Hey guys! I know it has taken a while for me to update this chapter, but I was ill and I wasn't exactly able to produce anything decent :(

I really hope you like this chapter... I tried to make it a bit longer, to make up for the late update... :) Besides that: a loving shout out to everyone who reviewed my story, liked or even favorited it - YOU ARE AMAZING and I love you all ;p


I looked at his face in silence as the meaning of his words dawned on me. And then, I started laughing… I started laughing like a lunatic, so hard that the tears appeared into the corner of my eyes and I could hardly breathe. Ok, maybe the alcohol hadn't left my body entirely yet, but the situation was just so… ironic. At first, I had been so eager to leave this house for a while, and now that I wanted to enter it again, it seemed like the house just said: "Hell no, bitch!"Nevertheless, the funniest thing was Jace's reaction to my behaviour... He looked thunderstruck at me as if I had just grown another head: his eyes were spread in astonishment and his mouth was slightly opened. It made me think of a fish somehow: wonderful, golden and sexy, but still… a fish. This thought was so hilarious that it made me laugh even harder and I saw how a grin appeared on Jace's face as well. Only a few seconds later, he burst out in laughing too and we just stood there as lunatics and laughed because of our own stupidity. Mental note to myself: never drink more than two Alicante Daiquiri's in the future, you just can't handle the alcohol Clary…

I took us some time to cease our moment of insanity, but after a while, we finally calmed down. "You need to call Izzy." I said, a chuckle still audible in my voice. "No way" he answered determined and I rolled my eyes. "Look, I would call myself, but I forgot my phone in my room. Don't be stubborn or childish and just call your sister or Alex." I said. Not that I was looking forward to explain them everything, hell no, but it seemed that we had no other options.

"No, Clary… I can't call them… I'm sorry, but they may not know about all of this." he said, suddenly serious. It seemed that he was more used to the alcohol than I was… "They cannot know anything about us…" he added sadly as he took a step closer to me. It took me a moment to realize what he was saying. "But how can we be friends if no one may know?" I asked, afraid that everything he had said about us being friends had just been a sick joke. "Or were you just joking about that?!"I asked now a bit firmer. "No! No, Clar, that's not what I mean! I …." He rubbed his hair in despair as he was searching for the right words. "I just mean they can't know anything about this night or the night that I showed you my room… They just wouldn't understand it." I shook my head in confusion as I tried to process everything he was saying. "They wouldn't understand what, Jace?" I asked, confused by the emotions that had resounded in his voice. "They wouldn't understand that it's sometimes easier to talk with you than with them, even though I only know you for a few weeks and I have know them for what feels like forever." he gave out, his voice soft though clear and honest. His words caused a heat in my body to spread through my veins and I felt my cheeks turn red. "We're the same, Clary. We both have problems that have changed our life, I know that, I feel it, even though you don't tell me how or why. Somehow we are incredibly alike, and that feels weird and scary, but at the same time incredibly welcome and reassuring." He paused for a moment. "And now I'm talking way too much, as always when I'm with you." he ended his little outburst with a regretful smile. I saw his chest heave heavily as if he had just ran a marathon. He breathed louder than normal as his eyes searched for mine: they searched for confirmation, for recognition.

And I knew that it was written all over my face, because he had exactly expressed all the thoughts that had been whirling around inside of me, and I knew I couldn't hide it any longer. It had been there all the time, but it had taken me some time to see it… Or maybe I didn't want to see it: it was easier to just ignore it, in that way I didn't need to think about the consequences either… But right now, I couldn't deny it any longer to myself; I had fought against it for too long… There was something between us, something beyond our control that had bound us immediately, from the first moment we had seen each other, and I had no idea what to do about it…

"Ok." I said. "We won't call them… We will find another way to get in…" He smiled relieved and took a step closer to me. "Thanks Red." He said, before he pulled me into a hug. My body stiffened a second before I loosened up: as pieces of a puzzle, our bodies completely complemented each other, as if they were made for each other. For a few seconds I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the moment: friends could do this, right?

After a while I tried to push him away, but he didn't let go of me. He only loosened his grip a bit so he could look as my face as he asked what was wrong. "We need to find a way in Jace!" I said. He just laughed. "Nah, we don't." He said with a cheeky smile. "I quite like our current position, so I don't see the problem." "Jace…" I tried to object but he just pulled me closer to his body. "And I know you do too…" he whispered in my ear. His hot breath against my neck made me dizzy, and startled I took a step back causing our body contact to break. "Don't do that Jace!" I said irascible as I headed to the garden, away from him. "You need to stop all of this Clary! Before this gets out of hand!" I mumbled to myself. "You know it's already too late for that," a voice in my head said, "you're already too much involved…"Oh how I hated that voice! Sure, there was something between me and Jace, but I was nothing more than friendship... Besides, I would not tolerate that is would evolve further than that! Way too dangerous, for both of us...

Jace's POV

I stood there perplexed, my arms still lifted in the air. A few seconds ago I had been hugging the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, and now I was hugging thin air like I was some crazy lunatic. Clearly, I had gone too far, pushed her limits too far... again... And I was taken aback by her rejection… again… It's funny how, until a few weeks ago, no one had ever rejected me before. And she, she did it like a hundred times a day, and it still surprised me every time again. I wanted to know why she always rebuffed anything that came close to her, and I knew that I would endure the humiliation of her rejections every time again, until she decided to let me in. I was not a choice I had made knowingly; it was a need that was stronger than everything else: I needed her. I needed her more than a flower needs the sun to grow, more than the threes that need the water to live… I needed her like a drug: my own, personal Clary-shots that helped me get through the days… And that dependency scared me to death …

I made my way to the back of the house and soon I saw her, standing against one of the threes. She seemed caught up in her own thoughts, but as I came closer, she looked up and stared into my eyes. "I have no idea how we can enter Jace, it's impossible! Every door is locked and all the windows are shut…" she said, acting like the former had not happened. I followed her regard that had returned to the house. My eyes slid over the building as well, but they stopped as they met a pair of open windows. "Not all of them are closed" I said as I turned to face her. "Yours are open…" "She sighted. "I know, Einstein, I had noticed that myself, but that the second floor you idiot." "So?" I retaliated. "Afraid miss Fray?" Her face tightened. "Not at all." She answered arrogantly as she stepped to the house. I shook my head as I followed her: I knew she never declined a challenge.

She held halt a few meters before the stone wall and looked up, probably scanning the wall for footholds. She mumbled something, but I couldn't understand it. "Already doubting, miss Fray?" I teased, knowing that I was pushing her to her limits again. I just couldn't help it… She snorted loudly: "Never, Lightwood. I'm not such a pussy as you are." After that she closed the space between her and the wall and started climbing. By the Angel, did I already mention how sexy she was if she was acting so self-confident and arrogant?!

Clary's POV

"Thank God I'm drunk." I mumbled to myself. "Already doubting, miss Fray?" Jace said, and I wondered if he had heard what I had said. I snorted loud and sarcastic. "Never, Lightwood. I'm not such a pussy as you are." I shot back, before I started climbing. In all fairness: I was freaking out, but of course I was too damn stubborn to show it. And if there was anything I was good at, then it was hiding my feelings...at least something of my former life, that was of use… "Come on, Fray, you can do this!" I thought to myself. Luckily, the house was built in a baroque style, so the embellishments made it easier to climb…. "It's just like at school, when you went wall climbing!" "Only the climbing holds are replaced by stone decorations… and well… you're not tied up here…" that familiar voice in my head remarked. A knot started to form inside my stomach, and I breathed a bit too fast. Besides that, the pain in my ankle had only been growing, and every time I leaned on it, a sharp sting passed through my leg. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea in the end... Suddenly a voice sounded from below. "If you fall, I will catch you, you know Red!" Jace shout-whispered. I smiled as I heard his voice: it calmed me down and encouraged me to go further."Huh!" I sniffed, ignoring the pain in my body. "You know, Blondie… I never fall." I said arrogantly after which I started to climb even faster. I did not need his help or his pity, I could do this on my own.

Jace's POV

"Huh!" She sniffed. "You know, Blondie… I never fall." She said, the irritation audible in her voice. I could not help but grin at her witty remark. She was unbelievable! Even if she was hanging on a wall between the first and the second floor without any form of safeguard and I was her only shot if she fell, she retaliated faster as lightning and sharper than a knife. As I saw that she had reached her windowsill, the thick knot in my stomach loosened slowly. I would never admit it, but frankly, I had been pretty worried as she was climbing. I know I had challenged her myself, but at that moment, I hadn't been thinking about the consequences. God, imagine that anything had happened?! I would have hated myself forever! I saw how she turned herself to sit down on the sill, her legs dangling in the empty sky and a self-satisfied smile plastered on her face. I started to climb myself. "Hey what are you doing?" She asked surprised. "Coming up myself, you little idiot!" I answered. "I could also open up the front door for you, you big idiot!" She replied sharply. "Yeah, but then you'll tease me for eternity about the fact that you climbed up that wall, and I didn't." "Hmmmm" she said slowly as if she was thinking about what I said. She started to laugh: "Yeah, you're pretty right…" "I'm always pretty!" I shot back. She rolled her eyes but she was still laughing, so I knew she wasn't really mad. As I had almost reached the windowsill myself, she turned around and entered her room. I pulled myself a little more up before I climbed upon the sill and followed her into the room.

"So, we do end up a lot in bedrooms, don't we?" I said with a grin as I looked at her silhouette in the oncoming light of dawn. She turned around and looked at me, and I noticed that she was slightly out of breath. I got to admit that I was secretly satisfied by the fact that she was, and I I wasn't: I wouldn't like it to be surpassed, certainly not by a girl… Certainly not by her… "Don't even insinuate anything, Jace. Not a chance." She replied fiery as she stepped to her door. "Challenge accepted" I thought, as I chased her quickly. Faster than lightning I grabbed her arm and I turned her around, pushing her against the wall. Our bodies were so close now that I could feel the heat that radiated of her body. The space between us was heavy and overwhelming, filled with expectation and desire. I bent over and brought my lips to her ear, feeling her shiver by my presence. "I don't believe you Clary" I said. "I don't believe that I don't make any chance with you." I had no idea what I was doing, but I had certainly not expected that her presence would act upon me as well: my knees were shaking, and I was breathing faster than normal. "It doesn't matter what you believe Jace," she said shakily, "you need to go. Now." She put her hands against my chest and tried to push me away, and I knew she was right. I did need to go before I lost my self-control and kissed those perfectly formed, blood-red lips of her… I couldn't help but bent over one last time and whisper "Sweet dreams Rebel…" before I walked to the door. I had almost closed the door behind me as I turned around. She hadn't moved a finger. "Oh and Red, don't forget it when you are dreaming about me: I like it rough…" I said with a wink before I closed the door. She had turned flaming red after my words, and as I was walking to my room, I couldn't help but think: "1-0 for Lightwood: beat that Fray!


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