Hey, pretties :)

The first two exams didn't feel as though they were that bad, but it was the last one that she had been most worried about, based on art history. Of course that one wasn't for another week, but at least it gave her lots of time to study. She was still working shifts at the library and whenever she was there, she had all of her books spread out behind the help desk and practically snarled at anyone who approached for help, even though that was her whole reason for being there.

Simon had an even shorter fuse than she did, given he still had his internship to keep up with and he also had five exams instead of three that he needed to finish and he had only done one so far. He was coming home most nights after working and locking himself in his room until two or three in the morning.

Clary couldn't help but jokingly remind him that he needed to make sure he was taking care of himself, just like he had reminded her so many times when she was painting in double time for her showcase. Simon had just glared at her and said it was different because this was only going to go on for two weeks, whereas she had gotten herself immersed into her work for over a month. Clary had only been joking but he was completely serious—staring at her with bloodshot eyes and smelling as though he hadn't showered in at least three days, and she had decided to back away slowly in the interest of self preservation.

Raphael and Lydia hadn't come by in a few days, and they were all laying off any weed, throwing everything they had into last minute study for their exams. Clary also hadn't seen Jace much in the first week, other than when he had stopped by the apartment once with food for both her and Simon and then one other time when he had picked her up from the library when she was pulling a later shift than usual and he didn't want her to walk home by herself. They were texting everyday but Jace understood that she needed to focus right now.

His club was a bit slower than it usually was, given a lot of students were concentrating more on their studies and then some studies had finished with exams and had gone home for the first of their holidays, which meant that he had more time to think about Clary. Jace had also thought a lot about what she meant to him and who he was to her. They hadn't really had that 'talk' that girls always seemed so enthusiastic to have right at the beginning of a relationship, and Jace wondered if this was because she was still trying to figure out what she wanted or if it just wasn't at the forefront of her mind right now.

Either way, Jace viewed it as a good thing.

Because it gave him a chance to show her that he wanted this to work.

He didn't want to overwhelm her, since they hadn't had such a close relationship before—he couldn't really call it a relationship in the first place. They sort of just had...An arrangement. She would come over and he would cook for her and she would talk while they got high. He had never been that big a talker—the night after the showcase when they were both at his house—that had been the first time in a long time that he had talked as much as he had, and it had taken a lot for him to say what he had, and the only reason that he had was because he knew that he owed it to her.

Clary opened up her whole life to him in conversations over the months that they had known each other. She spoke out her mother and her step-dad, her friends and her studies, the movies she liked, the music she listened to, the art that inspired her. Maybe sometimes she spoke when she thought that he wasn't paying any attention, but he always was. He would let her pick what movie they watched although she usually asked him for his opinion before putting something on. Clary was adorable, and she just got cuter when she was high. She sang along with the songs in the movie or show they were watching and sometimes if it was a movie that she had seen a bunch of times before, she would quote along to the scenes.

Because of the trust that she had put in him, letting him in so easily, he wanted her to know that he didn't just take that for granted. He knew that different personalities made it easier to share parts of their life, as she did, and then there were also people who found it a lot harder, like himself.

But she was important to him.

He really liked her.

He wasn't sure what she wanted from him or even exactly what he wanted from her, he just knew that he wanted to find out what they could be.

So the last week that Clary had her exam, the final that she had told Jace she was most worried about, he decided that he needed to step up. He had never really baked, that wasn't his strong suit, and he knew how much she liked cupcakes, so he cooked her dinner, every night and he brought her a fresh cupcakes from Sprinkle Palace.

He took them to her apartment when he knew that she was there, studying with Simon, and he took them to the library when she was studying there. The first day she was surprised, the second day she blinked a bunch of times and then the third time she grinned and reached over the counter and grabbed his collar, giving him a hard kiss on the mouth. Jace had been surprised, because they were in the middle of the library and there were a couple of people who were looking at them, but Jace didn't care.

Jace was glad that work wasn't too busy and that he had a competent bar manager that could look after MJ's while he was running around, cooking for this girl that wasn't yet his girlfriend. Generally he would take her dinner around six, and the club didn't properly open until nine, so he was always there to help with the final set up, but he usually started around five each day. When he took food by the apartment, he would always make sure he took extra for anyone else there, and was quite surprised when it only ever seemed to be Simon, because he knew how close they were with Lydia and Raphael. But, he could also understand the stress of finals, and so he assumed that they were throwing themselves completely into it.

It did suck that since they seemed to have solidified the way they felt about each other, they were seeing each other even less, and it was especially hard since they had gone a long stretch without seeing each other, before they sorted things out. He really wasn't good when it came to texting either, he never had been, so they didn't have much contact that way either.

Her last exam was Friday and it finished at five o'clock.

Unfortunately, he had to be at the club until at least seven because there was a drop off of alcohol that he had to sign for and then his usual manager wasn't able to get there until a bit later because she had interviews with her kids teacher at school. When he was there, he always ended up loosing track of time, always managing to find things that he needed to do or just helping out his bar staff as people started coming in. It seemed as though a lot of finals were finished that Friday—or maybe students were just deciding that today was a good day to let off some steam, because it was busier than it had been in the past two weeks.

It was nearing eight thirty when Jace left the club and went straight home. He sent off a text to Clary, with a simple message, Home? and then started cooking in the kitchen. He got a reply from her that said she and Simon were home, and both of them were wiped out from the exams they had had that day, but at least they were all finally over.

He made something simple tonight, something that they could reheat later, because even though he wasn't much of a texter, Clary was, and yet her text had been short and to the point. She had been tired when he had gone and seen her last night and he was guessing that whatever adrenaline she had been running on in the past week, while she had been studying and prepping for her final exam, had run out. It was a chicken pasta bake that they could put in the fridge and heat up later if they were too tired to eat right now, and while it was finishing off in the oven, he showered and got into a fresh set of clothes.

Jace got to Clary's apartment building just before nine thirty and by the time he got up to the apartment, he was wondering if maybe he had left it to late. He had text her on the way over and there had been no reply, and after he knocked twice on the door, he had to wait about three or four minutes before anyone answered. It was Simon, and Isabelle was on the couch with a joint between her fingers.

"Jace?" Isabelle tilted her head to the side.

"Hey, man," Simon said as he stepped aside, letting Jace in.

"Just here to drop off dinner," Jace said, feeling a bit awkward that his cousin was there to witness the fact that he was trying to find his way to a girls heart through his stomach. That was generally what someone did for a guy, right? "There's enough for everyone."

"Si said that you were doing that," Isabelle smiled serenely as Simon shut the door and moved to sit next to the dark haired girl again. "I think it's cute, you're wooing her." Jace just rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, just put it right here," Simon smiled and waved at the coffee table. "I will gladly dig into this tonight, but Clary had a shower and hasn't been out of her room in since." Jace put down the dish he had brought over but was then undecided. It sounded as though maybe she had gone to sleep after her shower, but he really wanted to see her. He didn't want to wake her up. "Go in," Simon urged him lightly as he took the joint from Isabelle and lifted it to his lips. "She'll be pissed she slept through your visit." Jace nodded and walked out of the lounge and down the short hall to Clary's room.

He had only been there a couple of times before, and as he gently pushed open the door, he said her name quietly, to see if she was awake. The lamp was on beside her bed, swathed in colourful scarves, so it was only a dim light. The rest of the room was all colours and mess and Jace couldn't help but laugh a little when he saw that Clary had collapsed backwards on her bed, wearing a pair of leggings and a bra, as though she had gotten partway through dressing and then just passed out.

He walked over to her, trying to carefully shuffle her around so that he could pull back the covers on the bed and tuck her underneath. As he was pulling the blankets up around her, Clary's eyes sleepily opened, and she gave him a small smile when she saw it was him.

"Hey," she mumbled.

"Hey," Jace whispered back, smoothing her hair back, away from her forehead. "I just dropped off some food, you can heat it up tomorrow. You need some sleep." Clary's smile widened and her eyes closed again as she snuggled down into her pillow.

"You're a good boyfriend," she sighed out. It looked as though she had fallen right back to sleep and so she completely missed the stunned expression on Jace's face. He blinked at her and then his face relaxed into a smile. He was just getting up when Clary's hand reached out to grip his wrist, a lot firmer than he had been expecting for a girl who was clearly more than half asleep. "Stay?" She asked, one eye flickering open.

"Okay," Jace murmured without hesitation.

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