Bound

Chapter Thirteen

The next day was Saturday and I spent majority of it doing homework and teasing Cecily about her date with Gabriel the same evening. I didn't see Will all day, as he had left somewhere in the morning and still wasn't back -- not that I cared that he was gone anyway. I didn't want to see him after our odd exchange the night before and I had been trying not to think about it. It made feel shaky and warm and I refused to ponder what that meant.

Currently, I was sat in the house that evening, alone. Cecily had already left on her date with Gabriel and Charlotte was out visiting her parents. Will was still missing and I felt glad to have some time to myself. I had been reflecting on my date with Rupert the night before, and I hoped that Will had not ruined everything and that Rupert would call me soon. Rupert had indeed asked to see me again but I didn't know when he would call me or suggest a day. I found that I wanted him to call me quite badly.

There was then a knock at the front door and I paused the movie that I had been watching on the TV, and went to open it. To my surprise, it was Jace and he was holding a little girl in his arms. I recognized the little girl to be Jace's five year old sister, Fleur. I remembered Cecily telling me once that they had named her Fleur because Jace's mother was French; Jace could speak French too, if I recalled correctly. Fleur had only been two years old when I had seen her last and now she had the same golden blonde hair, like her brother. However, instead of Jace's nearly gold looking eyes, Fleur had eyes that were a mixture of blue and green.

"Jace." I greeted with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Is Cecily home? Or Will?" He asked a bit frantically.

I shook my head. "Cecily's out on a date and I have no idea where Will is. Why? What's wrong?"

"I promised Clary -- my girlfriend -- that I would spend the night with her tonight, but my parents went out of town for the weekend with Uncle Edmund and Aunt Linette; I'm supposed to watch Fleur." Jace explained. "I thought that Cecily or Will could watch her but now they aren't home. Ella can't watch her either because she's out with her boyfriend."

I looked down at Fleur who gave me a shy little smile. I returned the smile and then met eyes with Jace once again.

"I can watch her." I offered. "She can spend the night here; she can just sleep with Cecy once she gets home."

"Are you sure?" Jace asked.

"Yeah." I nodded my head and then looked at the little girl. "I don't know if Fleur will want to stay with me though. I think she may prefer one of her cousins to be home instead."

"I'll stay." Fleur piped up, speaking for the first time.

Jace gave me a smile and set Fleur down on the floor. "Thank you, Tessa, I owe you one."

I told him that it was no big deal and then he gave me Fleur's things, hugged his sister, and then left. Jace had always been a good brother from what I could recall; he had been ecstatic when he had found out that his mother was pregnant and he treated Fleur as if she was a princess; it was adorable. After Jace left, I closed the door and turned to Fleur who was gazing up at me, expectantly.

"I'm Tessa." I spoke sweetly. "You won't remember me but I've known you since you were a baby."

"Are you Will's girlfriend? Is that why you live here with him?" Fleur asked curiously, fidgeting with the ends of her blonde hair.

"Oh no." I replied back, grateful that no one else was present to hear her question. "I'm Cecily's best friend. That's why I live here."

Fleur beamed. "I love Cecily and I love Will and I love Ella. My favourite cousins."