Roommates & Soulmates

Ch150: Jace's Butterflies

It had been weeks since Jaia's get-back-together sexcapades, and it seemed to Jace that Maia had not left the apartment since, though he knew that wasn't technically true. She did leave sometimes, usually to get more clothes, or go to work, but otherwise Jace was starting to think they should be charging her rent.

"You can't charge my girlfriend rent," Jordan said with a sigh when Jace brought this up. "She doesn't live here."

"Are you sure about that?" Jace replied, one eyebrow raised.

"Yes," Jordan said. "She's paying rent at her place, therefore she doesn't live here."

"But she sleeps here," Jace argued as he began counting off items on his fingers. "She eats here. She watches tv here. She showers here! To me that's living here."

"She does shower here doesn't she," Jordan grinned.

"Urg, I so hate you," Jace whined. He knew why Jordan was grinning. Usually if Maia did shower here, she showered with him.

"Oh whatever," Jordan scoffed. "In less than a month Clary will be back, and we can argue over who gets to use the shower for sex instead of you always complaining about me doing it."

Rather than making him feel better, Jace's head started filling up with his worries about seeing Clary again. He missed her more than he could stand, and yet the idea of seeing her again terrified him.

"What's with the face?" Jordan asked.

"It's nothing," Jace tried to be nonchalant.

"No it isn't," Jordan replied. "What's wrong?"

"Just concerned our fourth roommate isn't pulling her weight," Jace replied, trying to avoid Jordan reading him like a book.

"She doesn't live here," Jordan stated again. "And on that note, I said I'd meet up with her after her shift so I have to run."

"Go over to her place for a change maybe then!" Jace called after his friend. He heard laughter, but no direct response before the front door opened and closed.

Jace let out a sigh. He could avoid the topic with others, but lying to himself was a whole other matter. May was almost over, and Clary was home in June. Jace was both so excited he could barely breathe, and so scared he wanted to climb under his bed and never move again.

Would Clary still be Clary? Or would she have changed and grown into someone different like a butterfly from its cocoon. Had she met someone else in Paris like he'd feared she would? Did that explain her lack of communication all this time? After so many months apart would there even still be that feeling between them? That spark or whatever it was that had drawn him to her in the first place. Was he hanging onto the memory of a love that no longer existed? A love that had changed every inch of him until he no longer recognized himself without her. Would that be her legacy instead of his joy? Was there anything left to save, or would he meet a stranger at the airport?

Round and round the unanswered questions went through his head until there was nothing else left in his head.

He tried to distract himself. Snapping at Jordan was only so amusing, and besides he really didn't have any problem with Maia being here. Jace knew he was just lonely. With the three musketeers down to the dynamic duo, Jace was spending more and more time with Jon. When neither work nor Jon could distract him however, Jace tried volunteered to babysit Lucie a little more than usual. But really there was nothing that could distract him from his worries. Nothing but seeing Clary could answer his questions.

Time began to play tricks on him. Passing faster and slower at the same time.

It didn't quite feel real to him when one day he looked at a calender and realized that there was now just a fortnight left until her return.