Hi, guys! It's technically already Saturday (sorry!), so I (once again) apologize for not uploading on time. My cousin graduated from college today, so it was a crazy, wonderful, exciting day, and I've been out and about since 6am. The next few weeks should be calmer, though, so yay! Anyway, massive thanks to Katwood5 for beta'ing this. Love you! Also thanks to all of you lovely readers. I hope you like this! xx

They didn't kiss that night.

Clary wanted to. She wanted to feel the taste of him again. She loved how he tasted like spearmint and sleepiness, and she longed for that every second of the day.

But they didn't kiss.

Jace was wearing his pajamas and sitting cross-legged on his bed with his math textbook open when Clary walked in. He had a pencil in his hand and was tapping the textbook's page with it. Tap tap tap tap, tap, tap tap, tap.

"Are you planning on becoming the world's next drumming hit?"

He smiled before meeting her eyes. "I didn't finish my homework. Fell asleep."

"Was practice really that bad today?"

"We have a game on Friday. It's Tuesday, and one of the guys is out with bronchitis. Yeah, it was bad."

She sighed. They had to keep their voices down at night, in case someone decided to wander around. "I'm sorry," she whispered, sitting beside him on the bed. "Can I do anything to make it better?"

"You can help me finish my homework so I don't fail math."

"Not the kind of answer I was expecting."

He gave her a sad smile. "I know. Sorry. I just really need to get this done."

"Okay." Despite her disappointment, she managed a smile and looked down at the textbook, even though she would have definitely preferred going back to her room and sleeping.

She helped him finish the homework, though it took them both a while. Clary was a sophomore, and Jace a junior, which meant that he was a year ahead in math. Luckily, she got some of it while reading from the book, which meant she was able to help him. It brought a smile to her face when his brows knitted together in confusion, or when he got something right and a smile crept onto his face and made him seem much lighter. She wanted to capture every moment she had alone with him and keep it in her heart for the rest of her life.

They finished just before one in the morning. Clary said, "I'm going to sleep" with a yawn to finish off the sentence and a sheepish smile following it. "Night."

"Night. And, hey, thanks."

"No problem."

The next day went like any other: breakfast, school (where Clary had to pretend to be Jace's girlfriend while holding in her craving for his kisses), soccer practice (where Sebastian and Jon had an almost-fight, but Clary did not know this, because she was too busy doodling to pay attention), and then home.

Jocelyn was there early, once again, but this time she was not going back to the gallery. "I'm staying here," she said, smiling. "Resting. Luke is insisting, and I trust him."

"I don't think you wouldn't have married him if you didn't," Clary said, giving her mother a look that said that she should listen to her husband's advice. "What're you making?"

"Pasta and steamed veggies."

"You do realize you have starving boys in this house, right? Two of them?"

"There's also chicken," her mom replied, rolling her eyes. "By the way, how is Jace? I haven't gotten the chance to talk to him, and I know you three spend a lot of time together."

"He's fine, I think? I don't know." Clary shrugged, hoping she was appearing as casual as she wanted to. She did not need her mom finding out about her attraction to Jace. "I don't talk to him that much."

"It must be awful to have a parent who's never there," Jocelyn said. Clary wanted to tell her that, as of late, she hadn't been there that much, either, but decided against it. The last thing her mom needed was guilt weighing her down.

"I guess."

"Are those two ever coming down for dinner?" She glanced at the stairs. The two boys had gone straight up, only mumbling their hellos.

"I think they're showering first. Do you want me to check?"

"Please do," her mom replied, giving her a kind smile.

Upstairs, her brother was in his room, on the phone. She knocked on his door, which was partly open, and swung it open completely when he didn't react.

"Look," he said, annoyed, "I know that you like me. You have made that very clear. In many ways. Thank you for some of those, by the way. But," he regained his composure, "I don't like you. And I don't wanna hook up with you anymore. Got it?"

Kaelie? Clary mouthed, and he nodded while rolling his eyes.

"That sucks for you," he said dryly, all attempts of breaking the news to her (for the billionth time) amicably completely gone. "I have to go."

Once he hung up, Clary said, "Mom just wanted to know when you're coming down for dinner."

"Are we having an actual dinner, or?"

"I think we're not," she replied. "I think Mom's gonna nap."

"Is she okay? She looks kinda—"

"—crappy? She's tired. Luke told her to take the afternoon off, and it worked."

"Good."

The two of them walked downstairs, only to find their mother eating. "I got tired of waiting for you," she said.

"Thanks, Mom," Jon said sarcastically, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Jace is taking a shower, so."

Clary tried hard not to think of Jace in the shower, but images played in her mind anyway. Suppressing a sigh, she took a plastic plate from the cupboard and served herself some pasta and veggies.

"I'm going upstairs," she said, holding up her food.

Her mother and brother waved her off; they were too distracted by the food. Rolling her eyes, she made her way upstairs and into her room, shutting the door—and almost dropping the plate she so carefully held.

Because sitting on her bed was Jace Wayland.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered harshly, setting down her plate before she dropped it.

"Thought I'd stop by," he said, the corners of his mouth lifting. "Is your brother downstairs?"

"He could come up any second."

"He wouldn't come up to check on me."

"He might," Clary said, but her argument was falling apart and her door was shut and he was standing right there, and would it be so bad if she gave in and let him kiss her? She saw that it was what he came to her room for, to give her the kiss that they'd been wanting for over twenty-four hours.

Jace stepped closer. "He won't."

She didn't know what it was about him. This was something Isabelle would do. Clary was always the one who said that she was going to wait, to really get to know someone before she let herself feel something. She was the one who was going to build a friendship before jumping on to the romance part of things, but Jace made her feel something that made her lose all reasoning.

Her mind went blank as he kissed her, quickly filling with the thoughts that involved tugging on his hair and standing higher on her tiptoes. She didn't care that there were still infinite numbers of conversations to have and things that they kept in the dark. All she cared about was having his lips on hers, and she didn't care how irrational that was.

She was breathing heavily when they broke apart, but she couldn't help but smile. "Well, my food probably got cold."

"Yeah, you're welcome." Jace rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Are you coming tonight?"

"Think so," she replied. "I have a lot of homework, but…"

"…but I'm irresistible," he finished, his smile turning into one of his cocky grins. "I know."

"Out," she said, pushing him. "I hate you." Her efforts were useless; she was a whole foot shorter than he was.

"I'm leaving." He held his hands up in surrender and opened the door, walking out of her room after winking.

She shook her head, locking the door. She felt shaky, but in the best way. She wanted more. So much more. "Shit," she whispered, and sat on her chair. She wasn't even hungry anymore—not for food, anyway. She was hungry for his kisses, for the feeling of his skin against hers.

I'm screwed.

She chewed on her lips as she tapped her pencil against her desk, without rhythm. The clock read 11:47, and Jace had still not texted her.

She was kind of going crazy—she was drowning in schoolwork, Isabelle and Simon were still fighting, and the fact that Sebastian Verlac was an asshole and would be at the party on Friday was haunting her. The only thing that served as a much-needed distraction was the thought of hanging out with Jace. She decided thirty-six minutes before that she didn't really need him to kiss her. She just wanted to spend time with him, to talk about everything and nothing all at once.

He texted her at 11:53 when thoughts of calling it a night and giving up on homework altogether crossed her mind. She made her way quietly into his room, careful that her brother wouldn't suddenly open the door to his own bedroom.

She closed the door quietly behind her, locking it. Jace was lying down on his bed—because, to her, it was his bed now, for some reason—with his eyes closed, but he opened one of them once he heard the door click shut. "Hey."

Why'd you take so long to text me? Clary wanted to ask, but she kept quiet. She didn't want to seem annoying or clingy, because it wasn't like he was all she thought about. He was just the only thing in her life that didn't require outrageous amounts of work.

"Hi," she said, sitting cross-legged across him. She wanted to lie down, but she felt shy, for some reason. "Is it okay if I—"

"Yeah," he answered, knowing what she would say before she knew it herself.

She lay down next to him quietly, closing her eyes. She was tired of everything, but somehow she could only find the will to sleep in his bed instead of hers. The backs of her eyelids burned, and she felt her body relax.

"You okay?" Jace whispered, a hint of amusement behind his voice.

"Jace Wayland," said Clary, though it came out slightly sluggish due to her exhaustion. "You can't just text me really late and then expect me to not be tired and want to make out with you."

"I was just gonna ask if you wanna go to your room."

She opened an eye, as hard as it was, and then the other. "What?"

"You look tired."

"I am tired."

"So maybe you should sleep."

"I like being with you, though."

"I know." He smiled. "We can do this when you're not this tired."

"I'm always this tired."

"Not always. I've noticed it firsthand."

"Fine." With a great deal of effort, she sat up, every bone in her body aching and protesting against her movements. "I'm going."

She inched closer to him; he was sitting up, too, and they grew close enough to touch in a matter of seconds. It was tempting, she thought, to stay there with him and forget school and forget everything there was to remember.

He kissed her gently; it was so soft that it felt like a ghost of all the kisses he'd given her before, but she loved it in a different kind of way. It still made her smile.

"Goodnight, Wayland."

"Bye, Clary."

Thursday went by slowly, but things picked up at lunch.

Kaelie approached Clary for the first time in forever. She tossed her long, blonde hair over her shoulder as she sauntered over to her. "Clary," she said, but she shouldn't have—they were, after all, standing by Clary's locker. "I need to ask you something."

She slammed her locker's door loudly, knowing it would at least scare the idiot a little. It did. "What do you want?"

"Is your brother gonna be at the party on Friday?"

"Considering it's the team's party, and my brother's the captain, then yeah, I suppose his attendance is at least slightly important."

Kaelie looked pissed. "You don't have to be so damn rude about it."

"And you don't have to be an obsessive bitch, yet here we are." Clary smiled tightly. "Try not to embarrass yourself too much at the party."

Obviously offended, Kaelie sauntered off in the other direction, holding her head up high.

Isabelle caught up to her in a matter of seconds. "I didn't wanna interrupt," she said. "What happened?"

"Nothing." She shrugged. "She just wanted to know if Jon was going to the party."

"I swear, that girl is crazy."

"Tell me about it." Clary rolled her eyes. "I need to find Jon and tell him that she's already planning their wedding."

"Which might be a good idea, since Simon and I are eating outside today. We sort of, uh, need to talk," Isabelle explained. "About some stuff."

"Okay," she replied. "We'll talk later?"

"Sure."

Clary made her way into the cafeteria alone, hoping not to run into somebody unpleasant, though she couldn't think of anyone more unpleasant than Kaelie—except maybe Sebastian, but she didn't want to worry about him. Not ever. Wasn't that the whole point of being with Jace? To feel safer?

She sighed and, once she got her food, made her way over to her usual table. It felt kind of pathetic to be sitting by herself, but she didn't mind. She pulled out her sketchbook and decided she'd doodle while eating.

Sometimes, she could be very aware of her surroundings while she doodled. She could notice people passing her by and would cover her work as they did to make sure that they wouldn't have a clue of what was in her mind. But sometimes she got sucked in, her mind working so fast that she didn't even notice the most obvious things.

Which was why, when she finally noticed that a certain blond-haired boy was sitting in front of her, she almost jumped out of her skin.

"Jesus!" She closed the sketchbook, not knowing why; she was only sketching some intricate flowers and patterns. "What're you doing here?" Sarcastically, she added, "Sweetie."

"You looked lonely."

"That doesn't properly answer my question, Wayland." She put away her sketchbook and took a sip of her soda.

"You looked lonely," he repeated, "and I like you."

"Fascinating."

"Seriously, though, where are your friends?"

"They're arguing. Or working out their argument." She shook her head. "I don't know. Their love is weird."

"Love is weird in general."

"Agreed."

"So I saw you talking to Kaelie earlier."

"And you didn't come over to say hi?" Clary faked disappointment.

"You looked like you were in the middle of forming a beautiful friendship."

She snorted. "She's a stalker."

"She's got an unhealthy obsession with your brother, but do we have to use labels?"

She threw a French fry at him. "Not funny."

"She is kind of crazy," Jace said, subtly glancing over at the table she sat at, the one next to the soccer players' table, the one where he should have been sitting. "But, you know, I think she's just lonely. She knows she's a bitch, and she won't change, but it kind of kills her that the guy she wants is the one who doesn't want her."

"You're not supposed to get her." Another fry landed on his shirt, and he brushed it off. "Seriously, Jace, get with the program."

"She's a horrible human being." His smile made her smile.

"Good."

"What were you sketching?"

She frowned. "What?"

"You were sketching before."

"Yeah. Flowers."

"Can I see?"

"No."

"We can make out, but I can't see your art?"

"Maybe later."

He sighed. "You're impossible."

"Only on days that end with a y."

He laughed, and they left it at that, with him shaking his head and her smiling in satisfaction. They ate their food silently, and she held her sketchbook close, knowing that he could reach over and take it from her.

She didn't know why it suddenly scared her. She'd been very open with Jace about everything so far, but him flipping through her sketchbook and looking at her art, at the things that came from her heart and that lay in the deepest parts of her mind, terrified her.

"Don't get this the wrong way," Clary started, "but how come you came to sit with me? I thought we decided we wouldn't."

Jace shrugged. "I wanted to hang out with you. You're pretty cool."

"Thanks." Her sarcasm didn't go unnoticed. "But I'm serious."

"It's true. I also didn't want Verlac to see you sitting alone as a chance to come be a dick."

"How thoughtful of you."

"I do like you."

"I know." But she liked to hear him say it.

"I'll try to make more time for us to hang out." His smile gave her the message that his definition of hanging out meant more than he was giving away by just speaking these words, and she was insanely okay with that.

"Are we still going to the party tomorrow?"

"Please refrain from sounding so overwhelmingly excited."

She made a face. "I just don't wanna go, but I feel like I have to."

"You don't."

"I have to prove a point to Sebastian." She didn't want to admit to Jace that, despite her newly discovered hatred for Sebastian, she was still hurt that he was not the guy she expected him to be. She still wanted him to be a spectacularly flawless guy she could pine over, because that was better than having to deal with the fact that he was an absolute dick. She didn't want to carry that around with her, but she didn't seem to have much of a choice.

God, she hated high school.

Let me know what you think! xo