CLARY'S POV

Have you ever thought that what we're doing is a little ridiculous?

Sunday morning before Clary and the others were supposed to go out to the movies Clary sat at the kitchen table writing to the guy. Their conversation had become so long that twice they had both had to wash off their arms so they could continue talking. Now though Clary didn't quite understand what he was saying.

What do you mean?

I mean... keeping our names secret from each other.
I've just been thinking lately.
Don't you want to know who I am?

Clary's breath caught a bit. Of course she wanted to know. She had been dying to know ever since that first message. But she was also a little scared of who it could be. She didn't really know what to expect.

You're the one withholding your name.
Only reason I didn't tell you is because you didn't tell me.

There was a long pause and Clary couldn't imagine what this guy could possibly be thinking in that moment. Was this it? Was she about to find out who her soulmate was?

But then the pause went on. And on and on and on. After about five minutes Clary put her sharpie back in her pocket and got up from the kitchen table. As she was walking over to the couch where she had left her phone Isabelle exited her room.

"Hey Clare," She greeted her.

"Hey," Clary responded but even to herself, she seemed a little distracted.

"You alright?" Isabelle asked and Clary shrugged as she shoved her phone into her pocket.

"Yeah, it's just- You know the soulmate guy?" Clary said and immediately noticed Isabelle tensing up a little. She seemed to relax after a split second but was still acting a little strange.

"Yes, I know of the soulmate guy, the one you write to on your arm." She answered and Clary furrowed her eyebrows at her friend but continued anyway.

"Okay... well I was just writing with him and for a second I sort of thought he was going to tell me who he is but..." Clary trailed off looking down at her arm. Isabelle's weirdness suddenly disappeared and she seemed sympathetic.

"Hey," She said putting her hand on Clary's shoulder affectionately. "Do you know why he doesn't want to tell you?"

Clary shook her head. "No, not really. Just that the first time we spoke he told me that he had been informed not to. Whatever that means. But I think that if I told him my name, he might tell me his. The only problem is... I don't know, I guess I'm a little worried that he won't be what I'm expecting. Or maybe I won't be what he's expecting."

"Clary, have you ever thought what if you know the guy?" Clary raised her head curiously to Isabelle and she continued. "Like what if you've met him before, in real life?"

"It's possible I guess," Clary shrugged. "But I doubt it'd be who I want it to be." She spoke under her breath but Isabelle obviously caught what she said.

"Who do you want it to be?" Clary avoided Isabelle's gaze and stayed quiet for a long while. When she looked back at her she was met with a raised eyebrow and curious glare that she knew wouldn't falter. "Clary you can tell me."

"No, it's... it's nothing," Clary said after staying silent for a little while longer. "Really, a stupid little crush that I never told you about because it's not even big enough to be worthy of mentioning."

"But... you said you want him to be your soulmate..." Isabelle pointed out. "That's a little mention worthy if you ask me."

"No..." Clary scratched her head and her voice went up an octave. "No, not really."

"Clary-" Isabelle started to say but there was a knock at the door. She sighed as she turned away from Clary. "That's probably the guys."

"Okay, I'll be back in just a second," Clary said walking in the opposite direction. "I just need to wash my arm off." As she walked she looked down at her right arm to see that it was clear. "And apparently he already washed his side off..."

Clary went into the bathroom and pushed the door so that it was just open a crack. She washed her entire arm with soap and water quickly but thoroughly. As she turned around to grab the towel and dry her arm off the door was suddenly flung open.

"BOO!" Jace yelled and Clary flung the towel at him as she screamed in surprise.

"WHAT THE HELL JACE!?" She squealed as he laughed removing the towel from his face. "What if I had been naked in here!?"

Jace leaned against the doorframe and seemed to think about this for a moment. "That would've been one hell of a surprise then."

Clary swatted at his arm. "Not funny. You scared the absolute crap out of me."

He shrugged. "It was pretty funny."

"It was not," Clary said hitting his arm again. She tossed the towel back on the sink and pushed past Jace. Before she could get farther than a foot though he wrapped his arms around her from behind. Clary's entire body tensed up as she was pulled against his chest and he set his chin on her shoulder.

"It was pretty funny," He breathed into her ear before letting her go. Clary let out a breath she had definitely known she was holding because when it came to Jace she was suddenly aware of every nerve and muscle in her body. Jace winked at Clary as he walked past her and into the main area where the others were. Clary bit her lip to keep herself from blushing as she followed after him.

"You guys ready to go?" Isabelle said and Clary noticed that not only was it Jon, Alec, and Jace that showed up but Magnus and Simon too. Oh, how the tables were turned.

"Yeah, what time is the movie at again?" Clary wondered as they all headed for the door.

"It starts in like half an hour so we'll have 10 minutes to get snacks and stuff," Izzy answered.

"We should just sneak in our own snacks," Simon said. "It is way overpriced at movies."

"Agreed," Clary said. "And we'll have more like 25 minutes once we get there because previews are always 15 minutes long."

"True," Magnus said. "So should we just stop at Walgreens or something?"

"But then we won't get good seats," Jon complained.

"Okay how about this," Alec said as they reached the cars outside. "What if like two of us go to get snacks for everyone else and the rest of us go to reserve seats?"

"That's actually a really good idea," Clary said. "I can go to get the snacks if Izzy's willing to lend me one of her extremely large purses."

Isabelle shrugged. "Yeah sure, I'll be right back." She walked back into the dorm building.

"Jace why don't you go with Clary since you know what candy Jon, Izzy, and I like," Alec suggested and almost appeared to be holding back a smile.

Jace just held up his left hand. "Sure. Keys." Alec took a pair of keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Jace. He caught it with his raised hand and pressed a button. Clary turned around as the car that Jace was now in control of beeped. Her mouth dropped when she saw none other than the red Ferrari that she had painted on Jace's ceiling just the other day.

"Is that the car-" Clary said her voice trailing off as she was still in awe of how gorgeous it was.

"That Maryse gave me? Yes, it is." Jace smirked. "After you painted it on my ceiling I began to miss her so I decided to have Alec drive out and get her for me this morning."

"That," Simon said in just as much awe as Clary was. "Is the most beautiful car I have ever seen. You own it?" He looked back at Jace as he walked up to the vehicle.

Jace nodded. "Yup, my pride and joy. Her name is Amber."

"Wow," Even Magnus was in shock. "This thing is incredible. Can I drive it?"

Jace seemed disgusted by even the suggestion. "No. The only reason Alec got to drive it is because he's the closest thing to a brother I'll ever get. Jonathon's not allowed to drive it cause he can't drive for shit-"

"Not gonna deny that," Jon said seeming unhurt by the comment.

"And Izzy has only driven it once because when she did she almost hit a dog." Jace finished just as Isabelle walked back out with the purse.

"Yeah that was a pretty terrible experience," Isabelle said as she handed the purse to Clary. "The dog was alright though and I didn't scratch the car so it was all okay in the end."

"If you don't count the emotional trauma Amber went through," Jace muttered and Isabelle rolled her eyes.

"It's a car Jace," She sneered. "An inanimate object."

"She still has feelings!" Jace yelled back and Clary had to stifle a laugh.

Isabelle just shook her head. "Whatever."

"Alright, we'll see you guys in a bit," Alec said before seeming to realize something. "Oh Magnus, what kind of candy do you want? Tell them now before we leave."

Magnus just shrugged and looked back at Clary. "Surprise me." He smirked and Clary smiled back.

After that, the two groups parted ways. When Clary got into the passenger side of Jace's car she let out a long appreciative whistle at how nice the interior was. Jace chuckled as he put the keys in the ignition and started the car.

"This really is a nice car," Clary said as they started to drive.

"Thanks," Jace side. "I try to take good care of her although I will admit that when I was younger I used to race her a lot."

"Really?" Clary raised her eyebrows at Jace.

He nodded without looking at her. "Yeah, easy way to make a quick buck. Although it was also pretty dangerous. Which is exactly why I was forced to quit by order of the Lightwoods."

"Yeah, I can imagine that Izzy and Alec probably weren't very happy about that," Clary said.

"They weren't but it wasn't those two to finally convince me to stop."

"Maryse then? Or their dad?"

"Nope," Jace shook his head. "It was only after Max asked me to stop that I finally started listening. Their little brother- well he's my little brother too. I'd do anything for him. I love him." Clary couldn't help smiling at how sweet that was. She had never really thought of Jace as the type to be good with little kids but clearly, the youngest Lightwood member meant more to him than she could probably imagine.

"I always wanted a younger sibling," Clary said. "Someone to protect, who I could be a role model for. But alas, I'm an only child."

Jace chuckled. "Yeah me too, I mean the Lightwoods are like my siblings and I consider them family, same with Jon, but I don't have any blood-related siblings." Jace was quiet for a moment. "I really do miss Max though."

"How long has it been since you last saw him?" Clary asked.

"I don't know," Jace replied solemnly. "A while. Before leaving for college I gave Max this little wooden soldier that I had gotten when I was really young. Every now and then I get a message from Maryse of a picture or him with the toy. He almost always has it with him." Jace smiled at the thought but it was a sad smile. Clary felt bad for him for not being able to see Max frequently. She didn't have many people that she left behind when she left for college and the one person she did miss she got to visit about once a month.

When the two got to the nearest Walgreens it didn't take them long to get the candy. Jace collected for himself, Jon, and the Lightwoods while Clary got some for herself, Simon, and something random for Magnus. While they were waiting in line Jace suddenly set down all his candy and took out his phone seeming to realize something.

"Give me your phone," He said holding out his free hand. Clary took her phone out her pocket slowly and reluctantly handed it over.

"Why?" She questioned.

"No reason," He looked down at her phone for a split second before becoming annoyed and holding Clary's phone back out to her. "Unlock it." Clary rolled her eyes but unlocked her phone before handing it back over to Jace. He looked back and forth between their phones while typing something before locking Clary's phone again and handing it back to her.

"What'd you do?" She questioned opening her phone back up.

"Put my number in," Jace replied and Clary opened up her contacts. She took a deep breath and pursed her lips before looking back up at Jace.

"Did you really put yourself in as 'Sexy Beast'?" Jace laughed as he nodded his head and recollected the candy he had set down. Clary just shook her head and put her phone back in her pocket.

"Hey, I don't see you changing it so..." Jace shrugged as they moved up in line to the cash register. They both placed down all the candy as Clary rolled her eyes.

"You are unbelievable sometimes."

"If by that you mean unbelievably sexy then I completely agree."

Clary shook her head. "Just grab the damn candy and let's get to the movies."

When they got to the mall Jonathon was waiting in the front of the Cinemax for them. He handed the two their tickets and they all walked back to the theater.

"We were able to get an entire row for our group," Jon said as they walked. "All we had to do was kick out a bunch of little preteens."

"Can preteens even get into this movie? It's rated R." Clary said.

"They were with this older guy who really didn't give a shit," Jon answered as they opened the door to the specific theater. Jace and Clary followed Jonathon as he walked up a couple steps to where the rest of their friends were. Isabelle waved at them as all three slid into their seats. Clary was sitting next to Jace seeing as everyone was already seated and Jon had led them here.

"There's only like 10 more minutes of previews," Isabelle said leaning over her brother and Magnus to speak to Jace and Clary.

"Could you maybe get off me?" Alec requested harshly to his little sister. She rolled her eyes but sat back in her chair again.

"Still can't believe I let you pick a horror movie," Clary said to Jace after a moment.

He shrugged with a smirk. "Hey if you're scared I could always comfort you."

Clary rolled her eyes but couldn't help the feeling of butterflies that suddenly rampaged in her stomach. "Haha real funny, I don't even get scared that easily."

"Then why do you hate horror films?" Jace asked and Clary shrugged.

"I just do," She said. "Like I get scared from them, yeah, but not super bad, and I've just always found the concept of a movie that's supposed to scare the crap out of people stupid."

"I guess I see your point..." Jace said kind of slowly like he was unsure if he actually did. "But it's still a good movie."

"How do you know? You haven't even seen it yet." Clary pointed out and Jace shrugged.

"I just do, I have a gift for knowing these sort of things."

"Mhmm," Clary rolled her eyes as she spoke sarcastically. "Sure..."

"Believe what you want," Jace said. "But it's the truth."

"But that's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. I mean sure you can make an educated guess on whether a movie is good based off the synopsis but you can't just know if a movie is good without actually seeing it."

Jace scoffed. "Far more ridiculous things have happened to me that involves a 'gift'." Jace used air quotes at the last word and Clary furrowed her eyebrows curiously.

"Like what?" She questioned and Jace seemed to get tense realizing that he may have said something he shouldn't have. The expression quickly washed away from his face though and he relaxed. Or at least acted like he was.

"Let's just say that I can do something you would think impossible." Clary scoffed turning away from Jace. She shook her head, he had absolutely no idea how much her connection with the guy seemed impossible, but it was there and it was probably far more insane than whatever Jace was talking about.

"Please, I don't think anything can surprise me at this point in my life," Clary said and Jace cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh really?" He laughed. "I'm willing to make that bet."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She inquired looking back over at Jace.

"It means that I guarantee you can still be surprised, and one day you'll find out why. One day..." Clary opened her mouth to say something else but it was just at that moment that the movie started to play. Jace just smirked back at Clary before turning to face the large screen.

But even halfway through the movie, only one thing was going through Clary's mind. They were two words. Words she had heard before. Words that had meaning. And yet she couldn't place her finger on who said it.

'One day...'

Guys I just want to say... we're almost there. Clary almost knows, it is so close but I guarantee that I -as the author- am going to be murdered because of an upcoming chapter so... yeah.
Hope y'all liked this chapter! It is so far the longest I've written, it's just over 3000 words. I've tried to make the chapters an average of like 2500 because I didn't want them to be too long but also not too short although I do have several under 2000. But please review and I'll update soon!