Chapter 25

Clary POV

I had fucked up. I had fucked up bad. It's been two weeks since Jace asked me to be his girlfriend and I ran away. After my talk with Alec, I realised I had nothing to worry about and not doing something just because I was scared of the outcome is so way of living, but every time I approached Jace or tried to talk to him, he ignored me. I repeat; I fucked up. I had slipped into some form of depression- at least, that's what my mother thinks. I hardly left my bedroom, let alone the house. I just stayed in bed reading, only eating so I didn't become ill. I didn't actually taste what I was eating. Izzy, Simon and Alec were all worried about my wellbeing, so much so that for the past 4 days Alec had been staying with me, which my mother didn't care about because he's gay. Alec's been amazing, staying awake with me when I couldn't sleep, helping me with school work when I couldn't concentrate. Over the last two weeks, Alec is slowly becoming one of my best friends and I loved him.

Jace hadn't been at school on the last couple of days at school; today was now Sunday so I had one more day before I had to face his beautiful face again. Alec was still fast asleep beside me so I jabbed him in the ribs with my elbow to wake him up, what can I say; I'm an amazing friend. Alec woke up, swore and rubbed his ribs; wuss. "Good morning Devil- I mean, good morning beautiful" he greeted with a smirk. "Good morning yourself, now go for a shower, you smell like boy" I said crinkling my nose up and the last bit. Alec chuckles and mutters something about 'bossy redheads'. I grin; I love my friends.

Jace POV

It has been two weeks since Clary ran away when I asked her to be my girlfriend and it WAS killing me not talking to her but she did RUN AWAY! Izzy and Alec are both on her side the traitors! I've had no one to talk to so I called Aline to see if we were still on for our deal; turns out she's a really nice girl and she has a HUGE crush on Helen Blackthorn, a quiet blonde girl with the most striking blue-green eyes. I had actually really enjoyed hanging out with Aline; she was fast becoming one of my best friends. When I asked her why she was doing this, she replied "Because I completely ship the two of you" So here I was, lying in bed FaceTiming Aline about a TV show she watched last night when Iz burst through my door.

Isabelle POV

To say I was worried about Clary was a little bit of an understatement. She was heartbroken that she had ruined everything with Jace and as her best friend, it was my job to get her back on track again and the only way to do that was to get her and Jace together: operation 'Clace' is well and truly underway. Alec was with Clary so I texted him my plan to which he replied enthusiastically, agreeing to help me out. Now I know Clary was taking care of, I texted one more person to get them to agree, which I knew they obviously did, Part 2 done. Now Part 3; Jace.

I ran down the hallway to Jace's room and burst through the door not bothering to knock. His room was still the same it has always been since the day he moved in with us. Same plain while walls; same organised desk and shelves; same made bed which had jace laid in the middle FaceTiming Aline-urgh! "Hey, brother." I greeted, trying to be casual but doubted it worked. Jace turned his attention back to his phone "I'll talk to you later babe" and ended his FaceTime call. Jace turned to me, "yes Isabelle?" I looked at my nails, trying to act bored and uninterested "so are you and Aline like... a 'thing'? Doing the inverted comma sign with my fingers. "By 'thing'" Jace copied my action. "Do you mean dating? Because the answer is yes" Jace replied chucking. "Oh. Cool..." I say trailing off. "So do you want to invite Aline to Taki's and I'll bring Simon, we can double date." I said. "Plus, I would like to know the girl who's dating my brother better" I added. Jace smiled at me "Sure Iz." I smiled back left the room, shutting the door behind me. Part 3: complete. Now part 4: sexy-fy Clary.

Clary POV

After me and Alec had breakfast, he had left to go home telling me Izzy was coming over and promising that he'd come round that night. As I was just cleaning up the remains from breakfast knowing my mom would have a fit if I left the kitchen in a mess when Isabelle burst through the door. I probably shouldn't have given all my friends a key to my house. "So Clary; you know Sebastian Valec right?" I nodded in agreement. "Well you my friend have a date with him, today at Taki's. Also Simon and I are coming to double date so you won't feel awkward on your own." Before I could even process what Izzy just said, she had dragged me up the stairs and was proceeding to force me into the shower. I stood under the cascading water longer than I should have. Sebastian agreed to go on a date with me? Me off all people. Sebastian was the second most attractive lad in our school other than Jace. JACE! Was I ready to go on a date after everything that happened with Jace? I suppose I didn't have to see Sebastian again after today unless I really wanted. I can do this, just to keep Izzy happy if anything, she had obviously out a lot of effort in getting me this date, the least I could do was go to it and try to have fun. I finished up in the shower and exited the bathroom wrapping a towel around myself. I entered the bedroom and Izzy was in the middle of my entire collection of clothes. She handed me a red lace bra with matching panties and turned around as I quickly slipped into them, Izzy and I were fine with each other seeing the other in underwear but we draw the line at naked. Once I had slipped the underwear on, Izzy passed me a pair of black jeans with rips in the knees and a tight fitting blouse; she even let me wear my converse. Something was wrong. "Izzy why aren't you dressing me up in a dress and heels? Normally you would be jumping at the chance to dress me up." Izzy shrugged. "It's more of a casual date, and besides you look hot like this." I looked at what Izzy was wearing. High waist dark blue jean shorts, a white tank top and a black cardigan over the top, with 7 inch black heels to complete the look; obviously. "Now sit so I can do your hair and make-up." I went over to my dressing table and sat down on the chair positioned in front of it. Izzy came over and covered the mirror up with a towel. I tried to wait patiently for Izzy to dry and straighten my hair, style it and then moved on to my make-up, but sitting in the same position for nearly an hour was giving me neck cramp. After what seemed like an eternity she had finally finished. Izzy removed the towel and I gasped at my own reflection. My red hair was straight and down my back, the bits of hair either side of my face were pulled up, twisted and pinned up at my temples. My make-up simple; slight foundation to cover my freckles and blemishes, eyeliner and mascara to make my emerald eyes 'pop' and my lips were painted nude. I loved it; I turned to Izzy and beamed at her which she gladly returned. "Let's go knock the boys out" Izzy said and ran out the door. I giggled and ran after her.

Sebastian and Simon were already at my front door when Izzy and I reached it. Sebastian looking very hot in a simple white t-shirt, black jeans and a leather jacket. The black and white theme fitting perfectly with his white hair and black eyes. Simon on the other hand evidentially hadn't made much effort, dressing in ripped jeans and an old t-shirt but Izzy didn't seem to mid and that's all that mattered really. We all walked to Taki's chatting to one another, Simon and Izzy holding hands, my arm linked through Sebastian's. As we neared Taki's I could see Izzy get more and more distracted she became. "You alright Iz?" I asked genuinely concerned. Izzy hesitated before answering. "I may or may not have invited another couple to join us." "Okay, who?" Why was she getting so worked up about another couple? "Urm..." I unlatched my arm from Sebastian's and stood in front of Izzy looking her straight in the eyes, she looked scared. "Izzy. Who. Did. You. Invite?" I ask again, saying each word slowly. "That would be us" I heard a familiar voice behind me say. I turned and saw Jace and Aline standing there; oh shit.

We all entered Taki's together and sat at a booth, Sebastian next to the window, I next to him and Simon next to me on the end, opposite Simon was Izzy with Jace next to her and opposite me and Aline sat next to him. Everyone was relatively quiet, reading the menus and occasionally talking to one another. I refused to look at Jace knowing I would either cry or scream at him and I was not ready for either one of them. After a while a young brunette came up to take our orders, her eyes darting between Jace and Sebastian. We all ordered our food; Izzy went first ordering chicken pasta Simon was next ordering a double cheese burger with chips, no salad. Aline ordered an avocado salad. Should I be ordering a salad? I mean that's what girls order right? Oh well, I'm hungry. Sebastian went for the 8ox steak with peppercorn sauce. The waitress; who's name I never got looked over at me expectantly, as I was about to open my mouth to order, someone beat me to it "she'll have the chicken and bacon burger with chips, salad and onion rings on the side" I looked up at Jace sitting opposite me, the bastard was grinning. I rolled my eyes at him as Sebastian kicked me gently under the table "Urm Clary? Are you really going to eat all of that? Maybe you should just order a salad?" Sebastian said, he turned to the waitress who started smirking "She'll just have a chicken salad" Jace spoke up, angry lacing his voice "maybe Clary isn't as much as a pussy as you, she'll have the burger." His eyes never left mine as he spoke. Sebastian scoffed at Jace, what a jerk. Before they could get into a fight I quickly spoke up, no one getting there before me this time. "He'll have the double ranch burger with extra chilli sauce and chips on the side, thank you" I say sweetly to the waitress, trying to dismiss her because she was more than happy to stand there and watch what was happening between the two boys unravel. I felt Sebastian tense beside me. I looked over at him questionably. He sighed "how do you know each other's order?" he said with a slight scowl. "We've been friends for years and we've always ordered the same things, so it's not that hard." I replied, refusing to look at Jace even though I could feel his eyes on me. Sebastian turned towards the window to look out of it. After a few minutes of silence someone spoke up. "Well I think it's cute" Aline exclaimed excitedly gaining confused looks from myself, Izzy, Simon and Sebastian and a warning look from Jace. Aline blushed "that you're such good friends, I mean." She said quickly, earning a quizzical look from Izzy.

The rest of the meal was quiet, only occasional chatter about mundane things. Simon and Izzy were talking amongst themselves, Aline and Jace sharing some kind of joke and Sebastian looking out the window still scowling. Aline looked over at Sebastian and over to me giving me a sympathetic smile, I slightly shrugged my shoulders, gave her a slight smile then cursed myself for liking her. I couldn't like the girl who was dating Jace that just wasn't possible. They seemed really happy together though and I should want Jace to be happy right? I excused myself to go to the bathroom, not really caring if anyone noticed I had gone; I just wanted to space. As I was walking down the corridor where the bathrooms were located I heard footsteps approaching me, thinking it was just another costumer I ignored it until I felt a hand enclose my wrist. I turned around to face the person latched on to my wrist and I was met with golden eyes; Jace.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "I came to see if you were okay" I just looked at him, concern was etched on his face. "Shouldn't you be more caring about your date" I spat at him, I don't know why I was so angry with him all I knew was that I was angry. "Clary" Jace's voice was soft and calm. "It's only been you" "But you and Aline-"I started confused. "That was just to make you jealous, Aline's gay." "I-what?" "Aline and I made a deal to pretend to date to make you jealous but seeing you with Sebastian made me jealous and seeing the way he was treating you was killing me, I wanted to kill him" said Jace with a chuckle, despite myself I did smile a little. Jace just had that effect on me. As he was speaking Jace kept taking on step towards me and reflectively I took one back until I could go no further. "It's only ever been you." Jace whispered placing his hands either side of my head. I noticed our position. I was backed up against the wall, his body caging me in. His eyes travelled to my lips and he seemed to be fighting something. Suddenly he took a deep breath, "oh fuck it" and his lips crashed down on mine. I welcome Jace's lips, closing my eyes and responded to his kiss eagerly, giving him as much passion as he gave me. My hands reached up, linked around his neck, pulling his hair at the nape of his neck causing him to moan against my lips. His hands left the wall and wrapped around body across my lower back. The kiss began to get deeper and deeper and suddenly the warmth left my lips. I opened my eyes to see Jace stood a couple of steps away looking at me with wide eyes. "I-I'm-I'm sorry" Jace stuttered and left me standing there alone; dumbfounded.

Hey Guys!

How are you all?

I've run out of internet on my phone so I am currently using my mum's hotspot to upload this because I love you all that much! I'm sorry if you didn't get to see the sneak peak :(

I hope you enjoy this really long chapter and I'll see you soon

Chey xxx