May 14th, 2021
7
Jace's POV
I woke up on the couch in Clary's living room. Her mother hadn't returned that night, and after the horrid interaction with her brother and the brief conversation with her father, she had made it very clear she didn't want to spend the night in silence to be haunted with her thoughts. I sit up on the couch that is obviously too small for me, and stretch my arms upwards.
"I thought you'd gone home," I hear Clary's voice as she comes sluggishly down the stairs behind me. I look over my shoulder at the red head with a smirk; her hair is everywhere, "Morning Red," my eyes trail down the girl's body, taking in her tank and sleep shorts, "Nice pajamas." She scrunches her nose, crossing her arms, "It matches the bed head." I finish my taunt before she even reaches the bottom of her stairs.
"Shut up. I didn't think you would still be here."
"Did you think I would leave before you woke up?" I ask her, "You seem like the type." She shrugs, walking to the fridge and pulling out orange juice. I scoff at her dig; "I didn't take you as the one-night-stand type." I respond, plucking the juice from her hand and pouring myself a glass.
"What type did you take me as?" She asks me, corking her brows. I pause for a moment, thinking through how far I can take my teasing, "Virgin." She chokes on the juice she is sipping, "Unbelievable." She chokes out in between coughs.
"What was that?" I'm slightly proud of the reaction I pulled out of her.
"You're unbelievable. You manage to put on this façade of being kind, and caring, but bottom line you're still a dick." I frown at her; point taken, I can only joke so much.
"Hey, I'm just kidding." I tell her, raising my hands in surrender, she tilts her head, cracking a smile, "So am I." She looks away from me, as if she is doing a once-over around the house, before sighing, "My mom never came home last night, did she?" She says, walking to a bar stool and sitting down on it.
"Is that not normal?" I ask her, attempting to gauge her level of concern, "No, it is. But that doesn't mean I need to like it." She pulls her eyebrows together in frustration; I've noticed she does that quite often.
"No, you don't." I lean on the counter so that I am standing across from her, "Do you want to call her?" I ask.
"No." She rubs her non-bandaged hand down her face, "Are your parents alright with you being gone from home? It was kind of sudden." She asks me, "Yeah. Alec stopped by my house to drop off my things. My mom texted me after he left to make sure you weren't holding me hostage and torturing me in your basement," I attempted to get her to crack a smile, which I succeeded.
"We aren't at that stage in our relationship yet." She responds with a smile, I match it, "When I explained to her that I was alive and well, she left me alone. They don't care too much about what I do. As long as I win my football games and boxing matches they lay off." I tell her; God forbid the day I lose though, I can only imagine the hellfire I will be dragged through.
"Isabelle blew my phone up last night." Clary admits. I'm not surprised by it- Isabelle has been attempting to make something happen between Clary and I since we've met. Isabelle claims It's because Clary 'challenges me' and that it'll 'be good for me'. I'm not sure if I believe her.
"What did she have to say?' I ask her curiously.
"She was just concerned about me; she said that I must have been very upset to let you sleep in the same house as me." She looks at me through her long lashes, seeming as though she is biting back a smile.
"Whatever; she doesn't know what great friends we are." I wink at her, which brings a small smile to her face.
We sit in a comfortable silence as Clary eats an apple. Every couple of moments, I notice her eyes jumping between her food and the front door. I know she says she isn't concerned about her mom, but the way she is acting right now proves otherwise. I don't blame her, if Eliza left one night and didn't return the next day, I think I would be panicked as well.
"You can always call her," I say gently, to which Clary responds with a huff, "It isn't a crime to care about something." I tell her. She grunts, but pulls her phone out of her pocket. She dials in her mothers phone number before lifting it to her ear.
"Hey mom." She greets her, her voice sounding guarded, "Oh," her jaw clenches.
"Well, maybe you should have told me that. I wouldn't have spent all night worrying about you." Her tone is angry now, "Yeah whatever. Good luck at work." She hangs up her phone, putting it down roughly on the kitchen counter, "She slept at her art studio last night."
My phone dings, I ignore it,"Well, at least she's alright." I point out, which is obviously unhelpful in this situation, "Jace," she says with an eye roll as my phone dings again, "Shut up. You don't have to try and find the good in every situation. I'd rather be realistically pessimistic," my phone dings two more times, "Than stupidly optimistic and then get my feelings hurt." My phone dings one more finally time, "For the love of God, answer the phone." She exclaims.
I purse my lips at the sight of multiple texts from Eliza and Michael, asking me where I am. I respond to my adoptive parents, letting them know that I am still alive and not in Clary's basement, and that I will be heading home in just a moment.
"You have to go, don't you?" She asks me, and I nod slowly, "I do, I don't want to leave you this bothered." I tell her and she waves me off, "I'm a big girl, I can handle myself. I always have and always will." She tells me, attempting to throw a convincing smile at me, but it doesn't work very much. I sigh, standing up from the counter, and I gather my clothes from last night, keys and wallet.
"You can text me if you need me," I tell her, walking towards the door.
"I won't," she replies, following me towards the door. I glance towards the small redhead, before sighing and opening my arms for a hug, "Come on, you know I give good hugs." I tell her, a small smirk on my face. A thoughtful look crosses her face before letting her shoulders sag in defeat and walking towards me, allowing me to pull her into a tight hug.
Clary's POV
I imagine my brother's face as I swing my hands into the sandbag.
"You're swinging too sloppily," Luke tells me as he circles me, "Whatever you are thinking about, you need to let it go." He tells me, but the sting in my wounded hand every time I make contact is a constant reminder of the situation I'm in. I can't let this go. I grit my teeth, swinging faster and harder than before, grunting as I do so.
"Clary," Luke catches my arm with a surprising speed, making me slam to a halt, "You can't be fighting with this much anger, did something happen?" He asks me and I shake my head 'No', "Just some stupid family drama," I tell him, looking down at my feet, "It's nothing."
"It doesn't seem like nothing, when it affects the way you're fighting." He says and I sigh, lifting a hand to my forehead and pressing gently, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry," he reaches forward putting a hand on my shoulder, "I know we are just newly acquainted, but I want you to know you can talk to me about things. If something's bothering you, I'm sure we can talk about it." Luke offers with a small smile, "I appreciate that," I say sincerely, but I step back from him, causing his arm to drop, "But," I glance towards the punching bag and then back to him, "I'm just here to fight, not for therapy." He nods in understanding.
"Alright," he steps back from me, pointing towards the bag, "In that case, then, you have a week to figure out whatever is bothering you, because next Friday you have your first fight." Luke tells me and I can't stop the smile that grows on my face. My smile is quickly replaced with worry, "Wait, that's in six days." I point out and he nods.
"You'll have Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to train. That'll give you a day off before your fight. I wasn't worried, but with the way you're swinging right now, I'm getting a little concerned." His words annoy me. I used to think my anger made me stronger, but listening to Luke call me sloppy made me rethink it.
"This anger that you're holding onto," he tells me, "It doesn't make you strong. It makes you weak," he tells me, "Emotions cloud your judgment, make you sloppy, and rash. You need to get it under control. A little bit of anger, something to fuel your fire, that's all right; a little something to push you forward. Don't use anger to motivate you," he tells me, "For that you'll need to find your passion." I squeeze my eyes shut, taking a long deep breath.
"Now do it again," he tells me, his voice firm, "And do it right."
And I do. I swing, and swing, and swing, grunting with every punch. My hand is burning, my lungs are on fire, but it feels good. I count with every punch, trying to remain focused on the task at hand, to control my emotions. Eventually, the thought of Valentine's icy voice slips back into my mind, and my vision becomes blurry with fury again.
Before I can defend myself, Luke's foot sweeps my legs out from underneath me, and I tumble down to the mats below me, "You lost focus." Luke offers me a hand, helping me back to my feet, "Again." Luke tells me, stepping back out of my way.
o;o;o;o;o;o;o;o
o;o;o;o;o;o;o;o
"Can I come over?" Isabelle asks me over the phone as I jiggle the keys in the front door of my house, "I mean I just got home from the gym, and I'm kind of tired, but I guess if you want." I reply, unlocking the door and kicking it open.
"Perfect, because I'm here." Isabelle hangs up on me, jogging up to me, "Note to self, braving the New York City traffic is better than taking the subway." She crinkles her nose at her statement, and I smile, "I could've said no, and then you would have taken the subway for nothing." I tell her, walking in my front door, she follows.
"You could've, but I would've convinced you. I have been trying to talk to you since Jace left this morning." She exclaims, pushing the door shut behind her, "What about?" I ask her curiously as I lead her up the stairs to my bedroom. I toss my gym bag to the floor as I sit down on my bet, tying my wet hair up, "The fact that you and Jace had a little sleep over and you didn't bother to tell me." She exclaims, throwing her hands up in the air before dramatically falling down next to me on the bed.
"It wasn't anything beyond us just hanging out." I tell her; contemplating if it is a good idea to talk to her about my family, "Yesterday was a hard day for me," I tell her, causing her features to soften, "What happened?"
"My brother came home yesterday for the first time since he abandoned my mother and I, and left with my father over a year ago." I tell her, and she lets out a soft gasp, "I obviously didn't take his arrival well, but my mom just pretended that everything was fine, that everything was ok, when it obviously wasn't. It bothered me so much that she just acted like it was. My brother and father's absence ruined her," my words speed up as my anger and anxiety begin to rise, "And by default, it ruined me. My mom left me to go to the bar, or whatever, and never came home. I didn't want to be alone, so Jace stayed." I tell her, my eyes falling to my lap, embarrassed that she now knows about my family.
"I'm so sorry, but I'm glad Jace was here for you." She takes her hand and puts it over mine, "You can always call me if you need me." She says and I nod a little, keeping my eyes trained on my hands.
"And," she bumps me with her shoulder, her voice playful again, "It's not a bad thing for you to show emotion sometimes, it almost makes me believe that you're human." She says, making me chuckle, "So, how about we do something fun? Go clubbing, have a movie night, eat a tube of ice cream- you pick." She tells me with a smile
"I would love to," I tell her, the corner of my lips turning upwards, "But I think I just want to have the rest of my night to be lazy. I'm exhausted and my emotions are kicking my ass. They even affected my fighting today." She nods, "Let's just watch a movie, we can have a lazy Saturday." She tells me and I nod, she finally lets go of my hand.
"You don't have to stay with me, I'm sure you have more fun things you could be doing tonight." I tell her, and she shrugs, "Eh, this seems perfectly fun to me." She tells me with a smile as I turn my TV on, "Wait, so what happened at the gym today?" She asks me and I sigh, "I was too mad to fight well. I have a fight next week too, and if I keep fighting like I did today, I'm going to get my ass handed to me." I tell her, clamping down on my lower lip, an anxious tick I've developed due to all the recent stress.
"Judging from the way Sebastian, Alec, and Jace talk about your fighting, I find it hard to believe that you are going to get your ass kicked." Isabelle tells me, I laugh quietly before we work together to pick out a movie.
We both get settled in a comfortable silence as the movie gets started, and for the second time in the past two days, I let a soft smile creep onto my lips as I enjoy the presence and comfort of my friend.
