Chapter 61: Through the Grapevine

Hey guys, hope you like this chapter. There are a bunch of song mentions, but I'm not going to list them at the bottom because I think it's all pretty clear, but if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Clary's POV

"You're officially one and a half months through your tour!" Magnus says as he opens the windows on the tour bus.

"Is that all?" Kit asks, groaning. I hear shuffling in the bunk above me and assume he's rolling onto his stomach to block the sunlight.

"Look, I know we're all tired, but I feel like I remember you all saying something about really enjoying this tour. Is that all out the window already?" he asks, beginning to brew us coffee.

"Why are you in such a good mood today?" Simon asks, completely ignoring his question.

"Because you only have one interview today. Which means more time for napping, or exploring the city or doing whatever you please. And it means Alec and I can go on a date," he says, quickly kissing his boyfriend.

"You two are so lucky," I say, slowly sitting up, careful to not hit my head on the bunk above me. "You two get to be together like… all the time."

"Yes, but navigating business relationships can be difficult biscuit; the grass is always greener," Magnus tells me, handing me a mug of black coffee.

"Thanks," I say, blowing on it to cool it down. "But I haven't seen him since Christmas, and we're not in France for two more weeks!" Jace has a few days off when we are in Paris, so he is going to fly in to watch the concerts and hang out. By that time, it will have been over two months since we'd last seen each other at Christmas.

"Well it's not like you'd have much time to be with him if he were here," Simon says. Izzy had been able to visit a few times when she wasn't needed by Jace, but even Simon and Izzy hadn't been able to spend much time together since the tour started. "Our shows are longer and there are more of them, we have to spend more time rehearsing because we sing a new cover every night. Not to mention there seems to be more press than ever."

"Today not included," Alec says, thanking Magnus as he takes his cup of coffee.

"Which is why you all need to get up soon, get your butts into the gym and off to your interview, so you can have as much free time as possible today," Magnus says, finally pouring his own cup of coffee.

I sigh. "Then let's get to it!"

"So something I've really loved following this tour is all the covers you have been doing," the interviewer, Sarah says. "How long have you had that idea, and what made you want to do it?"

"It was Clary's idea actually," Alec says. "We had agreed that we all wanted to make this tour the biggest and the best, and that naturally lead to longer concerts. But then Clary said we should do a cover at each show to really make each show as good as possible."

"Another thing that I think we all thought was important," Simon adds, "so that each show is unique. We want each person to walk away with their own kind of experience and memory, and be able to tell people, 'I was at the show when they sung… xyz. It's important to us that people have something to hold onto while we are on our break."

"So each show will have a different cover… no repeats?" Sarah asks.

"Yeah," Kit replies, "every show gets its own individual cover."

"Well you've only been on tour for a month and a half, so one can only imagine what's to come. I'd love to go over a few that you've down already - talk through the ideas behind them?" Sarah asks, motioning towards a TV.

We all nod, and the first picture comes up, and I know what it's going to be before the video starts playing. We're all standing on stage, each in a different pose, and each dressed up like a member of ABBA. We'd cut no corners, having the costumes made for each of us. I was dressed in this cute metallic mini dress, with thigh high platform heels. I'd taken my hair out of their braids, so it was really big and curly. I'd managed to convince each of the guys to wear their own pair of platform heels, and they were in these metallic overalls with shiny shirts underneath.

The video starts playing and we watch for a little while as we dance across the stage singing Super Trouper. She pauses the video as we're all pointing out to the audience.

"So why this song, and why the costumes?" she asks with a smile on her face.

All of the guys look at me, "well," I begin, "I absolutely love ABBA, and knew we had to do at least one song on tour. It felt wrong to do it anywhere outside of Sweden, so that's why we did it in Stockholm. I think we chose that song because it's one of my favourites, and we already play Dancing Queen before the concert starts. And we had to do the costumes. If you're going to perform ABBA, the look is half the gig."

"I'd just like to say that it took a lot of convincing from Clary to get me into those shoes!" Simon says.

"And you loved them once you put them on," I say, looking over at him.

"They did make my legs look amazing," he admits.

"Plus," Kit adds, "they're just sick. Who wouldn't want to wear those?"

Sarah flicks to the next video, and again I instantly know what song it is. We're all dressed in black for this one, and huddled together. As It's Gonna be Me begins to play, we all start doing the choreographed dance, which goes for the whole song, while we sing. Kit and Alec had been hesitant about this, but Simon and I had insisted that we do it, and said we'd help them through it all - which we did.

She pauses the video, "who knew you could all dance like that! Whose idea was that one - it's just so different to what you normally do… it was so unexpected."

"Well, Simon really wanted to do a choreographed dance at least once on tour," Kit says, "so we just wanted to get it over with quickly."

"Why did you want to a choreographed dance, Simon?" Sarah asks.

"We'd bought up the fact that Clary and I had met at our dance class when we were younger, and both of us kept doing it till we were about fifteen - well, with an occasional class every now-and-then, so I just wanted a chance to finally use what I'd spent so long learned. Clary actually choreographed that dance, and then taught it to us."

"Well everyone's been amazed that's seen it. No one really knew quite what you were capable of. Which brings me to another fan favourite," she says, changing the screen to the next song, "where everyone saw a side to Alec that they didn't know existed!"

In the video, Alec is singing All About that Bass by Meghan Trainor. You can tell he's kind of reluctant in the beginning, only dancing a little bit, but as Kit and I come over and dance with him, and he could see how into it the crowd is, he begins to get really into it.

"You know, I had my doubts whether he was capable of it as well," Kit says, "I was wondering if I should have been doing it, but he clearly proved everyone wrong. I mean just look at the man shake his ass!

I look over at Alec, who is suitably red. "He did us all very proud that day," I say, knocking his shoulder with my own. "I couldn't imagine it being any better than that."

"Much better than I could have done by any means," Simon adds, lightly punching him.

Leaning into everything, Alec stands up and does two little bows as everyone claps for him, before sitting down again, still a little bit red in the cheeks.

"And the final song I want to look at in the trip down memory lane is one of my personal favourite moments of the tour so far…" Sarah says, turning to the screen again.

In the video, I'm singing Jolene by Dolly Parton, and only as I'm singing the song in front of thousands of people do I realise that the description of Jolene; "with flaming locks of auburn hair, With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green," pretty much matches me, and it shows. I start laughing as I sing through the next few lines, and all of the guys laugh as well, realising that I'd never noticed this before.

"We still can't believe she didn't know!" Simon says, laughing at watching the video again.

"Who doesn't notice when a description of them is in a song?" Kit says.

"Me, apparently…" I say. Now it's my turn to go red.

"Well that all my videos, and I've only got one more question… what does the next few months hold in store?" Sarah asks.

"Well we're not going to spoil any of the covers - we want them to be a surprise," Alec says.

"I think just touring and generally having a fun time," Simon says, looking at everyone.

"Really," I say, "who knows what the future has in store!"

Jace's POV

"Oh my God! You're really going to propose to Clary?" Izzy practically screams. Thank God nobody else is around.

"That's what I just said, isn't it?" I reply.

"When, where, how?!" Izzy asks quickly.

"I'm thinking in a couple of weeks in Paris. That's the next time I'll see Clary, and Paris feels romantic. But I wanted your help with the how. That's why I'm telling you now."

"Wow, Paris… really pulling out the big guns," Izzy says, finally starting to calm down. "Well, naturally you'll have to get a hotel with a room of the Eiffel Tower. I think it should have a balcony that overlooks the tower and a nice French street… and then you should get a nice bottle of champagne, and rose petals everywhere and hundreds of candles. And you should dress up… ugh, it'll be so romantic."

"You really seem to have thought about this," I say, smirking at her.

"Every girl dreams of being proposed to in Paris… I guess that dream comes true for some girls," Izzy says dreamily.

"Clary's more than just some girl… do you think it's too cliched maybe - should I do something more personal?" I ask, suddenly panicking that everything was wrong.

"No Jace, it all sounds perfect. It'll be small and intimate but so romantic. It'll be perfect," she tells me.

"Okay…" I say, beginning to breathe again.

"Well I can help you set it up if you want… but I'll probably need some help from Magnus to make sure everything is perfect and runs smoothly. Have you told him yet?" Izzy asks.

"I've only told my parents, Luke and Jonathan. And now you, I guess," I tell her.

"Can I tell Magnus then? Just to help organise…" Izzy asks.

I shrug, telling her I don't care, and then someone comes into my dressing room telling me I'm needed on set.

Naturally, when I wake up the next morning I have a heap of texts from all of the guys congratulating me.

I pick up my phone and call Alec.

"Hey Jace, congrats man. Proposing… that's a big step," he says.

"Yeah, thanks. Hey I just need to check - Clary doesn't know anything, does she?" I ask. Knowing how much time they all spend around each other I wouldn't be surprised if it slipped out, and I really wanted it to be a surprise.

"No, no - she doesn't know anything. I found out because Magnus told me after he got the call from Izzy. Then Simon found out because he came into our room without knocking - which he's done an alarming amount of times, I might add. And then Simon told Kit, but Kit wouldn't say anything. He really likes to keep secrets, for some reason…"

"Right, okay. Thanks," I say.

"No problem," Alec replies.

Suddenly, it occurs to me that they may have expected to find out from me. "Hey, look I'm sorry you all had to find out through the grapevine. I really should have told, probably should've asked for your permission, really."

"No it's fine. You don't need my, or any of the others permission to marry Clary." I hear some noise in the background, "hey, sorry I've got to go. But good luck with everything, not that you'll need it!"

"Thanks Alec, I'll see you in a few weeks," I reply.

"See you then," he says, and then hangs up. I guess there is no backing out of it now.

So that's that chapter done, I hope you liked it! Feel free to leave a review with any questions, comments or suggestions. I think you can guess what's in the next chapter ;) See you then!