Hey, pretties :)

The day was spent sort of how the first day when Jace had come down was spent, showing Isabelle around the vineyard. Except, with Isabelle, Clary felt even more off balance than when Jace had first shown up. At least with Jace, she felt like she knew him. She had been talking to him for a while and she had been prepared for his arrival. With Isabelle, she had been completely thrown through a loop, and she still felt as though she was being judged with every move she was making.

It wasn't like Isabelle was acting as though she was watching Clary carefully, but Clary could definitely sympathize with Jace now, having to deal with her parents and her friends. It wasn't as though they were judging him and trying to figure out his motives on purpose, but it was definitely something that was playing at the back of their minds, just because of how protective they were, and how much they loved her.

Luckily, it hadn't taken much to convince Isabelle to change out of the clothes that she had arrived in, and especially her shoes. She had a suitcase of clothes in the back of her Benz. She put it on the couch and flipped it open, and pretty much everything that spilled out of it was bright colours and covered in sequins. Jace had grinned at Clary over Isabelle's head as Isabelle pulled out a pair of jeans and managed to find a reasonably plain tee-shirt that was apparently okay with getting dirty even though it probably cost the same amount as Clary's second-hand car. Clary had loaned her a pair of shoes as well, giving her the newer pair of sneakers and keeping the older pair for herself.

They drove around on the quad bikes—Jace had quickly picked up on how to drive one, so he was on one by himself and Clary was on another one with Isabelle holding onto her waist and laughing loudly in her ear.

"This place is fucking beautiful," Isabelle said contentedly sometime after lunch as they sat down on the hill at the back of the vineyard. They were sitting under a tree for shade, given the California sun was beating down on them from where it was high in the sky. Clary had put some space between her and Jace, even though Isabelle obviously knew what they had been up to, she still didn't know how comfortable Jace was with public displays of affection. But Jace had shuffled over, not caring that he was scuffing his undoubtedly expensive jeans, and moved so that he was sitting behind her, his thighs on either side of her. He wrapped an arm loosely around her waist, and pressed a kiss to the back of her neck.

"I would kill to have a view like this rather than the concrete jungle we've got back in New York," Jace said quietly.

"Hell yes," Isabelle agreed. Suddenly she let out a loud gasp and both Clary and Jace's heads whipped to the side, worry on their faces. "I broke a nail!" Isabelle whined as she studied her fingers, a pout on her pretty, full mouth. Clary couldn't stop her snort, and Jace let out a laugh and Isabelle shot them a wounded look before going back to staring down at her nails. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she looked down at her hand, picking at the rugged edges. It looked as though she was wearing acrylics, they were long and all perfectly curved, painted a dark purple with lighter purple glitter decorating the tips. "Do you have anywhere in town that does nails?" Isabelle asked as she turned her head back to Clary.

"Uh," Clary wrinkled her nose. "We might? I'm not sure. I can ask Lydia?"

"Perfect," Isabelle sighed as she reluctantly put her hand down in her lap.

"We, um, we actually had plans to go to Lydia's for dinner," Clary glanced back at Jace before focusing back on Isabelle. "Were you planning on staying?"

"Yeah, absolutely!" Isabelle grinned. "I don't have anywhere I need to be. In fact—" she glanced at Jace and flashed a wider smile. "I was actually kind of hoping that you would be cool with me staying the night." Jace tensed behind Clary.

"Izzy—"

"Well, I stayed at a hotel last night, and it was nice enough and all," Isabelle continued, ignoring her cousin, her eyes fixed on Clary, glinting a little. "But I was kind of hoping to spend as much time with the lovely couple as I could," she batted her eyelashes and pouted her lips as she looked over Clary's shoulder at Jace, but there was a devious look in her eyes as she lowered them back to Clary.

"Y-yeah," Clary jerked her head in a nod. "I mean, I have a spare bed, it's not—it's not fancy or five star or anything—"

"I'm sure it'll be perfect," Isabelle grinned. "So, Lydia, she's a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, we've been friends for years," Clary replied. "And some of my other friends will be there as well."

"Clary's been friends with the same people for years, a lot of them went to school together," Jace piped up from behind her. Clary smiled as she leaned back into him, although part of her felt sad that he didn't have as many close relationships that she did. She could understand in his situation that it would be difficult, and that just made her want to try harder with Isabelle.

"I was actually going to make honey joys this afternoon," Clary piped up. "And take them over. You want to help?"

"Whatever that is, it sounds great," Isabelle smiled as she pushed herself off the ground and clapped her hands together, brushing off the dirt.

"Honey joys?" Jace murmured in Clary's ear before they got up.

"Yeah, I feel as though it's a necessity of life to have tried them at least once," Clary replied with a smile as she tugged on his hand, following Isabelle down the hill, toward where their quad bikes were parked.

They took Clary's car over to Lydia's, Isabelle moving her car to be parked next to Jace's. Clary had text ahead to prepare Lydia for another person coming, and not just any other person, but Jace's cousin, who happened to be an internationally known super model. Lydia had obviously told the others, who—Clary loved absolutely dearly, but had to admit—were absolutely terrible actors.

They tried to play off that they weren't totally staring at her with every move she made, or wanting to ask her a hundred questions. Finally, Simon had been the one who blurted out that she was even more beautiful in person, and then the rest of her friends had all just tumbled over each other with their own questions.

"To be fair," Jace said quietly in Clary's ear as he looped an arm around her waist. "This is a lot for them to handle. First me and now Iz, it would be amazing if they weren't like this."

"Oh, listen to you," Clary let out a laugh as she leaned into his side. "Acting like you're some big deal." Jace grinned down at her, loving the sound of her laugh and the way her smile lit up her whole body, making her eyes glow and her skin warm and her ears redden at the tips just a little bit. Clary, in turn, loved how comfortable Jace was around her and her friends now. He had loosened up so much since the first day he had shown up, and she had to keep pushing the fact that he wasn't here permanently to the back of her head, because she was dangerously close to admitting to herself that she didn't just love how comfortable he was with her. She was potentially in love with him.

"Alright!" Lydia clapped her hands. "If you savages would be able to act as though you have at least a little bit of decency left in you—it's time for dinner!" Isabelle laughed, and it didn't look like she minded Clary's friends surrounding her. Even so, Clary was grateful when conversation veered back to something more normal over the dinner table. Maia and Lydia were talking about a make up sale that they were going to that weekend, and Aline and Simon started arguing for the umpteenth time about the ending of the latest Star Wars movie. Jace was happy to stay quiet and just watch all the drama unfold, his smile growing wider as Clary and Lydia started talking about a time back in high school when they had broken into the school swimming pool with a couple of older guys. They had gotten caught and had detention for two weeks, but they had both ended up getting older boyfriends who had cars, which was a pretty big thing when they were sixteen.

For dessert, Jace finally had his first honey joy, which was better than he thought it would be after watching Clary make them. Isabelle had two helpings of Simon's ambrosia, and Clary noted that the pair of them kept ending up in private conversations just between the two of them, as though they were completely unaware of everyone else at the table.

It was almost midnight before the three headed back to Clary's house, and Simon and Isabelle exchanged phone numbers, along with Lydia as well, the two girls had started talking fashion in the last part of the evening and they could have been there all night if they were allowed. Jace drove Clary's car back, because the red head was starting to fall asleep, and Isabelle sat quietly in the back seat. There was a knowing smile on her face, though, and Jace was trying to ignore the way that she was watching him smugly every time he caught her in the rear view mirror.

It was adorable how tired Clary was when they got back to her place, and she rubbed her eyes as she fumbled with the handle of the door. Jace got out and quickly walked around to her side, slinging an arm around her waist. Clary gave him a small, appreciative smile, leaning her weight against him. Isabelle followed them up the steps to the cottage, pausing to pat one of the white farm cats while Jace unlocked the front door.

"Um, the spare room is all made up with blankets and fresh sheets," Clary mumbled when they got inside. "I think there's enough pillows..." she tried to think about if she had spare pillows, because Lydia and Simon both had tendencies to borrow her blankets and pillows when they slept over and not bring them back.

"I'll be fine," Isabelle said with a grin. "You lovebirds have a good night." Jace rolled his eyes as he locked the door behind them and then followed Clary to her bedroom. She was undressing without even turning the light on, but Jace could still follow her movements clearly with the curtains wide open and the moon shining through.

She was gorgeous.

It still felt as though he was stuck in this dream that he was positive that he was going to wake up from at any moment.

Clary climbed into bed with a heavy exhale and he could see her eyes half open and watching him. Jace kicked off his shoes and then undressed as well, slipping into a pair of thin sweatpants and no shirt. He didn't bother shutting the curtains, he liked the way the moon lit up the room in a grey-blue light. He slid into the bed next to Clary, and she rolled over so that one of her legs was slung over his, and her arm rested over his waist.

They were asleep within minutes.

Alright! So, what do we think? Let me know, leave a review :)

I thought I'd just give you the top ten from my Spotify again, I got some good feedback from you guys last time! Feel free to give me music recommendations either in the reviews or by message! I always find time to listen given how much time I'm listening to my phone through the day.

1) You Should Be Sad - Halsey. 2) Wrong Direction - Hailee Steinfield. 3) Walls - Louis Tomlinson. 4) See You Again - Carrie Underwood. 5) The Bones - Maren Morris and Hozier. 6) Hey Angel - One Direction. 7) Blood - In This Moment. 8) 3AM - Halsey. 9) Radio - Lana Del Rey. 10) She - Harry Styles.

Much love x