A/N: This was a hard chapter to write. :( I hate breaking up Clace as much as anyone, but it must be done!
Chapter 8
(Clary POV)
I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that my Jace would do that to me. How could he? He was in love with me, and I was in love with him. Just the other day, he was acting all passionate and we slept together. How could I handle his betrayal?
But not just how did he do it, why? Why did he feel the need to cheat on me with the new girl? And Evangeline had seemed so nice. Izzy sure seemed to like her enough, anyway. They were bonding really quickly. It took awhile for me to bond with Izzy, basically because I was so jealous of her. Evangeline had no right to be jealous of anyone. Maybe that was why they were friends so quickly.
Evangeline was so beautiful and captivated the attention of everyone she met. She already had everything. And now she had Jace too. I had nothing. I was worthless. I was just Clary, that redheaded moron who loved Jace and fell for his tricks.
But try as I might, I couldn't stop loving him. When two people have been through so much together and haven't lost their love, it's almost impossible to lose it all. And I knew that Jace still loved me, even though he cheated on me like that. It was just Jace, Jace with his commitment issues and stuff. It was a price I had to pay for his love, and a price that I decided I could handle. I didn't trust him as much, but I had never really trusted him to begin with.
Should I talk to Isabelle? I thought. She was cheated on by Simon. If anyone knows what I'm going through, it's probably her.
However, I realized that I didn't want someone in my situation. I needed to talk to someone who understood Jace's point of view without actually talking to Jace, because I was still angry with him. As much as I loved him, I could still be angry. But who would understand what Jace was going through?
It came to me. I should talk to Simon!
So I went to his house and knocked on the front door. "Simon!" I called.
I heard footsteps from inside, and then the door swung open. "Clary, why are you here?"
It was Simon, standing in the doorway and looking sleepy. Then again, it was nighttime. "I need to talk to you. Are you awake?"
"Why didn't you just call me like a normal person?" he asked, rolling his eyes at me. "Oh wait, you're Clary. You're never normal."
I put my hands on my hips. "Are you going to let me in or not?"
"Fine, come in," he said, moving out of the way so that I could enter. Then we walked to his room, waving at his mom on the way when we passed the living room. "Now, what do you want to talk about?"
"Simon…" I began. I was sitting on the edge of his bed, my feet not touching the floor because of my shortness. "…you know how you cheated on Isabelle?"
He sat next to me, wearing an ill expression. He hardly looked like he wanted to be having this conversation. "Is that all you're here for? I don't really want to talk about that."
"No! Just listen to me! I need to talk to you about this."
"Why?"
I took a deep breath and stared into Simon's comforting brown eyes. "Jace cheated on me."
"So you want the perspective of a fellow cheater? Well, I'm sorry, but I think my reasons are different from Jace's. And besides, Clary! Didn't I tell you from the beginning that he was bad news?"
I was taken aback by part of what he said. "Wait, what do you mean your reasons were different? What were your reasons?"
Simon sighed. "Can you promise not to laugh at me?"
"Of course! I wouldn't laugh at you!" I lied, really hoping that I wouldn't giggle at what he was about to say.
"I cheated on Isabelle because… Neither of us was happy. She wasn't happy because she could tell that something was wrong with me, and I wasn't happy because I was denying my true feelings."
"What were your true feelings?" I asked, taking his hand in my own.
"I'm getting to that part. Well…" His grip tightened on my hand and he said, "This is where you can't laugh. Promise?" I nodded in response. "Okay. Good." Now it was Simon who took a deep breath. "My true feelings were that I wasn't in love with Isabelle, because I was already in love with someone else."
"That's not funny at all," I told him honestly. "Why would I laugh at that?"
"Because of who I've been in love with for as long as I can remember. I tried to deny it and I nearly did for a long time, but I keep coming back to the same conclusion."
I pressed, "Who is it?"
"You."
"Whaaaaaat?" I was shocked. "So you cheated on Izzy because you were still in love with me?"
"Unfortunately, yes." He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it gently. It was all I could do to watch in surprised fascination. "And I still am."
"Simon, I… I don't know what to say!" Isabelle was my best female friend. And her boyfriend cheated on her because he was in love with me? Her boyfriend being Simon? Simon, my best friend of all? "I guess your reasons are different from Jace's. I think."
Simon released my hand and slumped his shoulders, no longer looking at me. "There. I said it. Are you happy now that you can reject me again?"
That got me thinking. Maybe I have always taken Simon for granted. He's in love with me? Jace would be furious if he found out. I love Jace, but I also love Simon, in a way. I thought I got over this stage already. What should I do?
Simon was my best friend, and when we tried to formally date, it didn't work out. But he was handsome, and I was attracted to him… I always had been…
"I'm not going to reject you again," I said.
"Oh really?" He inched closer to me, so close that I was able to see the flecks of black in his dark brown eyes. Simon had always been good-looking, but ever since he became a vampire, he was hot. "Then are you going to let me kiss you?"
I gasped. Should I be doing this? But I also wanted to enact my revenge on Jace. And Simon was literally asking for it, asking for me to take this step. "Yes," I said quietly, making my decision.
Simon got a smirk on his face, then, which suddenly made me desperately want to kiss him. What can I say, I like the arrogant types. "Prove it."
So I did, closing the distance between our faces and pressing our lips together.
A/N: Dun dun DUUUUNNN! Please review. xoxoxoxo