I spent a good thirty minutes in the shower this morning thinking about what Jace said. He has a really good point, together we have plenty of money and Luke already said he'd get me a new car.
Right now we're on the way to the gas station where we left my beetle. I haven't said a word to Jace since he gave me the option of him joining me. He doesn't look mad about it though, I just don't know if I want someone who I barely know to join me on such an important adventure. And when will all the questions come up about my past? He's bound to ask given that I know about his past now.
When we reach our final destination, instead of getting off his bike we just sit there. I know he's waiting for an answer and I really want to give him one, I just don't know which one to give him.
After about a minute he sighs heavily and gets up. "Alright, I'm done waiting. You're thinking this over way too much. I'm obviously not going to hurt you or I would've done it already. So just make up your mind in the next thirty seconds or I'll just leave and you can continue your trip on your own."
I put my hands up to surrender and jump down from the bike. "You know what, fine. You're right. I need to stop over thinking and just go for it. It's a yes, you can come. We can sell your bike and I can get a new car so we have more space but I'm going to need to make a phone call and it might take a night or two so this trip will have to be put on hold."
I see the slightest smile pull at Jace's lips. "Finally, I was beginning to think you were going to say no."
He pulls a paper out of his pocket and hands it to me. "What is this?" I open it up and see an address.
"It's the hotel we'll be staying at. I put it in your name that way if you get there first you can just head up to the room. You can make any call you need from there, I'll pay the extra charge. I'll meet you there in a few hours that way I can go sell my bike."
"How did you know I would say yes?" I stare up at him and he simply shrugs.
"I didn't I was just hoping you would. You're not the only one that would be alone on your trip." I pull out my keys and head to my car. "My number is on the back of that paper so don't lose it. If you leave you should call me that way I know where you are. Since we're sticking together we might as well keep track of one another." He starts up his bike and puts his helmet on.
"How long will it take you to be back?" I get in my car and start it. I frown because it didn't sound as cool as his bike but it doesn't bother me much because I know whatever new car I get will be way better.
"I don't know maybe a few hours. If I'm not back by seven I'll call you, it shouldn't take me that long." He backs out of the parking spot and waves for me to follow him. I check the clock and see it's a little after twelve, then I wave back and do as he silently asked, I have no idea where this hotel is or how fancy or broken down it is but maybe letting him join me will be worth it and together we can get a decent room.
It's about 3 o'clock when I finally get to the hotel. Thankfully Jace knew I would need direction and drove by it while pointing so I would know.
I grab my suitcase and drag it to the front desk. This place looks really expensive and I already feel out of place in my torn up jeans and dull green shirt. I look around while I wait in line and start noticing all the little details about this place. In front of the door there's a giant seating area with cream colored chairs and maroon sofas. There's a gold, candle chandelier above the seating area then behind everything there's a white grand piano that sits in front of a bar where a woman sits in her gray business suit talking to the bar tender. This whole first floor is probably bigger than my apartment with all the walls taken out to make it one big room.
I'm standing in line for a good five minutes before anyone even looks my way. "Hi ma'am. How may I help you?" The lady drawls in a southern accent. Her chocolate brown hair is perfectly curled and goes great with her tan skin.
"I called earlier, I'm here to check in." She looks me up and down and clicks a few buttons on her computer.
"May I have your name, please?" She raises a crisp eyebrow at me.
"Clary Fairchild." She shakes he head and gives me a look that says try again. Shoot, what would Jace put my name as? "Um... try Clary Herondale."
She types in the name and her eyebrows shoot up at the same time her mouth opens slightly, she quickly remembers me standing there and composes herself. "Ahh yes Clary Herondale. Your room will be on the top floor in the Brown suit." She pulls out a card and hands it to me. "This will be your elevator key and room key all in one. If you have any questions feel free to call my desk. You can leave your bag here and we'll have it taken up for you. The elevator you need is just to your left." She flashes me a smile that looks like it took weeks to perfect. I nod and slowly walk over to the elevator.
'Brown' is written in gold cursive on the door and I see the slot where I'm supposed to slide my key to the right of the elevator. Never have I been to a hotel where they needed a key for the elevator, so this is going to be interesting.
There's no floor buttons, only an open and close. It doesn't take long to reach the top but when I do my jaw drops and I know there's not fixing it.
It looks like the entire floor is made for just our room. When I step out of the elevator I see the giant cream couch sitting in front of a flat screen, it looks like it might even have a gaming system. Further into the room is a dark wood dining table that looks like it seats at least eight. To the left is the kitchen. There's an island with stools seated in front of it and a bouquet of yellow flowers on the counter. When you walk into the kitchen there's a glass door that looks like it leads to a patio.
When I turn around to see what's on the other side of the room I'm stopped by seven foot tall white French doors. I slowly make my way over to them and crack them open a little at a time. When I get a glimpse of the other side I swing both open and I'm stunned by what I see.
This room is probably takes up about half the space up here. There a grand king bed with an iron headboard that looks like it'd be delightful just to run and jump into. On the wall next to me is a black armoire with mirrors covering the doors. I simply can't get enough of this. I walk to the glass door to the left and walk out onto the patio. I pull out my phone and the piece of paper Jace gave me and call the number on the back.
It rings once and he picks up. "Clary? What's wrong?"
"Jace I- wait… How'd you know it was me?"
"You're the only one who has this number. Is everything alright?" I can hear the concern laced in his voice.
"Um not really, Jace..." I twirl my hair around my finger.
"Why, what happened? Did they not let you in the room?"
"No, no. Actually they let me in the wrong room. At least I'm pretty sure they did, because there's no way we can afford the one they gave us." There's a moment of silence so I prepare myself for a speech of worry, but all I get is a chuckle.
"Clary. Do you remember me telling you last night about how my parents gave me their fortune?"
"Mhmm. Yeah they gave you all their mon- ohhhh. Okay. I get it now." I look in the room. "But Jace this is still way too much. Couldn't we have gotten just a regular room?"
"Yeah we could've, is that what you-" I hear a crash and a muffled yell from Jace. "Clary, I have to go. If you want to switch the room go ahead and tell them, but if not it's not going to put a dent in our budget. I'll be back in about an hour. I'll call you if anything changes." With that he hangs up and I stare at the blank screen.
I take one more look around the apartment and try to let all this settle in. Should I make them switch our room? It's not like we need anything this fancy, we'll only be here for a couple days. I decide to think about it while I drink a cup of tea and wait for Jace so we can make the decision together.
A few hours go by, Jace still hasn't shown up and no one has called. I'm starting to get a little worried, he said he would call if anything has changed and so far he hasn't. I decide against calling him just in case the walk back is longer than he expected.
I turn on the TV. and snuggle in with a blanket to try and ignore my thoughts. After I get through half an episode of whatever soap opera is on I lose it and get up to get my phone. I dial Jace's number as fast as I can. There's no way that he'd forget to call me, and he probably knew how long the walk was, he's good at this whole planning thing. When I finally get a signal his phone goes straight to voicemail. I try calling again a few times but the same thing happens every time.
On the third time calling I decide to leave a voicemail. "Jace, where are you? Can you please pick up the phone, I need to know you're alright. You said you would call if things changed and I'm starting to panic. Call me back as soon as you can." I hang up and check the clock. It's now ten pm. I decide to call it a night and if he doesn't show up by morning then I'll go find him. I hope he's all right...
Geez guys, I'm really sorry about how long that took me to update.. I'm also sorry about this little cliffy ^^ I know you're probably not too happy about that but I have a good reason!
So my boyfriend is back for summer vacation and his college is in NY! I only get a short amount of time with him so I've been making it last. I used the little amount of extra time I have to make this chapter and the next, but lucky for you (and not so lucky for me) he'll be gone soon and I'll be lonely enough that I can update every day! YAY! ... Well.. not literally but it'll be enough that there won't be weeks between updates.
On a happier note! I'm already done with chapter five which I'm reALLY FREAKING EXCITED ABOUT. It's a little morbid (or at least my friend says so) but it's probably one of my chapters I'm most proud of. Also Jace notices some things about Clary that he didn't when he first met her. Mehheheh.
ANYWAY! Please review as always! I love hearing what you guys have to say! Thank you for reading through all this if you did :)
~A.P.D.
