A/N: As promised, a lot of Clace in this chapter. It's gonna be a huge step for them. I know I haven't touched on Malec and Bat/Maia/Jordan have been missing but they'll be around very soon.
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Simon closed the balcony door behind him, struggling to balance the three beers he was holding. He placed one in front of Clary, who was engrossed in Magnus's story. He sat beside Isabelle and held one out to her. She smiled taking it, mouthing a "thank you" and looked back at Magnus.
"So after a couple shots, Jace came out of Hodge's room holding this huge fake sword," Magnus told Clary and she laughed, looking at Simon, who nodded as confirmation that it was the truth. "Then he's joking around with Hodge, who was sitting on the couch, pretending to hit Hodge with it and Hodge was getting all upset saying 'Jace, I'm warning you'."
Clary looked at Jace, who was peeling off the paper of his finished beer. He looked up, smiling.
"You got him, didn't you?" she asked and he nodded.
She laughed, along with Simon, who was saying, "It was great. We were all dying, just rolling around on the floor laughing."
"Did you do it on purpose?" Clary asked, raising an eyebrow.
Jace shook his head, glancing at Clary upward, behind his hair which was covering his forehead. "You would think so but no, the sword really is just heavy." He shrugged. "I didn't lift it away from his toe quick enough."
"His toe?" Clary asked and turned around, where Hodge was walking from the kitchen to the couch. She caught him limping slightly and she roared with laughter.
Simon looked between Jace and Clary. He watched Jace staring at Clary, laughing along himself. Simon suppressed his smile by drinking his beer and made eye contact with Magnus, who was doing the same.
Clary composed herself, pulling her legs up, and sat Indian style. "Okay, what else?" She asked.
Jace thought, tapping his finger against the bottle, leaning back into his chair.
"What about the bizarreness with Kaelie and Mel?" Isabelle said, sitting up. She looked at Jace, who looked apprehensive.
"Wait, I don't know about this?" Magnus said, looking the two best friends. "Who are Kaelie and Mel?"
Jace stared at Isabelle for a moment then sat up straight to tell the story. "It was after you guys left with Maia. Well, they're friends of Jordan's. They came here so stoned and we were all sitting on the couch, talking and Kaelie became curious on who was the best kisser." Clary made a face. "I know, I don't even understand a topic like that." He looked at Isabelle. "Izzy, will you do the honors?"
"So," Isabelle said, with amusement on her face. "We were all kind of confused as to why Mel and Kaelie wanted to rank kissers but they started with Jace first, naturally."
"Very funny," Jace muttered and Isabelle shrugged with her right shoulder.
Clary smiled to herself. She hadn't been able to see the two interact with each other before. She only knew they were close but now she saw that they were like siblings.
"Mel asked Jace if he was a good kisser and Alec mumbled something about asking all the girls Jace has kissed, and then he heard Alec and told Jace to kiss Kaelie. He kept asking, he was basically begging!" Isabelle said and Clary was looking at her, not understanding why Isabelle acted like it was juicy gossip. "Kaelie is Mel's girlfriend."
"Ew!" Clary said immediately. Simon almost spit his drink out and was holding his mouth, concentrating on not doing so and Magnus looked at Jace.
"Were you publicly invited into a threesome?" Magnus asked and Jace turned his head to him, looking grossed out. "Did you do it?"
"No," Jace told him, shaking his head. "No, Magnus."
Magnus frowned. "Can I see this Kaelie and Mel?"
"No, they're like plastic people," Isabelle said, grimacing. "Good looking from afar, gross up close."
"Yeah, that's not a threesome you would wanna join," Magnus said, drinking his beer.
Jace laughed at Magnus now then looked back at Clary, who was chuckling, pulling her legs up and then hugging them, resting her chin on her knees. "So, what did you say?" Clary asked, looking right at him.
"Um," he said, prying his eyes away, looking back at his bottle, continuing to peel the paper off with his thumb. "I told them no and went to Hodge's room when Mel wouldn't stop. I don't know if Mel wanted me to do it so he could punch me in the face or if they really are just gross like that," Jace said, shivering a little. "It sobered me up, that's for sure." He looked up at Clary, his eyes smiling. Then, they became serious enough that she turned around and saw two people at the glass door.
The guy looked down at her, aware of the new female face, and he smiled in a way that made Clary uncomfortable.
"Hey, everybody!" he said and the girl behind caught sight of Clary too. She looked like she was scowling.
"Hey, Mel," Jace said, looking at him and then at the girl. "Hey, Kaelie."
"Hey, Jace," Kaelie said and Clary resisted the urge to cringe at her high, nails-against-the-chalkboard voice.
"Now, who is this?" Mel asked, looking down at Clary. She put up a hand awkwardly.
"I'm Clary," she said, and the two greeted her.
Clary looked at Magnus, who nodded at her, mouthing "threesomes".
"This is Simon and Magnus," Isabelle pointed.
They pulled up a seat next to Jace where Mel sat down and Kaelie sat on his lap. "So, what are we up to here? Card games? Truth or dare? Spin the bottle?"
The group looked at each other. Clary's phone dinged and she looked down at it, thanking the heavens that something was distracting her.
Coming home late tonight? It was a text from Jocelyn. Clary took it as a sign that she had her way of getting out of any sexual shenanigans that the two plastics had in mind. She looked at Simon.
"Hey, that was my mom. Think you can take me home?" she asked and Simon nodded.
"Aw, leaving so soon?" Kaelie asked, smiling at her for the first time. Clary knew it was a smile that said "I'm so glad you're going".
"Yeah, sure. Let's—" Simon started but Jace stood up and everyone looked at him, including Clary, who sat across from him.
No. He isn't. Clary thought, staring up at Jace who looked down at her.
"I can take her," Jace said and Clary felt like she was set on fire.
"Um, you can?" Simon asked, hesitant. Jace nodded. "Okay," Simon said, slowly looking at Clary, who was still looking up at Jace. "Is that okay?" Simon asked and Clary finally snapped out of it. She stood up now.
"Oh, yeah, of course," she said, fumbling a little out of the plastic chair but played it off by holding onto the wall behind her. "Thanks for offering," she said, looking at Jace, who watched her. "Okay." She stood there awkwardly. "Bye," she looked around the table. Kaelie was glaring, Mel continued to look creepy, Magnus was grinning, Simon looked nervously at her, and Isabelle was looking at her with encouragement. She tilted her head a little, she wasn't sure why. Then she looked at Jace, who hadn't moved. "Um, Jace?"
"Oh," he said, finally making his way around the table. "I'll be back." He walked over to Clary, opening the door, leading her into the apartment with the light touch of his hand against her left shoulder blade. Her heart was pumping as he closed the door. "I'm sorry," he whispered, letting go of her, the spot where his warm hand was placed became startlingly cold and he was leaning down towards her a little. "I couldn't risk another 'just kiss her' offer."
Clary looked up at him and his eyes were genuinely worried that she was upset. "It's okay," she told him. "Really, thanks for offering."
He gave a nod, standing up straight, not leaning down towards her anymore. "Of course. No problem at all."
Isabelle, Simon and Magnus excused themselves politely, which left the couple outside for a while.
"Well," Isabelle said, sitting on the couch. "Jace said he's coming back but I really feel like he was lying," she told Alec. "Which is fine if he wasn't our ride home."
"Oh, I could bring you guys home," Simon suggested.
"You could?" Isabelle asked, looking to her left at him.
"Yeah, Jace said to ask you, Simon," Alec said, concentrating on playing the video game he was playing against Hodge. "He said you wouldn't mind."
"How polite of him," Isabelle muttered.
"I understand that he probably didn't want to risk encountering those two again," Simon said and she smiled at him. "But yeah, I can take you guys home. I have to take Magnus first but I know you live right by me."
"You do?" Alec asked, glancing over at him quickly and then back to the TV.
"Yeah. One time you were both just wasted, so Hodge brought you guys home," Simon said, giving a nod at Hodge, who paid no attention. "I went with him that night."
"Ah," Isabelle said, looking down, a little sad that she couldn't remember because of the circumstance of alcohol. "I don't remember that." She hated knowing she had been drunk enough, numerous times, that she couldn't remember how she got home. She looked up. "Well, come on Alec. Let's go before you get asked to be kissed."
With that, Alec stood up and gave the controller to Hodge. "That's my cue," Alec said, patting him on his back and walking towards the door, where Magnus was already waiting.
"Thanks for the hospitality, Hodge," Magnus said with a grin.
"Magnus, I appreciate it but if we're going to be seeing each other every day, you don't need to say that every night," Hodge said with a smile and Magnus shrugged. Alec chuckled as he and Magnus left out the front door.
Isabelle hugged Hodge and led the way in front Simon as they were leaving. She stopped when a girl was coming up the steps, after saying "hi" to Alec. She smiled. "Hey, Izzy," she said and Isabelle fought the reaction to scrunch up her nose. She hated when people she didn't know too well used her nickname. She didn't have obnoxious experiences with Seelie but she knew the word constantly used for her was cunning.
"Hey, Seelie," Isabelle said and walked past her.
"Wait, is Jace leaving too?" Seelie asked. Isabelle turned around to face her.
"No, he left," Isabelle said.
"Oh," Seelie looked disappointed. "He told me he'd be here tonight; he said he wanted to hang out. We talked about it all week."
"Oh," Isabelle said, crossing her arms now. Simon looked down at her, he could feel anger radiating off of her. "I'll tell him you came here looking for him."
"Okay," Seelie said, turning and walking away. "Thanks, Izzy!" She closed the apartment door.
Isabelle glared. "It's Isabelle, you peasant."
Clary looked into the backseat of Jace's car. It was incredibly clean and she made a mental note to never let him into her own car because it was filthy in comparison.
"You play guitar?" She asked, turning to face forward.
Jace nodded. "That I do."
"Nice," Clary replied.
"Um," Jace looked over at her. "Do you play anything?"
She shook her head even though he couldn't see. "Not really anymore. I played drums before because my brother did but it was only when he wasn't home and I wasn't getting caught."
Jace smiled to himself. "Well, then we will have to play together one day."
"You have drums?" Clary looked over.
"Alec does," Jace said. "So, basically yeah."
"I always wondered if you, Alec and Isabelle lived in the same house," Clary said, looking out the window, keeping her hands in her lap. She couldn't bear to actually look at Jace. She was already in his car.
"We don't, we're just neighbors," Jace explained. "We have been since forever, they're basically my siblings. Them and their little brother Max."
Jace looked over at Clary, who was nodding. He laughed a little.
"Do you have music on your phone or something?" Jace asked, holding up the USB cable.
"Oh, I don't know what to play," Clary said, quietly.
"Surprise me with shuffle. I'd like to hear what you listen to," He said, looking over to make eye contact with her.
Clary looked down at her bag, biting her bottom lip. She felt that music was so personal and she knew it sounded silly, it was just supposed to be music. But to her, music was showing what soothed your soul or sang the words you couldn't bear to tell anyone. And he was just asking her to play shuffle. Clary wanted to throw her iPod out of the window.
"And you're sure?" Clary asked, looking up at him. "What if I only have boy bands, girl groups and music that has air horns in it?"
Jace laughed and looked back at her. "I highly doubt that, Clary."
She took a deep breath and pressed shuffle.
"You're already winning, Fray," he said and she leaned back into her seat, letting the night air from the open window whip against her face, letting that be the only reminder that it was real life.
After listening to music in his car with Clary for twenty minutes past the time they arrived at her house, Jace drove off when she got inside, waving goodbye. He was humming to himself the last song that played which they listened to together as he turned the rounded corner into his street. He stopped, spotting Isabelle, who was sitting outside on the driveway. He could see her tense shoulders from a mile away. He parked his car and came out, cautiously.
"Izzy," he said, putting his hands up. "If you're pissed at me for leaving you, I thought you would like Simon taking you."
She stood up, dusting off her jeans. "So, Seelie arrived."
Jace stopped in his tracks and put his hands down. "Isabelle—"
"I thought you were going to see where it goes with Clary?"
"I am," Jace told her, simply. "I just didn't know that meant I couldn't speak to anyone else."
Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Please," she spat. "That's such a shitty excuse."
"Excuse to what?" he asked her, clearly confused as to why she was acting this way. "Please tell me why you're so upset, tell me why you keep pushing Clary."
"She's good for you."
"I know—"
"No," Isabelle said, shaking her head. "God, don't you wanna be happy?" she asked. He looked as if he had been slapped. "You go from girl to girl never actually taking them seriously, just always keeping it casual unless you get into an actual relationship and even then—"
"I'm not a cheater, Isabelle," he said, his voice stern.
"I was going to say you aren't even happy. I know you're not piece of shit, Jace," Isabelle said and Jace looked down. "It's like you're too scared to really commit to someone who actually could be good for you."
Jace peered at her. "I'm not the only one, Isabelle."
Isabelle gulped. "I'm working on it."
Jace sighed and threw his head back, looking at the sky. "I am trying."
"Good," Isabelle told him, turning on her heel. "I'm just looking out for you," she said, looking back at him.
"I know," Jace said.
With that Isabelle opened the door and closed it behind her. Jace took a deep breath and walked to his front door, dragging his feet slowly. Isabelle wasn't aware that Jace was not only trying but he was just trying not to drown in everything Clary was.