don't want you to think less of me."

"Jace you know I won't." I said slowly. "Look, I'm gonna go now and let you think about things, I'll be back tomorrow to take Hallie and Cal to the game-"

"No. They can't come. I don't want dad talking to them." Jace said quickly.

"Well then I'll have my parents watch them and Tyler and I will come together, and we can get lunch together afterwards?" I suggested.

"I'm having lunch with my dad afterwards." He said.

"Well then we'll talk later, I guess." I said. I grabbed my bag from the barstool and walked to the door. "Bye guys!" I shouted up at Cal and Hal, trying to keep the waver out of my voice. He never said it.

As the door was about to close, Jace spoke out, "Wait Lex, I love you too."