Jason - 2. Part 3: Jace goes on a Date

It all started after fifth period. Just as we were getting out of classes, Jace accosted me in the halls after texting me that he had this “very important” information he wanted to share with me.

“Are you for real Jace,” I asked, “or are you just pulling my leg?”

“I’m serious, I have a date! Why don’t you believe me? Do you think I’m undateable?”

Would he be upset if I said yes? “I thought you don’t date, Jace. What changed?”

“It’s not what, my good sir. It’s who!” Already irritated by Jace’s vagueness, he turned me around and pointed to me the exit of the gym. “They should arrive in t-minus 10 seconds.”

“They?” Jace said nothing as he watched the gym door. Under ten seconds later, there they were. Greenville high’s swimming team, coming out in their green team jackets and orange swim trunks. They gave each other high fives and laughed at jokes that Jace nor I would be able to hear from this far. I wondered if they planned to laugh loudly and noticeably as they were exiting the gym doors to give the impression they were enjoying themselves.

“Well?” Jace said. “Ain’t he dreamy?”

“Who?”

“The short one, Jason! Get with it!” I looked back at them to find the shortest guy on the team, and there he was. It was Max Phillips, one of our prize winning swim demons. He was the real deal, which made me wonder: how did Jace get a date with him? “I think there will be sparks tonight" - he said with a nudge - "Pew pew!”

“Jace, are you really trying to convince me that-”

“Hey Jace.”

“Hey.” The both of us said. Shoot! I wish the two of our names weren’t so similar… We turned around to find Max, popping his head into our a and b conversation. “Are you still good for tonight?” When he moved closer to us, I noticed Max’s dirty blonde hair, green eyes, and braces in his teeth.

Jace had that goofy, cheshire cat smile on his face, giving me that “told you so” look. “You know it! I’ll see you then.”

“Okay.” Max smiled as he walked away.

Jace nudged me on elbow. “Eh, eh? Whaddya think? Didn’t think good o’le Jace had it in him, did you?” No I didn’t, is what I wanted to say. This date meant one thing: intervention.

I informed Isabel that Jace had a date tonight. She said to meet at his place at 7pm.

“And tell him not to get high!” She exclaimed through text.

Jace and I went to his place after school and he started showing me his wardrobe. Jace had the funkiest clothes out of any high schooler I knew. Lime green suit jackets, highlighter yellow pants. He walks through the world like it’s his runway.

“I don’t think this is my strong suit,” I said, holding one of Jace’s pink suit shirts over him. “Can we just wait until Isabel gets here?

“What are you good for Jason if you can’t even help me pick out a shirt!” Jace said with frustration as he pushed the shirt away from him. “Fine, we’ll wait for Isabel. But I do have a favor.” My heart sunk. Jace’s favors weren’t ordinary favors like “Can I borrow a dollar?” or “Can you help me beat a video game?” His favors were more like “Can you help me break into the school records to change my grades?” or “Can you imitate my dad’s voice when my teacher calls home tonight?”

“What’s the favor?” I asked.

“Come with me on the date! Give me pointers, let me know when I’m acting weird.” ...What the hell!

“Umm Jace, I can’t just be your third wheel on the date. It’d probably make Max more nervous than he already is.”

“Hmm, you’re right.” Jace seemed to let it go, putting his hand to his chin in a thinking pose. Then his finger went up, like he was internally saying, “Eureka!”

He continued, “It can be a double date!”

“Double date? I’m not dating anyone Jace.”

“But there’s someone who can be your play girlfriend!” My mind started imagining all the girls in school Jace hangs out with: Hazel, Jennifer, Renee. Ooh, I’d be able to choose from them all! He’s a gay theatre kid, girls adore him. “Isabel!”

Disappointment had befallen me. “Are you kidding me? Isabel? Have you forgotten about Felix? Do you want me at risk of bodily harm?”

“Just ask her! Do it for me man, I’m desperate! The parentals haven’t even had the birds and bees talk with me…” Exactly why does Jace need to know about sex? Was he actually expecting to do that...tonight? This guy was more in need of an intervention than I thought.

“I don’t think the birds and bees talk needs to happen for a while, Jace. Besides, you weren’t actually going to try and, well do things with him...were you?”

“I mean, yeah dude,” Jace said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’ve all had girlfriends and boyfriends, you should know.”

“Jace, I don’t think any of us have had sex yet.” Jace’s eyes bugged out. Doesn’t he think if I lost my virginity, I’d tell him? I’d tell EVERYBODY.

Then he laughed it off. “You’re kidding me, none of you? Not even Isabel?” What was he saying? Am I that unlikely to be “laid”? I was offended, but too ashamed to admit it.

“Not as far as I know.”

Jace still looked as though he didn’t believe me. “Well whatever then. What we should figure out is where to go!” As Jace sat with this thought, a knock came to the door before being opened. It was Jace’s mom.

“Your friend is here,” she said, revealing Isabel on the other side of the door. She looked at the floor. “Jace, what are you doing with my high heels in your room?”

Jace had a panicked look on his face as he looked at Isabel and I. “I...I...wanted to show them to Isabel!” Isabel looked confused.

“Are you actually interested in wearing high heels, dearie?” She asked. Isabel nodded without looking very sure. “Oh, I know what’s going! You all getting ready for the prom, huh? You have awhile to worry about that. Well Isabel, you can come by and try on my heels anytime. But let me know first!” Ms. Wong patted Isabel’s head before walking out the door.

I asked. “...Why do you have your mom’s heels in your room?”

“Not important,” Jace said, blowing off the question. “Isabel, close the door, I have to ask you something important!”

Isabel looked at Jace frustratingly. “You could’ve said hi first…” Isabel shut the door, plummeting Jace’s room into darkness.

Jace looked around as if the walls had ears. “Have you really never had sex yet, Isabel?!” Isabel looked horrified. I wanted to crawl in a ditch.

“Umm...why would you- I mean I never - we’re not talking about this right now.” Isabel walked more into the room towards the closet. Jace looked at me confused. I didn’t tell him to ask her this! “Anyway Jace, we have bigger fish to fry. You have a date!”

There were a few things we needed to do before going on Jace’s date. First, we needed some intel. Leroy, being the self proclaimed waterboy for all of the sports teams on campus would surely have the dirt we needed on this so-called Max Phillips, if that was his real name.

“Whose Max?” Leroy asked while we were on the phone. “...Oh wait, him! Max is alright. One time, he said ‘thank you’ after I grabbed him a towel from the locker room!”

As for Felix, Isabel gave him a call to let him know that I would be Isabel’s play date for the evening. He was surprisingly cool with it.

“But hey,” he said, directing his response to me through the phone. “No funny stuff. I got class with you on Monday, so I’ll know if you try anything.” Why would Felix worry about me doing anything with Isabel? We’ve been friends since elementary school! Doesn’t he think I would’ve asked her out by now? High school couples are super territorial.

We decided to meet at Dave and Buster’s because “it has food AND video games” as Jace liked to point out. Isabel and I found a seat for us four while Jace went outside to get some air.

“I was worried about being too dressed down,” Isabel said, “but what am I worried about? This is Dave and Buster’s.”

“You do know this is a fake date, right,” I asked.

“Well of course, Jason. Did you really think I’d stoop so low as to cheat on Felix with you?” Isabel and I did nothing to our appearances before meeting here, to Jace’s discontent. He accused of half ass-ing our “date”. We’re not even dating!!!

“What’s up, what’s up,” said Jace as he scooted in next to me. Isabel was looking at the menu before making a face. A second later, I realized why she made that look.

“Jace,” I exclaimed, “we told you NOT to get high before the date!”

Jace had that goofy ass smile on his face again with his eyes closed, his palms pressed his cheeks. “High? Me? C-c-come on now, Jason. You know when I’ve had some of the green stuff.” I know, Jace, that’s why I’m talking to you about it now! “It’ll be chill, don’t you worry…” As Jace was about ready to fall asleep on the table, Max showed up. Jace’s eyes sprung open.

“Hey...how’s everyone doing?” said Max nervously. “I didn’t expect there to be four of us actually…”

“Oh umm,” said Isabel, “Jace invited Jason and I for a double date! Is that alright?”

“Uhh, sure.” Max took his seat. “Hey Jace.”

Jace still had googly eyes on Max and tried sipping his drink through his straw in this weird, pseudo-seductive way. “Hey, what’s shaking?” Isabel and I looked at each other. This was going to be a long night.

“So uhh, I didn’t know you two were dating.” Max was looking at Isabel and I. Isabel kicked me under the table to get rid of the stupid look I must’ve had on my face.

“Oh ya,” Isabel said, “It’s a pretty recent thing.”

“Really?” He sounded as though he didn’t believe it. “Everybody at school always sees you two together. I just thought you were dating that one dude, I think his name was Fel-”

“Max,” I interrupted, “so how did you and Jace, you know, get together and stuff?”

Max smiled bashfully. “I met him at one of my swim meets. I never seen him around, but he seemed really into it when I saw him there.”

“I didn’t know you were into swimming, Jace,” Isabel said.

“Yeah sure,” said Jace. I’m willing to bet he only went to check out the guys…

“And then,” Max continued, “he saw me after the meet. He told me I did really good and said he was rooting for me through the whole meet. I thought that was really sweet.”

“Aww,” said Isabel.

“...By the way, what’s that smell?” Max started sniffing loudly through his nose like he were some dog trying to pick up a scent.

“You smell something?” I asked.

“Yeah...it smells...like pot in here.” Isabel, Jace, and I looked at each other simultaneously. Great, now Max is going to realize that Jace is nothing more than the school stoner with pervy ways.

“Jason,” Jace said all of a sudden. “I told you man, no smoking before the date.” He leaned into Max and put his hand up to his mouth in order to make himself quiet. “I tried to tell him to keep it at home. Dude never listens.” How dare him! How is he gonna put this on me?! Max nodded, looked at me, then turned away as if embarrassed to be around me. Whatever bro, you’re in for a reality check.

“Umm, you wanna play some games or something,” Max asked Jace. Jace blinked and just stared at Max. I nudged him on the shoulder.

“Oh sure yeah. I uhh, got a card for you to use too.” Jace pulled out two Dave and Buster’s power cards. I could’ve sworn one of them looked familiar…

“Oh okay. Thank you.” Max looked like he was really liking Jace. They grabbed their cards and they were off to the game section.

Isabel laid her head on her chin and smiled at them. “Isn’t that sweet? Look at them frolicking in the arcade…”

“Isabel,” I said. “I think that was YOUR Dave and Buster’s card.” Isabel turned to me with the look of the Devil herself on her face.

“What?!” Isabel hopped off the seat and rushed their way. As she sprinted over to them, I realized our job here was done.

That Monday, Jace said his date with Max was “like a dream.” I wanted to ask if that was because of the weed. When I was taking my books out of my locker, Sally Johnson came up to me.

“Hey Jason,” said Sally. It took me a minute to respond. I didn’t know why her of all people wanted to talk to me.

“Hey Sally,” I said, “what’s going on?”

“Nothing here, I just came to see you after what I heard!” I was confused. I had no idea what she was talking about.

I closed my locker. “Heard what?”

“I heard you and Isabel were the new couple on campus! Congratulations!” As Sally walked off, I could feel my heart beating faster and I felt myself sweat all over. Oh no, Felix is going to beat the hell out of me!