Chapter 61-3

Chase didn’t even bother arguing about any of it. As long as he was “patient” and didn’t come to bother him that was good enough until the movie shoot wrapped up. Then Chase was going to avoid him for the rest of his life. When the day ended, Chase took Krislynn out for dinner since it was late and they were both too hungry to go home and cook. They decided on Chinese and after getting their drinks, placed their orders. “Are you sure you’re okay with just orange juice?” He teased, raising an eyebrow at Krislynn as she sipped on the liquid. “I could run down the street and buy you a jar of pickles. I’m sure they won’t mind if I brought it in.” “Not funny! Stop teasing me about it already. I don’t constantly bring up your affair with Troy.” “Who’s Troy?” Chase asked sternly. “That never happened.” Krislynn sneered at him briefly before her lips puckered together like a fish. “Oh!” She pointed excitedly behind him. “Is that Jace?” Following the direction of her finger, Chase peered over his shoulder and sure enough, Jace stuck out like a sore thumb with his thick glasses and his yellow and red polka-dotted tie. All he needed was a blue wig, Chase thought, and he would fit right in with the circus. “Hey Jace! Jace!” Everyone in the restaurant turned to look at their table when Krislynn jumped up and started waving at him. He noticed her immediately and Chase thanked the lord that people looked away after he started towards them. “Hey guys! This is a surprise.” “Yeah. What’s up?” Chase checked Jace’s background, but it didn’t seem like LaCienega was anywhere in sight. “You came alone?” He nodded. “Yeah, I’m working late tonight. I was going to pick up some take-out and go eat it back at my office.” “Well since you’re here, you should just sit and eat with us!” Krislynn chirped. She looked brightly at the both of them and Jace turned to look at Chase. “Is that alright? I don’t want to be a bother.” Chase glared at Krislynn, but she only stared back at him with this absentmindedly-excited expression. “Sure, why would it be a bother?” He mumbled, but everything about the tone of his voice to the furrow of his brows said otherwise. “Well if you say so,” Jace said, and what could Chase do at that point about his clueless friend, but to let it completely slide? He hadn’t forgotten about the fact that Jace had feelings for Krislynn, but he acted normal when socializing with her, and Chase doubt that Jace was going to start making any moves on her any time soon. “Oh my gosh, I love your tie by the way! It’s so cute!” And there it was again, Krislynn’s horrid fashion taste that made her think everything about Jace was absolutely endearing. Chase inwardly groaned wondering if he had to sit through an entire dinner of this. “Oh do you?” Jace laughed, his cheeks turning a soft pink. “Thank you! I have this same tie in a lot of other colors.” “I’m surprised LaCienega even lets you walk out wearing those things,” Chase muttered. “If I was her, I might have secretly burnt them while you were out.” “Chase! How could you say that?!” Jace laughed. “She wouldn’t do that.” He rubbed the tip of his chin in contemplation. “She does lose a lot of my clothing in the wash though. But that can’t be her fault right?” Krislynn and Chase both gave him a weird look and while the waitress came around to take Jace’s order, Krislynn excused herself to go to the washroom. “I hope you don’t mind me asking,” Chase started when the waitress left and he felt like it was the right moment to ask. “I wanted to ask you last time, but I didn’t really get the chance to.” “Well go on and ask. You know I don’t mind.” Chase sighed. “I was just wondering about you and LaCienega. It just doesn’t seem right to me. If you don’t have any feelings for her, why are you marrying her? Out of pity? You’re way too nice, but you shouldn’t just marry her because she loves you.” “It’s not pity Chase.” A low sigh tripped out of his mouth. “If anything, it’s more like… an arranged marriage.” Chase’s jaw dropped down. Well out of all the possible things that could have happened, an arranged marriage had never occurred to him. It almost felt like a fantasy or a storybook. “In this day and age?” He sputtered. “An arranged marriage? Seriously?” “Kind of. I didn’t say it is one, but it’s similar to one. You know that my dad works for LaCienega’s father right? And even though he had a good job with lots of income, my dad always wanted to make partner. He would always go to all the parties hosted by Mr. Perez and through one of those parties, that’s how I met LaCienega. Mr. Perez has always been a doting father, and I guess… LaCienega might have shown an interest to me ever since a young age.” Sighing, Chase took a long sip of his beer. He couldn’t even believe it. So it was like this. He remembered the time LaCienega told him how the two of them met. Basically, she had liked Jace ever since the first time she met him, and had probably fawned about him in front of her parents for years. It was probably something both LaCienega’s father and Jace’s father wanted. On one side, Mr. Perez would be able to marry his daughter off to a smart, upright man that she was madly in love with, and on the other, Jace’s father would probably be able to make partnership at Mr. Perez’s law firm being his new in-law. “You don’t have to say the rest,” Chase muttered. “I think I kind of get it.” Jace nodded, and smiled weakly that Chase didn’t force him to carry on. “But something like this… Is this what you want?” “I don’t really know what I want which was why I’ve been okay with this. My mother didn’t approve of my dad’s decisions of course… but that may be another story.” Chase groaned. The fact that Jace’s mother didn’t approve probably eventually led to their divorce. Seriously, he had never even considered Mr. Waite as the overly ambitious, greedy type, but what did he know? The last time he saw the man was almost ten years ago. “I don’t think you should go through with this. Seriously Jace, have you ever thought that you might be hurting LaCienega in the end? You said it yourself. That you’ll never come to love her. If you marry her, you’ll keep her away from finding someone who does want to marry her because he loves her. And what about you? You might not exactly know what you want to do right now, but whose to say you won’t later.” He cringed when he thought about Krislynn, but he had to say it. “And just like your feelings for Krislynn, you’ll find someone you’ll fall for again. Trust me. And when you find someone you like and someone that likes you, what are you going to with LaCienega? Cheat on her? Divorce her? For something like your father’s stupid ambition, you don’t have to pay the price for that. There’s way too much to lose.” Jace sighed, but before he had a chance to state his thoughts, Krislynn came waltzing back with the biggest goofball smile on her face. “I think I just saw Cameron Diaz in the bathroom,” she whispered, unable to contain her giggles. “Look! Look at this! I took a cellphone video!” Giggling she pulled her phone out and showed off the video to the both of them. Chase rubbed the side of his temple as he watched the suspicious blonde woman with a bandana over her head who could have been anyone inside the video. “Krislynn, I don’t think… I really don’t think that’s Cameron Diaz.”