Roommates & Soulmates

Ch157: Jace's Rock

On some level Jace knew something was wrong. He just couldn't pin down exactly what. His only guesses scared him, but then again so did this never ended middle ground. He wasn't quite sure how much longer he could stand the twisted feeling. Then again it wasn't like the feeling overpowered anything, it was just always there. And after all, it wasn't like anything had been directly said. Jace was just going on a hunch, a feeling, an instinct that something was wrong. Maybe everything was fine, and he was making mountains out of molehills.

Which was not what he was supposed to be doing right now. The blank page on his laptop screen would not write itself.

"Unless you want to spend the rest of your life working manual labour and food service, it's time to grow up," Jace grumbled to himself.

After all school was over. Graduation had come and gone while Clary was in Paris. Jace had a bachelors in Sales and Marketing. Now the trouble was figuring out what to do with it. What jobs should he apply for, and where should he apply for them? And how should he tailor his resume so he got the job he wanted?

With a sigh, Jace opened a web browser and began his research on resume building. He knew how to get easily hired for summer jobs, but career jobs were new territory.

But after a few hours of work, Jace was hungry and his mind was too full of wondering what was going on with Clary to think anymore. He decided to call it quits in favour of lunch.

Leaving the library, Jace headed to Malec's place, hoping Paige had made something he could help eat. Walking in without knocking like he always did, Jace announced his arrival.

"Anyone home," Jace called out.

"Over here," Alec's voice answered. Jace followed the sound and saw his best friend sitting on the couch with a console controller in his hand.

"Is Paige around?" Jace asked.

"Nope," Alec replied. "Out. Possibly with Clary. Not totally sure on that one."

"Magnus?" Jace asked.

"My husband is as usual at work," Alec stated. "We get Sundays off together."

"Right," Jace sighed. Then something occurred to him. "Maybe you know something."

"About what?"

"About Clary," Jace explained.

Alec paused his game to turned to Jace. "What's going on?" He looked a bit serious, and Jace knew his voice had given him away.

"She's been acting weird," Jace explained. "It's like there's something just out of reach, or maybe she's just out of reach. I don't notice it sometimes, and others it seems like everything is fine. I just can't figure out which is right."

"All seems kinda murky to me," Alec said.

"Yeah, I know," Jace sighed. "It just feels like she's pulled away from me, or maybe holding something back from me, or maybe I'm just paranoid from all the time apart."

"Where is Clary now?" Alec asked.

"Well, apparently she might be with Paige," Jace reminded Alec of his own words.

"Right," Alec said. "I just meant those two hang out a lot." He paused then added. "Have you talked to Simon about this?"

"No," Jace said. "Haven't really talked to anyone but you so far.

"Fair," Alec replied with a kind smile. "Can't be easy to talk about." Jace shook his head.

"I know what I should really do is ask Clary. It's just going into that without a clue... it's just-" Jace didn't know how to say it.