Clary's POV
"It's like a friggin sauna in here." Jace laughed.
"What are you an old man? Who says friggin?" I rolled my eyes.
"You got the point didn't you?" Jace's hand suddenly was on my thigh and he gently ran his hand to my knee and back up again, sending my whole body on edge. Every time his hand ran back up my leg I swear it seemed to travel microscopically higher up my thigh.
"Skirts have much better access." Jace mumbled.
"Excuse me!" I blurted out incredulously. Jace smirked at me sidewise and winked.
"You heard me." I felt my face burning up. I picked up Jace's hand in mine and held it firm.
"God. I smell like a horse." I grimaced as I rolled down the window.
"Yeah I didn't want to say anything but you stink." Jace chuckled as I shot him a glare.
"Like you smell like roses?" I joked.
"Oh Clary. You never got to smell the roses." Jace's voice was sincere as he shot me a disappointed look and pulled my hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it.
"I saw them though, they were beautiful."
"I know…but I know you like to stop and smell the roses." He gave me a very adorable look.
"I'm sorry. We'll have to go back." He kissed the back of my hand again.
"What now?" I chuckled.
"No I mean later. We still have almost two weeks here. We could go tomorrow. Would you like that?" He rubbed small circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. Just shy of two weeks, that was it wasn't it. God I let my guard down. I tried to maintain my composure as my mind started to panic. He was going to be gone, back to school. I was kidding myself. I was so stupid to let this happen.
"You all right Clary? You look distressed." Jace had real concern in his voice. Yeah I'm distressed, before I was just heartbroken and infatuated with you for little or no reason. I fell in love with you because of one perfect kiss. I was doing alright at suppressing those feelings, but now you had to go dig all that up and make me fall in love with you all over again. Not just fall in love with you again, but now I love you a hundred times more than I did before. When you go back to school and undoubtedly forget about me, I'll have some real reasons to be heartbroken.
"No. I just haven't eaten all day. It's after seven. It's just catching up to me. I don't feel great." I tried to sound convincing.
"I'm not taking very good care of you am I? I should have made sure you got something to eat at Panera Bread. Want me to stop?" Jace sounded very apologetic. I laughed softly.
"No, I'm fine. Izzy may skip meals at times, but Maia will make sure we get something to eat." I saw Jace eyeing me out of my peripheral vision. I stared out the windshield. I couldn't look in his direction, I felt like he'd see right through my facade.
"Nothing else is bothering you? You'd tell me if something was wrong?" His voice was suspicious. He tugged gently on my hand obviously trying to get my attention. I turned and gave him as comforting of a smile as I could muster.
"Jace. I'm good." I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. He didn't look like he bought it, but he leaned towards me, lips puckered, as his eyes darted back and forth between me and the road. I leaned over and pressed my lips to his briefly. I turned up the music and started to sing along. We didn't talk the rest of the ride, but Jace continued to hold my hand and gently rubbed circles with his thumb on the back of it.
Jace's POV
Besides singing along to the radio, Clary was quiet the rest of the car ride back. She had taken out some stuff from her purse and cleaned up her face, so at least she didn't look like she had just spent half the day crying, but I could tell something was still bothering her. She really was a bad liar. I didn't want to push her though. I already pushed her to get her to admit her feelings for me. I was hoping she'd tell me what was wrong when she was ready. I was so afraid any moment she would push me away again. I loved her so much. I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't lose her. Not now, not ever. I just didn't know what to do. I needed to talk to Alec, he was good with relationships and he probably knew Clary better than anyone.
When I parked the car at the cottage and Clary got out I rushed over to detain her. I wrapped my arms securely around her and looked down at her. She was smiling, but her eyes looked sad.
"Clary." I said softly and brought my lips to hers. She returned the kiss, but the fire was gone, she felt lifeless. I started to panic; all of my fears of her pulling away, of losing her, started to feel like an imminent reality.
"Don't do this. Please don't do this. I'm not going to hurt you. Please. I can feel you already pulling away from me. Clary I love you. Please-" A couple of stray tears fell down her cheeks, she slapped her hand to my mouth playfully and her face lit up slightly with a small smile.
"You're very persuasive when you beg." She shook her head.
"That obvious, huh?" She mumbled softly.
"I'll try Jace. I can't promise you anything, but I'm going to try ok. Don't give up on me." She reached her hands around my neck. I gazed into her eyes.
"I won't. I'll never give up on you." She pulled me towards her. The kiss started gentle, but as I parted her lips with mine and pulled her tighter I felt her body react and come alive. Her hands ran threw my hair and she pressed her body against mine, my hands tangled into her curls, and our lips moved against each other eagerly. I heard a loud intentional cough coming from a slight distance away. My hands moved to cradle Clary's face and I kissed her gently, peppering her lips with several butterfly kisses. She still had stray tears escaping down her cheeks. I heard another intentional cough much closer, not far behind Clary. I pulled her into my arms and tucked her under my chin; she buried her face in my chest. I got a view over her head of the perpetrator.
"Hey Alec." Clary stirred and I moved with her, so she could see Alec, but I could still hold her firmly in my arms.
"Hey Babydoll." Alec said softly as he gazed towards Clary with a very sensitive affectionate look.
"I thought you call Clary Dollface?" I muttered. I'd never heard him call her Babydoll. There was a different tenderness in his eyes than I'd seen before.
"Not always." He responded softly before turning his gaze to me.
"Hey so we're all getting ready to head out. You still coming?" He raised one eyebrow.
"Of course."
"Clary. Izzy and Maia are ordering pizza, you guys are staying in, if you have any requests I'd get in there now. You know how they get, Maia's pushing for a meat lovers and Izzy's complaining about everything, they've been going at this for some time now..." Alec trailed off.
"Yeah you have to eat. So go on. Pick out something you like. I'll be in in a minute." I put a finger under Clary's chin and guided her face to mine giving her a soft kiss. Her tears had stopped and she didn't even look like she had been crying, but there was still something in her eyes. She smiled timidly at me and I dropped my arms hesitantly. I felt like each time I let her go may be the last. She never said a word, but exchanged a look with Alec that I couldn't decipher. Alec and I watched her walk away. After Clary was in the house Alec turned back to me with a small smile.
"You look like you're on cloud nine." I smiled.
"I am." He nodded once. I could tell he was eyeing my shirt and I glanced down. There were wet marks from her tears. I crossed my arms and he looked back towards my face with a solemn expression.
"Jace I wish I could say the same for her." I put my hands in my pockets and looked down and kicked at the gravel.
"I know."
"She's scared. It's written all over her face. She's so afraid." Alec's voice was somber.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I told her that I loved her, and I do, but it's like she doesn't believe me. She keeps trying to push me away. She means the world to me. What do I do Alec?" I knew I sounded desperate.
"I don't know Jace. She's letting you closer than I've ever seen her let any other guy."
"What does that mean?"
"It means she's terrified, but she cares enough about you that she's willing to leave her comfort zone. She's built up some thick walls. She's letting you in. Don't mess it up."
"Don't mess it up? Thanks. Great pep talk." I said sarcastically as I kicked the gravel hard. Alec started to walk back towards the house.
"Hey. What's with calling her Babydoll?" He turned back towards me.
"Ahh." Alec shifted uncomfortably on his feet, ran his hand through his hair, and looked down.
"Jace, I call her Babydoll when she's falling apart, or about to fall apart. Like a porcelain babydoll, it's beautiful, but so fragile, when it shatters; it breaks into a million pieces. When she falls apart Jace, she really falls apart…Just…Don't break her heart." He turned around and walked back towards the house with his head down leaving me out in the driveway alone with my thoughts.
Isabelle's POV
When Clary walked into the living room Maia and I were sitting next to each other on the couch trying to decide on pizza flavors. As Clary walked through the living room a nasty smell followed her.
"Clary you stink." I scrunched up my nose.
"So I've been told." She rolled her eyes.
"Get me plain cheese, I don't want anything crazy." She walked out of the living room and down the hallway.
"I put out clothes for you!" I yelled.
"Of course you did." I heard her mutter loudly. I turned to Maia.
"Seriously. Nobody likes plain cheese left over." I shook my head.
"Let's think. What else does she like?" Maia dropped her head back dramatically towards the couch, closed her eyes, and scoffed.
"Izzy we've been sitting here for like 30 minutes. Just decide already. I don't care anymore." I furrowed my eyebrow.
"Well I don't care either. I eat everything." She snapped her head back up.
"No…You don't. You say that, and every time I pick a kind you veto it." I shook my head.
"I do not." She rolled her eyes.
"Then let's get meat lovers and a cheese for Clary." I bite my lip.
"I don't like the meat lovers at the place that delivers here…and Clary doesn't really care, she just picked cheese because it was probably the first thing that came to mind." Maia shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"See Izzy. You pick." A short argument later, the pizzas were ordered and forty-five minutes after that the guys were gone, and two pizzas had just arrived, ½ meat lovers, ½ pepperoni and a full vegi.
"I thought you were getting me cheese." Clary said as she walked into the living room and eyed the pizzas.
"No. That didn't work out, but you look so cute. Turn around let me see." She did a little twirl. She was wearing an off white little beach dress with spaghetti straps, an elastic waist, and a dusting of sequins allover.
"Why couldn't you buy me normal clothes? And what do you mean it didn't work out? Three people and two large pizzas and you couldn't get a half cheese Izzy." She walked over and sat down on the loveseat opposite me.
"Nobody likes cheese left over. The clothes I got you are amazing, you can't wear frumpy clothes forever Clary. I think I'm going to burn all your other clothes when we get back." Clary's eyes bugged out.
"Stay away from my closet. Oh and like the guys will be lining up for that vegi pizza either."
"It's comfortable though right? I tried one on in the store, but I couldn't get away with wearing it. It doesn't have any built in support, and my body hates strapless bras."
"The dress is comfortable Izzy, but the strapless bra is not." Maia walked out of the kitchen with a plate of chocolate chip cookies.
"Dear God, are those Izzy's cookies?" Clary cringed and I shot her a playful glare. Maia laughed.
"No. Absolutely not. I just made these while you were in the shower." They smelled delicious.
"You'll get use to strapless bras, just like you got use to thongs Clary." Maia put the plate down on the table and sat by me.
"Who said I got use to thongs?" I grabbed a cookie.
"You stopped complaining about them didn't you? Oh, did you give Jace any of my cookies today?" I asked with a giggle.
"Yes, I actually did. A little vindictive, but it was very funny. He thought I was trying to poison him." Clary laughed.
"Oh I forgot I made Margaritas, there's a pitcher in the fridge, I'll be right back." I grabbed another cookie as I headed to the kitchen. Moments later I was on my way back out with the pitcher and three cups.
"Who wants one?" I started to pour and Maia and Clary each took a cup. Clary took a sip and gave me a funny look.
"Kind of weak don't you think." She got up and went into the kitchen. A moment later she came out with three shot glasses and a bottle of tequila.
"Anyone else want a shot?" Maia declined, but Clary and I each had a shot. She also poured some extra tequila in her margarita.
"So Clary. I wanted to tell you I took your advice." I said and took another sip of my Margarita, it wasn't weak; it was perfect. Clary's eyes got big.
"Which advice? You tend to tell me you took my advice, but you seem to misunderstand what I was actually trying to tell you. Like the time you tried to give up going to school for Lent."
"That's different. I don't go to church, you weren't really clear when you explained the whole concept to me." Clary took a sip of her margarita and rolled her eyes.
"Anyway. I slept with Simon." Clary spit a mouthful of margarita across the room.
"I'm not cleaning that." Maia laughed.
"IZZY. I never told you to sleep with Simon." Clary was looking at me with wide eyes.
"Yes you did. You gave me that whole speech about feelings and putting myself out there. I don't remember exactly what you said, but you definitely told me if I wanted him I should sleep with him." Clary was shaking her head adamantly.
"No. No. No. No. No. I certainly did not."
"Wait. You mean you slept with him, like you made up with him, or this is the first time you slept with him?" Maia looked at me skeptically. I smiled.
"I don't really like to kiss and tell."
"Yes you do Izzy." Clary rolled her eyes.
"Ok I do. It wasn't just make up sex." I threw my hair over my shoulder and laughed.
"Oh, I think it's about time. After two years. With your record, I thought you two were definitely sleeping together long ago…I thought you could feel the sexual tension in this house, you could cut it with a knife." Maia snickered. Clary glowered.
"Oh that wasn't me. That's Clary and Jace." I stuck my tongue out playfully at Clary and she rolled her eyes.
"Izzy don't start with me." She poured herself another shot.
"I thought you had a nice time with Jace. I saw you hug and kiss him goodbye. You guys look really cute together. He looks really happy. Think of how cute your children would be." She scoffed.
"Our children? Seriously there is something wrong with you. It's just…complicated. Ok. I don't want to talk about it." I figured I'd give her a little time for the alcohol to set in before I approached the subject of Jace again. We all chatted and gossiped. We hadn't just hung out us girls in so long. We ate pizza and cookies and drank. Maia had brought a bag full of her favorite movies to the lake, so we ended up putting on Sweet Home Alabama followed by How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, though they were more in the background since we had all seen them many times before. Clary dodged the topic of Jace a few more times before Maia and I gave up. It was getting later, close to one by the time the second movie ended so we didn't bother putting on another one. We had all switched over to water by this point and were on the edge between waiting up for the guys and just calling it a night.
"Oh Maia, I almost forgot. I'm supposed to talk to you about where you'd rather live. Simon and I are going to move in together." Maia screamed and gave me a huge hug.
"Have you noticed I've been subtlety trying to pawn you off on Clary so Jordan could move in?" I giggled.
"Great I'm surrounded by happy people." Clary mumbled. I shook my head.
"Can't you pretend to be happy for me?" Clary opened her mouth and closed it without saying anything. Her eyes softened.
"I'm happy for you Izzy. I'm happy for both of you guys." She was looking back and forth between me and Maia. I heard the front door open and turned to see Aline. I started to smile when I noticed Sebastian behind her.
"Aline, you've been gone all day? Sebastian, kind of surprised to see you back here after last night."
"God Izzy. He didn't do anything wrong. Jace was so overreacting." Aline spat. I rolled my eyes.
"What about his little exchange in the living room with Simon?" Maia had filled me in earlier, but I realized as soon as the words came out of my mouth that Clary was still in the dark about the whole thing.
"What happened in the living room?" Clary chimed.
"Nothing." Maia and I said at the same time.
"Love the honesty girls." Clary shook her head.
"Clary, can I talk to you alone?" Sebastian was looking at Clary intently.
"I don't think that's the best idea." Maia snapped. I stood up.
"Yeah, you want to talk to her go ahead. Talk." Clary jumped off the loveseat and threw her hands to her hips.
"I'm not a little girl. I'm getting so sick of everybody trying to protect me without asking me if I want protection."
"You want to talk? Fine. Let's go outside." She stalked towards the door, slipped on a pair of flip flops and left. Sebastian followed her outside without looking back, leaving Aline in the house.
"Should I text Jace or something?" I looked over at Maia and she shrugged.
"You're so melodramatic Izzy. You act like Sebastian is some sort of sex addict, when in fact he's just like Jace. I'm sure they are both capable of having a conversation with a girl that doesn't end in the bedroom. If you're that concerned, why don't you just gawk at them through the kitchen window?" Aline shook her head and walked down the hall to her room. It wasn't that bad of an idea. I grabbed Maia's hand and we set up watch through the kitchen window. We couldn't hear anything, but we could see them.
Sweet Home Alabama (2002) (Reese Witherspoon, Patrick Dempsey & Josh Lucas)
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) (Kate Hudson & Matthew McConaughey)