Ava's POV
The silence he left behind was deafening.
I didn't move for a full minute, not even when Layla called my name again—this time louder and closer. My brain was still trying to reboot itself after what Jace had said. Because I like the way I look at you better.
Who even says something like that?
Apparently, Jace Collins.
"Earth to Ava," Layla said, waving a hand in front of my face. "What just happened? You look like someone hit pause on your brain."
I opened my mouth, closed it, then looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.
"Jace just… said something," I managed, my voice strangely calm.
Layla narrowed her eyes. "Define something. Because the way you're standing here like you just witnessed a solar eclipse, I'm guessing it wasn't nothing."
"He said he likes me."
The words felt bizarre coming out of my mouth. Heavy. Real.
Layla blinked. "Wait. What? Like, likes you likes you? Not like hates-you-in-an-annoyed-way?"
I nodded.
She let out a squeal so high-pitched I was afraid glass would shatter.
"Oh my God, Ava! This is huge!"
I grabbed her arm. "Shhh! He just left, and I don't… I haven't even had a chance to think yet."
Layla studied my face for a moment, then said more softly, "Okay. But how do you feel?"
I hesitated.
The answer was complicated.
Jace and I had been at each other's throats for years. Then, somehow, we became reluctant partners. Then... tentative friends. And now? He'd gone and blown the whole fragile thing wide open with that.
"I don't know," I admitted. "I think… I might not hate it."
Layla grinned like that was the best news she'd heard all week.
We headed off campus together, her chatting animatedly about the schedule for the next day, but I barely absorbed a word. My mind kept circling back to Jace—his expression, his words, the hesitation in his voice.
He meant it.
And that was the scariest part.
---
Jace's POV
Sam wouldn't shut up.
"You told her?" he asked, jogging beside me as we left the field. "Like, actually told her?"
"Yes, Sam. I told her."
He made a strangled sound that was probably supposed to be celebratory. "That's big, man. Huge. You've been mooning over her for weeks."
"I have not been mooning—"
"Jace," he interrupted, deadpan. "You glared at a guy for complimenting her ."
Okay, maybe I'd been less subtle than I thought.
I sighed. "I just… I couldn't stand watching her laugh at that guy's joke like it meant something."
Sam clapped me on the back. "Well, now she knows. What happens next?"
I honestly didn't know. And that was terrifying.
---
Ava's POV
That evening, I sat on my bed with a history textbook open in my lap and zero pages read.
Layla had left after dinner, swearing she wouldn't text me "unless it was a fashion emergency or if Jace posted something cryptic." The house was quiet, the kind of quiet that made your thoughts louder than they had any right to be.
I replayed the conversation over and over in my head. His voice. His expression. That moment when he admitted something so completely un-Jace that it made my heart stutter.
I thought about texting him.
I thought about ignoring it.
Neither option felt right.
So I did something stupid instead.
I walked outside.
---
Jace's POV
I was shooting hoops in the driveway, trying to burn off the restlessness eating at my brain. The basketball thudded against the pavement, echoing through the quiet night like a heartbeat.
Then headlights flashed at the end of the street.
Then footsteps.
And then—Ava.
I froze mid-dribble, the ball bouncing away.
She folded her arms as she reached the edge of the driveway. "I thought you said you'd see me tomorrow."
My heart leapt and crashed in the same second. "Yeah. I didn't think you'd show up tonight."
She shrugged. "I couldn't sleep."
I grabbed the ball again, more to give my hands something to do than anything else. "So you walked here?"
"Layla lives three blocks down. I told my mom I forgot something."
There was a pause.
And then she said, "You caught me off guard."
I stopped bouncing the ball.
"I didn't plan it," I said. "I didn't even want to say anything today. But then you were smiling at that guy and I just…"
"Felt something," she finished quietly.
I nodded.
She took a step closer.
"I don't know what this is, Jace. I'm still figuring it out. But I know I don't hate that you said it."
That was enough to make my chest tighten.
"I don't expect anything," I said. "I just— I'm tired of pretending I don't feel it."
She nodded slowly. "Then maybe… we don't have to pretend anymore."
Another step closer.
I could feel the shift between us—like the lines we'd drawn for years were blurring, washing away with each heartbeat.
Neither of us moved to cross the final space between us.
But we didn't walk away either.
And maybe, for now, that was enough.
---
Ava's POV
I walked home under the stars.
Not quite smiling. Not quite confused.
Just changed.
Something had shifted.
And nothing about tomorrow would be the same
Will have to wait and see how things go,what exactly Jace means....
I don't know why but just hope it's not exactly what I'm thinking,i rather be enemies than be what I think he wants us to be,it's just not right to me