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T h e H o l l o w s I n 
O U R F R E E D O M
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"Me?" He stared at me. Well, shit. "I mean, yeah, because I'm pretty clumsy—" I'm not, "—and those pavements are pretty slippery—" they're not, "—so I get what you mean—" I don't.

"Lex." Oh man, I love when he calls me that.

I managed to refocus.

"I was worried about you because I didn't know where you had gone, why, or when you'd be back. I guessed you had gone with Kim but that didn't really tell me much, only that if anything happened to her, it would probably happen to you, too." How is he this good at admitting his feelings when I can't even admit that I'm still scared of the dark?

I opened and closed my mouth, as if looking like a fish would solve all my problems.

I dropped my bag and took a step forward. I sighed. "I'm sorry. My intention wasn't to worry you."

He smiled, exhaling. "I know, I just panicked. I know you can protect yourself—and probably 50 others, I just worry too much sometimes." I grinned at him whilst shaking my head, closing the gap some more.

"No, it's fine. Honestly, I've never really had anyone worry about me; it's refreshing." It was times like these when I wondered why I hadn't admitted all this secret stuff about me to other people, then I realise that it's only as an affect of being around Jace. Jace is the only one I can confess to.

"Oh?" Jace raised his eyebrow, "so you purposely worried me to trigger that response for your own psychological benefit?"

I faltered. Did he just ask if I was attention-seeking?

Seeing my uncertainty, Jace's smile broadened before he pulled me in for an embrace.

Jace. Just. Hugged. Me.

Oh crap, what do I do?

I decided that the smart thing would be to hug him back.

I always thought that I'd have to initiate everything between us, since he was so obsessed with Sky; I thought he would never notice me.

Had he finally noticed me?

We pulled away after a few moments, and I probably looked entranced, but I didn't really care.

"That was a nice hug." I acknowledged, making Jace stifle a laugh.

He nodded, though, before saying. "It was; you're a good hugger."

I beamed. "Aw, no you were a pretty good hugger—but I'll take the compliment." I swiped my shopping bag from the floor before throwing myself down on the bed, sitting up to rifle through them.

Jace laughed at me this time, before sitting next to me and pulling a menu out of absolutely nowhere.

"Would you like dinner?" He asked. I turned to frown at him; he hadn't eaten yet. Maybe he was waiting for you.

I looked away, "sure."

"So what do you want?" He asked, eyes scanning the menu.

"Uh, just some salad." I told him, without even looking at the menu.

I could feel him frowning at me. "Salad?" He asked.

I smiled. "Yeah, why do you think I look this great?" Jace stared at me. Tough crowd. "Alright, it's some Guardian requirement." I told him, dismissing the conversation quickly.

"So then why doesn't Jameson follow it?" He asked me. I fiddled with a lose piece of plastic on my bag before answering.

I shrugged, "maybe he doesn't have good Guardian ethos." I turned to see Jace looking rather unconvinced.

"Fine." I told him, grabbing the menu from his hands.

"Pasta. I think. With that rich sauce—the tomato one. Maybe some garlic bread too, oh, and I'd die for some olives. The kind without the seeds in the middle. I like the green ones; I'll have a couple dozen of those—they're too good to run out of. While you're at it, I might get a milkshake too—strawberry, fresh but artificial. And, some fries. With lots of salt and, not forgetting, ketchup." I passed the menu back to him, "what did you want?"

He stared at me. "Um, just a steak."

I dismissed the fact that he was looking at me as if I had drunk one to many, and instead thrust the room phone into his hands. He rolled his eyes before dialled the room service.

I took the time to rifle through my purchases, making sense of all of them now that they had all made it back to the hotel with me. There was a very even, and odd, split between practical clothes, and, well, more bold items? Yeah, we'll go with bold.

I could feel Jace looking at me as he waited for the call to go through, so I decided to pull out a rather bolder item, a long, black dress with mesh parts. I didn't think it was too bad, yes, maybe it exposed some leg and stomach but it was hardly a scandal. Jace, however, had a differing opinion as his eyes fell on the dress.

He seemed to stumble.

"Uh–uh yes, we'd like to order room service."

I smirked, taking his stutter as a signal that he liked the dress. I winked at him, which I'm not sure he saw, before jumping off the bed and slipping into the bathroom.

Let's see if it fits.

A couple of moments later, I opened the bathroom door to see Jace placing the hotel phone back in its place, straightening everything out on the bedside table.

Hearing me approach, he said, "I didn't order dessert just yet, I hope you're okay with that but you didn't–" and so he saw me in the dress.

Finally, a reaction. Are there pork chops flying outside in the sky?

He observed me for a while. Do something, say something, bed–

"Nice dress."

I blinked. Nice dress? Nice dress?

I crossed my arms over my chest, not feeling like joking around with him anymore. "Is that all?" I asked, moving closer to him.

He rested further back on the bed, keeping himself up by his arms as his hands pressed into the mattress behind him.

His eyes trailed over me once more. "You should try lighter colours sometimes."

Right. Great.

I huffed before spinning around and shutting myself in the bathroom once more.

I frustratedly changed, throwing my new purchase into the sink. "Nice dress" my arse.

I left the bathroom the same way I had gotten into it: acutely aware that steam was blowing out of my ears.

"You know, even if I stripped down naked you'd still remain sober."

I think the comment surprised Jace, for it took him longer than usual to respond. I wasn't really looking at him to know for sure—I didn't know how to be angry whilst looking at his pretty face, so I didn't look at it.

"One, I wouldn't advise that; I don't think it's healthy, and two, I don't think any man can ignore that." My eyes suddenly wanted to hold him.

What had he said?

"One, I decide what's healthy for me, and two, I've never met someone who could ignore even my clothed body." I tried to remain calm by brushing through my hair, even though I'm pretty sure I could snap it at any moment without notice.

"Ah, so this is different—I'm not at all affected by your body and that offends you."

I glared at him, even if my heart was quietly breaking. "I'm not offended. I don't get offended; I get even. Stop trying to analyse me. And, anyway, I think you're lying."

Jace pulled a face. "I don't lie."

I tried to ignore the fact that he had just ignored everything I had previously said, and instead flipped my hair over my shoulder saying, "we'll see, Clarke, we'll see."

There was optimism, even though I knew that if he hadn't fallen for me now, there was no chance.

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I'm actually really confused to what has happened in this book so far bc I really read this whole thing (or, what I've written so far 👍🏼) and like idk if stuff has already happened or I just remember reading it

Anyway

A full Lexi and Jace chapter and they still didn't progress

I feel like they go backwards lmaoo

Anyway

Questionssss

Opinions on Jace's worry?
Opinions on Lexi and her body confidence?
Opinions on Lexi and Jace?
Opinions on the comedy in this chapter ;) ?

FABULOUS SONGS

Songs that played when I was writing this chapter (in order):
Waiting - Aquilo
HeartLess - Madison Beer
Speechless - Glades
Her (Loving You) - Glades
I Want You so Bad - Glades
Keep It from You - Glades
Oh Woman Oh Man - London Grammar
Home with You - Madison Beer
Human - Aquilo
Beneath Your Beautiful - Labrinth
Fantasy - MS MR

END OF FABULOUS SONGS

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Next update: Monday
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR SPOILER:

A reconciliation.

A revelation.

I'm also guessing everyone wants to see the third book cast list?

And maybe a second update on the same day?

The two year anniversary of the first book is looking spectacular already.