Three years ago.

Jace's POV.

Dunkin's cabin makes this party feel important, I mean, it is important, we just graduated high school and we'll be leaving our parents's houses in a few months and we'll be all alone in the real world.

It's a little bit scary but it sounds ecstatic.

"Where are you going for the summer?" I ask Cass, passing her the joint that we came out here to smoke.

"New York," she takes it from my fingers, "I signed with a really good agency and I think it's time to give modeling my full attention," she says with a lot of certainty.

"What about College?" I shove my hands in my pockets.

"College who?" She places the joint between her lips and sucks in her cheeks.

"Seriously?" I chuckle at her response.

"Nah," she laughs, "I'll take online classes," she tells me.

"You have it all figured out, huh?" I sigh, looking up at the sky that rumbles with thunder.

"No one has it all figured out, plans change all the time," she breaths out a puff of smoke, "And you? Where are you gonna be?" She extends the joint back to me.

"Kansas, my uncle lives there and I haven't seen him in a while," I plaster a small smile.

"I feel like you're just running away from a certain someone," she pulls her puffer jacket to her chest.

"Honestly, I am," I huff.

"Do you miss her?" She twists her lips.

"She's my girl, no matter how much I wanna hate her, I just can't," I answer honestly.

"Aww," she nudges her shoulder with mine.

"Shut up," I kick a rock, embarrassed.

"You can always just get back with her and put it all behind you, start fresh and clean," she advises.

"You know, now that I think about it, I don't think I broke up with her because she cheated, I did it because I wanted her to date someone who's not me," I say.

"But why?" She asks.

"All my life, I've had girls throw themselves at me, making me feel like I could have anyone I wanted, it all got to my head and it made me treat girls like trash, I never took them on dates or to the movies or bought them things, I'd just fuck them, ignore them and then break up with them like it was nothing." I wrinkles my face at my own behavior.

"A lot of guys do that," she points out.

"Yeah but I wanted to do it differently with Olivia, she was special and I needed change but I still found a way to fuck that up too," I say.

"No one's perfect, Jace, the most important thing right now is that you know your mistakes and you're willing to change, you're going to be at a new school soon and no one's gonna know your name or your past, personally, I think that's the universe trying to give you a second chance," she tells me.

"Yeah," I nod in agreement.

"Is that...?" She trails while looking up at the sky, I also look up and a rain drop lands on my forehead like a rock.

"I knew it, I told them it always rained up here," I push off of Diego's car, "Come on," we start heading back to into the house.

As soon as we enter, I notice that everyone looks crazier than they did when we stepped out.

"There they are!" Matt and Diego make their way towards us.

"I'll go look for Blair," Cass shouts to me over the music and walks off before I get the chance to respond.

"Are we getting fucked up or are we fucking our way up tonight?" Matt wraps his arm around my neck and ruffles my hair.

"Both?" I laugh, mostly at how drunk he sounds.

He releases me and shows me a big fat grin.

"With Cass?" He winks at me.

"No," I look to where she disappeared to, "You guys were right, she's way out of my league," I admit.

They exchange a glance.

"Drink, bitch," Diego shoves a bottle to my chest and I take it then I chug from it.

"That's the stuff," I groan and wipe my mouth with my sleeve, passing the bottle back to him.

His eyes travel over my shoulder and he juts his chin up, signaling me to look. I twist my neck to look behind me to the entrance and my eyes land on Olivia, in a tight red dress with Tristan's arm around her shoulder.

"What is she doing here?" I didn't mean to ask that out loud.

"And with him?" Diego tries to take a step forward but I extend my hand to his chest.

"Leave it alone, we broke up, she can do whatever she likes," I tell him, he looks at me like I'm crazy for saying that.

"Broke up? You dated her? When? Who even is she?" Matt questions everything at the same time.

"Maybe you should get out of Daisy's pussy more frequently," Diego responds to Matt in a bitter tone, I choke out a laugh.

"Maybe you should stop talking about my girlfriend's pussy, you pussy," Matt shoves Diego.

"What was that, a comeback?" Diego snorts at him before walking away.

Matt looks at me like he's waiting for me to say something.

"It was a pretty bad comeback," I shrug.

"Whatever, who was that?" He sounds persistent.

"Doesn't matter, let's go get fucked up," I walk towards the kitchen and he follows behind me.

We take a lot of shots and swallow some pills while we're at it, I don't know why he's doing it but I'm doing it because I want to forget but the more I drink, the more her face comes to mind and it's not just her face, it's everything, everything little detail about her.

"You okay, bro?" Matt grips my shoulder and that's when I realize that I'm leaning my elbow over the kitchen counter and I'm tugging my hair.

"No," I start walking out of the kitchen and then I'm shoving my way through the crowd, searching for them.

I clench my jaw when I spot them standing by the fire place, she has a red cup in her hand, sipping from it while he's explaining something with his hands.

I stride towards them at a fast pace and as soon as I reach where they are, I fist Tristan's shirt and punch him right in the face, the blow makes him stumble back and he cups his jaw, wincing in pain.

"What the hell?" He looks confused.

"That's for fucking my girlfriend," I mutter more to myself then I force myself to walk away because I'll definitely punch him again if I don't.

I step outside where it's still raining but that doesn't stop me, I just need to get out of here, I didn't bring my own ride but maybe I can just walk, it would literally take me a day to reach home by foot but I prefer that to spending another minute at this party.

"Jace!" I hear Olivia's voice calling out for me in the rain but I keep walking and the rain becomes heavier.

"Jace, hey, what was that?" She stands in front of me, causing my steps to come to a halt.

I push back my wet hair, blinking rain from my lashes and looking at the road and the woods.

I'm drunk, I'm way into my own head and I don't feel like talking to her or anyone and-

"Hey, hey, hey," she holds my arm and examines my face, "what's wrong?" She asks like she doesn't know.

"Did you come here with him to make me jealous?" I take a step away from her, "Cause, it worked," I add.

"No, no, Jace, of course not," she tries to touch me again but I take another step back.

"Are you like.... sleeping with him?" I don't think I need to know the answer to that but I asked it anyway.

"No, I'm not sleeping with him," she shakes her head.

"Then why'd you show up here with him, Olivia?" I rub the back of my neck in frustration, "And in that dress," I point at her dress.

"I showed up with him because he insisted on coming and I wore this dress because..." she cuts herself off with a sigh, "I wore this dress because I wanted you to see me," she says softly.

That confession eases up all the tension in my body, it makes me want to do something stupid like kiss her and maybe fuck her in the woods but no, I'm not that person anymore, I'm not even the person for her.

"Goddamn it, why won't you just leave me alone? Let me move on in peace, please?" I ask pleadingly.

"Okay," her voice breaks and she tries to keep a straight face.

"Okay," I say after her.

"I'm gonna go ask Tristan to drive me home," she points back to the house.

Just hearing that guy's name makes me wanna throw up.

"Why him? Why can't you just drive yourself home?" I ask since I saw her  car in the driveway so I know he didn't drive them here.

"Because I'm drunk," she attempts to sound playful, I'm guessing to ease all the awkwardness.

I don't say anything so she walks passed me back to the party, I turn around to watch her go and I don't think I can get through the thought of her being anywhere near that guy.

"I'll drive you." I volunteer.

"I thought you said-"

"I know what I said but I don't want that guy anywhere near you. I'll drive you," I say, she reaches her hand in her purse and digs out her car keys.

She throws them to me and I catch them mid-air.

"Let's go then," she starts walking to where her car is parked. I follow.