Clary: A fresh start

Chapter 14

-Clary

-Jace

-1 month later-
I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since my father died. I miss him so much, he wasn't the best father but he was my father and that means something to me.
It's been a month since I slept with Jace and it's been 3 weeks since he asked me to be his girlfriend.
Imagine that. Me, Jace's girlfriend. Why would he want me. I'm almost broken. I grew up in a gang and I just lost my only parent. I don't count Jocelyn as my mother she's just someone who gave birth to me.
But Jace and I are going on our first date tonight, he won't tell me where. Izzy and I have been getting closer. I found out that her and Simon have been together for almost 4 years now, wow mean they got together in 7th grade.
The longest boyfriend I bet had lasted 6 months. Nobody in the gang wanted me longer than a year, it's okay tough I only dated them to stay alive.
"Hey Clare. What do you want for breakfast?"
I got to know Jon a lot better, Luke is afraid of me and Jocelyn hardly talks to me
"I'm just gonna make cereal."
Jocelyn was a painter at some fancy company and Luke ran a bookstore and works with the police on his off time. I don't know how he does that though.
"Okay, I'm going to hop in the shower. Don't run out of the house again please."
"I can't promise anything."
He laughed at me and ran upstairs.
I finished my bowl of cereal in 5 minutes and i ran up into my room and grabbed my new sketchbook i bought last week. I drew the first thing that came to my mind.
When I finished i had drawn Jon. I dated it and texted Jace.
C: Hey babe. What time should I arrive at your house?
I put my sketchbook in my desk drawer and I turned on the tv.
I turned on some random channel and hopped on my bed and accidentally fell asleep.
I woke up to Jon at my door knocking about someone looking for me.
"Clare! Wake up! Jace is here! He said you never met him at his house so he came here. Clare are you okay?"
I stood up and opened the door.
"I'll be down in a minute."
Shit I fell asleep and missed our date.
5 minutes later I came running down stairs.
"Jace I'm so sorry I must have fell asleep! I never meant for it to happen."
Jace walked up to me took my hand and pulled me out to his car.
"Jace where are you taking me? I thought I missed our date night."
"We missed the dinner, that doesn't matter though. I can always make a new reservation."
I feel like an ass.
"Jace I honestly I'm so sorry. I feel like a complete asshole. How can I make it up to you?"
"Like this."
He i opened up the passenger car door and walked around to the drivers seat and we both sat down and he started driving off. Next thing I know we're at some fancy park. It wasn't the park that's real expensive to get into, this one was nice, and free.
"Jace-"
I was cut off by Jace kissing me.
I froze for a second to realize what was going on and I soon started to return the kiss. Before I knew it the kiss was getting hungrier and Jace started to move his way to my neck.
"Jace."
"Yes baby!"
"Stop."
He pulled away from my neck and he got real awkward. "I'm sort Clary. We should get out of the car."
"Jace, wait."
He faced me and his golden eyes were full of shame.
"I love you, I really do. I'm just not ready for, you know."
"I completely understand Clary, and I respect that. Whenever you are ready, I'll be there."
"And Jace. We're still young. We have plenty of time to have sex and make out. Back in Louisiana nobody wanted to take things slow. It was always after a week of dating you'd be hearing bitches moaning from down the street. No relationship lasted long unless a baby came into the picture."
He grabbed my hand and I pulled it up to my heart. Yes I know it's cheesy.
"You feel that Jace." he nodded. "It's not going anywhere anytime soon."
I kissed him on the cheek and got out of the car. He followed and he grabbed something out of the back of his car, he wouldn't let me see it.
It was perfect timing too. The sun was setting and the birds were flying past the clouds. It was beautiful. It reminded me of the sunsets down in Louisiana. I'd sit with my dad and we'd watch it til it was gone.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Jace came up from behind me and I knew he was smiling at me admiring the sunset in front of us.
"Yeah. My dad and I used to watch the sunset until the moon came up. It was beautiful."
He smiled and took my hand, he wa guiding me to a nice place under a tree. He grabbed from the bag he took from his car and pulled out a huge blanket. It was a nice quilted blanket, it was clearly hand stitched. He also pulled out a bag of food.
"Jace you didn't." I smiled at him and he rested his hand on mine.
We ate, talked, and we waited for the sun to go down. It was like what me and my father did together. It brought back memories of when I was little.
-Flashback-
"Hey Clary. You want to head down to the water and watch the sunset, I bought your favorite cookies."
"Yes!"
I ran from my bedroom and hugged my dad as he had just returned home from his 2nd job. I was 9 at the time. Before I knew what I had gotten myself into.
He put his hand out for me to hold and we started walked towards the bay.
"Dad?"
"Yes Clary?"
"What happens when we die. Where do we go?"
"It depends what yo believe in. Some people believe in a god, some believe if your bad you go to Hell. Some believe in afterlife some believe in second life's."
I looked up at my father in confusion, "What's a second life."
"It's where you are reborn as someone else. You have no memory of your current life."
"That sound awful. I'll never forget about you dad."
He looked back at the street and we made a right turn towards the water. The sunset would be coming up in about 5 minutes. We set up our blankets on the sand and sat down.
We talked, well I asked loads of questions and my dad tried to answer as many as he could.
He might not have been the best dad, but he was mine.
-End of flashback-
When I was brought back to the present I guess I had started crying because I felt tears roll down my face.
"Clary what's wrong? Why are you crying!"
I took a deep breath and I started explaining how my dad used to take me to look at the sunset and he would bring little snacks that we could enjoy together.
He didn't interrupt, he just listened, nodded, and at the end he took me in a big bear hug.
"I know how you feel. When my parents died anything and everything made me want to breakdown crying. Anything that had to do with the little memories I had of them, their in a better place right now though."
"Not my father. He didn't believe in the afterlife."
"Oh, well he's where he needs to be. What did he believe." Jace still had his arms rapped around me, he knew how much it hurt to talk about dead family members.
"He never said. He just told me that he didn't believe in the afterlife. He always told me how he would protect me after he died."
"Then he is protecting you. He is doing what he loves. Looking at the only daughter he will ever need."
I smiled and kissed Jace on the cheek and slipped through his grasp, I sipped the dry tears off of my face and stood up.
"We should get going. It's getting late."
I brushed off my skirt and helped Jace clean up the blanket.
20 minutes later I was home in my pajamas smiling like and idiot.

J: Hey babe! I had fun tonight, maybe we can go out to dinner another night. Love you, goodnight!
C: Goodnight babe! I love you more. <3
J: 😘