Clace Best Friends (Slow Updates)

1. The Girl Next Door

Jace

It's my senior year with one school day left, until graduation day! I'm so excited! At school, I'm the star of the show. Since I'm quarter back on the football team, everyone knows me. All the girls want to date me. I have frequently dated some of them. Most of them in fact, except the one I want to date...of course. Her name is Clary Fray, and we've been best friends and neighbors for 12 years.

It all started when my family moved for my dad's work. Being six at the time, I didn't really mind. I was adopted as a baby, but the Lightwoods have always been my family. My sister Izzy and brother Alec were also young, so we don't really remember our old house.

However, I remember the day we met like it was yesterday. Clary was playing outside with her toys in her yard. My mom has just released me from the house after lunch, and I was eager to play. Alec didn't like to play with me outside, and Izzy was inside playing with makeup. There weren't many other kids our age in our neighborhood, at the time. I'll admit I was a little shy about playing with her since she was a girl, but she didn't seem to be like all of the other girls I'd met before. Instead of playing with dolls and pretending to be a princess, she was pretending to be a trapped spy trying to escape her evil captors. Slowly, I approached her. She jumped startled when I got close enough to disrupt her shadow. "Sorry," I responded.

"It's okay, I just didn't see you coming," Clary relaxed. "Do you want to play with me?" She motioned to her toys.

"What are you playing?" I asked even though I'd already watched her long enough to know.

"I'm....playing a spy game I made up," Clary quietly replied. Why did she suddenly get so nervous?

"Sure, what should I do?" I questioned.

And...that was that. From that day on, we were friends. Clary was my first friend and to this day is still my best. We've always talked to eachother about whatever. There's never been anything we couldn't talk about to eachother. It's like we were eachother's secret holders.

Except........for a long time, it's been more than just friendship for me. When she smiles at me, my heart beats faster. When something happens, I always want to find her and tell her. Goosebumps form from her innocent touch and linger long after she's gone. When her soft palm skims my arm, I have to pull it away, so she doesn't feel them. Her Emerald eyes and curly red hair are so distracting.

As I lay in my bed after dinner, I get lost in thought about that beautiful little red head. In science today, we were studying something about chemical reactions. All I could think of when I saw the red liquid was Clary's hair. That lead to thinking about how a strand of hair always falls out of her pony tail. How she chews at the end of pen caps when she's nervous about something, and plays with that curly strand. Wrapping it around her finger so gently and slowly, as if she's in a trance. I love sneaking glances at her when she's not looking. She's caught me a few times, but I always play it off.

Sometimes when we hang out, I think maybe she feels the same way. The way she looks at me when we watch a movie. How natural it is for her to cuddle next to me when she gets tired. It's not like that for her! You've been friends for so long, she's just comfortable with you! Now stop being so stupid! How could she feel the same? She's not really popular, but she's way out of my league. I'm not good enough for her, and that's why I'll never tell her. She's so smart and innocent. I'm the kid the teachers don't care about. It's not like I'm bad or anything, but when you have Clary, I seem like plan B. She always does everything like she's supposed to. Don't get me wrong, I'm not jealous. We are best friends after all.

I guess I just.....I don't want to lose what we have, so even though I have these feelings for her, I just keep it to myself. As we've grown up, I've always made sure boys knew to be good to her, but people have always assumed it's because we're friends. Of course, she has no idea that I do this. I figure since I can't have her, I should at least make sure no one hurts her.

I see her getting out of a car through the window. I stand up and walk towards it to get a closer look. It becomes clear it's only Simon, and my shoulders relax. I gaze at her as she walks towards her driveway and she waves at me. Shit! She saw me watching her! What if she thinks I'm creepy or something? Should I wave, smile, nod, walk away and pretend like I didn't see? I wave back, and a smile forms on her beautiful freckled face. As the door opens, that smile I love....fades away. I've never been to her house before while her dad is there. For some reason, he's never liked me. As her smile fades, I wonder what made her so suddenly lose that look of happiness in her eyes. I think I'll ask her about it tomorrow before school, if I can catch her.

I decide it's probably a good idea to do my homework and dive into Algebra. All the while...I can't help but wonder what made Clary stop smiling. By the time I'm done with all of my homework, I can barely keep my eyes open. Quickly, I change, brush my teeth, and then lay down to sleep.

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Did the title throw you off a little?

I do not own any of the Mortal Instruments books, materials, etc. All credit belongs to Cassandra Clare.

Author's Note:
I hope you all like it! Please leave comments, votes, and feedback. I'm going to update, when I'm done and it'll be random.

Originally posted: 3/28/18