In The Deep

Chapter 19

"Hey, asshole. I haven't heard from you the whole weekend, mind picking up your phone?"

Clary rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh after leaving another voicemail again. She wasn't quite sure should she be worried or not. It wasn't like Jace was officially her boyfriend.. Was he? They hadn't really talked about it that much, but they had spent the rest of the Friday night together after what had happened. Although boyfriends should be picking up their phones, right?

Clary walked downstairs, putting her phone in her pocket and sang quietly a song that had been stuck in her head for days, pushing her hair inpatiently behind her ear.

"Has he called yet?" A voice snapped Clary out of her thoughts quickly and she saw her mom standing in front of their kitchen sink, doing dishes.

"What? Who?" Clary asked quickly, pushing her hair back again.

Jocelyn smiled at her before moving her look back to the dishes. "You think I haven't noticed the way you keep checking your phone and being disappointed? Anyone would notice that this is about some boy. Isn't it?"

Clary felt her cheeks heating, but she just frowned slightly and let out a small laugh. "No, it's not like that.. it's.. it's.. So what if it's about some guy? It's not a big deal." She said with a brief shrug and opened the fridge, turning away from her mom.

"Oh!" Jocelyn almost yelled, sounding excited. "Tell me!"

Clary glanced over her shoulder at her mom who was drying her hands from the water and foam. "No."

"Why not?" Jocelyn asked, sounding disappointed as she walked quickly to Clary who turned back to the fridge.

"I'm hungry." She stated out loud and Jocelyn sighed.

"Who is it?"

"Who?"

"The boy..?"

"Do we have anything to eat?"

"Just tell me."

"Make me dinner and I will." Clary said, closing the door and turning back to her mom who seemed excited.

"Really?"

Clary smiled. "Would I lie to you?"

"Who knows, you're evil when you're hungry." Jocelyn mumbled as she opened the fridge and started going through the contents, but Clary just laughed.

"It's not a big deal, I just haven't heard from him in a while." She said shrugging and took a seat.

Jocelyn glanced back at her quickly. "Is there a reason you should've?"

"Other than the fact that I've left him about 14 messages, calling him an asshole for not replying?" Clary asked laughing. "Maybe."

"Maybe? What kind of a reason?" Jocelyn asked, sounding more interested about the subject and Clary rolled her eyes, hoping she wasn't blushing.

"It's nothing."

"Sure, nothing." Jocelyn repeated, mocking Clary's tone. "Just tell me about this asshole."

"What about him?" Clary asked, looking down at her feet that she was swinging in front of her.

"Everything about him! What's his name? Do I know him? Does he go to your school? When did you meet him? What happened? Why isn't he calling you back? Is there something going on that I should know about maybe?" Jocelyn asked and Clary just laughed.

"Maybe I should get some of those things straight with him before I go telling you about it, call me when dinner's ready." She said then and got up.

"What? You said you would tell me!" Jocelyn said and Clary laughed again, giving her an evil sneer.

"I told you something and that's enough. I didn't say I would tell everything. Just relax." She said and walked back upstairs, taking her phone from her pocket to leave a new pissed off message in Jace's voicemail, but instead her attention was caught by a message from him.

Clary smiled widely as she saw his name on her screen and opened the message quickly;

"I'm really sorry I haven't called you back, I really am. It's just that something happened and I haven't had a moment to do that. Don't worry about it, I'll see you at some point. I just wanted you to know that I wasn't avoiding you or anything. Hope you're doing alright, sorry for being an asshole x"

Clary read the message about fifteen times before her brain really started working and processing the words. 'Something happened'? What? Was he alright? 'I'll see you at some point'? Did that mean that he wasn't coming to school tomorrow? 'Hope you're doing alright'? It was probably obvious from her inpatient messages that she was fine, just frustrated. But what about him? What was going on?

Clary skipped few stairs as she quickly went down stairs and put her shoes on.

"Where are you going?" Jocelyn yelled from the kitchen as Clary grabbed her keys and threw on her jacket.

"I'm just gonna swing by Jace's house. I'll be right back!"

"It's him, right?"

"Who?"

"Jace. He's the guy who didn't reply to you."

Clary sighed. "Actually he did." She said before storming out and closing the door quickly behind her.

Clary ran across the dark yard quickly, glancing back at her house and suddenly bumped into someone and fell on the damp grass, letting out a high pitched yell. She tried to wipe some of the grass off her clothes and then looked up. She saw Jace who was already helping her up.

"Are you alright?" He asked and Clary slammed her palms against his chest furiously.

"Am I alright? Are you alright? Christ, Jace! What the hell has got into you? Have you hit your head or something? You mind telling me what the fuck is going on? And what's been going on the whole weekened actually! First you don't reply, then you reply with some stupid text that actually doesn't explain anything and then you have to stand in my way when I'm trying to.. Come to you." She said, yelling at him like an idiot, but Jace's expression didn't change.

"When you didn't reply to my text, I knew you would storm in here. Although it wasn't my intension to scare you." He just said and Clary sighed, shaking her head.

"It doesn't even matter, I'm just.. What happened?" She asked, a little out of breath after running and then ranting and yelling.

Jace took a long pause and looked down before answering, but even then the words seemed to fade away like it wasn't completely clear. "Robert's dead."

Clary opened her mouth, her lips parting slightly, but she just couldn't get a word out.

"He was in a car crash." Jace said quietly, looking down at the ground that felt incredibly unsteady at the moment.

Clary just stared again, her hands shaking slightly. "I-I'm so sorry." She said, also feeling pretty stupid for caling him an asshole. "You should've just told me."

Jace looked back up, meeting her eyes. "I know, I just couldn't. It felt hard. Especially over the phone. And I just had to be there for everyone else too."

"It's okay, I get it." Clary said then, glancing at the ground quickly before she stepped closer and reached up to wrap her arms around Jace's neck. His arms went around her and he let out a shuddering breath. Clary squeezed her eyes shut, feeling warm tears falling on her cheeks. "I'm really sorry."

Hey! Yeah, sorry for the sad chapter. This story is getting closer to it's end and I know it seems pretty hopeless, but life gets like that sometimes. But I promise I won't make the ending too unbearable. Thank you for all the comments and I'm glad you've enjoyed my story. I'll try to update as soon as possible!