In The Deep

Chapter 5

Clary couldn't stop grinning as they drove forward and she loved the warm wind around them. It was weird and somehow she felt weird, or just.. different. For a long time she had been walked around alone and now she felt stupid for not being able to wipe off that grin from her face.

"Turn right over there!" Clary yelled over the sound of the howling wind.

"What?" Jace asked and she laughed. It felt so different just laughing after all this time. It was completely normal for most people, they laughed when their friends joked around or when something funny happened, but Clary wasn't one of them anymore. She wasn't used to this.

"Turn right!" She yelled louder and pulled herself closer to him.

"Oh!" Jace said and laughed as he turned quickly to their right and Clary gasped as the bike leaned closer to the ground. She held her arms tighter around Jace and could feel him laughing. Soon they stopped in front of a red light and he looked at her over his shoulder.

"Now that we can hear each other properly, tell me where to turn next. So we can avoid another near death experience." He said grinning and Clary let out a short laugh, feeling her heart beating faster against her ribs.

"Go right again and then you have to turn left almost immediately to this smaller road and then we're there." She said and Jace nodded briefly and turned back to face the road in front of him.

"Pretty close to your house." He said and then turned back grinning. "Or my house." He added and Clary rolled her eyes, letting out a small laugh.

"My mom owns a bookstore here, that's why I even live here. I work there too." She said and Jace raised his brows a bit, looking impressed. Then she heard him chuckle quietly bent her head forward to see his face.

"What?" She asked amused and he turned to look at her too.

"Just wondering how happy your mom will be when you arrive on a motorcycle with some asshole from your school." Jace said and Clary rolled her eyes and bit back her smile.

"You admit you're an asshole?" She asked and he shrugged briefly.

"Well, at least I'm honest." He said smiling and Clary rolled her eyes.

"I bet my mom will be just happy that I'm talking to someone." She said and looked in front of them, suddenly not wanting to make an eye contact. Jace seemed to realize something too since he didn't say anything and when she turned to look at him he didn't look at her with amusement or pity, he looked like he understood her in some level and then smiled slightly.

"It's green." Clary said and he frowned.

"What?" He asked and she laughed, pointing at the streelights.

"It's green, dumbass." She said and Jace followed her gaze.

"Crap." He mumbled and Clary laughed as they started driving again. She was surprised by how easy she felt with him, even though she hardly knew him. It was weird, but she liked it.

Soon Jace parked the motorcycle right in front of the bookstore and turned to look at her over his shoulder.

"Have fun." He said and Clary rolled her eyes.

"I will. Thanks for the ride." She said realizing she was still holding on to him, her grip tight. She quickly let go and struggled to get off the bike.

"No problem, it was fun." Jace said grinning and Clary laughed as she took off her helmet.

"Yeah, extremely. I especially enjoyed that part when you almost got us killed." She said with a cheerful tone, filled with sarcasm. Jace got off the bike so he could open the small trunk under the seat and Clary gave him the helmet.

"You should've yelled louder so I would've realized to turn earlier." He said snatching the helmet from her with a sneer.

"Whatever you say..." Clary muttered and he gave her a look before sitting back down on the bike.

"See you tomorrow." He said with a smirk and Clary bit back her grin.

"See you." She said briefly and turned to the bookstore as he drove away. She wiped the stupid grin off her face before walking in. The bookstore was pretty small and completely filled with books, Clary loved it. It had a familiar smell; books, people, warmth and books. Mostly books.

"Hey!"

Clary turned around and saw her mother organizing the books on one shelf and realized she had walked past her.

"Oh, hey. Sorry, I took longer than I thought." She said with a small smile and put her hands in her pockets, shifting her weight on one foot.

"It's fine. So, who was that?" Jocelyn asked nodding towards the window and Clary realized it had a perfect view to the street outside the store.

"Oh, uhm. He's just a guy from school, Jace. He offered me a ride since I was late." She said feeling like she didn't wanna discuss about this because there were only two ways her mom could react: the way she had always acted when Clary talked to boys before Sebastian's death, over protectively and stressed. Or talk about how happy she was that Clary was talking to someone and possibly making new friends and that just made Clary feel embarrassed, sad and pathetic. It wasn't like you should  have your mom worry about you having friends when you were sixteen.

"Well, that was nice from him." Jocelyn said simply and smiled before turning back to the bookshelf and Clary frowned, that wasn't exactly what she had expected.

"Uhm.. Yeah, it was."  Clary said trying to read her mom's expression from her profile. Could it be that her reaction had been a mix of those two? A little protective but glad? Or was she just glad but had something against Jace for some reason? She couldn't tell, but she was just glad that this was the way Jocelyn had decided to react and neither of those options Clary had thought in her mind.

"Was he nice?" Jocelyn asked turning to her suddenly and Clary felt even more like she didn't wanna discuss about this. She didn't know if she thought Jace was nice, but she had liked talking to him on some level and he seemed fun. But she didn't want her mom reading too much out of it, it wasn't like she was thinking.

"Sure." Clary said shrugging like she hadn't really thought about it, but smiled a bit so it wouldn't seem like he had been a total asshole. Even though he had admitted being one himself. Jace was hard to read and it made him interesting. That's it. He wasn't nice or a jerk, he was interesting. She had no idea what exactly it was that made her feel that way, but there was definitely something behind those golden eyes.