Biscuit," Jace and I are still standing in the kitchen kissing when we hear Magnus call from upstairs. We break apart, but not without an incomprehensible grumble from Jace, as Magnus comes down the stairs. "Yes, Mags?"
He turns his head towards us and smirks as he says, "I'm sorry to have ruined your...fun, but I just wanted to tell you that we'll be leaving for the mall at 8 AM tomorrow." With that, he turns and heads back up the stairs. Jace and I look at each other for a couple seconds before we dismiss Magnus' visit and lean in to kiss again...when Jace's phone decides to ring. He groans as he pulls away and answers his phone. I lean on the island and see his face contort into worry and concern. He looks up at me and then turns around and walks out to the balcony. Fear grips my heart as he does this. I sit down on the bar stool and watch him through the window. He is pacing back and forth with an expression of what can only be described as grim displeasure.
Ten minutes later, he comes back inside with his hand gripping his phone so hard that his knuckles are white. "Jace," I ask quietly and I place my hand on his shoulder as he sits on the bar stool next to me, "What's wrong?"
"What," he seems shocked that I was in the room, "Oh...yeah it's nothing." He shifts his shoulder so my hand drops to my side. I feel as though an icy hand has gripped my heart at his action. I know that this has to be connected to what happened earlier when he was on his phone. Twice in one day can't be good.
I let it slide this time, but that doesn't stop my brain from working. Was it something that I did? Is something wrong with Celine? Is something wrong with my mom and he doesn't know how to tell me? Is there something wrong that he can't tell me? Is he keeping a secret from me? If it's a secret, then why is he keeping it from me? Is this a matter of life or death? Love or broken hearts? Whatever it is, I hope he tells me soon. Something is wrong...really, really wrong.
"Clary," Jace starts when his phone rings again. He glances down at it and then looks up at me. "I have to take this, but we can go watch a movie in our room," he looks at me with a hopeful expression. I nod my head and he stands up, kisses the top of my head, and heads outside on the balcony to answer his phone again.
I turn around with a sigh and head into the casita to put the movie on. I already know what movie it's going to be...John Wick of course. I plop down onto the bed and sit there, waiting for Jace to come in the room. I have been sitting in here for at least 10 minutes. Might as well make some popcorn. I pull myself off the bed and when I walk into the foyer, I can see that Jace is still on his phone on the balcony. He looks like he's in the middle of a heated debate with whoever is on the other line and I try to ignore it as I reach the pantry and grab the popcorn. As I place it in the microwave, I realize that the window that opens onto the balcony is open.
Out of all the windows in this house, 95% are open at all times to let the sea breeze come through the house to save on air conditioning. I let my curiosity get the better of me and I try to listen in on his conversation through the partially opened window. I have extremely good hearing because when we were younger, Jace would try to scare me when I would walk down the halls-whether it was at my house or his-and I would have to listen very carefully for any movement.
I can't hear his conversation very well because he's pacing. When he stops pacing to get his point across to the person on the other line, he stops right in front of the window. "No, they're not doing enough," he spits out, "This could have been prevented if they paid attention! They are paid to do their job and if this little mistake turns out to be something that could affect everyone, then I'm doing it myself!" I can hear what he's saying very clearly until he drops his voice saying, "This isn't just affecting us...this is going to affect her too."
~.o.O.o.~
"Hey, Clary. Ready for the movie," Jace asks as he walks into the casita. He shuts the door behind him and grins sheepishly at me. "Sorry that took so long…do I smell popcorn? Oh I love you!" He jumps on the bed and immediately starts to eat the popcorn. I roll my eyes and when he gets into a comfortable his arm wraps around my shoulder to pull me closer. I assume that it was me he was talking about when he said 'her,' but what could he mean?
~.o.O.o.~
By the end of the movie I am sitting on Jace's lap with his arms wrapped around me. It's not that I got scared because of all the blood or anything; it's just that Jace's phone rang 5 times during the movie and he had to answer them. After he answered his phone for the fifth time, he sat down on the bed and pulled me into his lap. The movie must have ended 30 or so minutes ago, but he was so tense when he came in after that last phone call that I made no move to get up. When I was pulled into his lap, I heard a sigh of relief the moment his arms wrapped around me. The silence is good for the both of us. I can think about what it is that is making Jace like this while he thinks about whatever the phone calls are about.
"Want to go get some dinner," Jace asks. I pull my head off of his chest and look up into his tawny eyes. Just as I open my mouth to reply, his phone rings again. He sighs and looks down at his phone. He looks up at me and I nod saying, "I'll be ready in 10 minutes," as I get off of him and walk into the closet. I take off my camisole and sleep shorts and pull on a pair of jeans and a purple t-shirt. I sit on the floor and lace up my combat boots before I walk out into the room. I see Jace on our private balcony looking angry at whoever he I son the phone to.
I sigh as I walk into the bathroom and just decide to leave my hair down. As I walk out of the bathroom and put my phone in my back pocket Jace comes in. "What was that about?"
He looks up at me and shakes his head as he says, "It's nothing to worry you about."
I nod my head and look down at the floor. Jace walks around the bed and stands in front of me. I can practically hear the battle he's having with himself, but instead of telling me anything, he just says, "Where do you want to eat?"
I let out a sad sigh and say, "You pick."
"Clary…"
"Yeah," I lift my head to look up at him and I can see how torn he is about telling me about whatever this is.
"Are you okay?"
No. I'm not 'okay.' My boyfriend is keeping something from me! "Yeah, I'm fine. Just hungry," that was a blatant lie and Jace knows it…nut he doesn't call me out on it or address it like he usually would.
"Alright then. Let's go to that new Italian place on the Coast Highway and Forest."
"Let's go."
~.o.O.o.~
On our walk to the Italian restaurant, Jace and I seemed to have forgotten our…well, what happened in the room. We were laughing and making jokes. Now we're sitting in the restaurant waiting for the check to come, still laughing about mundane things. "I can't believe I missed that," Jace says while laughing.
"You're lucky you missed that," I laugh as I tell him, "Izzy was so out of it that she didn't know she was kissing a statue! Let's just say that she was really happy that I was there the next day to hold her hair back!"
Jace and I laugh about Izzy's ability to hold her alcohol (she's not a lightweight by any means, she just had a lot to drink that night) when Jace's phone rings. He sighs and grabs his phone as he gets up. He answers and says, "Give me a minute," the he covers the speaker with his hand to tell me, "I'll be right back, I'm so sorry."
He walks out the door and I'm left sitting at the table for 20 minutes before he returns. "Sorry about that, Clary," he says.
"Jace…" I trail off.
"It's nothing Clary. Don't worry about it," I see him tense as he says this.
"Jace, you and I both know that it's not 'nothing.'" He looks up at me and I see him pleading me in his eyes.
"Just-just don't worry about it Clary," he looks down at his phone on the table.
"Jace…I'm going to worry about this because it's stressing you out…I know there's something you're not telling me," I reach across the table to grab his hand. The moment our hands touch he pulls back and puts his hands under the table. I feel that icy hand grip my heart again and then Jace says the words that break something in me.
"You wouldn't understand."
"What wouldn't I understand? You're not telling me anything," my voice rises as I say the last sentence.
Jace's hands cover his face and he groans in exasperation. "Clary, it doesn't concern you," he says as he removes his hands from his face and looks at me with the serious look, but I don't let that phase me.
"Bullshit," I spit out and Jace looks shocked because I don't curse that often. "That is absolute bullshit. That is such a lie, I can't even-"
Jace leans over the table and whisper-shouts, "How do you know that's a lie?! Have I ever lied before?!"
I whisper-shout right back at him. "You just lied right now! And I know it's a lie because-" I cut off when the waitress comes and hands Jace the check, which he places his card on and the moment she leaves I continue, "I heard you on the phone."
Jace pales as he says, "What?"
"I heard you before we started the movie. You know how I had that popcorn in the room? Well, where do you think I got it from? A magical unicorn's ass? No, I made it in the kitchen. You stopped pacing right in front of the window and I heard you say that 'this is going to affect her too.' I can only assume that I'm the 'her' in question. Right?"
He looks down when I finish and that only confirms my suspicions. "I can't believe that you just lied to me," I spit as I slide out of the booth and head out the door just as the waitress comes back to give Jace his card. I make it to Legion Street before Jace catches up to me. "Clary!" I spin around and look at him, only 5 feet away from me.
"Are you going to tell me what this is about now? Huh," I immediately ask before he can say anything else. His silence is my answer again. "That's what I thought," I say as I begin to turn around. His hands grab my shoulders and spin me to face him again. I put my hands on his chest and push as hard as I can while yelling at him, "Get off of me!"
"Clary, will you listen to me?!" The onlookers in Laguna must be loving this little spectacle.
"Not unless you tell me the truth! Not unless you tell me what this is about because I know this concerns me too!"
"I can't!"
"Why not?! Give me one good reason why you can't tell me," I shout back. For the third time tonight, I am greeted with silence. "Don't talk to me unless you can give me a good reason for keeping whatever secret you are keeping. And it better be a damn good excuse or the truth."