um, i wish i had a better excuse for you guys, that is to say if you guys even noticed i had not posted in who knows how long. a combination of some intense writer's block and the end of another school year, finals all that stuff, everyone knows, i just haven't been able to get anywhere. i've tried this chapter probably 15 times with no luck, like seriously, you should see my drafts, and this one is semi okay and i've just gotta move past it. shall see you guys soon hopefully with a better chapter, i really want to keep this going. thanks for all the follows, favs, and reviews, even in my absence, they mean a lot :)

Saturday, June 9, 2018

It was a bit weird at first, this thing with Clary and him. They had been friends for so long and there had been more than a few awkward moments over the last day and a half as they began to figure out how to be more. There had been a few times where one of them went to kiss the other person and ended up on their cheek or lips instead, which was a bit jarring. They bumped noses and their teeth clanked. Trying to navigate around Jon, Izzy, and Alec was some work already, like how much touching was too much touching around your friends. Jace had kissed her, like a proper one, for the first time in front of Jon this morning when they were stretching before their run and Jon had slapped him over the head.

But Jace and Clary had been best friends since they were 12 so it was easy to find the humor in their awkward moments. And both of them were just happy something was going on finally between them. As for their friends, they had had more than enough time to get used to the idea of them dating over the past few years so their expressions of annoyance were just a show. They were all happy for their friends. Especially Izzy.

When Izzy and him were alone at dinner yesterday, because Clary had been pulled to the art room and a lot of the lifeguards' shifts had been changed because of it, she had hounded him the entire time about what exactly went down, what was going through his head at the moment, and what he thought was going to happen now.

He had been ready to kill her before Clary had walked in for Dinner B and rescued him with her sunny deposition.

After their run this morning, Jace had convinced Clary to come take a nap with him in his bed after some long, separate - of course- showers. They all had the day off and the only reason they had woken up before 3 was because of their stupid football coaches and Clary's greatness to run with them even when they didn't have to. He was looking forward to the next weekend when they all had Sunday off, both with work and working out, thank you to Tessa yet again.

Until then, he had to make do with the day he was having now, which definitely was one of the best Saturdays he had ever had because of who he got to spend it with.

Clary was still asleep next to him as their nap had turned into more of a second sleep. Their cabin lights were off and the fans were on. In their tiredness, it was easy to ignore the light peeking around their window shades and Jace was willing to bet that they had slept through lunch.

Jon was sleeping on his own bunk, half of his body pretty much hanging off of it as he slumbered in oblivion. It had been a long and tiring week first week of camp, per usual, and they treasured their day off.

He fished around the floor for his phone, content to just lay there and respond to all of his forgotten text messages with one hand as he kept the other one wrapped around the sleeping angel next to him. That only lasted about ten minutes before she was opening her eyes and full body stretching, her cold toes touching his calf and making him smile.

"What time is it?" She mumbled, sounding drunk in her sleepy state.

"12:47." They hadn't missed lunch after all.

She sighed, lifting one of her hands to rub at her eyes. "I'm starving."

"Want to go to the Dining Hall?" Their only other option was the Snack Shack.

"In a minute," she mumbled, shifting slightly so that she was propped up on his chest with her arm folded underneath her chin. "I'm not ready to move yet."

He smiled, lifting up his hand that had been holding his now forgotten phone to push her hair over her shoulder so that he could see all of her pretty face. Her eyes were half lidded and she had a sleepy grin on her face as she looked at him.

"You're so pretty," he told her, running his finger down the adorable freckles on her nose. Her cheeks flushed a light pink and that made his heart want to explode a little.

She leaned forward to kiss him and his hand slipped past her delicate features to tangle in her hair. They were getting good at this. There were significantly fewer accidental nose bumps or teeth clankings. He was having completely different problems now that involved some major discomfort with his Big Dipper. She just sounded so fantastic and felt practically sinful against him, it was sensory overload.

Her eyes stayed closed even as she pulled away and he was so goddamn happy as he looked at her pretty face. He just felt so, so light.

"Okay," she said as she showed him her pretty green eyes. "I'm ready to move now."

Clary climbed over him to get off the bed and stretch before walking over to her sleeping brother. Jace heard her wake him up and ask if he wanted to get lunch with them.

Jace slid out of his own bed and stretched. The rest of his roommates, Alec included, were gone though they had all been sleeping when he had laid down to nap earlier after their run, except for Julian who had a shift at the Rec Center. He could hear the two siblings talking behind him as he rifled through his suitcase, looking for a pair of socks.

The three of them walked to the Dining Hall together and waved at Alec when they spotted him sitting next to Jordan and Bat and some other friends. There weren't any open seats so the three of them sat at the end of the table next to them, Jon and Jace on the edge with Clary sitting next to him.

"Oh shit," Clary whispered and he watched out of the corner of his eye as she covered her mouth with her hand to hide her laughter.

"What?" Jace asked, instantly alarmed. He searched around the room for what made her freak out and had the exact same reaction when he saw Sebastian sitting across the Hall with some friends.

With an insane hair job.

"Fray, what the fuck did you do?" Jace asked her, turning his head away from that monstrosity to look at the gorgeous girl next to him but she was already on her feet and walking over to the dick, probably to tell him that she was sorry if the apologetic look on her face was to say anything. Jon had caught on to their conversation, looked over at Sebastian, and was now biting his fist to keep his laughter from erupting.

The two of them watched, Jon in extreme amusement and Jace with suspicion as Clary put her hand on Sebastard's shoulder. Jace had seen Sebastian mad before and it wasn't something he wanted Clary to get caught on the receiving end of.

Jace didn't know when the two girls had managed to do all this and he wasn't sure he wanted to. Verlac's once blonde hair was now unevenly streaked with red hair dye. It looked like someone had tried to clean up a red mess with a blonde mop, only the mop was someone's head and they actually had to walk around and look like that. His girl was brilliant, there was no denying that.

Clary and Sebastard's conversation was brief, there were several smiles from both ends during it, and a few high five from some of his friends, which relieved him greatly. Jace doubted very much that would have been the case if anyone else had gone up to Verlac, Izzy included.

"Sister, you two did him dirty," Jon told her through his laughter as she slid into her seat, not bothering to look away from her masterpiece and at the distraught look on her face.

"It's not that bad," Jace tried to cheer her up. "And it'll wash out soon, right?"

Jon turned around in his chair to look at him in disbelief and was just in time to watch as Clary buried her head in her arms, visibly upset with herself.

"He's right Clary," Jon said, instead of whatever else he had been planning on saying, "and that red is certainly better than the red he caused you."

That was true. Jace still wanted to kill him for that. She had spent the first night she had gotten burned overheating in her cabin from how hot she was and the next day in pain as her skin rebelled against the burn, not to mention the dehydration is had put her through. This hair dye was harmless compared to that.

She lifted her head off of her arms, looking at both of them with sad and disbelieving eyes. "It looks awful, I'm a terrible person."

Jace put his hand on her thigh, wanting to comfort her. "No you're not, Fray, and it's really not that bad." The second line was a total lie. Not everyone could pull off red hair like his pretty red.

"He asked if this made you guys even," Clary said, sounding like she was asking the question too.

"We'll see," Jon said for Jace, sounding less amused now. "I don't think it's really an even trade."

"Yeah, but you prank each other all summer long, I'm sure you'll get him again, eventually."

Jace pursed his lips. That was true in some ways. The three of them and Sebastian, along with a few of his friends, always spent their time at camp at one another's throats, and not in a friendly way. Though no one had even been caught in the crossfires like this before, especially not someone like Clary, who meant something to both sides. Jace was sure that even Sebastian felt somewhat bad for hurting her. She was just such a kind person.

"We'll see, Sunshine," he told her, smiling a little as she slipped her hand in his. "But in the meantime, I say we just enjoy the view."

It was her turn to smile, albeit hesitantly, as she looked over at her handiwork. It really was funny. "I mean, we did a good job."

"That you did, Clare," Jon said, smiling widely at his sister. "Like honestly, how did the two of you pull that off?"

"We snuck into your cabin while everyone was at dinner and figured out which kind of shampoo he used. Then we snuck out after lights out and headed to the Walmart in town to buy a bottle of that and some hair dye. We mixed the two bottles in the parking lot before sneaking back into camp and then into your cabin to swap the two bottles."

"You mean to tell us that the two of you walked through the woods that late in the night?" Jon asked, impressed.

"More like sprinted, but yeah," Clary confirmed, laughing a little.

"And you didn't wake anyone up in their room?" Jace asked, also impressed. She shook her head and took back her hand to hold her fork. "Damn, Fray, you've got skills."

"Or, it's camp and everyone is exhausted." Clary reasoned before perking up. "Oh, it's Iz."

Jace turned to doorway to see Izzy walking in, her long black hair in a high ponytail and wearing a t-shirt and shorts, both unusual things for her.

"She must be beat," Jon said, noticing the same things. "I think I've only seen her with her hair up three times."

"Don't be so dramatic," Clary said, rolling her eyes. "She does this all the time."

Jace very much doubted that though he didn't do sleepovers with her regularly like Clary. She jumped in line at the pasta place, just as Clary and Jace had done, before walking over to their table.

"Hey guys," Iz greeted them tiredly, dropping into the seat across from Clary.

"Turn around," Clary said, skipping the typical morning greetings and tipping her head towards Verlac.

Iz turned around, caught sight of Sebastian, and spun back around, clapping her hand over her mouth as her whole face lit up in laughter.

"That is so much worse than I was expecting," Iz said, taking her hand off her mouth to look at all of them in disbelief. "Has Alec seen it?"

Jace turned towards the table next to them that he had forgotten all about as they got swept up in Sebastian's ugly hair. Alec's back was turned and unless someone else had seen it, it was very unlikely that Alec had been graced with the opportunity to see Sebastian in all his glory.

"No, I don't think so," Jace told Iz, turning back towards her, a grin overtaking his face. "Nor the rest of the table, I'm betting."

"Jace," Clary whined, putting her hand on his arm. "Don't be mean."

"Everyone at camp is going to see it sooner or later," Jace reminded her, putting his hand on hers that was holding her fork.

"Clary, girl, it's a harmless prank," Izzy said, rolling her eyes at her friend as she bit some pasta off her fork. "What did you expect to happen?"

"I don't know," Clary said, "for him to look a bit better, I suppose."

Jon snorted, and Jace bit back a grin. "Well, he must not have gotten that memo."

Izzy leaned across the table so that she could talk to the table of boys next to them. Besides Sebastian's few 'friends' and his temporary flings, there weren't a whole bunch of people who liked him at camp. It was no surprise when all of them started cackling and a few of them reached over to high five the girls. Izzy took hers proudly but Clary did so hesitantly.

"You guys coming to the Ledges with us tonight?" Their friend and fellow lifeguard Liam asked when everyone was done laughing at Verlac.

Jace looked around at his friends and they all shurgged in the 'sure' kind of way. "Yeah, after dark?"

"Course man," Liam said, "is there any other time to go?"

Such was true.

"See ya then," Jon told them, reaching up to dap a few as they all stood up from their table. Alec joined them with his empty dishes and the five of them finished their lunches together or watched as the others did in Alec's case, before heading towards the field house.

The five of them found an empty room in the basement and some rackets. Over the years, they had picked up enough of the racquetball rules to play it casually. And then eventually it just turned into the boys whipping the balls at one another and off the walls while the girls sat in the corner and rotated between talking and fending off stray balls.

They had dinner in the dining hall before changing into the suits and heading to the deserted beach and chilling in the sand, waiting for the sunset. Clary was taking some photos of them with her phone, including one of the two of them with the sunset behind them and his lips on her cheek.

He posted it on his Instagram story, a way of letting his friends back home that something was happening between the two of them that didn't involve extreme embarrassment. Jon and him hung out all the time in Brooklyn. His friends were Jace's and Jace's friends were his. Sometimes, Jace would show up places and Jon would already be there. He loved it. But, there were a few drawbacks. Jon had no problem spilling things about Jace's obsession with Clary and he knew that if he didn't say something, Jon would, and it would be very embarrassing.

"Guys!" Liam's voice came from behind them and they turned around to see him and several other guys waiting for them. "Come on!"

The five of them grinned at one another before getting up and running after the group of guys.

They all dropped their clothes at the top of the highest rock and Jace couldn't stop the laughter as he looked at Clary's 'tan' lines that were getting worse by the day.

"Jace," she whined, smiling despite herself as she looked at him.

"What?" He leaned in, smiling too, and kissing her softly.

"Oh, shit!" One of Liam's friends, Chandler said, his eyes going wide. "Since when have you two been a thing?"

"It's new," Jon said for him, wrapping his arms around both of their shoulders from behind. "Aren't they cute?"

"Shut up." Clary pushed his face away.

They moved to the edge of the rock, Jace keeping a firm hold on Clary as Jon and her had a little shoving match.

"Dang, I forgot how high it is," Clary mumbled as she looked over the edge and down at the water below. Luke had installed some lights on the path and it was bright enough to light up the water below. Campers weren't allowed to night jump but they still did it so he had figured he might as well prevent them from dying. Luke was smart like that.

"You'll be fine," Jace said, grabbing her hand. "You ready?"

She nodded.

A few people had already jumped since they arrived at the rock, Izzy included. They followed their lead.

He let go of her hand mid-jump, not wanting either of them to land weird. Jace surfaced first, wiping the water out of his face as Clary emerged from the water.

"Oh my God," she half laughed, half cried as she tipped her head back. "Oh my God, my ass."

Jace laughed loudly, reaching out for her. "Come here."

She shook her head, shaking herself out a little as she looked up at the sky.

"What's up with her?" Jon asked, swimming up to them.

"She didn't close her legs enough," Jace said, trying not to laugh for a second.

Jon tried to turn his laugh into a cough and only half succeeded.

"You good, Clare?"

"Yeah, just need a second." She sounded out of breath.

"Alright, you've got her, I'm sure."

Jon swam away and Jace helped her swim towards a rock a little aways, just so she wouldn't end up getting jumped on by someone.

"You okay?" He asked her, touching her hip lightly.

"Umhmm," she said, looking at him finally. Her green eyes were a little shiny and his stomach clenched painfully.

He lifted himself up on the rock and let her swim in between his legs, giving her the opportunity to cling to him if needed. Which she did. She folded her arms and kicked her legs back so that she was lowkey laying on the water.

Jace felt like he was living in a movie. It was the perfect temperature outside and he was with the perfect girl, in the perfect place, with his best friends.

"Hey Jace," Clary said after a few minutes, looking up at him.

"Yeah?"

She pushed herself up so that her arms were fully extended and her face was inches from his. He wrapped his arm around her and leaned in for a quick kiss.

"Go on a date with me?" She asked. "After work tomorrow?"

He blinked in surprise before smiling blindly. "Where you taking me, Fray?"

"Well, I don't have a car, so the only place I can take you is the Diner."

"So you're asking me to take you on a date?" He teased her.

"If that's what it takes, sure."

"Well, I'd be honored." He couldn't stop smiling. "Are you going to dress up for me?"

"Depends on where you're taking me."

He rested his head on her shoulder as he thought for a moment. There was nothing in this town other than a few family owned restaurants that stayed afloat purely by the fact that there was nowhere else to go. But he knew there was a bigger 'town' about twenty minutes ago with an Olive Garden. It was kind of cliche but they didn't have a whole lot of options here.

Clary's arms were beginning to shake and when he lifted his head up, he helped her up into his lap, one of her legs on either side of his hips.

"Well, there's that Olive Garden like twenty minutes away," he told her, cueing her in on his thoughts.

She tilted her head to the side as she thought about it. "I mean, who can say no to those breadsticks."

"Oh," he said, as a thought came to him. "Isn't there a Cheesecake Factory out here somewhere, am I crazy? Didn't we go there once?"

She nodded, a smile spreading across her face. "Yeah, it's in the other direction I think, in the city with the casino."

"Dang, you're right." The memory came back to him. "It's on the way home, Valentine took us there once when he was driving the three of us back to Brooklyn."

"Just so we're on the same page, if I had a car I would be the one taking you out."

"Aye, aye, captain," he said, leaning in to kiss her. The rock he had led her to was away from the lights and he doubted that anyone could see them, he could barely see her.

Her small hands tangled in his hair and he sighed into her mouth. So much of her wet, bare skin was pressed up against his and his teenage brain was going haywire.

"Not scared of water snakes anymore?" He teased her, pulling away not even an inch.

"I've learned that the water can be just as scary."

"You good now?" Jace asked her, remembering the reason they were over here in the first place.

She nodded, before leaning in to kiss him again. This time, the kiss didn't last long as both of them got soaked when Jon splashed them for kissing where he could see them. Some things would never change.