A/N: nothing is mine except for the plot and that swine, Zach- not something I'm particularly proud of to be fair.
Hi guys! Thanks for the reviews and favourites etc :) Really appreciating the love. Because of the amount of people I had telling me to go ahead with the one-shots, I've decided to do them! They will be under the title 'ALL'S FAIR WHEN LOVE IS WAR- DRABBLES'. I hope you enjoy them.
Chapter Song: Only One- Yellow Card
CPOV
Izzy and I were pretty much silent all the way to her parent's house, only sharing stinted conversation- or debate, whatever you want to call it- about the route. I tapped the steering wheel agitatedly the entire hour and half it took to get to their house in the Hampton's and by the time we pulled up by the garages I was, for lack of a better word, a complete wreck. I mean, Jace hadn't sent those flowers so who else could have?
I was kidding myself, pretending I didn't know the answer to that question. There was only one other person in the world who would send flowers apologising for what happened yesterday, call me Fray in the note that came with them and then sign it off with a 'J'.
Zach Johnson.
I dragged myself out of the car and wandered my way around the back to the trunk so I could pull out the case Izzy and I were sharing since we were staying until Tuesday morning. She came around the back to meet me and took it from my hands.
"Here, I'll carry it." She smiled and yanked the handle out so she could pull it along the winding path that led through the garden to the front door.
"I'm pretty sure I can handle it," I protested weakly but she shook her head.
"Honey, I think you're already carrying enough baggage today." She grinned and I rolled my eyes with a grimace, "Besides, I think there's someone wanting to talk to you." She jerked her head over her shoulder. I looked to where she'd directed to see Jace standing on the decking that led to the beach front, watching us with a careful expression. I looked him over quickly, greedily admiring the way his white Fred Perry polo shirt made his chest look simply wow, and then tripped over the guilt that had built up in me since this morning when I'd figured out the mystery of the flowers. I looked back to Isabelle and bit my lip.
"I'll see you inside?" I said, making it a question because I was silently hoping for her to bail me out of speaking to him so soon.
"Sure, I'll tell mom and dad you're on your way in. See you soon." She smiled with a wink and my heart sank as I watched her negotiate the case and make her way up to the house. Very slowly, I turned back to Jace and walked to him. I don't know why I felt like I'd betrayed him- it's not like I'd done anything wrong and it wasn't like I'd even properly admitted I had feelings for him- yet. Not that I even had to tell him out loud; I was pretty sure he'd figured that one out all on his own. He wasn't as stupid as I gave him credit for.
I looked up at him with a tiny smile and played with my hands nervously.
"Hi," I whispered.
"Hey. Do you want to- uh, I mean would you like to take a quick walk?" he said, sounding overly formal for his usual laid back, sarcastic self. I nodded and began walking down to the beach.
"You look beautiful, by the way. You should wear that colour more often." He said as he came to my side. I looked down at the jade green sundress I'd thrown on before we'd left the apartment and smiled.
"Thanks. You look, uh, beautiful too?" I laughed nervously. He smiled and ran a hand through his hair.
"Don't I always?"
"Be careful now or I'm going to have to get an industrial sized needle to pop that fat head of yours." I teased, earning myself a glimpse of his signature smirk. I pretty much turned to mush right there on the sand.
"You, my sarcastic friend, would miss my fat head too much. Go on, feel free to admit it."
I didn't even bother denying it.
"You're right, I would miss it." I said quietly, looking at him out of the corner of my eyes. I watched as he raised his eyebrows and smiled a little, reaching out tentatively and grabbing my hand. I let him without protest and grinned myself.
We wandered along the beach quietly for a few minutes and I concentrated on the warm sun on my skin and the crunch of the sand under my feet. It slipped between my flip flops and rubbed at my toes uncomfortably so I stopped and yanked them off. Of course, me being me, I pulled them too hard and ended up losing my balance which resulted in me thumping down on to the sand, twisting my ankle awkwardly as I landed.
"Ouch!" I yelped with a grimace. I took my foot in my hand and rubbed it uselessly.
"Are you okay?" Jace asked, looking at me with concern.
"Yeah, just give me a second."
I frowned at my foot for a long moment, as if it would do any good, and then sighed.
"Do you make it a daily habit to land on your ass?" Jace teased as he looked down at me and I mock-glared at him.
"No, but do you mind giving me a hand up?"
Jace shrugged and offered me his hand. I took it with both of mine and then, with a quick stroke of genius, I yanked his arm.
"Whoa," he yelled as he struggled for his balance, only to lose the fight and topple down on top of me. I burst out laughing as he face planted the sand and watched as he pulled his head up quickly, spluttering and coughing as he tried to glare at me. I smiled sweetly.
"I think you've got something on your face..." I said, wiping sand from his chin, "kind of looks like a crumby beard."
"You think that's funny, Fray?" he asked as he swiped at his face with a hand, trying not to collapse on top of me again. I nodded my head and stuck my tongue out at him.
"Actually, I thought it was hilarious." I corrected him through a giggle. He grinned.
"I don't think I'll let you get away with that one." He said slyly and I shut up, watching him carefully through narrow eyes. Very slowly, I saw an idea clicking in to place in his head and my eyes grew as wide as saucers.
"No. Jace, don't. Don't you dare!" I pleaded but his smile only grew. Before I knew it he was tickling every patch of skin he could find and I was writhing around on the sand, half laughing and half wailing hysterically as I tried to wriggle away from him.
"Stop it!" I gasped as he attacked me, laughing like a maniac. He carried on with his assault and I wacked his back with my fists, yelling at him through giggles.
"Are you going to apologise?" he laughed, tickling my ribs. I nodded quickly.
"I'm sorry!" I squealed in to his ear and finally he drew his hands away with a triumphant grin. I rolled my eyes and laughed quietly as I looked up at him. It only took me a second to notice that we were sat in quite a... uh, compromising position. He was sat on top of me, his legs either side of my waist and his arms trapped me to the floor. I looked at him, suddenly serious, and I could see that he'd twigged on too.
Something shifted in the atmosphere around us and all of a sudden I felt nervous again, my stomach twisting uncomfortably as my eyes raked his face. I couldn't mistake the look in his eyes for anything but pure lust and I hazarded a guess that my own face looked exactly the same.
"I'm sorry," I breathed again, not knowing what exactly I was apologising for this time. We stared at each other for a moment longer before his soft lips met mine. He kissed me so slowly and languidly that I whimpered in to his mouth. The noise seemed to make him more confident and he pulled me closer to his body, twining his fingers in my hair. I snaked my own arms around his neck and opened my mouth for him, playing with the short curls at the base of his neck. His tongue sunk in to my mouth and did devastating things there- I felt like I might actually drop down dead from that one kiss.
Slowly, his hands came loose from my hair and moved down the silhouette of my body to my hips. Wherever his hands touched, little sparks of electricity seemed to course through my skin like I was being hit by tiny bolts of lightning. He brought one hand back to my face and cupped it lightly, his thumb swirling against my skin so softly and tenderly that it made my insides squirm and ache. I took in a sharp intake of air and arched my back involuntarily, my body acting of its own accord to get closer to him. He kissed a line from the base of my neck to the wonderfully sensitive spot behind my ear and I bit my lip so hard that I thought I might burst the skin.
I was too euphoric to think about what was right or wrong or even what the hell I was doing getting horizontal with Jace Herondale on a beach in the middle of broad daylight, but apparently he wasn't. Very slowly he pulled back and stared at me again.
"Clary, what's the deal with the flowers?" he asked and all traces of lust fled my body as I remembered the reason we'd come on to the beach in the first place. He wanted to talk to me about the letter. With a sigh, I gently pushed him off me and sat hugging my legs on the sand. He sat beside me, watching out of the corner of his eyes.
"I was so sure it was you." I said eventually, looking at my painted toe nails. My cheeks were burning with embarrassment. "The note was signed off as 'J' so I didn't even stop to think, but I should have known."
"Clary-" he began but I cut him off.
"Here." I said, handing him the now crumpled note from the pocket of my dress. He scanned it quickly and frowned.
"I don't get it. Who the hell sent you the flowers?" he asked, frustrated. I took a deep breath before I answered.
"Zach."
"But why would he sign it-"
"When we were together we had this thing where we would call each other by our last names; Fray and Johnson. Some couples have pet names- we had surnames. That's how it was." I said quietly.
Jace was silent for a long time before he stood up and pulled me up after him. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked me straight in the eye.
"You do realise I'm going to kick his ass if he even tries to come near you again, right?"
"Don't you think that's a little rash?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "What if he just wants to be friends?"
Jace laughed dryly.
"I know how guys like him work because I'm a guy like him. I was, anyway. We don't give up once we want something. I told you Clary, all's fair when love is war. He's the one who said that to me the first time- when he started dating you because he knew I wanted you. I'm not going to let him play you again."
"You make it sound like I'm just something the pair of you can mess around with and then drop when I get boring." I said snidely, rolling my eyes and crossing my arms across my chest. Jace laughed and caught my chin with his fingers.
"I've been chasing after you for years, Clary. I think if I was going to get bored of you it would have happened before now. And besides," he grinned wickedly, bringing his hand to the back of my neck and the other to my waist, "Who can get bored of a girl who kisses as well as you do?"
I smiled beside myself and stepped closer.
"I guess I'd be able to cope if you kissed me again."
He gave me an illuminating smile and bent his head so he could kiss me. I smiled in to his mouth and wrapped my arms around his neck, going up on to my toes so he wouldn't have to bend as much.
Lanky bastard.
JPOV
To call this thing at the Lightwood's a barbeque would be like saying Kick Ass is only a moderate film- a complete and utter lie. Last time I checked, barbeques weren't supposed to have waiters and a crew of chefs making the food so the rest of us could sit around talking bull and taking dips in the pool. I was pretty sure barbeques were supposed to be messy, trial and error affairs where the men get all primal over fire and burn steaks and shit instead of lounging with martinis and talking about the current state of the economy. But hey, who was I to complain? Free stuff is free stuff in my eyes, but I did wonder why the hell my parents had to be here. Seriously, why? Who in their right, sane mind would do this to me?
I glanced at Robert Lightwood and he grinned, tilting his glass in a mock salute. I glared and he laughed, turning back to his conversation.
I was sat beside my father at a garden table; listening to him blather on about his stocks to a guy who I was pretty sure was part of the Senate. I'd been sat here for about an hour now and I hadn't said a word, but no, I wasn't allowed to move.
As soon as Clary and I had come back from the beach, she'd been stolen away by Izzy to go be girly and my mother had marched up to me and ordered me to go to my room and change in to the clothes she'd laid out on my bed like I was ten years old again. Of course I'd done what she'd said because I seriously can't handle her moaning away in my ear about making a good impression in front of all of these upstanding ladies and gentleman of society but dammit, I wasn't happy about it.
I looked around the area again, my chin resting listlessly in my palm, and spotted the guys sat by the poolside. They were all drinking beer out of a cooler by their table and laughing at something that was probably not as funny as they made it out to be and I narrowed my eyes, wishing I could be with them. Hell, Alec's parents were the ones throwing this party and they didn't make him wear a suit. But, alas, this is what I have come to expect from being a Herondale.
I took a small piece of comfort when I saw Sebastian sitting uncomfortably at the table opposite mine, his eyes wide and a baffled look plastered to his face. An old man with a toupee was talking to him and I saw Seb stutter over a sentence and shift in his chair. He fiddled with the collar of his shirt and let out a sigh of relief when the man excused himself to get another drink. He spotted me and shook his head with a grimace and I pulled a similar face until I felt a light tap on my shoulder.
"Hey stranger."
I turned to see Aline smiling down at me and grinned. I should have known she'd be here. Bored of listening to the drone of my father's voice, I excused myself and stood up without waiting for a reply. I took Aline's arm and led her towards the bar.
"Your timing is fantastic. I felt like slamming my head on the table." I said.
"My parents were showing me off to the eligible bachelors of New York otherwise I would have sprung you earlier." She rolled her eyes, scrunching up her nose in distaste.
"How fun that must be for you." I laughed and grabbed a beer. She took a cocktail from the tray on top of the bar and sipped at it.
"Oh yeah, it's simply to die for. I love being shoved towards every single male over the age of eighteen going at this party. You know, they even tried to shove me at Alec. We politely tried to explain that he's gay and they were all like 'that's just a temporary setback'. Stupid. I can't wait 'till all the oldies leave tonight so we can actually have some fun tomorrow. Speaking of fun- who's your friend over there?" she pointed subtly towards Sebastian and I grinned.
"Sebastian Verlac- he's my friend from college. He and his parents have moved to New York permanently. They use to live in LA. You've actually met him plenty of times before."
"Glamorous," she smiled and carried on eyeing him. I rolled my eyes and shoved her arm lightly. She looked up and shrugged.
"What? Can't I appreciate a fine specimen when I see one?"
"I could just introduce you to him, you know. Nott hat I should have to. Like I said, he was with us at Pandemonium the other week." I pointed out. She laughed and brushed off my comment with a shrug.
"I'm sure I can introduce myself, and I will do just that but I think I have business to attend to first." She said, nodding over my shoulder. I turned around to see Clary looking at the pair of us, her eyebrows raised and a sceptical look on her face. It was the first time I'd seen her since we'd come back and obviously Isabelle had worked her wonders. Clary had been transformed in to something beyond beautiful.
"Hey, are you listening to me?" Aline said in my ear and shoved me. I blinked and looked away, snapping my mouth shut.
"What?" I asked. She sighed.
"I said, I take it things are going well in the Clary department."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess so." I nodded, smiling a little bit. Aline grinned and shook her head.
"She obviously doesn't know we're not an item, judging by the look on her face. I think I'll go talk to her."
"Aline, no wait-" I started but she'd already sauntered off towards Clary who suddenly looked like she was trying desperately to find an escape route. I groaned and took a sip of my beer before wandering off to find Alec.
CPOV
Aline was prowling towards me and I couldn't help but feel panicked. She was coming to scream at me. I just knew it. But I also knew I wanted to scream at her for continually trying to sink her claws in to my- I mean, in to Jace. I looked around frantically, trying to find Isabelle but she was nowhere to be seen. I crossed my arms over my chest protectively and forced myself to look her in the eye as she came to stand in front of me.
"Hey," she said with a nod.
"Hi." I replied placidly. We stood awkwardly for a long moment before she broke the silence.
"I love your dress. Who made it?" she asked. I looked down at the ridiculous tea dress I was wearing, courtesy of- who else? Isabelle. It was pretty and all- it was a cream organza stripe bandeau dress- but it wasn't me at all. I felt awkward, like I was trying to be someone I wasn't. Fair enough, my family might be well off compared to some since my dad left a pretty sizable amount of money for mom, Jonathan and me when he died, but I wasn't one of these garden party, designer girls like Izzy. She suited the look and, to put it simply, I didn't.
"I- uh, I have no idea. I think its high street..." I mumbled. Aline shrugged.
"Mine's a Max Azria. I met him at New York fashion week and he made this for me." She said, fingering the loose material of the skirt of the dress. It was beautiful...
"That's... nice." I said and Aline smiled.
"Anyway, I think we need to talk about Jace." She said, getting down to business. I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"What about him?" I squeaked, looking around the garden. Jace was stood talking to Alec, a gloomy look on his face. I caught his eye and he grimaced before quickly turning away. My stomach plummeted in to the general region of my ass.
"You need to know that we're not together." She said bluntly. I didn't reply- I was a little too shocked to function.
"See, we were for a while in High School but that was more because he was- is- gorgeous and our parents were kind of encouraging the idea, but it didn't work out. As soon as you turned up on the scene, everyone else was out of the picture. It was like he had tunnel vision, all he saw was you. You ruined him for every other girl on the planet, Clary." She finished with an almost kind smile. My mouth gaped for a second before I flicked my eyes back to him.
"But... you two were always together. Kissing and stuff. I saw you guys all the time." I said, still looking at Jace. I turned back to her as she laughed.
"We were just trying to get you to notice him- it was no big deal. You were too busy hating him to see how stupidly in love with you he was, and still is." Aline said with a small shrug.
"You were trying to make me... what?"
"He's-"
But I didn't give her a chance to repeat what she'd said. I was already stumbling my way to Jace.
"Everyone knew?" I demanded before I'd even reached him. He frowned.
"What?" he asked, shoving his hands in to his pockets. Alec mumbled something, running an agitated hand through his hair and walking away quickly, looking over his shoulder at the pair of us.
"Literally Everyone knew and I couldn't even see it?" I said less angrily this time because it wasn't him I was pissed at.
It was me. Stupid, blind, childish me. I'd known my close friends had an idea, they'd all told me as much. But the thought of people other than them knowing about Jace and me before I'd even realised myself was infuriating.
"Clary, what are you-?" I cut off his sentence again with a shake of my head.
"Tell me. Tell me how you feel about me. Now. Properly this time. No games, just us."
I watched silently as Jace's eyes opened wide and then dropped to the floor. He looked nervous, more nervous than I'd even thought he had the right to be. It just wasn't him. Jace never got nervous.
'And, did it ever cross your mind that you might make him nervous?' Izzy had said that to me weeks ago now and I was only just starting to see the full extent of how right she might have been.
I felt like kicking myself.
I was pulled out of my head by the feel of rough hands against mine. Jace's hands, to be exact.
"Clary," he sighed with a small smile. I bit my lip, trying not to cry over how completely idiotic and juvenile I was and looked up in to his eyes. I was almost bowled over by the emotion they held.
"Clary, since the very first time I laid eyes on you I was yours. I know I've said and done some pretty stupid, hurtful stuff but it was all because you made me feel things no one else has made me feel. When I met you I changed and I was scared of that, so I'm sorry for all of that. You're the only one I've ever really wanted to be with. I know you might not feel the same as I do yet, but... for Christ's sake, Fray, I'm-"
"Did you like the flowers?" A smooth, painfully familiar voice said in my ear, cutting off Jace's sentence. I watched as Jace's eyes slowly narrowed and then became completely emotionless. His fists were in tight balls.
"What are you doing here Zach?" he said evenly. Zach's lips curled up in to a grin and he tipped his head.
"The Lightwoods invited my parents and I figured Fray would be here so I tagged along. I wanted to talk to her privately." He said, running a hand through his curly jet black hair.
"Anything you have to say to me you can say in front of Jace." I said quietly, not looking him in the eyes. I couldn't- it still physically hurt me to look even after all this time.
"What- are you two a couple now?" Zach cocked an eyebrow. I glanced at Jace quickly- he looked seriously pissed. I grabbed for his hand and squeezed it lightly but he didn't squeeze back. He just continued to glare at Zach as if he was trying to shoot burning lasers out of his eyes or something.
"I... I like Jace, Zack. Please don't ruin this for me." I said nervously.
"Well we all know Jace likes you." Zach smiled.
"Stop it Zach." I said firmly and frowned.
"What? I'm just stating the truth. It's not like it was some huge secret- he's been trying to bed you for years."
"Zach!"
"Hey, dude, I don't blame you in the slightest." Zach said lazily, gesturing to Jace, "I mean she's hot isn't she."
"You might want to start thinking about shutting up." Jace growled. His hand clenched around mine and he dropped my hand.
"Or what? You're chicken shit Jace. You wouldn't dare lay a finger on me especially not with your precious little whore stood right-"
"I'm the whore?" I said, outraged but no one was listening. What happened next was a complete blur. One second Jace was stood at my side, and then he was gone. Well, it wasn't that he was gone; it was that he'd sidestepped me and thrown himself straight in to Zach. They crashed backwards, straight in to one of the glass garden tables and landed on the shattered remains with a thump. I watched, unable to move or speak, as Jace's arm bent back and his fist curled in to a deadly ball and then smacked in to Zach's face.
There we go- what did you's think? I think that beginning bit was kind of cute :) Yes? No?
ML