Clary
Once my tears have run dry, I grab the bar of soap on the dish and wash up quickly. I see Jace's bottle of boy shampoo and shrug. Squirting some into my palm, I begin to work it into my rumpled curls. I guess I'll smell like a boy tonight. I rinse it out and the scent of Jace wafts up into the steamy bathroom. It's comforting and wraps me up like a blanket.
I step out and grab one of the fluffy white towels off the rack. I wipe away all the water from my skin, and then wrap it around my hair, not wanting it to drip all over my shirt. I pull on my own underwear, and the t-shirt. Even pulling the strings as tight as they would go, they still fall. I shrug and fold them up. I place them on Jace's hamper and walk out into the hall looking for him.
I find him in the room next to his, changing the bed's sheets and talking on the phone. I wait quietly by the doorway until he turns and sees me. He smiles and talks to the person on the other end.
"Yeah, she's right her," he holds the phone out to me and mouths, Will. I smile and grab the phone. Will is Jace's cousin on his mother's side, and he was always visiting the Waylands.
"Hey Willy!" I exclaim.
"Hey carrot! So I hear you've had a rough day," he says. My smile shrinks a little, but I reply.
"Yeah, but Jace has been great," I tell him, smiling up at Jace from where he's tucking and re-tucking the bed corner. I giggle.
"I've heard," he smirks, "Anyways, I have special…plans," I hear the smirk through the phone and my eyes widen at Jace. He shrugs and smiles deviously back.
"Will, you will not kill him," I reprimand, sounding like his mother.
"Woah Clare-bear, no one said murder, I'm too pretty for prison" cue dramatic hair flip, "I'm just saying some good-natured torture," he replies nonchalantly. I roll my eyes as Jace bounces in excitement. Before I can reject the idea, Jace snatches the phone back.
"Be here at 7. Have the necessary…materials," I hear a muffled reply and then Jace hangs up.
"Jace, I don't want him to get hurt," I murmur. Jace comes up to me and lifts my chin with his finger.
"Don't worry; it's just some fun, high school pranks. Nothing to hurt him, but he does deserve some kind of pay back," he tells me. I sigh and nod.
"Fine. He should leave for work at 6:30, like always. You and Will can set up whatever while I pack my stuff," I tell him. He nods and smiles giddily. I can't help but smile back. I imagine Simon with itching powder or Vaseline'd doorknobs and giggle.
"Anyways, I set up this room for tonight. You can pick any room you want, but this one has its own bathroom, and a pretty nice closet," he tells me. I nod and smile.
"Thank you Jace, for everything," he grins crookedly.
"No prob," he replies, and then I get the most unsettling of thoughts.
"But what if you bring a girl home? I DO NOT want to hear my best friend doing…things," I grimace. He grins goofily.
"What's so funny?" I ask, hands on my hips. When the t-shirt I'm wearing rides up, I put them down and straighten it out.
"I'm just happy. You called me your best friend," he chuckles. I smile up at him softly.
"I know I was a crappy friend, but you never stopped being my best friend, I hope you know that," I assure him. He nods.
"And anyways, I wouldn't torture you with that, I don't have a girlfriend anyways," he tells me. I'm not shocked, but that's not what I was implying.
"Oh, I never thought you'd get a real girlfriend, I'm talking about flings, one-nighters," I clarify. He frowns and scrunches his eyebrows adorably.
"Oh, well I'd never bring them here. I don't want them to know where I live. You're the first girl I've ever brought home," he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively and I shove him laughing.
Jace always made innuendo jokes about him and I. When he lost the braces and glasses, I'll admit, I had a major crush on him, but he was always only joking.
"Good to know Wayland." I tell him, crawling into bed. He makes to leave, but I stop him, "How about a sleepover, like old times?" I ask hopefully. My tone is light, but it's truly because I don't want to be alone. I haven't slept alone in over three years.
"Okay," he gets a devious smirk and before I know it, he's snatching me from the bed and tossing me over his shoulder.
"Jace!" I exclaim laughing. He runs me next door and tosses me onto his fluffy, king-sized bed. He smirks and grabs pajamas from his drawers.
"My bed is uber comfy. I love my bed," he tells me as form of explanation before disappearing into the bathroom to change. I stretch out, almost wishing he hadn't.
Jace
Especially when you're in it. My mind finishes suggestively as I close the door to my bathroom. I stand shocked and shake my head. What is wrong with me? She's my best friend! I conclude it is my lack of dating due to much work-induced stress. Being Editor of a major book publishing firm was stressful work, but I loved it. I had thought of giving in to quite a few work flings, but that would just make things complicated.
I change quickly and walk back out into the bedroom. Clary is standing by my bookshelf with a yearbook in her hand. It's not the one I chucked at the wall, but our freshman one, without a certain rat boy.
She's smiling down at a picture. I walk up behind her and she holds it out to me. It's the picture of her and me at the freshman dance. She was in an emerald dress with a gold sash that matched my tie and eyes. Everyone thought we were dating, despite our many explanations of just being friends. It always tasted bitter on my tongue.
"I was so happy," she whispers. I throw and arm over her shoulder and pull her into my side. Me too Clary, me too.
Clary
Jace and I stay up late talking about his job, my job, my art exhibit, his family. I can't believe the baby Cecily is already 16. I remember her being born and Will being so proud to be a big brother.
We finally fell asleep around midnight and Jace was right, his bed was like a cloud. I slept peacefully until I felt Jace thrashing around in his bed. He cries and moans in his sleep. I didn't know he still had nightmares. When we were five, Jace had a brother who was 17. His name was Jonathan, and he was amazing at football. One game, he'd been hit so hard, that he fell and hit his head. To make matters worse, another player ended up stepping on it. He was pronounced brain dead before he even made it to the hospital.
Jace and I were with his parents watching the game, and we saw everything. I remember Celine screaming and me hugging Jace as he cried. He always had nightmares afterward, except on the nights he slept over with me.
I gently shake him awake. He shoots up, almost head butting me. His eyes are wild and his breathing is ragged. I pull him close and he rests his head on the crook of my neck as I stroke his silky locks. His breath is hot and sticky on my skin, and loud in the dark room.
"You still have them?" I whisper.
He nods; "They got worse after we stopped…" he trails off. After we stopped talking. I feel guilty and hold him even tighter. After a few moments he pulls back and lies down again on his back.
"Thank you," he whispers into the night.
I slide down and place my head over his rapidly beating heart, his skin is warm to the touch, "Of course Jace," I tell him. He wraps me in his arms, and we drift off again.
Waking up, I know we must have moved in our sleep. Now, we are both on our sides, spooning. I haven't spooned with Jace in nearly six years. We always ended up this way when he slept over. I didn't realize till now how much I missed it. Simon always stuck to his side of the bed, quite far from me.
His chest is warm against my back, and my leg is flung over his. His arms are wrapped around my waist tightly while mine rest on top. I smile to myself as I turn in his arms to face him. I peck his button nose lightly and he begins to stir. I keep pecking it every few seconds until his eyes flutter open and he smiles lazily at me. His arms tighten even more and I giggle.
"That's the best way I've woken up in five years," he whispers.
"Old habits die hard," I tell him, brushing some hair off his forehead. I check his alarm on his bedside table and begin to giggle.
"It's 6:30," I tell him. He opens his eyes again and chuckles.
"Well, we better get ready," he rolls out of bed and into the bathroom. I get up as well and grab a t-shirt from his drawer.
I got to my room and find a toothbrush with anew toothpaste on the sink. I smile and brush my teeth. I put my jeans and shoes from yesterday and toss Jace's shirt on. It slides off my shoulder and I tuck it in. It looks kind of cute.
I wait for Jace down in the living room. He comes out five minutes later. He grabbed the keys to a car and walks outside.
"We'll take the truck so we only have to make one trip," he tells me. We slide in the car to wait for Will. It's already 7;15 when Jace sighs impatiently.
"Relax, he'll be here," I say.
"Indeed he will," a voice says from the backseat. I scream and Jace whips around. Will is lying in the backseat in all his blue and black glory with many bags surrounding him. These must be the material Jace was talking about.
"Will!" I exclaim.
"Clary!" he grabs my waist and pulls me over the middle consul. He sits me on his lap and hugs me tight, "It's good to see you kiddo," he smiles warmly as he rumples my curls. I smile.
"You too Will," he places me back in the front seat effortlessly and buckles himself in the back.
"Well children, I believe we have some rat boy to torture."
Author's Note: OOOOOO! Will is here! And he's going to help with revenge! I had to have the boys do SOMETHING to Simon! Just a few harmless pranks, but still! You had a little Clace, had to put that in there. This is a CLACE story! They are friends for now, but they go have feelings for each other if that wasn't clear. Thank you so much for the reviews and as always, constructive criticism is welcome!
We are already at 71 follows and 30 favorites! WOOHOO! Hopefully Will will get me some more. No pun intended!