In the Hour of Silence

Chapter 20

After a very, very long 24 hours of flying, we touch down in Perth, Australia. I'm groggy from sleeping most of the flight from San Francisco, so as soon as we get into the van bringing us two hours away from Perth to the vacation house I'm out like a light again.

When I wake up an hour and a half later, I notice my head is pillowed on Jace's lap while he slowly combs his fingers through my hair. I smile softly at my boyfriend as I look up at him staring out the window as we drive. I sigh slightly in content as Jace's  fingers gently run through my hair. Jace then looks down at me, a small grin tugging at his lips. I listen in a personal bliss as Isabelle, Simon, and Alec debate about which Alien movie is better all while Jace brushes it off as "nerd talk" and continues to brush his fingers through my hair.

When we get to the beach house--or should I say freaking mansion--we all unload and get our bags from the back of the van. After Alec tips the driver we all walk up the steps of the wrap around porch together while Isabelle fiddles with the keys.

"Alright everyone," she says as she finds the right one, "Welcome to your home over the next two weeks."

When she unlocks the door we all file in. I find myself gaping as I look around the expertly decorated home. The entire place is lit up by windows and the light colours of the rooms give it an even airier feel.

Jace takes my hand and starts to pull me towards the stairs. "We have dibs on the room with the balcony." Jace ignores the protests of both Isabelle and Magnus as he leads me up the stairs quickly.

He leads me to the end of the hall where we enter a large bedroom with one of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen. As soon as I put my bag down I walk out onto the balcony and stare out at the beach in front of us. The waves crash on the shore where few people are already sunbathing and some more are in the water surfing. Jace joins me on the balcony, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I take ahold of one of his hands and spell out This is so beautiful against his palm.

"You certainly are," he responds, causing me to roll my eyes slightly. "Do you still feel awkward about sharing a room?" I nod slightly against him and he turns me so I'm facing him. "We won't do anything if you're not ready. All I want is for you to be comfortable. Hell, I'll even sleep on the couch downstairs if that'll make you more comfortable."

I shake my head slightly and trace my finger against his arm. I trust you.

Jace smiles at me and presses a kiss against my forehead before there's a knock at the door. It's only a moment before Izzy is yelling through the door. "Beach in twenty minutes! No excuse of exhaustion as someone slept basically the entire way."

"Don't worry we'll be there," Jace calls back.

After that we both move to or suitcases. I dig through my suitcase until I find my white one piece and retreat into the bathroom to change.

The bathroom, for one, is huge. There are his and hers sinks, a glass walk in shower, and a tub deep enough to hide a body.

Why that comparison came to mind, I honestly don't know.

I strip down to nothing and then pull on the swimsuit. As I look at my body in the mirror I notice that the white one piece really hugs my small curves which, in the words of Izzy, is a "blessing we take without question". I quickly brush my teeth to get rid of my horrid breath and then walk back into the room.

Jace is already in a pair of blue swim trunks as he zips up his suitcase. He turns as I close the bathroom door again and looks at me. I look down, hoping he doesn't notice the vibrant blush on my cheeks. Jace walks over to me and slowly lifts my head up.

"Absolutely breathtaking," he says softly. The compliment just makes me blush a thousand times more. Jace presses a quick kiss to my cheek before slipping his hand into mine and grabbing our beach bag. "I've got our towels, sunglasses, and SPF 5,000,000 for you, my porcelain lover." I chuckle slightly and hit his shoulder. Jace chuckles with me. "Shall we?" I nod and we start to walk out of the room. We make it to the stairs where everyone else is waiting at the bottom when Jace stops and whispers into my ear, "Oh, and don't worry about sunburn. I'd be more than happy to rub aloe into your back later."

I raise my eyebrows at his smirk, ignoring the blush retaking over my face. Before I can say anything Izzy, absolutely gorgeous in her blood red high waisted bikini, calls up the stairs.

"C'mon Clace--keep it moving."

I look at her weirdly and Jace voices my thoughts. "What the fuck is a 'Clace'?"

"It's your ship name. Clary and Jace. Clace. It's like Brangelina or Elounor just without the celebrity cred."

"I could have sworn we went over this with them," Magnus says, wearing golden swim trunks and a royal blue robe as a cover up while Iz nods.

"Why don't we finish this fascinating conversation at the beach," Alec suggests. We all agree and start towards the door. When Jace and I are next to Alec, he leans over and whispers, "Don't worry. Magnus has been trying to explain 'Malec' to me for months."

I laugh shortly and ignore the little glare I get from Alec. "When they start talking we make a break for the panic room together, deal?"

"Like you even had to ask," Alec responds as he tightly clasps the hand Jace held out for him to take, doing a sideways half bro hug thing.

I grin to myself before slipping my hand out of Jace's and running up to where Simon and Iz are. For the first thirty minutes everyone is arguing on how to set things up. Then, once that's all sorted out, Iz settles down to sunbathe while Magnus, Alec, and Jace go for the water.

I initially decide against the water seeing as I have this thing called curly hair. Yeah, if I'm not careful it becomes a frizzy puffball. So, Simon and I sit on the beach towels and do our nerd talk--after lathering myself with sunscreen, of course. We talk about things like our (relatively low) expectations on the new Wonder Woman and Power Rangers movies and the Alien movie that's in the works.

After I've completely forgotten about the looming threat of salt water and curly hair I feel Jace lift me up and start carrying me towards the water. My eyes widen in realization and I try to fight my way out of his grip until I'm tossed into the warm waters of the Pacific. My mouth fills with water as I open it in surprise. When I come back up I glare at Jace, my eyebrows working themselves into a straight line.

"What?" Jace asks with a smirk. "You looked so hot sitting over there that I thought you needed to cool down."

I spit the water in his face.

AN

Funny story.

I kinda had to delete my app because it was glitching out. And then I kinda forgot my password. And then I remembered it but had to delete the app again because of the glitch. And then I kinda forgot the password again.

All's good though.

Life update: As of March 1 I am the aunt of two beautiful identical twin girls named Dinah Grace and Ella Jade. I also have exams next week.

*crawls into a corner and starts hyperventilating*

I'll see you if I survive book nerds.
Bella