Authors Note:
I'm so sorry that it took me so long to update this story! I had half the chapter written and just forgot to finsih it! I hope it was worth the wait! Let me know what ya'll think and enjoy! :)
Chapter Ten:
Clary POV:
I got a phone call at dinner and it was from an unknown number. I excused myself from the table and picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hello, is this Clarissa Fray?"
"Yes, this is she. Who is calling?"
"This is Joy from Presbyterian Hospital. Your brother Jonathan was brought in earlier this morning. You were the one of his emergency contacts." That's odd, but I guess he never changed it.
"What happened?"
"He was in a pretty bad accident tonight. He's been in surgery for a couple hours now."
"What happened?"
"He was driving while under the influence." What a dumbass.
"Okay. Thanks for calling." With that I hung up the phone and made my way back into the dinning room.
"What was that all about?" Jace asks.
"My brother was in an accident. He's in surgery."
"What happened?"
"The idiot was driving while under the influence."
"What a dumbass." I laughed at our identical thoughts.
"Are you going to visit him?" He asked.
"Nope. I don't owe him anything. He want's to drive while drunk and get hurt, so be it. I'm not going to drop what I'm doing because he was being an idiot." He nods and we continue with dinner like nothing ever happened. Jon stopped being my brother a long time ago, and I don't owe him anything.
Time Jump- Start of School Year (Jace – Freshman, Clary – Junior)
Clary POV:
Jace and I were making our way down to our apartment in Florida, and I was so excited to be finally back in the same state as Jace. We have been talking about what we were going to do after college, and we came to the conclusion that I was going to stay in Florida until he was done school and than we'd take it from there. It was scary, but as long as I had Jace, I knew everything would be okay. I had two more years of school while Jace still had all four to complete but I was excited to start living our lives together.
When we finally made it to our apartment we started unloading everything. Since Jonathan was in the hospital for a couple weeks after his surgery, I took that opportunity to grab whatever furniture that I had left in that house. Thankfully he didn't touch my room after he destroyed it. My bed didn't quite make it but my two couches and a couple chairs that I had did, so Jace and I brought them down. My bed wasn't that big of a loss considering Jace was planning on bringing his down anyway, and his was way more comfortable than mine, so it was a win-win situation. I was getting the room organized when I heard a crash. I ran out into our living room and Jace was standing over a framed picture that he dropped. I walked over and looked, and it was a picture from before my mom started getting violent. I bent down and picked it up.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't think anything in here was fragile." He said and I just shook my head.
"It's okay. This picture doesn't mean anything to me." I said and he tilted my head up to look him in the eyes.
"It's okay to miss how things used to be Clare." He said and I couldn't help the tears that formed in my eyes.
"I feel like I shouldn't miss it. Like, I should be hateful towards them for the rest of my life. I was tortured, and neglected, I barely even remember anything from before my mom was violent."
"That doesn't mean you can't miss it." He said and a tear spilled out of my eye, he wiped it away. "One memory, I want to hear one memory you have from before she got violent, and before Jon started being a dick." He asked and I stood there thinking for a couple minutes before a memory popped into my head.
"I was 8, and I was really obsessed with flamingos, don't ask me why. I wanted to be one for Halloween so badly, but no matter what, we couldn't find a flamingo costume anywhere. I was so upset. It was the only thing I wanted to be, and my mom kept throwing out ideas for me, but I had my heart set on being a flamingo. So one day I came home from school, and she was making me a flamingo costume. I was so excited. She even let me help." I smiled at the memory. "When Halloween rolled around I was so excited to go trick or treating. Everyone was really confused by my costume, and a couple girls from my class made fun of me, but I was happier than I can even begin to describe. It was my favorite costume ever." I looked up at Jace and he was smiling, and trying not to laugh. "Don't laugh at me. It's all I wanted that year. No judging allowed."
"I'm not judging, I just think you're incredibly cute. I mean, I asked to bath in spaghetti one year, so that's not weird to me at all." I couldn't hold my laughter in and we were both laughing together. "You're allowed to miss the old them Clary, you were deprived of something every child should have, and what your mom and Jon did to you was wrong, and completely selfish of them, but missing them isn't wrong, and hating them isn't wrong either. You're entitled to our own feelings. You never have to explain them to anyone." I looked up at him and wrapped my arms around his neck while his hands rested on my hips.
"I love you Jace." I said and his eyes widened. We hadn't said it to each other, but I've felt it for a while.
"I love you too." He said as he placed a kiss on my lips. When we broke apart I couldn't help but smile. Holding on for all those years was definitely worth it when I think back to my life with Jace. He was my family now, and he's all I'll ever need.