I'm a damn liar. Because I wrote more HAHA. This chapter got super long, so I split it into two parts. This half was brought to you by a birthday reward from Starbucks that made me an over-caffeinated insomniac. Fun!

Jace woke to the bed dipping and arms wrapping around him from behind. Something about the way these arms felt was off, but he didn't care in his half-asleep state. He managed a small smile and sighed out his favorite redhead's name, receiving a chuckle in response.

"Hm. Usually when I find someone in my bed, they're calling out my name..." Jace opened his eyes recognizing the voice of none other than Magnus Bane. He let out a laugh. That's why the arms felt different.

Jace sat up, escaping Magnus's hold. Looking around the room, he noticed Clary was gone along with all traces of her ever being there. He felt his chest tighten. Or did he imagine that? Because why would that happen. It's not like he was disappointed that Clary wasn't there. Of course not. Jace Lightwood wasn't the longing type. Definitely not. Choosing to ignore whatever confusion he was experiencing, he turned toward the other boy in the bed. "I should've known you were the one Alec was sneaking around with."

A silly looking grin plastered Magnus's face at the mention of Alec's name. "I won't tell him about this if you won't" he joked, motioning between them with a wink.

"Damn. There go my plans to get him back for kicking me out last night," he pouted. Magnus shook his head. "You have a deal...as long as you don't tell him about the name that slipped out of my mouth," Jace countered, holding out a hand. Although Magnus was joking with his offer, he could hear an earnestness behind Jace's, so he shook the blonde's hand firmly as reassurance, but gave him a knowing look.

Not sure what to make of Magnus's expression, Jace climbed out of bed and started pulling his shorts on when he heard Magnus speak. "I'm surprised you didn't automatically jump out of bed when you realized it was me."

Jace turned to his brother's guy, slowly walking backwards toward the door. "Your arms felt nice," he said with a shrug before turning and exiting the room, the sound of Magnus's laughter filling the space he left.

Midterms were hell, and Jace was thankful they were over. But now it was Spring Break and he was stuck on campus, having canceled his previous plans. His parents took Max on vacation. Isabelle and Simon decided to spend their week in the Caribbean. Alec and Magnus took a trip to Mexico. And he hadn't seen Clary since the night they spent together. Granted, it had been midterms and he spent most of his time studying in his room or the library. And Isabelle mentioned in passing that Clary practically lived in the art building, only leaving to shower or go to class.

The next couple of days after their encounter, she answered his texts and emails about their "shared" class, but it was radio silence after that. He started wondering if he did something wrong or did something to upset her. He kept replaying that night in his head, occasionally needing to pull out an old sock when he thought too long about the pleasurable parts. He reread their conversations since that day, but he hadn't said anything too outrageous. He kept casually bringing her up around Isabelle or Alec to see if they would offer any information. But he couldn't come up with anything.

He chalked it up to her working on her projects, but when midterms were over and Spring Break started and he still hadn't heard from her, he was at a loss. Then found out she was communicating with people other than him, and he didn't know what to think.

And Jace Lightwood didn't pine for people. So why did he care so much? Why did it matter that she wasn't talking to him? It's not like this was the first time she had avoided him. But the more he thought about it, that was a lie. Because no matter how much they bickered and annoyed each other, she had never consciously chosen to stay away from him like she was doing now.

Two days into break and all Jace had done was think about Clary and watch Netflix. Who the hell was this guy? Passing up cheap beer and bikini clad girls on the beach? Moping around his room? Because of a girl? To use her account that he had access to? To binge on movies and shows she "recommended" aka personally added to his list? Wondering if she watched anything he recently added to her list? And when the hell did he fall for Clary? Wait, what the fuck. I am not in love with Fray. No one said anything about love...but yes, Jace. Love.

Jace shut his laptop, not caring that he only had two minutes left in the episode. Surprisingly, he didn't need to know how it ended. What he needed was a run to clear his head. Jace Lightwood didn't fall in love. Definitely not.

Jace didn't know how long he ran for, but it was dark by the time he returned to the dorms, no closer to any answers he was searching for. He needed to talk to Clary. He needed to see Clary. And it was as if the universe finally acknowledged his existence, because after flashing his ID to security, he made his way to the elevators, and choked on a breath at seeing Clary Fray waiting for the lift, beautiful as always. Thankfully she was unaware of his presence or she most likely would've run away from him. He stayed out of her sight until the elevator arrived, then ran in at the last moment, catching her off guard. "Jace, what the hell!" she yelled, leaning against the wall, clutching her sketchbook to her chest.

"Clary, you've been avoiding me." He stared straight at her, and her attention shifted to the changing floor numbers, avoiding eye contact. "Please look at me." She didn't. "Clary." Nothing. "Clary, please." Still nothing. He was about to reach for the emergency stop, but was too late as the doors opened to their floor, and Clary bolted out and down the hallway. Jace ran a hand over his face and groaned before following her. Even though she had a good head start, Jace caught up to her in no time. Longer legs and all. He got to her right as she opened her door. She stepped in, moving quickly to shut it when she saw Jace, but he was quicker, entering the room before she could lock him out.

Clary told him to go away, heading toward her bed. But he caught her arm as she turned, making her look at him, but dropping her sketchbook in the process. Several loose pages fell out, and they both automatically bent down to pick them up. Clary worked frantically, hoping Jace wouldn't see them. But it was too late as one sketch in particular caught his eye, but the only light they had was filtering in through the window. With the sketch in hand, Jace stood up, switched the light on, and sucked in a breath as he got a better view of the drawing. At first glance, it looked like a sketch of a raging fire. But upon further inspection, he only thought he saw fire because of the colors she used for their hair and skin. The image he held was of them, wrapped tightly around each other, sharing their mind-blowing orgasm, eyes filled with passion, wonder, lust, and...love? No, he was seeing things. Right?

Ripping his attention away from the sketch, he looked to Clary who was sitting on the floor, hands around her legs with her head resting on her knees, surrounded by at least half a dozen sketches similar in nature. Jace knelt in front of her, tugging at her arm, wanting to see her face. "Clary, please look at me." But all she did was shake her head in response. "Will you at least talk to me then?" Same response. He let out a long breath and sat behind her, legs on either side of her body, arms wrapped around her torso, caging her in. He placed a kiss on her shoulder before resting his cheek between her shoulder blades and held her, waiting until she was ready to talk.

They sat in silence for a while. Jace felt her body move with every breath she took in and let out. And with their bodies pressed so closely together, his breathing eventually synced with hers. They weren't sharing breaths, but they were breathing as one once more. And finally, Clary spoke, but it was barely a whisper. "Jace, what's happening?"

Jace turned his head so his chin sat on her shoulder. "Why have you been avoiding me? You've never avoided me on purpose before, and I've been racking my brain all week trying to figure out what I did or said to upset you. Please just talk to me. Tell me what's going on," he pleaded, but didn't really expect a response. To his surprise, he got one. But it wasn't what he was hoping for.

"I was working on my midterm projects..." she stated timidly. Jace let out a sigh of defeat, loosening his hold on Clary. He could tell she was making up excuses. Maybe she needed more time than he was giving her. He should've just gone when she told him to.

"I'll just go. Give you your space," he mumbled, moving to untangle their bodies. But then her lithe hands wrapped around his wrists, locking his arms in place around her figure. Then with a deep breath in before blowing it out slowly, she spoke again.

"I was working on my midterm projects. I had these three great ideas and I couldn't decide which one I wanted to submit, so obviously I started working on all three. And then I woke up with these images floating around in my brain just itching to be on the canvas so I went straight to the studio not wanting to lose them. But the more I worked, the less motivated I was to complete any of my pieces. So I started doodling to get out of this weird funk I was feeling," she was absentmindedly tracing patterns on his arms as he listened to her speak for the first time all week. God, did he miss her voice.

"I had probably gone through at least ten pages in my sketchbook, not really paying attention to what I was doing. Just letting my mind wander and my hands work on their own, you know? I just got so lost, kind of like how you get when you run...I even completed a full painting on canvas without realizing it. But then I found myself thinking hard about your newest tattoo, trying to remember the details of it. I was going to text you asking for a picture. And then it hit me. The things I had been sketching and painting...I was surrounded by you, by us, and I had no idea where they came from. I freaked out. I was scared of how inspired they were.

"And the painting I did was really good. Like, good enough to submit for my assignment, good. But it felt too personal, too intimate. I didn't want to share it with anyone. So I tried working on my original pieces...but anything I was producing reminded me of you even though it wasn't meant to." Her voice started cracking, so he held on tighter, encouraging her to finish. She relaxed a little against him.

"I scrapped my original ideas and turned in the new painting the next day because the more time I spent with it, the more I fell in love with it. And I just hid out in the art department during the day, coming back to the dorms at the oddest hour so I wouldn't run into you. I think Iz suspected something when I refused to get carne asada fries with you guys. I just. I didn't know how to face you. I didn't know what to say to you. Or how to act around you. I could barely wrap my head around what was happening. And I know you didn't know what I was going through, so I could've just kept it hidden from you. Pretended like nothing was wrong. But I was so scared of what I was feeling, Jace. I wasn't thinking rationally."

Clary's attention shifted to her scattered art, running a finger along the details of Jace's face. Jace watched her for a second before letting out a laugh which made Clary jump. "I only ever told Iz and Alec about the first time we hooked up."

Clary raised her eyebrows. Not the reaction she expected...she did just put herself out there, but okay. "Yeah, we agreed that they didn't need to know about the other times because they didn't mean anything..."

"No. That's the excuse I made, but I just realized there's more to it than that." Clary turned to face him, intrigued. "Growing up, Iz, Alec and I were terrible to each other when it came to crushes. I don't know how many opportunities and relationships we messed up for each other. And it's not that we were terrible to the crushes, we just got overly excited for each other, sometimes getting pushy and super annoying about it that the appeal was lost. So I guess as I got older, I subconsciously started keeping some things secret...to try to protect the opportunities or relationships until I knew they were actually going somewhere. If they didn't work out, I'd eventually tell them. And I think my siblings have been doing the same thing."

"Jace, what are you talking about?" Clary asked, confusion written all over her face.

"I'm saying Isabelle only told me about the first time she messed around with Simon, but coupled up with him in secret. Just like Alec only told me about the first time he was with Magnus, but continued to build a relationship with him in secret. I'm saying I didn't keep us from them because it didn't mean anything...I did it because my subconscious mind wanted to see if it did mean something. It's twisted, I know..." he laughed, making her smile. Jace cupped Clary's face, bringing her to look at him. "I went crazy not knowing why you were avoiding me. Being cut off like that really made me realize how ingrained you've become in my life. I've never felt this strongly about anyone, and I don't know what to do about it either."

Clary's smile grew wider at his admission. "So you're telling me that if I had just come to you instead of hiding away, we could've figured it all out together?"

"And look at all the time that was wasted that could've been spent naked," Jace pouted at Clary. She giggled at his antics, brushing her thumb along his protruding lip. Jace wrapped a hand around hers, halting her movements, and turned his face to place a small kiss against her open palm. "Fuck. Clary, I'm pretty sure I'm falling in love with you."

Clary sucked in a breath, momentarily caught off guard. She locked eyes with Jace, seeing pure love and sincerity beaming back at her. She hadn't realized how much she truly wanted to hear those words until he spoke them. This was real. And he felt it too. "I think I'm falling in love with you too, Jace," she breathed out before bringing their lips together in a sweet, innocent kiss.

So no sexy times in this chapter. But, they finally admitted their feelings! Let me know what you think. Like are we thankful that the caffeine made me write this? Or did it just become a hot, complicated mess?

Anyway. Stay tuned for the next half ;) Let's just assume the response I get to this chapter will determine how quickly I publish the next one...*insert mysterious laughter here*