Disclaimer: The lovely Cassandra Clare owns the The Mortal Instrument's characters!

Clary's POV

I pushed my sunglasses up to my head and closed my eyes turning my face into the sun, the warmth felt so amazing. It was still early in the morning, maybe eight, I didn't check the clock before I left, but it was clearly going to be a beautiful hot day. I opened my eyes and looked out at the blue water, God I forgot how beautiful it was here. I was silently thanking Izzy, though I had been cursing her since we arrived.

Izzy is one of my best friends. She's 18, my age, and she is an absolute doll, and besides the silky long black hair and twilight eyes, she looks just like a doll, a Barbie doll. She's tall, skinny, busty, and gorgeous. When she first asked me to come to the lake with her for a couple of weeks around Fourth of July I was ecstatic. I could use a good vacation and I loved the lake. Plus this was the two year anniversary of her brother's drowning and I knew she didn't want to come back to the lake alone. I had only met her brother Max briefly a couple times, but he was a good kid. He was nine when he died, all knees and elbows, he had big glasses and reminded me a bit of how Simon was when he was younger. Izzy's parents, Mayrse and Robert, never came back to the cottage after he drowned.

I went with Izzy and her brothers last year to the lake in July for a short trip, but it was more of a trip about closure. Izzy cried a lot and her and her brothers told stories about happy memories of Max. They tried to remember all of the good times they had at the lake house and not just his death. Mayrse and Robert were both big name professors at fancy universities and would take the whole summer off every year to bring the kids to the lake. They had been talking about selling the cottage for the last two years, but Izzy and Alec argued there were too many good memories at the lake, and many of them included Max.

Alec is Izzy's brother, he is 20 and he's great, we are really close, but when I found out Alec and Jace were going to the lake, I tried to back out. Jace is 19, and came to live with Izzy and Alec when he was ten, after his father died. His mother died giving birth to him, and his father raised him until he died in an explosion at his job at a research plant. Izzy's parents are Jace's Godparents, so it was a simple choice when they took him in. Jace is super hot, and sometimes really sweet and caring, but more often than not he's an arrogant ass who is completely full of himself. We just tended to rub each other wrong though and I just didn't want to deal with right now.

Izzy begged me to come, offered to buy me all new cloths, and assured me it wasn't just going to be a four some, she had invited Maia and Aline and Alec was bringing Magnus. She joked it would be more like a girls weekend away, except with Jace coming too. Magnus was better at slumber parties than most girls I knew and ever since Alec started going out with him, Alec had also let his feminine side out a bit. Of course only at sleepovers, with all the promises never to breathe a word of what went on to anybody, especially Jace. Izzy convinced me it would be fun and I really thought it would be.

We were all meeting up at the cottage at different times, but all came within a day or so of each other. July Fourth was on a Saturday this year, so Izzy and I took two weeks off of our jobs at the bank, we work together, and decided to head to the cottage on June 26. Izzy planned the whole thing, how many people could fit in the seven bedroom cottage, and who was sharing rooms with whom. Izzy is a terrible planner. Izzy and I came up Friday night after work, after the four hour drive we didn't get in until after midnight, and I didn't realize how many people were coming until I got there myself. Aline had brought a family friend Sebastian, they arrived Thursday with Alec and Jace and each took a room, four rooms down. Magnus wasn't coming up until Saturday, but it was already an unspoken fact he would stay with Alec. Maia arrived Friday afternoon with her latest boyfriend Jordan, and Simon. Simon's like a brother to me. He and Izzy are on again off again dating, they have been for the last two years now, not sure right now if it's on again or off again though. He lives with Jordan, he's one of Simon's closest friend's, he actually set Maia and Jordan up, so it was no surprised when he told me he was driving up with them. Maia and Jordan were sharing a room, and Simon took one of the other ones, six rooms down. By the time Izzy and I showed up there was only one room left. I first assumed her and Simon were on again, fine, last room was my room, but when she started apologizing profusely saying she miscounted, I realized we were going to be roommates, either that or I had to find somewhere else for Izzy or I to sleep. It was late and I was tired after a long day of work and a four hour drive, so I waved off her apologies and we both shared the queen size bed.

I woke up with Izzy nuzzled into my back with her arm wrapped around my waist. Apparently she's a little too use to a warm body in bed with her that she can curl up to, luckily she didn't try to molest me in my sleep, at least not that I remember. I tossed Izzy's arm off of me as I sat up effectively waking her up. After a short argument, we came up with three alternative sleeping arrangements. Plan B, I needed to help get her back together with Simon, ergo back into his bed and out of mine; Plan C I was stuck on the couch; or Plan D, Izzy's plan, I needed a warm bed of my own to sleep in. I think Izzy's lifelong plan since I met her has been to get boys into my pants. Don't get me wrong though, I'm far from a slut, the opposite actually, eighteen and still a virgin. The way Izzy makes that sound, I should be walking around saying woe is me. Izzy takes the dating with a grain of salt. Sometimes I think she's a man trapped in a women's body. She feels I would relax 'If I just got laid already.' Her words not mine. Maybe she and Alec's souls were switched before birth or something. Anyway, unless that warm bed I'm crawling into is Simon's zero percent sex appeal bed, odds are I'm stuck with Plan B or Plan C. Ever since Izzy started dating Simon I tried to distance myself from him a bit. We were always crazy close and Izzy always seemed to get jealous of our relationship. Simon just didn't seem to notice how much he focused on me, even when Izzy was around. Anyway, I refuse to sleep with Izzy another night.

Izzy was going back to sleep so I decided to head out to meet the morning alone. I quickly threw myself together, grabbed an apple and a couple things before rushing out of the cottage.

The waves lapped calmly onto the sand just a hundred or so feet in front of me. There were several cottages like this one, but each one had its own little private beach, and that really made a difference. I kicked off my black flip flops as I stepped off the last stair of the beach cottage. The sand felt so good between my toes. I hadn't bothered to bring much out with me. I had a towel and my sketch pad and pencil in one hand and an apple in the other; I dropped everything but the apple on the ground next to one of the lined up lounge chairs. I pulled the teal green sundress up over my head and tossed it next to my small pile of stuff. I chuckled to myself thinking of all the clothes in my room right now. Izzy must have spent a small fortune on this trip. She always hated my sense of fashion, or 'lack there of' as she always put it, and as thanks for coming along to the lake she practically bought me a new wardrobe. I still wasn't sure if that was a reward of punishment though. She actually wouldn't let me bring any of my own stuff, except a small bag for toiletries and a couple of necessities. When I showed up to pick her up she had four suitcases, two for each of us. That was Izzy.

I glanced down at my now fairly exposed body. I had been working out more lately and I was pretty proud of how toned my arms and legs were looking, I didn't have a six pack, but my lack of will power for sweets was still getting the better of me there. At eighteen I had some curves, not crazy curves, but more than normal due to the miracle push-up bra in this stupid bathing suit. I was wearing an itsy bitsy teeny weenie black bikini, one that I most certainly did not buy for myself mind you. It looked like something out of a Victoria Secret's catalog and knowing Izzy, it probably was. I was silently cursing her all over again, and cursing myself for not at least packing my own bathing suit. My long red hair fell in soft curls half way down my back, tickling my bare skin, with a few stray piece flying in the breeze in front of my face. I stood there for a long moment basking in the warmth, I loved the sun. I had already lathered on sunscreen in the house, my fair complexion burns in a heartbeat, but I could just stay outside all day, and had planned to do so as long as I was here.

I took a bite of the apple and that's when I heard the sound of foot steps behind me taking me out of my revere. I glanced behind me to recognize the all too familiar Jace. He had on navy blue swim shorts and a towel in one hand. He was tan, and chiseled, very hot. God when did he not look hot, but he looked like a damn Chippendales Dancer right now. His light golden curls fell just shy of ear length like a halo in the sun. His handsome angular face sported a pair of dark Oakley sunglasses, which he pushed up to his forehead as he stopped a few feet away from me. I forgot how tall he was. At over six foot he towered over me. I watched his soft amber eyes slowly rack up and down my body in a sexual manner as a smirk played at the corner of his lips.

Jace's POV

Clary looked good, real good. She was always beautiful, but I could totally tell Izzy picked out that bathing suit and it was hot. She looked toned too; I could totally tell she'd been working out. I hadn't seen her in like six months, but at Christmas she was all covered up. It all came crashing back hard. I wanted her like I never wanted her before. My heartbeat was pounding in my chest.

Wack Out of nowhere Clary's hand smacked across my face with force. I threw my hand to my burning cheek.

"What the hell was that for?" That hurt. Clary's fists came down on her hips and she shot me a dagger glare. She looked so cute when she got all fiery like that.

"Don't what me Jace Wayland. Stop looking at me like you're trying to undress me with your eyes." I chuckled. God she was adorable.

"Take it as a complement. I'm kind of a connoisseur of women. Plus, you're really not leaving much to the imagination now are you" I stepped back and grabbed her wrist as her hand swatted out at my face again. I just couldn't help myself. Still holding her wrist I pulled her sharply towards me and put my free hand around the back of her head crashing my lips to hers. Her whole body went ridged. I was going to get another slap for this, probably several from several different people, but it was worth it. Before I could collect myself enough to let her go, I was shocked when her free arm snaked around to the back of my neck and she parted her lips, my mouth responded immediately caressing her sweet apple tasting tongue with my own. I dropped her wrist from my grasp and wrapped my arms greedily around her body as I deepened the kiss. She had her arms around my neck and was running her fingers through my hair, it was driving me crazy. I ran my hands over her back, her sides, and her shoulders hungrily. She had a lot of exposed skin and it felt so good. I lost track of myself and gave her a smack on her firm ass. She pushed me away, stepping back out of my grasp.

"What are you doing?" Clary looked guarded, and kind of upset. I felt my ego take a hit. Girls usually looked euphoric after a kiss like that, if they were still conscious. I was blinking and looking down at her. I wasn't sure what to think about what just happened. She looked like she could see right through me. I had to recover. I smirked and winked at her.

"Can't keep your hands off of me can you?" She took a deep breath and her whole face scrunched up. She looked so pissed, but it was better than the guarded look she just had.

"Not everybody falls for your hot body Jace." I saw the quick realization in her eyes and took advantage of it.

"I know I have a hot body Clary, but it's always nice to hear. Seriously though you need to control your urges I don't want things to get weird between us." Her eyes squinted in a cute angry way and her arm wand up and a flash of red was flying towards my face. Thank you baseball team, I caught it immediately. I hadn't noticed she had an apple in her hand.

"Thank you I would love an apple that's so sweet." I gave Clary a huge smile before taking a big bite of her apple. She let out a huff and threw her fisted hands down by her side, scrunching up her face further. How cute is that? Her eyes flickered past me towards the house and I followed her gaze.

Coming down the stairs was Sebastian. He's some old friend of a friend or something of the family. Can't be too close, I've never met him before. I only got to talk to him on the car ride here, but I already didn't like him. I could tell he was a fake; he wasn't the goody two shoes he was pretending to be. Great, of course, he immediately looked passed me to Clary with a goofy smile on his face. I noticed the way he gave her a once over with his eyes. I wanted to smack that look off his face. I wanted to tell him to 'Stay away from her', I wanted to stand in front of her so he couldn't see her practically naked body, but I suppressed the urges. I wasn't that guy anyway. I was never protective of any of the girls I dated and Clary and I weren't dating. I didn't know what we were, but she wasn't my girlfriend. I just glared at him. He looked like such a tool.

Clary's POV

I was still trying to pull myself together when I saw him coming down the steps from the house. I hadn't met him before, but I knew this had to be Sebastian, Izzy already told me all about him. Aline is a close friend of their family and Sebastian is a friend of her family, though Izzy didn't remember ever meeting him before. He had on black swim shorts, no shirt. Why doesn't anybody where clothes anymore, not that I completely minded. He was pretty attractive, he was tall, Jace's height, and fit, not as chiseled as Jace, but he definitely worked out. He was tan too, much darker than Jace, pin straight chin length messy dark black hair, dark brown eyes, and a huge smile on his face and he was looking straight at me. I could see Jace out of the corner of my eye, he was pissed, I could tell from the set of his shoulders and he had this nasty look on his face. It was kind of amusing. One minute Jace was being his arrogant nasty self, next minute he's kissing me, then he's being a jerk again, and now he's acting, I don't know. Is that what Jace looked like jealous, I wasn't sure. Sebastian glanced from Jace to me.

"Hey. Ah, did I interrupt? You both kind of look pissed off." I shook my head and tried to compose myself.

"No. It's fine. You must be Sebastian, Izzy mentioned you'd be here. I'm Clary" I tried to give a heartfelt smile, but it probably looked more like a grimace. Izzy had already mentioned Sebastian would make great vacation sex; so not going to happen, she had such a one track mind. Now of course that thought was just going to make me uncomfortable around him.

"Yeah, I'm Sebastian. I've heard so much about you. I've been looking forward to putting a face with the fame." Sebastian flashed a mouth full of perfect white teeth.

"Isn't that expression a face with the name?" I mentally kicked myself. I'd spent too much time with Jace over the years. I reverted back to ignoring the point of Sebastian's flirtations comment and answering with a question. Jace shot me a stupid smile he knew Sebastian couldn't see his face from the way he was standing. It was pretty clear Sebastian was trying to phase Jace out of the conversation, but Jace didn't look like he was going anywhere. Sebastian's dumb smile just got wider and he tilted his chin up so slightly.

"No I meant put a face with the fame. The way I see it, you're famous. You're the leading character in every story Izzy tells Aline."

"I'm probably a big disappointment." I snorted.

"On the contrary, so far the tails have not done you justice." I blushed. I could tell he was trying hard at flattery, but I was pretty sure he was bad news. He kept periodically glancing at my body, though trying very hard to keep his eyes on my face. I wanted to get away. I was suddenly very aware how small this bikini was. I grabbed my stuff off the ground and let my towel hang down shielding me partway.

"That's…very…sweet. I was just heading in though. See you guys later." I didn't wait for a response I just bee lined back into the cottage.

As I opened and closed the door I could smell cooking. It smelled really good. I was praying it was anybody but Izzy, she couldn't cook to save her life. I dropped my stuff on the couch and walked into the kitchen. Maia was making pancakes and bacon and hash browns, it smelled amazing. Maia is 18, but about six months older than me, and never lets me forget it. She was a year ahead of me in school. I've known her for about two years, but ever since I moved out on my own at the end of senior year, Maia has taken over the roll of big sister in my life (though I don't have any actual siblings). She's always watching out for me. She wants me to be happy, she wants me to be in a relationship, because that's what makes her happy, so that's what she thinks everybody needs to be happy. She's always trying to set me up with every geek she knows. She's a gamer and though she's cool, she has a lot of geeky gamer friends. She's always in a relationship, and though Jordan seems nice, she's been in a lot of long term relationships that didn't work. She loves the idea of love, but I don't know if she's ever really in love with any of the guys she dates. She does a horrible job at playing cupid; I went on more terrible first dates in the last month since school got out. I went on more dates period this last month than I've been on in my whole life leading up to that point. She's sweet though, and she means well. She's pretty, just about my height, but twice my size, and really curvy. She has beautiful chocolate eyes, olive skin, and wicked curly black hair.

"Hey big sis." She half turned and gave me a smile as I came up behind her and gave her shoulders a half hug from behind and kissed her cheek.

"Hey girl. You made it. Haven't seen Izzy up yet, but I saw the car, so I figured you guys got in alright. Grab some coffee, have a seat. Catch me up. Saw those two hoties vying for your attention outside a few minutes ago."

"Ugh, Maia it's too early for this. You know, if this was the 1800s you would have married me off to the first suitor that came knocking. I just know it." She giggled. I took a cup of coffee and leaned my back against the counter next to her.

"Of course I would have. Then I wouldn't have to worry about you anymore. Izzy said she's asked you if you'd like a roommate, offered to move in with you. She said you told her you would have to think about it. What's up with that? You can't like living alone." Maia was plating the pancakes and bacon I reached for a piece but she whacked my hand with the spatula and gave me a scowling look.

"Who will you live with if I steal Izzy from you? Then you'd be alone. Plus you know I like my space." The door opened and closed and Jordan walked in. Maia had text me pictures, and though I had never met Jordan I already knew this was him. Jordan is tall, several inches taller than Jace, he was wearing cut off gray sweat pants and a white t-shirt, but he looked like he had the body of a wrestler, more bulky muscular, not as lean as Jace. His brown hair looked messy, not too short, more like an overgrown haircut than that he likely keeps it that length. He looked in my direction as he walked through the kitchen giving me a good view of his brown eyes.

"Hey beautiful." He walked over to Maia and gave her a kiss, effectively distracting her as he grabbed several pieces of bacon and took off towards the coffee pot. Maia glowered.

"Jordan you're such an animal, save some for everybody else. Clary this is Jordan, Jordan this is Clary."

"Hey." Jordan jerked his chin in my direction.

"Hey." I jerked my chin towards him.

"Clary. Jordan stays almost every night at the apartment anyway. I'm hardly ever alone. Izzy would probably prefer living with you. I haven't stayed over as much lately and I know her and Simon stay most nights at your place anyway." Maia gave me an encouraging look and returned her attention to the hash browns.

"I don't know Maia. I-" Izzy came prancing into the kitchen with a cherry red full coverage bikini, short jean shorts sitting low on her hips and a translucent ¾ length sleeve white cover-up top. I could see why her bikini was so much bigger then mine, she had a lot more she had to cover.

"Clary that bathing suit looks amazing on you, but are you going to wear it around the house all day." I looked down and blushed, I completely forgot I was walking around the house in just a bathing suit.

"God. I just came in from outside a few minutes ago and forgot I was wearing it. Maia? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't notice. I was cooking. Jordan why didn't you say something, you must have noticed?"

"Is this one of those trick questions that no matter how I answer I'm in trouble?" Maia glared at him.

I heard a door open and close somewhere in the house.

"Izzy I can't believe this thing, it's tiny, I'm practically naked." I gestured to my body.

"Well you look amazing, so suck it up."

"I glanced through the rest of the clothes. You can't expect me to wear half that stuff Izzy."

"I expect you to wear all of it Clary." Izzy shot back sarcastically.

"Half of that stuff isn't lake attire. Why are there so many dresses?"

"Those are for all the bars and clubbing. No more jeans, it's not getting you anywhere. We are going out tonight and every night why we're here."

I loudly scoffed.

"Izzy, some of that stuff is tiny. I don't even know how you can call some of those things dresses. They're silk and lace. You can't expect me to wear those." I was blushing; some of the clothes were really over the top. Izzy laughed loudly as she poured a cup of coffee. Jordan looked embarrassed.

"Clary that's called lingerie and I expect you to wear every single thing I bought you during this trip, silk, lace and all."

"I bet Izzy worked hard picking all those clothes out. I think Clary should model everything for us right now, starting with the lingerie." I jumped at the sound of the unexpected voice. Jace raised his eyebrows up and down in a suggestive manner with a cocky smile on his face. He was leaning against the door frame to the kitchen eating an apple; probably my apple. I hadn't heard the footsteps approaching; he could be so damn quiet when he wanted to. Before I could think of anything to say Simon walked into the kitchen. If Maia is my bossy big sister trying to marry me off to the first eligible bachelor, Simon is my protective big brother trying to keep every guy away from me. Simon's about five foot 10 inches, pretty average height for a guy. He has a little bulk, but nothing compared to the rest of the guys here. He has short brown curly hair, fair skin, brown eyes and glasses. He was wearing knee length gym shorts and a black gamer t-shirt. He had a million of these black gamer t-shirts, they all had weird expressions on them about playing video games. Maia tried to explain some of them to me, she was all into gaming, but I didn't understand half of them. As always his eyes fixed immediately on me as he walked in the room. He rushed over to me with large eyes and took his shirt off and held it up in front of me.

"Put some clothes on. You look naked." He spouted. He was looking from me to the rest of the eyes in the kitchen. I rolled my eyes.

"Says the guy who is tearing off his shirt to offer it to me."

"Why didn't you offer your shirt to me?" Jace asked sarcastically as he smiled and gestured to his naked chest.

"Hi Simon. Good to see you. Missed you too." Izzy sputtered sarcastically, as she rolled her eyes and walked across the room, grabbed Simon's shirt out of his hands, and threw it in the dirty sink water.

"We're at the lake. Take a chill pill. God." She shifted her gaze to me pointing her finger.

"Clary I blame you for all the boys' behavior here. One day and you're already causing problems." I shot her a look of surprise.

"I didn't do any-." She cut me off.

"We're going to Pandemonium tonight, Clary no choice, everybody else this is an open invite. Clary I'm teaching you how to use your God given natural feminine superiority tonight. We'll leave at nine. Clary, my room seven sharp, I need time to make you look out of this world. Better take a nap too, because I'm not letting you come home until you make some measurable progress.' Izzy raised her eyebrows and walked out the room. I rolled my eyes. This was not going to be a fun night. I was not going to have a good time. I started to brush passed Jace to get my stuff from the living room. Maybe I would take a nap. I was pretty tired. He leaned down and put a hand on my bare shoulder. I felt a warm tingling fill my body. I hated the way my body reacted to him. I could feel his warm breath against face; his lips grazed my ear as he whispered.

"You already look out of this world Clary. Don't let Izzy tell you any different." He let his fingers trail down my arm raising goose bumps all over me. He gazed quickly into my eyes before detaching himself from the doorframe and walking into the kitchen. I hated the complex relationship I had with Jace. When he wasn't being a sarcastic ass and I wasn't completely pissed off at him, he made me so confused. I never knew if the few nice things that came out of his mouth were sincere. I grabbed my bag from the couch and headed towards my bedroom.

Izzy was throwing a cotton t-shirt on as I opened the door.

"Oh sorry." I closed the door quickly.

"No, You're fine. I'm done. I should have locked it." I walked into the room. Izzy was sitting on the edge of the bed wearing a stupid gamer cotton black t-shirt. I walked over to her and flicked the sleeve.

"This isn't yours."

"Yes it is." She answered indignantly. I sat down on the bed next to her.

"That's Simon's. I've seen him wear it a million times. It's one of his favorites."

"He gave it to me." I rubbed Izzy's back. She looked sad. I wasn't sure when the last time she saw Simon was, but the fact his full attention went right to me, as always, when he walked into the kitchen, probably hurt her feelings pretty bad.

"I'm sorry Izzy. You know he's like my brother. He just wants to protect me." Izzy was looking down at the ground not meeting my eyes. She nodded gently. I knew now probably wasn't the time to dig up her and Simon's relationship. Friday was a long day for both of us, and I knew I didn't sleep well last night, God I couldn't remember the last time I did sleep well. If I was going to be able to keep up with Izzy tonight I needed to take a nap. Though that was exactly what she looked like she was getting ready to do.

"Were you going to take a nap?" Izzy nodded once still not meeting my eyes. I rubbed her back again before heading to my suitcase to look for some cloths.

"Ok, get some rest. I'll lock the door." I grabbed the closest thing to pajamas I could find. I didn't want to take forever, so I settled on a silky pastel green short and camisole set. I rolled my eyes and mentally cursed Izzy again. I grabbed a silky black short robe and my phone and snuck out of the room locking the door behind me.

I couldn't believe I had not yet run into Alec, maybe he was already heading out to pick up Magnus from the train station. Magnus opted not to drive and Alec was planning on picking him up at the train station about an hour away. I knocked gently on the door Izzy had assigned to Alec. A big sparkly sign read "Alec & Magnus". I giggled. Magnus was going to love all of the glitter. She must have put the signs up on each door this morning since I didn't notice them last night. It was really convenient, that way I didn't have to ask around where everybody was sleeping. I knocked gently on Alec's door again, but no answer.

"Alec?" I cracked the door, the room was empty, picked up, bed made. All the rooms looked pretty much the same though, empty, bare, unlived in. Alec, Izzy, and Jace didn't come up to the cottage so much since their parent's stopped coming after Max's death. Robert asked they go through the cottage and get ride of most of the miscellaneous junk throughout the house or pack up and take anything they wanted to keep. Alec and Jace couldn't easily get away from collage, so I had come up with Izzy for long holiday weekends and helped her pack and sort much of the personal stuff in the house. We packed up pretty much everything shy of the stuff in the kitchen and the furniture. Now the whole place looked pretty sterile. I snuck into Alec's room shutting the door behind me and shot him a text.

May I super duper pretty please take a nap in your room. It didn't take him long to respond.

What's wrong with your room?

Izzy messed up. We're sharing.

Shocking! Izzy doesn't share well.

Tell me about it. So?

Of course Dollface. I'll be back in a few hours.

Thanks Cutie! Lots of Love.

Lots of Love.

In a lot of ways I was probably closer to Alec than I was to Maia, Simon or Izzy. There were certain things I knew Simon would balk at, Izzy would act disgusted over that I wasn't standing up for myself, and Maia would want to fight my battles for me. Alec was more of a confident. Where Simon, Maia, and Izzy were always ready with a lecture of what I did wrong or an iron fist ready to pummel anyone that hurt me. Alec was just there to listen and comfort me. He had seen me cry, when very few others had. He'd tell me everything was going to be alright and we'd work through it together. I missed him the most when he went away to college. It was like losing a big piece of me. We kept in contact with text, emails, and phone calls, but it wasn't the same. I missed him and I was really looking forward to spending some time with him.

I pulled the shade and glanced at the clock. Almost eleven, I'd just sleep for a couple hours and be up before Alec got back. I switched on the fan, changed into the silk pajama set, and slid partially under the covers. It was warming up in the cottage, the fan blaring at my face felt good, it was just still cool enough to fall sleep.