Disclaimer: Cassandra Clare owns all Mortal Instruments characters seen in this story.
"Hey, Clary," I'm sitting at the breakfast bar eating cereal when Izzy comes up the stairs, "Did you know that there was a power outage last night?" The power outage…that's when Jace and I kissed. Before I can totally get lost in my mind I answer her, "Yeah, I was um-coming up the stairs when it happened." He seems to accept my answer and as she pours herself a cup of coffee and I get lost in my thoughts.
Kissing Jace couldn't have felt more right than it did. It felt like I found the place that was made for me…Jace's embrace. It's weird to feel this way though…I've never felt this way before. Yes, I have always hated the girls he's been with, but that's also because they are total bitches. They've never been nice to me and I have no issue calling them out on their shit…maybe that's why they don't like me….I'm not like them. They've called me anything but perfect and wonder why Jace even hangs out with me and I have retaliated with calling them whores, sluts, etc. But when I was in Jace's arms with his lips on mine, actually kissing unlike the event on the stairs, I felt perfect. "Clary!"
"What? What did I miss?" I ask Izzy. She rolls her eyes and looks at me curiously. "What were you so in your head about? I asked when you wanted to go down to the beach," she says and then walks over towards me from her position by the coffee maker. She rests her arms on the white marble counter top and I feel my face heating as I remember the way he held me…as if I was the last breath of air he'd ever receive. "Clary," Izzy snaps her fingers in front of my face and I leave my head. "Sorry," I respond sheepishly. "How about we go now?" Izzy asks. I nod my head and get up to put my bowl in the sink. I start heading towards the casita to change into my swimsuit and just as I get to the front door, Izzy states, "If you don't come out looking amazing, I'm giving you one of my swimsuits."
"Got it," I say as I open the front door. I don't trip on the steps this time and open the door to the casita without a hitch. I head into the closet, grab my swimsuit, sandals, and a cover up. I head into the bathroom and straighten my hair because I know Izzy will kill me if I don't at least try to do something with my hair. I change into my swimsuit and put on my sandals and cover up before I head into the room to grab my Ray-Bans. I open the door and start to head outside the room when I realize I forgot my phone. I turn and grab my phone off the counter and I walk into something…someone hard.
The momentum knocks me off my feet and from my position on the ground, I look up at who it is that I ran into and…it's Jace. "Are you okay," he asks as he picks me up off the floor.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I respond and then I get a good look at him. I can tell he's been running because he's all sweaty and is shirtless. Just as I finish taking in what he's wearing, I look up and see that he's taking in what I'm wearing. I will admit to seeing him differently after last night and from the look in his eyes, I can see that he sees me in a different light too. I cross my arms over my chest and he looks back up at my eyes. "Um…Izzy and I were going to go to the beach. Would you like to come?"
"Yeah, that'd be fun…I'll be down there in a couple minutes," he responds. I nod my head and head out the door. I hear him shut the door to the casita and I lean against the wall to catch my breath. Why is this happening? He's my best friend…I'm not supposed to be affected like this by my best friend. I take a deep breath and open the door to the house. I head down stairs and go into the exercise room, only to narrowly miss being hit with glitter. "Magnus!" he looks at me and grins, "Why was I about to be assaulted with glitter?"
"Well, biscuit, my swim shorts don't have enough glitter on them, so I was trying to open some glitter to put on them," Magnus says as if it was the simplest thing in the world. I shake my head and see Alec standing outside on one of the two balconies, looking at the ocean. I walk outside before I get hit by glitter, this time on purpose, and look at the view. "Wow," I breathe out, looking at how far I can see. I can see Catalina Island from here, and parts of the beach around the side of the house next door to us. "Welcome to Laguna Beach, Clary," I hear Alec next to me say.
"It's beautiful," I say and look down at the beach. I see three umbrellas set at least 25 feet apart from each other and some towels under each umbrella. "Magnus and I already set everything up this morning," Alec says, "And Izzy designated which umbrella belongs to which two people. She fought with Magnus for the pink umbrella, but Izzy won in the end and now Magnus and I have the blue umbrella." I laughed as I said, "You know that Magnus is going to put glitter on the umbrella, right?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Alec shakes his head and laughs as he says this and then adds, "You and Jace have the dark green umbrella." I nod my head and Izzy comes out with Simon at her heels. She's wearing a pink bikini and Simon keeps on looking at her. Way to be discreet buddy. "Where's Magnus?" I hear Alec ask.
"He went upstairs to get more glitter," Izzy says and then looks at me and says, "Please tell me you have a cute swimsuit underneath that cover up." She walks past me and starts to lead the way down the stairs to the beach with me after her. "Izzy, I'm wearing the swimsuit that you got me for my birthday," I tell her.
"Oh, you mean the one I got you from VS?" I feel my face heat up at the mention of that store. "Yes, Izzy...that one." We are almost at the beach; the only thing separating us from the beach is a gate and 10 more steps. As she's opening the gate, she asks, "Which one the black tease halter, or the teal flirt bandeau?"
"Geez, Izzy! The black one," I tell her and I know that my face is no doubt competing with my red hair. "Ooh," Izzy says as we finally get to the beach. She goes to the left and I head to the right. When I get to the green umbrella, I take off my cover up and sit on a towel as I take off my sandals. I look up at the gate, only to see Magnus and Alec open the gate and walk down the stairs. I look under the stairs (because I'm in a corner pocket with privacy) and see that Simon and Izzy are at their umbrella and Alec and Magnus are at theirs. I lie down on the towel and close my eyes. I lay there for a good 5 minutes before someone interrupts my peace.
"Hey, I haven't seen you around here before," I open my eyes and see that the guy who is talking to me is the complete opposite of Jace. Where Jace is golden, this guy is dark…dark eyes that could make Izzy's brown eyes look light, and black hair. "That's because I've never been here before…I'm visiting here with my friends for summer," I tell him. He smiles and gestures to the towel that I'm sitting on, "Would you mind if I sat?" I nod my head and he sits next to me. "I'm Sebastian," he says and puts out a hand. I shake it and respond, "Clary."
We have a good time, talking and laughing before Jace comes. "Hey, I'm Sebastian," he says and puts an arm possessively around my shoulder as he puts out a hand to shake. Jace doesn't take his hand and Sebastian puts his hand back beside him. Jace is tense. I can see that much from his stance…but I don't know what he's thinking. And he looks really good in the black swim shorts he's wearing. Jace still doesn't say anything to Sebastian so I fill Sebastian in. "Sebastian, this is my best friend Jace. Jace, this is Sebastian."
"Oh, he's your best friend?" Sebastian asks and looks at me curiously.
"Yeah, he has been since we were little," I tell him. Jace is still not saying anything. "Hey, Sebastian," I get his attention away from Jace, "I'll see you later, okay?"
"Yeah," he says and he stands. He and Jace stare at each other for a couple seconds and then Sebastian leaves. "Jace, what's up?" he doesn't respond and starts to walk away. I stand up and start to walk after him. I turn to see where Izzy, Simon, Alec, and Magnus are and I see that they are all in the water. Totally preoccupied with each other. Jace starts walking around the side of the house, still facing the beach, and I follow him. "Jace!" I try to get his attention, but he keeps on walking.
He turns around the corner of the house and I follow him. I don't see him anymore so I walk slowly and when I walk by a pass through between two houses, someone grabs my arm and pulls me in the pass through and up against the wall. I don't have time to see who it is that pulled me in between the houses because they press their lips against mine, but I know who it is immediately…Jace. His lips press against mine hungrily and I give in. We have to part for air soon and he rests his head against mine. "I take back everything we talked about last night."
"What," I open my eyes shocked, "but you said-."
"I know what I said Clary," he cuts me off, "but after seeing you with Sebastian, it made me want to take back everything we discussed last night… Just think about it okay…please." And with that, he pulls away from me and leaves our place in between the houses. Everything we discussed last night…
~.o.O.o.~
We break apart breathless. "Don't be sorry Jace," I say and he pulls me into another kiss. He pulls me into him tighter and I gladly press into him. All of a sudden, the lights go back on and we spring apart. We look at each other with wide eyes. "Whatever that was, it can't happen again…we're best friends we're not supposed to…do this!" Jace says and I agree. "We-we can't do this." No matter how good it feels.
We head inside the casita and he grabs his pajamas and heads into the bathroom to change while I head into the closet to change. When I finish changing, I open the door, only to see Jace sitting in bed. When he sees me he moves slower and I move slowly over to the bed. I get in and pull the covers over me. All of a sudden the lights go out and I'm left alone with my thoughts.
~.o.O.o.~
All day long after the kiss in between the two houses, I tried to get him alone again to voice my thoughts but it's harder than you'd think. I can't make it farther than 5 feet away from Izzy without her pulling me back to her. This lasted all day…and Jace wasn't helping either. He kept hanging out by Alec and I couldn't get him alone.
"Hey, Simon, Alec, Magnus and I are going to get lunch at The Orange Inn. Want anything," I hear Izzy ask me, just as I'm about to head over to where Jace is. I groan inwardly. "No, I'm fine, thanks for asking though." I put my Ray-Bans on and discreetly watch them go up the stairs. After they go up the stairs I look around for Jace and see him coming out of the ocean. I feel my sunglasses slip down my nose, but I do nothing to push them up as he starts coming towards me. An idea pops into my head and I quickly write in the sand 'upstairs.' I quickly run up the stairs and I'm breathless by the time I reach the top and I turn around to see him right on my heels.
I run inside the house and I head into the laundry room. I hear him come in the house and I hear him getting closer. He pauses right outside the door and I whisper, "Hey." He turns to face me and before he can say anything I walk up to him and wrap my arms around his neck. He looks down at me and I pull his lips down to meet mine. "Yes," I say against his lips.