Do you Remember me?

Chapter 17

No one said a word on the walk home, the only sound that split the silence was Clary's occasional sniffles- which she tried desperately to stop.

Her measly attempts were fruitless, and she could practically feel the pair of golden eyes bore holes into the back of her head as she and the rest of the group trudged their way home.

Clary decided to walk in front of the group, not being able to take the constant tension of walking in front of Jace for any longer.

She knew Jace well enough to know he wouldn't have liked that discreet action, but she didn't care at that point.

She just wanted to go home.

Isabelle timidly joined her to walk by her side, wrapping a comforting arm around her as Simon followed suit.

Clary sent them both grateful smiles, blinking back tears stubbornly.

She wondered if she had messed up her situation with Jace by loading all of the information from the tree onto him.
She worried that it would cause him the slightest bit of pain as the chance of him recognising the significant converse was huge.

She knew by taking them to the tree, she was
risking everything she had only recently been given back, but she couldn't help but hope...

That Jace would remember.

                         *               *              *

Jace watched hesitantly as the petite redhead was joined by his cousin and her friend.

He couldn't stop the pang of guilt that shot through him as he regretted his earlier thoughts of her being merely one of his one night stands.

But that didn't squash the question of how he knew her, and how she seemed to know him.

He knew Alec was feeling the same thing, based off of the look he shot him as he fell into stride with Jace.

"Definitely not." Jace simply said, shaking his head as he banished the idea from his mind.

"Nope." Alec agreed, pursuing his lips as he appeared to be deep in thought.

"So how?-" He started saying but Jace cut over him quickly. "No idea."

Alec bit the inside of his cheek, looking at Jace through the corner of his eye. He finally shrugged, stuffing his hands into his shorts pockets. "I guess you'll just have to ask her then, no other way around it."

Jace sighed deeply, shaking his head once again. "I can't do it now. Just look at her- she's devastated. I should have never pushed her to go to that tree." His brows furrowed as another wave of guilt hit him.

"You can't blame yourself for that, Jace. It was going to happen eventually- if not us, another group of curious people. I would give her a day or two, just to be by herself for a bit, then close in and start interrogating. Like you said, I wouldn't start blasting her with questions. It would only add salt to the wounds." Alec advised, before giving him a small, sympathetic smile. "You never know, this could end up being something big."

Jace huffed, the corners of his mouth tilting upwards finally. "Yeah, like we're long lost brother and sister or something? Sure."

Alec laughed, bumping shoulders with Jace. "Very funny, smartass." He said, rolling his eyes.

Jace grinned, before he focused his gaze back on Clary. His smile slowly faded as he watched her fiery hair bounce with every step.

He squinted his eyes, a dull pain starting to throb at the base of his skull as he watched the girl, the way her head turned to the side as she mindlessly chatted with Isabelle, the curve of her jaw, the softness of her skin in the sun light.