A Ranger's Lullaby

A book

'Sooo...' I say while tapping my fingers together awkwardly. Jace looks up from his almost empty plate with a raised eyebrow. I slowly nod, not knowing what to do now. I look away and sigh. 'You know, I can probably explore by myself. I can't wake anybody up so it should be fine and I don't wanna bother you anymore.' He swallows his last bite and gives me an unbothered look. 'You'll bother me more that way.' I'm slightly offended and don't hide it. He gets up. 'Might as well show you and get it over with so I can have my peace.' He puts all plates into the dishwasher and walks to the door. He stops and looks at me somewhat annoyed. 'So?' I look at him with slight confusion. 'So...what?' He rolls his eyes. 'Are you coming or what?' I scramble to my feet. 'Oh, yeah, sorry, coming!' I walk up to him, expecting him to move too, but he doesn't and I slightly bump into him. I stumble backwards and mumble a sorry. Jace stares down at me. I look back up with a question mark on my face. 'What?' He squeezes his eyes. 'You're weird.' I look at him indigently. What am I supposed to say to that? He looks at the away so I just follow his gaze. 'So, as you know, this is the kitchen and dining area. If you ever need a drink again, you now know where to go. Unless you're in need of something stronger. You already know where you can't find that.' I smirk as he turns around to the hallway, I follow. 'So as you know the door on the far left is Damon's room and the door apposite to it is the door to the living room.' He continues without checking if I'm there to listen. He really doesn't care, does he? 'The door next to Damon's is Alex' room and the one next to that is Ben's.' He points the door next to us, opposite of Ben's. 'This door leads to the top floor, where you can find my room and access to the roof. The door in between this one and the living room is the bathroom, in case you thought about taking a shower.' I raise my brow at him and he looks as unbothered as before. 'Are you saying I smell?' He looks me up and down and with the same expression he replies. 'Yes.' I'm back to my indigent look. He looks away from me and points to the stairs. 'Down the stairs you have a small storage closet and, obviously, the front door. And that's about it I guess.' He looks at me, practically begging to finish this. 'Hold up, did you say there's access to the roof?!' I asked enthusiastically. He's taken aback a bit from my sudden energy burst. 'Yeah, what about it?' My eyes widen. 'Can I see?' He narrows his eyes. 'No.' My face drops immediately. 'Not now anyway.' I look up a little surprised. 'It's daytime, you might be seen and you know since-' I roll my eyes. 'I'm a fugitive, I know, I know. Ugh this sucks, but you're right.' He glances at me and sighs. 'I guess I could show you some time at night.' My face lights up again. 'Really?' He shrugs and I smirk. Did he just try to comfort me? 'Awesome, but you owe me okay?' I point my finger at him and he gives me a sarcastic look. 'Promise me you'll take me to see the roof?' He rolls his eyes as he pushes the finger out of his face. 'Ugh fine, just don't ever point your finger at me.' I chuckle victoriously. 'I now have shown you everything,' He didn't actually show me anything but okay. 'so you can leave me alone.' He turns around. 'Wait!' He grunts loudly. 'Now what?' I awkwardly smile. 'What am I supposed to do now?' He glares at me, clearly annoyed. 'How the fuck should I know? What do you normally do?' I press my lips together as I look away. 'Uhm, well, I'd always spent most of my time outside...' An awkward silence follows. I clear my throat as I continue. 'Since that's out of the question, I would also read a lot. Or play piano, but that would disturb you so I won't.' He stares at me indifferently. 'So go read a book then.' He turns around again, obviously done with the conversation. I instinctively grabbed his arm to prevent him from leaving. He instantly yanks his arm free and he half-shouts at me. 'What?!' I stumble backwards a bit from surprise of the intensity of his reaction. 'I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I just- I, uhh, don't have any book with me, so I was, uhm, wondering...' My voice trails off as I avoid eye contact. I then hear his voice, now calm again. 'So you were wondering if I had something for you to read, right?' I look back up to his face. He looks exhausted. I feel kind of bad, it's probably because of me. I just nod in response. He tries to put up a weak smile. 'Come with me.' he says softly and I follow him quietly to the living room.

He stops in front of the bookshelf behind the piano. 'Here are some of my books. You can read whatever you want, just be careful with them. They are mostly thrillers or the classics though. I could find you something else if that's not-' 'I actually love the classics! I wonder... Do you by any chance have-' I trail the books with my finger. 'Ah, yes! My favourite.' I say as I grab a book from the shelf. Jace leans over my shoulder to read the title of the book. 'Ah, Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. Great choice.' I nod proudly. 'My mom would sing the songs to me while my dad played the piano. He even taught me how to play a few songs myself.' I smile at the book when I think back to those days. Jace glances at me from the side. 'You know the songs? Can you play one for me?' I turn to him with surprise. Our faces are now rather close. He notices and backs away quickly, clearing his throat. 'Sorry.' I smile at him. 'It's fine! I just didn't expect a guy like you to enjoy music like that.' He raises his brow and smirks. 'For your information, my mom used to sing them to me too when I was little.' It's cute. 'Well, in that case, I'll play you one.' I sit myself down behind the piano and Jace leans against the side of it looking at me. He seems more relaxed now, I'm relieved. I give him a small smile and nod, then I start playing my favourite song from the musical. [For maximum reading experience listen to this song: ''On My Own'' by Samantha Barks from the Motion Picture Soundtrack.] I have always loved this song, but right now I can't help but to think about my parents for most parts. I even change the lyric in the end from ''him'' to ''them''. After I'm done I look up and meet Jace' concerned gaze. I chuckle anxiously. 'God, sorry, that turned out way more emotional than I'd anticipated. I feel like I'm always crying in front of you,. I must look pathetic, hahaha.' I nervously ramble on. He waits till I'm done talking to respond. 'I don't think you're pathetic.' Is he pitying me? I look in his eyes, but I can only find sincerity. 'I for a fact think showing emotion tells you're strong.' I'm startled by his words a bit. I look down and exhale. 'How about a break?' I look back up with curiosity. His soft smile relaxes me a bit while he hands me the book. He grabs one from the shelf. I look at the bookshelf. 'You know, you have quite the collection.' He chuckles softly. 'Yeah, I'm quite proud of them.' He then points at me. 'So you better take good care of that one.' I grin. 'Ugh fine, just don't ever point your finger at me.' I say as I lay down on the couch. 'Are you mocking me?' He follows me and sits down in the chair opposite to me. I put my feet up and sarcastically reply. 'I wouldn't dare.' He rolls his eyes, but I can see a small smile on his face. My eye falls on the book in his hands. 'What are you reading?' He looks at me over the top of his book. 'A thriller called And then there were none by Agatha Christie. It's like a who-dunnit story, but with a surprising twist.' I nod impressed. 'Sounds good. Maybe I'll read it next.' He also nods, but slowly. 'Think you can handle it? It's quite scary?' He says mockingly. I put on a sarcastic face. 'I think I can manage.' He chuckles as he looks down again. 'Sure you can, fudge.' I look at him in confusion. 'Fudge?' He grins at me. 'Yeah you know. You are very tiny and a fugitive... Fudge. It suits you.' I glare at him. 'Really... Well enjoy your book, mister grumpy cat.' He scoffs happily. 'Couldn't come up with anything on your own?' I smirk. 'Didn't have to. It suits you.' He chuckles as he goes back to reading his book and I do the same. We read for a while in silence, it's really relaxing actually. Eventually we hear the front door shut and two pairs of footsteps on the stairs.