thank you all so much for the reviews and favorites and follows and all that shit :) my plan is to post every thursday but i'm a college student, and as i'm sure every college student - or any student for that matter - knows, life doesn't always take into account your plans. this story is kinda like half prewritten because i've had this idea for ages, as you could probably tell from the dates at the top of every chapter, so please be patient with me if my upload is a little late because i'm always changing or scratching things. and hopefully, i'll be able to squeeze in another chapter some weeks. here's to what's hopefully going to be a good ride, cheers!

Saturday, June 2, 2018

Jace was tired but happy, which was normally how he felt during his summers here at Camp Alicante.

He had spent the entire day cleaning out the gross pool. New York winters were brutal and it definitely took a toll on the camp facilities. Luke would regularly drive over on his four-wheeler during the winter but one man could only do so much.

So Jace and some other people he didn't really know had spent hours draining the pool of all the gross water and picking out the matted leaves and other gunk.

Hence, the tiredness.

After a long forty minute shower, Jace had found Clary and Izzy spooning in his bed while they waited with Jon and Alec for him. The five of them were now walking through a dark part of the forest on a path towards town. Camp Alicante was located right next to a small town that had a population of 1500 with a two-pump gas station, a Walmart, and a 24-hour diner that made the best milkshakes and fries.

Clary was on his back, thighs resting on his forearms and chin tucked on his shoulder, the fly aways from her hair brushing his skin with the wind.

Hence, the happiness.

"Fuck," Jon swore, stumbling a couple steps after he tripped on a large rock.

It was against camp rules to sneak out and they were pretty sure that the majority of camp didn't even know this path existed. The only reason they knew about it was because Jon's dad had went to this camp when he was a kid and had shared the little secret with them. Because of the secretness of the path, it wasn't lit so even with their flashlights the path was still pretty dark. Unfortunately for them, Jon's mishap with the rock wasn't uncommon for any of them.

Their own stumbles didn't stop them from making fun of their friend, of course.

Jace could feel the curve of Clary's mouth against his neck as she smiled at her brother's mishap. If Jace hadn't already been smiling, the feel of her smile and the sound of her pretty laugh right next to his ear definitely would have made him.

The path got a little lighter as they neared the opening and the colors of the setting sun dipped between the trees.

"I've been craving one of these milkshakes for months," Izzy practically moaned as they stepped out of the woods and into someone's yard. They made this run several times a summer since they turned 14 and had only run into the owners three times. Luckily for them, it was an elderly couple who thought their friendship was sweet and told them they never minded when the five of them cut through their yard.

Clary made a noise of agreement next to his ear at the same time Jon made the same noise. Twins.

Three minutes later they were walking into the dinner and getting seated by one of the familiar waitresses whose name tag read Denise. She looked a little older than Jace's mom but with laugh lines and a soft figure, two things that his mother would never be caught dead with.

"What can I get y'all to drink, darlings?" She asked, her voice drenched in that small town accent that everyone around here seemed to have.

"I think we'll all just have waters," Clary said hesitantly from her seat next to him, looking around at the rest of them for someone to disagree. Her thigh was pressed against his and Jace was so distracted he would have agreed to just about anything that came out of her mouth.

After no one disagreed, Denise nodded. "Alright, I'll be right back with those for ya."

"Should I go for oreo or cookie dough?" Jon asked, looking at the milkshake section of the menu.

"Chocolate," Alec said, not bothering to look at the menu because he already knew exactly what he was getting.

"What are you going to get?" Clary asked him, leaning in as she looked at the menu they were sharing. She had showered too, exhausted and sticky from her day scrubbing the camper's cabins down, and her shampoo smelled even stronger because of it. It was intoxicating.

"I don't know," Jace told her, looking away from the menu so he could see her face. "But I'm for sure getting their fries."

Her smile was devastating. "I knew you were smart."

Jace couldn't help but grin at her in response to her smile. He always smiled more at camp than he did at home and after a full day with his friends yesterday, his cheeks had ached.

"Are you getting the usual?"

"I don't know." She bit her lip. "Like I think I'm hungry but I don't know."

"Like hungry hungry? Or like just want to eat hungry?"

She laughed. "I think I just want to eat hungry." Clary's smile faded as she pouted, resting her head on her arm. "But I already ate way too much today, Izzy and I got into the popcorn at the snack shop when we were done cleaning."

"Calories don't count at summer camp, remember?"

"They do when you're here for two months." She said, shaking her head at him at the very thought. "If I lived with that philosophy, I'd be two hundred pounds by July."

"You'd still be a dime," he reassured her with a wink, smirking slightly at the light flush that spread across her cheeks.

"Gag me with a fucking spoon," Jon said from across them, his arms crossed over his chest in what he thought was an intimidating stance. Jace just thought he looked like an idiot.

"Here ya are, honeys," Denise said before setting down their waters. "Are y'all ready to order?"

They all nodded and Clary lifted her head and arms from the table, leaning back so that she could talk to the waitress.

"Uh, can I just get a dark chocolate milkshake, please?" Clary asked, starting them off.

"Sure thing sweetheart," Denise said, writing it down on her notepad before turning to Jace. "And what about for your boyfriend?"

"Oh, uh," Jace stuttered, all of his usual charm flying out the window. "I'm not her... um, can I just have a peanut butter and chocolate milkshake with a side of fries?"

The other three were laughing into their hands and even Denise looked like she was enjoying their obvious discomfort as she jotted his order down. Clary was laughing, her face a pretty pink as she looked at him almost shyly. They both seemed unusually uncomfortable.

"Can we get two chocolate shakes?" Izzy said for her and Alec, relishing the moment with way too much pleasure.

"And I'll have an oreo shake with a side of cheesy fries." Jon finished them off, collecting the menus as Denise walked off to tuck them back behind the condiments.

"Well that was fun," Alec said, smirking at Jace and Clary. "I wonder why she thought that?"

"Yeah, like Izzy and I are sitting next to each other too but she didn't think we were dating." Jon tapped his finger on his chin, feigning a look of thoughtfulness. "So I wonder why she thought the two of you were?"

"Maybe she just figured there's no way someone as pretty as her can be with someone as ugly as you," Clary countered, crossing her arms over her chest as she dared him to say something. Jace hid his smile behind his hand, deeply amused like every time she got sassy.

"Oh? So you think Jace is pretty enough for you then?" Jon asked, mirroring the same look as his sister.

"Have you seen his face?" Clary countered, steely toned. It was a good thing she wasn't looking at said face because he was blushing as red as a tomato. And it wasn't like he was a stranger to compliments from girls, he just wasn't used to them from her.

"No, actually, I'm blind, care to describe it for me?"

Clary leaned forward in her seat, her normally soft features narrowed at her brother as he mirrored her for the second time. They were only a couple inches away from each other, having a conversation with their eyes as only siblings could. In the end, it was Jon who pulled away with a resigned sigh.

"Okay, okay, okay," Jon said, slumping back in his seat and looking none too happy about it. "Anyway, how bout this weather we're having?"

Alec snorted, turning his head as he tried to hide his laugh in his hand and ultimately failing terribly. Jace put his head in his hands and groaned loudly, wanting to sink in his chair and disappear. This isn't how he wanted to talk to Clary about his feelings so he just wanted them to shut up.

"That is literally the worst thing you could have possibly done," Izzy told Jon, rolling her eyes at her friend's stupidity.

"You okay?" Jace asked Clary quietly, turning a little towards her so the rest of the table couldn't hear him.

"Just peachy," she muttered as she played with the straw in her cup.

He pursed his lips before letting them tilt up a little. "You really think I'm pretty enough for you?"

"I don't think you're privy to that type of information, Mr. Herondale."

"Oh yeah?" He leaned forward, his lips fully tilted now. "And who is?"

"Oh my God," Jon groaned, making Clary turn her pretty eyes away from him to look at her stupid brother who Jace very much wanted to kill. "Would you guys quit it?"

"You are the worst best friend ever," Izzy told him.

"What?" Jon gaped, turning to her. "I'm the best fucking friend ever."

Izzy rolled her eyes and Jace was grateful when she didn't elaborate. His silent pleas for the conversation to end were answered when Clary's wrist started vibrating, indicating that her mom was calling her.

"Hello?" She answered, surprised that her mom was calling her. "Yeah, yeah."

She excused herself from the table with a finger and walked out the front door. Jon looked like he kind of wanted to go after her to make sure everything was okay but before he could Izzy slapped him over the head.

"You idiot, stop interrupting them."

"Hey," Jon exclaimed, rubbing his head and glaring at his friend. "Excuse me for not wanting to see my best friend all over my little sister."

"Well you're going to have to get used to it," Izzy told him with no sympathy at all for the dude. "And I, for one, would rather watch him trip over himself for her than hear him mope all school year long because he just likes her so much and she doesn't know and what if she's with someone else."

Jace winced a little at her imitation. All of those things had come out of his mouth at one point or another but hearing it from someone else made him sound so desperate. He'd probably be upset if it wasn't true.

"Okay, okay, okay." Jon put his hands up in surrender. "I'll be better."

"Or we can just stop making things awkward, period," Jace suggested, leaning back in the booth and stretching his arm on the back of it.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Alec taunted with a smirk.

"I just," Jace started to say before licking his lips and checking behind him to make sure she wasn't walking back over. "Something feels different now."

"What do you mean?" Izzy asked, leaning forward a little in excitement.

"You know," Jace prompted, looking around at his friends and shrugging his shoulders a little, feeling foolish. "Just that maybe she likes me too?" Izzy rolled her eyes, falling back in her own booth and looking extremely disappointed in him. He instantly heated up, getting defensive and demanding, "What?"

"I thought you were supposed to be smart?"

Jace glared at her, feeling a mix of hurt, frustration, and confusion. Was she implying that of course she liked him? Or was she implying that of course she didn't like him?

"What's up?" Jon asked Clary as she approached their table again.

"Nothing," Clary said, settling in her seat and letting her head fall back on his arm. He felt the same sensation in his stomach he always did when they touched. "Just something about the vineyard."

"And she needed your help?"

"I'm not just a pretty face, you know," she said sarcastically, sticking her tongue at him.

Jon shook his head though he was smiling. "That's not what I meant."

"Yeah, I know. It was just about a sale I made before I left and forgot to write down, the books were off and she wanted to ask before she did the calculations again or freaked out on someone."

Jace watched as Denise approached their table with five milkshakes on a platter. "Here ya are, darlings, and your fries will be out in just a few minutes."

"Thank you," Clary said, sitting up and helping her pass them along the table without making her tilt her pan too much.

"Fuck," Izzy said the moment Denise was out of earshot and she had slurped up a large mouthful of her shake. "This is heaven."

They all nodded, sipping at their own shakes. This place had to use magic in making their shakes because there was no way they came from this earth because if they did, there would be no way that this was the only place that sold them. Jace had never had a milkshake as half as good as the ones here and believe him when he said he had tried.

"It's so good it's sinful, actually," Alec corrected his sister and Jace couldn't help but think that was a better word for it than heaven.

"I have tea," Izzy said, setting down her shake as a thought came to her suddenly. "Well, Clary and I have tea."

"Which is?" Jon asked, setting down his own shake and looking over at her.

"We're living with Seelie and Kaelie this year as you guys know and they told us something interesting that everyone at camp seems to know but us."

The boys' eyebrows all rose. There wasn't much that went on at camp that people didn't hear about, especially things that they didn't hear about. They were all quite popular in their own right, even if the term popular seemed way too middle schoolish for him to say. What he meant was that they had a lot of friends here at camp and friends liked to talk.

Clary was grinning next to him, looking to be on the border of losing it all as she watched Izzy explain what they learned. "Last night Seelie was asking the usual bullshit about Jace and whether he would be willing to fuck their sexual tension out in a closet somewhere, you know, the usual. Apparently, it's her goal to be the first girl at camp to be with the entire trifecta."

"The what now?" Jon asked, sounding completely dumbfounded.

"Apparently when the three of you were fourteen the rest of camp nicknamed you the trifecta until they found out Alec batted for the other team and they renamed Sebastian the third member."

"Talk about a fucking downgrade," Clary interjected under her breath and Jace felt his lips twitch.

"That is the dumbest fucking shit I have ever heard," Jon said, looking around at the rest of them as if daring them to disagree.

"We thought they were joking at first," Clary said with a shrug, pausing to sip her milkshake. "But sadly they weren't."

"The trifecta?" Jace said, looking over at Jon in his own bewilderment. "No, there's no way this is real, this is like some middle school shit."

"Wait, wait, wait," Alec said, waving his hand around like he was realizing things and had to bat away all the other thoughts. "And Seelie plans to seduce him for the sole reason of being the first person to say they've been with all three?"

Jace felt a little violated. What a sucky reason to try and get with him with all these years, he had thought it was because she thought he was hot or something. It used to boost his ego when he felt down about his nonexistent progress with the redhead angel sitting next to him.

"That's so fucking wrong," Jon said, shaking his head. "And we never even had sex, we barely reached third base."

"And she's been with Sebastian?" Jace asked, so many thoughts coming to his head at once. "How did he have the time with all the campers he was seducing last summer?"

"And what about Kaelie?" Jon asked before Jace's question could be answered. "Doesn't she know her best friend fooled around with Jace?"

Jace winced at the reminder. "Hey, we never even reached second base, it wasn't exactly fooling around."

Clary snorted, sounding deeply amused. "You should have heard the way she talked about the kisses you two had, she made it sound like you were a god."

He felt a feeling of deep shame curl up his stomach. It wasn't like he could change the past but he could regret it. There was something in Clary's voice that told him she wasn't as amused as she was trying to seem. He wanted to tell her that he couldn't even remember what it felt like to kiss her, and that it had only happened twice, not to mention the fact that he hadn't gone near a girl since he visited her in California over spring break during his tenth grade year, almost one and a half years ago.

Denise slid the fries in front of them, topping off their water in the uncomfortable silence around them. They were all in their heads about something and all Jace wanted to know was what was going through Clary's pretty little head now.

"Seelie didn't have the same sentiments as Kaelie," Izzy said, and both Clary and Izzy grinned at one another. "She doesn't have a very high opinion of Jon's hands."

Clary covered her laugh with her hand, missing the very affronted look Jon was now wearing. "She'd be the first."

"That was because she was your first," Jace said, also laughing at his best friend. He dodged the cheese covered fry Jon threw his way by ducking behind Clary's fiery mane. If he stopped a second to smell her hair as he pulled back, well, sue him. She snatched one of his fries, popping it in her mouth with a perfect smile that was so her it made his heart clench painfully.

"Okay, enough of all this middle school shit," Alec said, waving it off with his hand. "Nothing should change just because we know about it now."

"True," Izzy said, nodding as she stole of Jon's fries. "It's not like Seelie has a chance with Jace anyway and I don't think she's stupid enough to actually do something about it other than talk."

Jace raised his half-finished milkshake up in the middle of the table. "Well, here's to hoping that none of that shit touches us."

They all raised their glasses. "And to another unforgettable summer."

Jace turned to Clary at her words, echoing the cheers of the people around him as he looked at her. Cheers indeed.