YOU & ME

INTERLUDE - All About Jace

"Jace, don't get me wrong, I love it, but, why am I doing your nails ?" Isabelle asked, painting yet another of her brother's toes in vermillon.

Jace squinted his eyes at his sister and looked down at his feet. "Of course you are." He grumbled under his breath.

"Well, you came into my room while I was doing my nails, sat on my bed and said nothing. You just kept sighing so I..." She dismissively gestured at the nails.

Jace chuckled. "Fair." She shrugged, a satisfied smile on her lips as her eyes felt shut. Nose scrunched like that, she looked adorable, in that guilty unapologetic child sort of way. Sometimes, sometimes Jace had glimpses of what others saw of Izzy, the outer alluring side, and then he remembered she dumped his protein shake mix in their kitchen's sink out of spite for not driving her to yet another neuroscience conference and it was gone. He knew, of course, that his sister was beautiful. So was Alec. And, if he indulged, so was he. Different though. While they looked beautiful in an ethereal, flawless way, very soft and subtle, Jace was all edges and sharpness and unnatural. He always viewed himself as a sham, a poster boy good for magazines but not even nearly half as deep as his siblings.

Izzy was not only beautiful, she was super smart and sociable. Alec was, a born leader, capable of bringing hope in the heart of the most broken man, and inspire respect instead of fear, not sociable but observant and lovable despite a thick outer shell. He was also ridiculously good at archery and so tall. Useful. While Jace, well, he was there. The one who's role was to 'look pretty' and 'be good at sports to secure a scholarship' like Robert had told him countless of times.

Izzy reached for his hand and he shook his head. "Oh no, definitely not with that color." He spoke, withdrawing his hand.

"But we'd be matching!" She spoke, before pouting. He closed his eyes, nose scrunching up as he tried to ignore the pleas of his sister. "Please... please... please..." She repeated softly.

He groaned, throwing his head back before reopening his eyes. "Only the right pinky or I swear Iz I..." She rolled her eyes, taking ahold of his hand. Threatening someone who had one more black belt than you probably was silly.

"So, what is it ? What is your inner turmoil today, big brother ?" She asked, eyes slightly squinted as she examined his hand, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to give him an actual manicure.

"I don't know. It's..." He furrowed his brows. "Someone got me thinking about what I wanted in a relationship."

"Is this about Clary ?"

"No. Maybe. I..." He sighed. "I don't know..."

"You liked her that much, huh?"

Jace chuckled humorlessly. "I don't think so... And that's the problem. I've never...." He swallowed, unable to finish. "I don't know how to do it. Like like, someone..."

Izzy giggled. "That's so cute! You said 'like, like' and you blushed!" A glare and she grew serious. "For real though, you don't choose who you like and you can't force yourself to like someone. It just... Happens. Or not." She offered a half smile.

"What if it never does ? What if I'm just... Not worthy ? Clary is... She's beautiful, kind, passionate, talented, and there's literally nothing wrong with her. So it has to be me right ? I'm..." He shrugged. "Wrong. Somehow."

Isabelle frowned. "No. You're not. You're great. You're beautiful, kind, passionate and talented too Jace. The music your write is..." She smiled. "It's beautiful and I think you should show it to people. I think you should play the piano as often as you want. I think you should slow down on football and pursue your love for literature and philosophy. You were doing good in AP Lit. And in AP Biology. Dropping to have 'more time to train' was silly." Jace bit his upper lip, knowing she wasn't mad at him but more so at their father. He gave her hand a light squeeze. Izzy breathed out. "Right. Seriously though, I maintain it, there is nothing wrong with you. There never was and if anyone dares to tell you otherwise tell them that your sister will kick their ass straight to St. Upid Town."

Jace chuckled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She grinned. "Riddle me this though, if it's not Clary who got you thinking about whether or not you were made for love, who was it ?"

Jace grinned. "You'd like to know wouldn't you?" He kissed her head and stood up, ignoring her as she called his name on his way out of her room. There was so much personal information he was willing to share on a single day. And whatever the hell he was feeling or not about Si-someone, was not one of them. He didn't know that someone so well.