The "study session" was a disaster.
Maya had her notes lined up like soldiers, highlighters ready for combat. Jace, on the other hand, was sprawled in the chair across from her, spinning his pen between his fingers and adding doodles to the corner of their outline.
"You're impossible," she muttered, crossing her arms.
He smirked. "And yet you invited me over."
"I don't invite you. My dad does."
Jace tilted his head, watching her with a strange softness. "Maybe that's because I've been here before."
Maya frowned. "What are you talking about? I know you've been here—for barbecues, poker nights, whatever. But—"
"No," he interrupted, his tone quieter. "I mean really been here. Stayed here."
She blinked. "Stayed here?"
"Yeah." He leaned back in his chair, gaze drifting toward the hallway that led upstairs. "When we were nine. A few days. I slept in your room."
Maya's jaw dropped. "What? No, you didn't. I would've remembered that."
"You don't?" He raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Your dad set up a sleeping bag on your floor. You kept asking a million questions—why was I there, why couldn't I just go home. I didn't answer. I couldn't."
Maya's mind reeled, trying to picture it. She vaguely remembered having a "guest" once, but she'd been too young to understand. "Why?" she asked quietly.
Jace looked down at his notebook, suddenly more interested in the page than her eyes. "Family stuff. Nothing you need to worry about." He forced a shrug, trying to make it casual. "Your dad was just… there for me. So yeah, your room. That was the first place I felt like I could breathe for a while."
The words hung between them, heavier than any of their usual banter.
Sophie's voice cut in from the living room. "Maya! Jace! Come watch this episode with me!"
Maya didn't move. She was still staring at him. "You should've told me."
He glanced up, a crooked half-smile tugging at his mouth. "What was I gonna say? 'Hey, remember that time we were nine and I crashed on your floor because my life was a mess?' Yeah, that would've gone over great."
Maya's lips pressed together. For once, she had no snappy retort.
Jace tapped his pen against the table, breaking the tension with his usual smirk. "Don't look at me like that, Maya. I'm still the same annoying guy. Just with a secret sleepover history."
Maya rolled her eyes, but the corner of her mouth twitched upward. She noticed that Jace called her Maya. "That's one way to put it."
And as Sophie yelled again from the living room, Maya realized something terrifying: she suddenly wanted to know everything Jace Carter wasn't saying.