Ivy's POV

The ethereal stars winked at me from the endless void of darkness, the sun hid away. We laid on Jace's apartment roof observing the magical colours: birth-stone blue, pearl white in other places. They danced around the luminous moon, showing off their angel like beauty. The ones furthest away flashed like eager children wanting as much attention as the others. I felt finally at peace with everything, my worries floated away with the light wind.

The feeling of Jace's hand brush against my own brought me back to reality. We both laid on our backs on the roof of his apartment, something he showed me we could do after I mentioned my love for nature and stars. We must had just lied there in silence, listening to the sound of people having late night drives in their cars and useless chatter from miles away for at least 20 minutes.

I turned my head to the left so that I was now facing him, his body right next to mine. He was looking straight forward, up in the sky.

I found myself staring at him, watching as his amazing blue eyes moved constantly from one star to the next. I memorised every little detail of his face. His deep blue eyes, the light trail of freckles over the bridge of his nose, the way his hair moved in different directions caused by the night breeze, his full lips. I resisted the urge to trace his sharp jawline with my fingers.

His eyes met mine, his warm breath hit my face. He lazily smiled at me and I returned the favour. A wave of understanding ran through my body as we stared at each other, making me want to tell him what had been on my mind.

I looked back up at the night sky and sighed, feeling my previously buried worries and problems resurfacing with what I was about to say. I took a deep breath in and out, carefully planning what I was going to say in my head before I said it out loud, something I do when I am nervous.

I could feel Jace watching me, studying me. I opened my mouth to finally release what I had been holding in for days, maybe even years but nothing came out. Nothing. I had choked made myself look like a fool, gaping like a goldfish.

I tightly closed my eyes, my thoughts going 100 mph in my head drove me insane when I felt Jace move my hand with his, intertwining our fingers, reassuring me. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, he was still looking up almost as if what he had just done was nothing.

I felt calmer. I relaxed my body and allowed myself to talk and not overthink it.

"Something that happened years ago keeps showing up, completely throwing me off. I thought I had left it in the past, you know."

I noticed how he had started tracing circles on the palm of my hand with his thumb in a comforting way.

"What's that then?" He asked, his voice soft.

"When I was at the park that day you saw me, I watched a little girl and her Dad playing soccer. It reminded me of how my Dad and I were before everything turned to shit between us."

I had never really told many people about what happened. I had always kept it to myself and it was proving harder than I thought to tell Jace. I was not entirely sure what was making me talk to him of all people about it, it probably had to do with the feeling of security I felt when I was with him. It was almost as if I could tell him anything and it wouldn't turn him away, and I felt like that towards him too.

"What happened between you two that made 'everything turn to shit'?"

I could tell that he was being patient with me, not wanting to over do it with the questions and I deeply appreciated it. Not many people understand and respect people's boundaries, Jace, however didn't have that problem.

"When I was 13, my Dad just walked out on my Mum and I. They had been together for over 15 years, but he found a new girlfriend after a few months but that didn't bother me," I sat up, crossed my legs, feeling the need to get more comfortable.

"You see, he had left many times before and came back. That went on for years, so I just thought what is going to be different this time? Turns out a lot was."

Jace sat up and scooted over, closer to me, still holding my hand. I stretched my legs out in front of me and twisted my torso side to side, clicking my back. I suddenly felt restless, but I knew why. I was trying to get out of talking but I needed to. I had to.

"It was when we started arguing about everything and most of the time it ended with him telling me it was all my fault. The reason he left was my fault. He would always tell me that I wasn't seeing things right, that I was in a little bubble, that I would regret the way I was being even though I wasn't acting in any way," I scoffed at what I had just remembered, "He- he even used to comment on how- how many friends I had." My voice broke as a I felt a tear form but I was not going to let it fall. He didn't deserve to have that hold on me after all those years.

Biting the inside of my cheek, I felt Jace's grip on my hand tighten. I turned to face him. His lips were in a thin line, eyebrows pulled down from their normal position, eyes furious and looking distantly as bitterness swept across his face. He looked angry about how I was treated and for some weird reason, it made me feel more at ease.

"Look," I said and made him face me from his distant gaze, "I'm not going to sugar coat it, it fucking sucked. The strongest bond I have ever had with a male, still to this day, was with my Dad and to see it turn out to the point where I now don't even know where he is living sucks. But there is no point in getting angry about what he did. It happened in the past. You don't have to worry now."

I looked deeply into his expressive blue eyes and saw them soften before he moved his view back to the skyline of the city. He deeply sighed whilst running his hand through his unruly hair before dropping it defeatedly to his side, all the while never letting go of my hand.

"You're right. I'm sorry. No one should be treated like that and I don't want to add to what is already going on for you and me acting like that isn't helping," he said, his posture slightly more slouched than before.

"You know it's not your fault. You don't need to blame yourself for this."

"No, yeah, I know that. I just don't know why this is all coming back up now. It happened years ago, and I haven't thought about it in ages, but it all just keeps showing up," I thought out loud.

"Life has a funny way of doing that, bringing the past back up and making you face it all again," he told me almost if he knew what I meant but from experience.

"It sure does," my voice whispered out. I felt overwhelmed by everything that was going on in my head. I looked down at my lap trying to get rid of the burning pain I could feel in my throat that occurs usually before I cry.

Jace looked at me and using his free hand, he placed his finger on my chin. He moved my face so I was looking at him. I watched as his eyes flicker from either of my own, unable to settle on one eye.

"I am going to help you through this. I know what it feels like to go through something and to have no one there to help. I'm not going to let that happen to you, no way."

I pulled him into a warm hug.

"Thank you," I whispered into his ear.

"Anytime," he whispered back.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention," I said, pulling back, breaking the hug, "earlier when I said thank you for taking me out and just having a fun time, all of what I just told you was why. I haven't had a male do that with me for ages. It was something that I would do with my Dad, but today, with you, it finally felt like the old times. Simpler times." I explained, saying the last part quieter.

"Your ex- what was his name? Simon?"

I chuckled at his fake, terrible attempt of remembering his name. I knew he did it to make me laugh and it worked.

"Not even close."

"Whatever his name was, I don't really care, did he not take you out?" I shook my head.

"You're 100% better off without him."

I felt my eyebrows knit together as I felt confused about who he meant.

"Both of them. Your Dad and your ex," he clarified for me.

"Oh, for sure. I know that much," I laughed, feeling mentally lighter than I had in a while.

I shivered, feeling a cold gust of wind that pass by. I picked up my phone and checked the time. "Holy shit," I said under my breath.

"What?"

"Have you seen the time? It's 4:16am." He looked at me and nonchalantly shrugged. "I knew it was late but not this late." I said out loud this time.

"You want to go back down now? It is getting kind of cold now," Jace suggested. He stood up on his feet, putting both our phones in the pocket of his hoodie and held his other hand out for me.

I place my hand in his, using it to stand up, "Yeah, okay."

He led me down the concrete stairs and towards his apartment, opened the door and pulled me eagerly inside. Jace walked over to the kitchen as I ran over and jumped onto his huge couch. I spotted a brown, fluffy blanket and immediately jumped off the couch, grabbed it and sat back down. I turned the TV on with the remote and left it on the first thing that came on. I wasn't really interested in the show, so when Jace sat down next to me and asked what it was about, I had no answer.

"I honestly have no idea."

A deep laugh sounded from the left of me, "So you have been staring at the TV and not paying attention this whole time?"

"Uh, yeah. I have. Is that a problem?" I jokingly asked, finally feeling more like myself.

"And she is back! I'm not entirely sure if that is a good thing though," he shrugged, getting him a dirty look in response. He looked at me and I continued to glare at him before we both burst into laughter.

I lifted the blanket, gestured for Jace to get under it with me. He slid under the blanket, allowing me to cover him with it before he reached for the remote and changed the channel. I automatically snuggled into the heat radiating off his body, resting my head on his shoulder, my legs tucked underneath me faced towards him. Feeling comfortable and safe in that position, the exhaustion of everything took its toll on my body and made me fall asleep promptly.

I heard one last thing before I drifted into a deep slumber.

"I'll protect you, don't worry. I promise. Goodnight, gorgeous." Jace lightly whispered and kissed the top of my head. I felt my lips involuntarily stretch into a sleepy smile as I fell asleep with a weight lifted off my shoulders. 

*

What do you guys think of this chapter? Personally, I think it is the best one so far...

Don't forget to vote, comment and share!

Thank you for reading :)