Molding these characters for my own fun is very entertaining. A thought just came to me. Is fanfiction for people whose lives who are so dull that they need to write about fictional characters? Hmm, just a haphazard suggestion to think about.

"Where is everyone?" Clary asked Jace when the silence grew too awkward.

Jace just shrugged with his hands still in his pockets. "Dunno."

She nodded and watched the ground as the two of them walked down the same hall for the fourth time. There was something that Clary had to tell him, she had wanted to tell him for the past week, but there just didn't seem to be a right time. Or, rather, she kept finding excuses to not tell him. And she didn't really understand why she cared about his opinion so much. Sure, he was her… brother, but—

"Clary?" Jace's voice interrupted her thoughts.

She mentally shook her head and looked at him, slowing her walk.

When she didn't say anything, he raised an eyebrow at her. "You gonna get that?"

Clary stared at him, puzzled, but then understood when she heard her phone ring loudly in her pocket. She quickly pulled it out and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Clary."

Clary froze—half because he was actually calling her and the other half because Jace was right there.

"Oh, hi," she stuttered, giving Jace a side glance. He had moved so he was leaning against a wall and watching her lazily.

"You alright?"

She nodded, realized he couldn't see and cleared her throat. "Yeah, I'm fine. Listen, uh, can I call you back?" She didn't give him a reason, just expected him to understand.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

"No, really, I'm totally alright."

"Okay," he said after a moment's hesitation. "Yeah, sure. I was just wanted to see if you wanted to hangout tonight. But you seem to be too busy."

Clary sucked in a breath and whispered hastily, "No, I definitely want to… see you, I just… Look I'll call you back."

She snapped her cell shut before he could respond and put it back in her pocket. She raised her head and looked over at Jace. She had slowly been walking away from him while she was talking—so that he couldn't hear her—and now she made her way back to him.

"What was that about?" He asked with a smirk.

Clary just shrugged and began to mechanically walk down the hall. He was going to be mighty annoyed when she called back. But she wouldn't think about that now.

"I'm hungry," Jace said, catching up with her. She was glad that he was changing the topic. "Are you?"

She shook her head. "No, I just ate. I'm fine."

Jace nodded, staring at her for such a long, agonizing moment that she thought he was going to hug her. But then he turned on his heel and started towards the kitchen. "See you around."

"Bye," Clary mumbled under her breath, watching him walk away from her.

Don't watch him, she thought to herself. He's your brother and you shouldn't feel guilty about anything.

She took a deep breath and turned around; heading for the large doors that would lead outside of the large building.

Clary slipped on her battered up black, high top converse and left Luca's, yelling a goodbye to him over her shoulder and then closing the door. She made her way down the sidewalk, traveling the short distance to the music store just a few blocks down the street. Surprisingly, there weren't a lot of people out on the warm Saturday evening, but Clary hardly noticed. She was focused on Jace.

She had to tell him.

She couldn't keep avoiding it. It was making her feel so guilty.

But she shouldn't.

But she did.

That was that. She was going to tell the next time she saw him. And she wouldn't make up some mental excuse to not tell him. He needed to know, even if he didn't care or, rather, that he shouldn't care.

Clary stepped across the street and opened the door of the building on the corner of the street. When she stepped into the cozy store, soft music was playing over the speakers. The walls were painted a deep red and the room was filled with shelves upon shelves of CD's, tapes and even some records. It was a nice place to come to relax and think. And occasionally listen to music.

There weren't very many people who went there anymore. Clary and a few other locals were the only ones that liked to go. Next door to the small music store was a coffee shop that had the best vanilla lattes—so it was a perfect convenience.

Clary went over to the CD shelves and watched all of them as she slowly shuffled past them. There were so many and she loved how they weren't organized by genre. There was Abba and right beside it was The Academy Is. Basshunter and then The Beetles. Chevelle and then City and Color. She knew that the store workers just did it because they were too lazy to organize it and not some other deeply-moral reason, but she loved how all the kinds of music were mixed together.

Then arms from behind her were slowly wrapping around her waist and something warm was nuzzling her neck. She was startled for a second, but soon relaxed in the embrace.

"Hi," she said, closing her eyes and taking a long, deep breath.

"Hi."

Clary turned around and hugged him back, her arms going around his waist also. He was so warm and, despite how awkward it sounded, smelt amazing. She placed her head on his chest and breathed him in. Even if she just hugged him, without saying anything, he seemed to bring comfort to her.

"So, do you want to go?" He asked her.

She lifted her head up, looking at him and nodded. Both of them took their arms away from each other so they could hold hands and intertwine their fingers. She flashed him a smile before she turned her head forward and began walking. Her smile disappeared instantly and her legs froze.

There, standing with the most stricken look on his face that brought pain to Clary, such pain that she wanted to run up to him and soothe his suffering away, was Jace.

Thanks for reading the second part of the story. Either you're really bored and found this randomly or you're actually paying attention to the story so far. Thanks each way, I guess. =)