Do you Remember me?

Chapter 13

Clary smiled as they finally made their way into the main part of the village.

It was practically buzzing.

Clary had to hold back a laugh at Isabelle's reaction, she was practically overwhelmed by the amount of people going along with their everyday lives.

Of course, not all of the people that were in the village lived there. Clary could easily spot the odd tourist wandering around with their rucksacks- but that didn't stop the welcoming feeling that everybody felt as they the entered the place.

She spotted a few random folk look their way, and suddenly remembered that Jace was with her.

Most of the people in the town used to know him as Clary's 'Danny Zuko' as Clary only ever brought him home during the summer.
The two would spend those months wandering the village, going to the beach- doing exactly what they were doing now.

She didn't know what she would do if people started coming up to them, asking Jace questions that he couldn't answer.

Because he couldn't remember.

Clary started to feel a bit panicked as familiar faces started appearing in the street and around the shops, not noticing her yet.

She whirled around, causing the group to come to a stop.

"Hey! Why don't we split up?" She exclaimed, glancing around quickly to make sure no one had seen them yet.

"Split... up?" Jace said slowly, frowning a bit.

Isabelle gave Clary a look as if to say, 'Is this a Fred from Scooby Doo impression?? ... or maybe just - What's going on?'

Clary ignored it as she nodded, replying, "Yeah! In two's. One pair go to the shops and get snacks or something- the other two go to the beach and set up a spot. Much faster, don't you think?"

She bit her lip, hoping she sounded convincing enough. She had a tendency to freak out in situations like these... wait, what was she saying?

She'd never been in a situation like this.

"I... guess?" Isabelle nodded, glancing at Alec.
His brows were furrowed and he looked confused as he scanned Clary's face.

"So... who's going with who?" Jace finally asked, looking at Clary expectedly.

"Um...I-" She could feel her palms starting to sweat under Jace's intense glare. It's not as if he was sending her daggers or anything- she just... wasn't used to being the one receiving it after all this time.

"I can go with Alec, I need to talk to him about something anyway." Isabelle shrugged, crossing over to stand beside her brother.

Jace willingly stood beside Clary, smiling a bit at her when she looked up at him. She coughed, spluttering a bit as her eyes widened.

What was that?

She made her hair cover the side of her face that he could see as she focused on Alec and Isabelle standing in front of her.

"We'll go shopping!! I need souvenirs to bring home!" Isabelle squealed, grabbing Alec's arm, swinging it around in excitement.

He brushed her off, slipping his arm out of her hold as he grinned. Clary realised that was probably the first time she'd seen him grin since he got here.

If only I had a camera. She thought sarcastically, holding back the urge to roll her eyes.

"There are shops either straight ahead if you continue down the path or across the street-can't miss them. The beach is going back this road- to the left instead of the right, got it? Right leads to home, left leads to beach." Clary stated, chuckling a bit when she saw Alec looking at her intently while Isabelle looked as if she just wanted to go.

She knew which of the two would be leading the way to the beach.

Alec nodded, starting to move albeit a bit hesitantly to go,but Isabelle was already near-skipping away, shouting a brief goodbye to Jace and Clary.

They watched as she made her way down the path, examining all the shop names, wondering how she could move so fast in those sandals.

Okay- maybe it was just Clary thinking that last thought- but still.

Alec sighed tiredly, rolling his eyes as he jogged after her.

"So... beach?" Jace said, though it came out as more of a question.

Clary nodded quickly, avoiding looking directly at him as they begun walking back down the way they had come.

She found out pretty quickly that trying to match Jace's strides was a lot more difficult than Isabelle's.

She debated on whether or not to say something, but the silence had already prolonged for more than a couple of seconds, so she now couldn't lift her suddenly heavy tongue to blurt out some words.

Great Clary, she thought, annoyed at her anxious mind, resort back to Plan Z- not saying anything at all! That's a great way of "talking to him like any other person" Brilliant.

"I'm quoting Alec by saying this- but it looks like you're having a mental battle with yourself." Jace said suddenly, breaking the silence.

She looked up to see him giving her a lopsided grin. Her heart started to flutter a bit, and she could already feel her cheeks warming up.
She ducked her head once again, shrugging lightly as she let out a nervous laugh.

"I guess I am...Is Alec a therapist or something?" She genuinely asked, cocking her head at Jace.

She jumped a bit when he barked out a laugh, whirling to face her as they continued walking. "That's what I said!" He exclaimed, laughing again.

Clary grinned, shrugging again, "He matches all the requirements anyway."

"Requirements?" Jace asked, now his turn to cock his head at her.

"Yeah- you know. Tall, mysterious, doesn't give away any emotion to indicate how he's feeling- looks like he'd ask you how you felt about the date you guys just went on. Therapist."
She grasped her hands into fists to emphasise the 'how you felt' bit.

She paused after she spoke, hoping she hadn't offended Jace- she didn't actually know just how close him and Alec were- so this... was risky, to say the least.

Her shoulders physically dropped in relief when Jace started laughing again, that one dimple appearing on his left cheek.

Clary couldn't believe how happy she was to see a dimple of all things on Jace's face right now... but, she was happy. Extremely happy.

Incredulously, stupendously, fantastically happy, that she was making Jace Herondale laugh- that she was standing next to her Jace Herondale.

That he was looking at her with sparkling eyes, smiling wide, shoulders still shaking with laughter... that it was Jace who was doing all these things, with her.

How many times did she have to remind herself that Jace was with her? And that he wasn't going to disappear at any given moment?

But as he started shaking again with another round of laughter- Clary found herself thinking that she would never be able to stop worrying about him disappearing from her again.

She wouldn't let him.

She was determined to keep him in her life.

Because she didn't know what she'd do if she lost him again.

A/N:

Thank god for bank holiday Monday's because it gives me extra time to try finish projects I've left to the last minute🤗 super fun times!!

Hopefully this chapter wasn't too rocky, sorry for the slow movement atm... it should hopefully pick up soon!!

Stay tuned for more

Xxx🍋🍋