I woke up early on Saturday and immediately picked my phone up. Lounging in bed, I scrolled through my messages still waking up a bit. My heart sank when I accidentally opened something I shouldn't have.
UNKNOWN CALLER ID: Please Clary, I need you.
I instantly deleted the message and blocked the number, suddenly wide awake. I didn't want to remember the last time I'd heard those words. It was too much. Thankfully I also had a message from Simon, the perfect thing to lift my mood.
Simon: I asked her.
Clary: I know, she told me.
Simon: What else did she tell you?
Clary: I'm sorry, that is confidential information.
Simon: What like the crayon story was confidential? Yes, I know about that!
Simon's messages had achieved their purpose. Feeling a bit more relaxed, I headed into the shower. Time hadn't moved on much when I climbed out. I curled my hair to pass the time. It was only when I was done that I remembered we were going ice skating and I was going to be wearing a hat. I put on a pair of high waist skinny jeans, a white cut off shirt and a jacket. I quickly glanced at myself in the mirror. I always loved these jeans, they did wonders for someone my height – making my legs look a lot longer than they actually were. Let Jace try and make a short joke today! I jammed my hat on my head, at least the parts of my hair you could see looked nice?
"Clary, are you ready yet?" Jon shouted up the stairs. I grabbed my phone, shoving it into my pocket.
"Coming!" I shouted out of the door, before tripping through it. Coordination on point as always. Maybe ice skating wasn't such a good idea. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, Jon was waiting in the living room doorway, on his phone. He looked up at me, a confused look on his face.
"No flannel?" He asked. I gave him a sharp look. "Sorry, sorry!" Jon laughed as I put my shoes on. Jon opened the door for me, as we headed outside to the car. It was weird riding up front. The rink was quite a while away, it took about 30 minutes to get there. We seemed to be the last ones to arrive. Jace, Isabelle, Simon and person I'd never seen before were stood outside.
"Who's that?" I asked Jon, as he turned off the engine. Jon peered over the dashboard.
"Oh, that's Alec. Isabelle and Jace's brother." Jon said, opening his door. I opened my own, as we approached the group. Isabelle was the first to approach me.
"Clary!" She smiled, hugging me lightly before holding me at arms-length. "I love your jeans! Where did you get them?" Isabelle launched into a conversation as we walked into the rink.
It took me a while to get the right sized ice skates I needed. On cue as always, Jace was there with a joke.
"Those skates are tiny." He commented, as I pulled them on my feet. I didn't dare tell him that they still felt a little loose. I just tightened them as much as I could.
"Those skates are huge." I remarked back about his.
"Well, you know what they say about big skates." He smirked and I shook my head, fastening up my other one. "Do you need a hand up by the way?" He asked, already on his feet. I shook my head, I was going to do this myself, and I wasn't giving him the satisfaction. He shrugged, walking off with Alec and Jon towards the ice. Simon was helping Isabelle get her skates on so I decided to just go for it. I managed to make my way over to the ice. It came as a surprise that the ice rink was relatively empty. Maybe it was better that way – less people for me to potentially maim. It was no surprise however to see Jace, Jon and Alec flying across the ice as though they'd been doing this all their lives. For all I knew, they had been. I held onto the rail, not wanting to get onto the ice just yet. Once I plucked up the courage, I let myself step down, holding firmly onto the rail. This felt so bizarre. I walked around the rink, never letting go of the rail. I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone approached me, sending shavings of ice flying my way.
"It doesn't count as skating if you just hold onto the rail you know?" Jace's voice rang out behind me. I didn't dare turn around to look at him, not trusting myself to stay on my feet.
"I'm wearing ice skates, I'm on ice. So yes I am skating!" I grumbled, pulling myself a little further along the rail.
"Not properly. Here let me help you."
"No, you'll do something." I muttered, trying to escape him, but he was easily keeping pace with me.
"Like what?" He laughed, skating around so he was in front of me, moving backwards as I was moving forward. God, he could skate better backwards than I could forward. Sickening.
"Leave me in the middle of the rink or something." He burst out laughing.
"I hadn't thought about that actually, but now…" He trailed off smirking. "I'm kidding! Honestly, give me your hand." I shook my head, pulling myself across the ice.
"See look, I'm doing it. I'm alright." I tried to sound convincing. Jace was at the rail, trying to pry my hand off the bar.
"Come on, I won't let you fall, promise."
"You're a liar."
"I won't! Come on. You can't hang on a rail all day."
"I can and I will." Jace sighed.
"Fine, I'll leave you be – for now! If you're still here in a little bit, I'll come back for you. That's a promise." Jace smirked as he skated off towards Jon and Alec, going at what can only be described as a speed that gave me motion sickness just looking at it.
I'd been pulling myself around the rail for a good five minutes when Isabelle and Simon hit the ice. They were like naturals. All of Simon's awkwardness melted away as soon as he hit the ice, the pair of them gliding around in sync laughing and joking. Jace must have been watching me because as soon as I was starting to feel jealous, he appeared at my side.
"Come on." He held out his hand, but I linked him instead – surely I'd be less likely to fall if I held onto his arm?
"If you go fast, I'll kill you." I muttered as he pulled me away from the safety of my rail. He seemed to slow his pace right down, helping me across the ice. I kept talking under my breath as he skated alongside me.
"Do you always mutter to yourself when you're nervous?" He asked, amused.
"No. Just when I'm scared for my life."
"Do you think I'd let you hurt yourself?" Jace said, edging us out of the way of Jon who was flying from side to side.
"I don't know. Maybe if you found it funny."
"I'm insulted!" Jace said shocked, clutching his chest.
"Less of the being insulted, more of the watching the ice." I said, still nervous. Isabelle gave me a funny look as she skated by with Simon, teamed with a small smile. I rolled my eyes, well aware of what she was hinting at.
"Now the next step, is to hold my hand rather than my arm." Jace said, moving my hand down to his wrist. I panicked a little, having to support myself a little more now. "Don't worry, I've still got you." He reassured me, skating next to the rail so that I could grab a hold of it at any time. "See you're doing fine, you're just thinking about it too much." Story of my life. "You know what the next step is, don't you?" Jace teased.
"Nope. Don't want to." I muttered, grabbing a firm grip of Jace's hand and refusing to let go.
"Try it." He said, trying to free his hand.
"No. Take me to my rail." I said, as Jace seemed to be drifting further away from it.
"If you let go of my hand for five seconds, you can go back to the rail. I'll be right behind you." I looked at him pleadingly but he wasn't having it. Sighing to myself, I let go of his hand, letting the momentum carry me on a little bit. It was rather terrifying.
"Jace. Jace!" I cried, as I went across the ice.
"I'm right here, you're doing fine." He laughed behind me.
"I'm not! I'm going to fall! Please!" I shouted. Jace was just laughing at me.
"You're not going to fall." The rail was fast approaching and I didn't care if I slammed into it, just as long as I reached it. A pair of dark eyes caught mine as I was reaching the rail, and I lost the plot. I knew it wasn't him. It couldn't be him. But it didn't stop my heart from racing. As soon as my heart started, my arms started to flail, my legs slipping away from me. And like I had predicted, I was falling. I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact, but it never came. When I opened my eyes, Jace's golden ones were staring into mine.
"I told you." I said, as Jace helped me to the rail.
"You were doing well, what happened?" He asked.
"It's nothing honestly." I said, peering over the rail.
"Every time you tell a lie an angel dies." Jace whispered threateningly. I pouted.
"I thought I'd saw him." I whispered back, aware that we were in public.
"Where?" Jace looked into the crowd immediately.
"It wasn't him. There's no way he could be here. I just need to chill." I took a deep breath. "I'm going to go and get a coffee. Go see Jon, he's probably missing you." I smiled, tracing the rail to reach the exit.
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"No, it's alright. Go rescue Alec from Jon." That seemed to be enough as Jace skated off towards the corner where Jon and Alec were making circles on the ice. I climbed up onto the step, feeling a lot better walking on solid ground. The coffee shop was nothing like Java Jones, but it was lovely in its own right. It was completely empty, apart from the staff. I ordered quickly, sitting myself at a stool next to the window, looking onto the ice rink. I would be a liar if I said I wasn't looking out for Sebastian. I didn't want to see him, but I needed clarification that he wasn't there.
Simon and Isabelle caught my eye first. They were skating, arm in arm. I could tell from looking at them that Simon was in the middle of one of his geek rants. Surprisingly Isabelle looked to be hanging on his every word.
Alec, Jon and Jace were having some sort of competition on the far right of the ice rink. Trying to launch themselves into the air by the looks of it. Once everyone was accounted for, I started my search. I found the person I'd seen right away. It wasn't Sebastian, it didn't even look like him from afar – it must have just been the eyes. I shuddered at the thought. As though he knew I was thinking about him, my phone vibrated. I was about to delete it, when I accidentally opened it. The message looked quite long and curiosity got the best of me.
UNKNOWN CALLER ID: Clary. Please. I want to make this better, I need to make this better. I know you've moved back to New York. I'm currently attending the Art Institute of New York. Please come and see me, so that I can make this up to you. I'm so sorry and I need you to know that. Please Clary, at least give me the chance to make it up to you. Please.
So he was in New York. I immediately looked back to the ice just to make sure that it wasn't him. It wasn't but I felt like I was just prolonging the agony. Should I go and see him and get it over with? Or would that just make him worse? I was so torn. I couldn't go to my mum like I usually would, god knows how she'd react.
I only had one option.
I had to ask Jace.
Thank you for reading and reviewing! The feedback I have received for this story has been absolutely amazing & I can't thank you all enough. All my love, until the next time. ~Sapph