A/N will be at the bottom! Hope you like the chapter. :)

Clary made her way into Jace's room, not sure what she was expecting. It was odd, the amount of times he'd been into her room, and yet she hadn't been into his in months. She'd almost forgotten what it looked like, but remembered all over again as she stepped in, the door creaking as she slowly opened it.

His walls were white and bare. Nothing hung on them. His dresser had a mirror, and in it he'd stuck pictures, which was the only sign of life in the room. She walked over to examine them. The pictures were mostly of the two of them-on their first date, the day they took a road trip to the beach after her brother got accepted into Indiana University. It was one of the best universities when it came to soccer, which Jon wanted to focus on when he went to college, so her mother had allowed Jon to go on a celebratory road trip with his new girlfriend, Aline Penhallow, as well as with Jace and Clary. They'd gone to the beach, and the sun shone on their backs, and Clary remembered the way Jace kissed her with the grains of sand as her comfort.

Aline's parents owned a beach house, which was where they stayed during that time. In the picture, Jace and Clary were smiling; she could see the ocean stretching out into the horizon. Aline had taken the picture. She was smiling, and a little sunburned, but her cheeks were red with happiness. Jace wasn't looking at the camera; he was looking at her, and the look on his face made her heart swell up with happiness.

She moved on to the rest of the pictures. There were two more from that day: one of just Clary, sticking her tongue out at him, and another one of the four of them, which the neighbor had taken. They looked happy, unstoppable. That was spring break.

A couple of pictures she'd taken at soccer games were hung up on there, too, and one of the two of them after the team had won in the finals. He was sweaty, but he was holding the trophy, and he was smiling, and she remembered that she'd wanted to kiss him the entire time her mother was taking the picture, but she didn't. That took insane self-control.

"Enjoying the pictures?"

She whirled around. Jace was smirking. He'd been watching her the whole time she explored his room, watched her browse through the pictures. His blond hair was long; he'd let it grow since the soccer season had ended, and it curled at the nape of his neck and almost covered his eyes.

"Definitely," she said, grinning.

He tossed her something. Without thinking, she caught it, realizing too late that it was a roll of tape. "You're here to help me pack, Clary, not to admire yourself. Though," he added, "I understand if it's me you're admiring. But why go for the picture, if the real thing's right here?"

"You talk too much," she said, shaking her head. She gripped the tape roll and eyed the empty boxes he carried. "Did I ever tell you that you're insane for having waited this long to pack?"

"We don't have much time," he admitted.

"You leave in two days, Jace!"

He waved her off and gave her a kiss. "All the more reason to hurry so I can spend tomorrow doing other activities with you."

"Other activities?"

He grinned. "Plenty of them."

She was going to miss him. He wasn't going to go very far. He was only gonna be forty minutes away by train, going to NYU, but she was still going to miss him. She was going with him to the university to help him move in, but she hated it very much. Not the university, of course, but the thought of dropping him off until he found the time to see her again.

But he wasn't far. He was a train ride away, and they'd make it work.

So, for the rest of the day, they packed. They joked around, but the thought of saying goodbye to the boy who'd brought her to safety ten months before made her feel uneasy. Sebastian Verlac was locked up-he was eighteen, and therefore faced the punishment an adult would have, which was nice. It was still unsettling, though, that a guy like that had been walking around the same halls she walked every day, making friends and playing sports and everything.

The day she'd told her mother about what'd happened, Jocelyn flipped out. She'd been worried for Clary, who'd left out the details about her willingly going with Sebastian and everything because, really, that wouldn't have done her any good when it came to talking with her mother. After talking to her, though, everything worked out. Jocelyn appreciated Jace a hell of a lot more once she found out all he'd done for her daughter, which was why she allowed her daughter to have him in her room with the door partly shut.

After that craziness had happened, Jace told her that he was applying to university. She had, of course, known that this would happen; she wasn't dumb, and she supported his choice to go. He'd be stupid not to go, she told him. But the thought of losing him, the thought of his dream university being miles and miles and miles away, scared the crap out of her.

So she was thrilled when he chose to go to NYU. It was close to her. Close to home. She remembered one day, days before he graduated, she sat on the porch with him. Her sketchbook was on her lap, and she'd just come back from playing a friendly game with her brother, and she asked him, "Do you regret it?"

Jace had known exactly what was on her mind. "Not for a second."

"But UCLA—"

"UCLA is amazing, but so is NYU, and so are you."

She'd dropped it, and, as she helped him pack, she shook her head and realized how lucky she was. Jace wasn't just amazingly hot, though that was undeniable, but he was also supportive, and kind, and funny, and he loved her unconditionally. After ten months, she was definitely aware of that.

"You're lost in thought," Jace said, bringing her back to the room in which she sat, taping up boxes of his things.

"I love you, you know that?" She walked over to where he stood. He was making piles of clothes. She kissed him, and he laid her down gently on the bed. The piles toppled over and fell with a thud on the floor, but she had a feeling Jace didn't really care.

"I love you, too," he said, looking at her intently. He placed a kiss on her collarbone, and another on her neck.

"I'm gonna miss you," she said, brows knitted together. "So much."

"I'm just a train ride away," he said, lying down beside her. "If you ever need me-"

"I know. But I always need you." Clary hadn't meant to sound so whiny, but she couldn't help it. "I don't want you to go."

He sighed. "I don't wanna go."

"But you have to. You want to, in a way."

"Yep."

"I know." She positioned herself on top of him, her legs on either side of his hips. "And I'm so, so proud of you." She gave him a kiss and rolled off him. "But we have to pack, or that's gonna go right out the window."

"Nooooo," he said, pulling her back down. She fell on top of him, grinning. He gave her a kiss that shut up the witty remark she ceased to remember, his lips soft against hers. It was a gentle kiss, not an urgent one, and she broke it off with a smile.

"You really take procrastinating to a whole new level, don't you?"

"I do master everything at some point." He laughed, even when she smacked him. "Ow!"

"Serves you right. Come on," she said, getting off him despite her desire to stay on top of him, to keep kissing him. "We have packing to do."

The day after that was spent in bed. They ate in bed, watched movies in bed, and, despite Jace's pleading to "spice things up," had sex in bed.

On Monday, they'd woken up bright and early to help Jace move into NYU. Jon went along with his sister and best friend. The two of them hadn't said it, not so far, but they were going to miss each other. She could feel it in the jokes they made, the way they hung out more than usual, their friendly games of soccer that lasted for hours. And, obviously, Clary knew it the moment her brother insisted he go with his mom and her to help Jace move in.

Jace and her brother sat up front; her brother was driving, and they were talking about soccer. It was almost like they were on the way to a soccer game or to a party, only there was a different feeling to the day, especially when it came to the two of them. They were talking about soccer, the classes they wanted to take (the two of them had been browsing their colleges' websites), the activities they'd join. One would think that the two of them were going to the same college instead of different ones-ones that happened to be in completely different states, hours away from each other.

Clary sat in the back, barely keeping track of the conversation. She was listening to music and thinking about the day they'd had before, and then about the past ten months. About the first time they told her parents that the two of them were going out, and Jocelyn almost fainted because he'd been staying over the entire time. Luke, of course, calmed her down-after making sure that they had done nothing and after her reassuring lie that they had not, in fact, sneaked into each other's rooms at night.

Then there was Thanksgiving. Jocelyn and Luke invited him and his mother over, and it was weird for the first twenty minutes, but then they started talking about art and soccer and college (which made the boys groan and Clary smirk) and everything was okay.

She remembered December, when he'd come over for five minutes on Christmas and gave her a copy of The Great Gatsby. She'd smiled, remembering how they'd used the book as a cover for when they'd been spending time together, but the note inside was an entirely different thing. She'd memorized it from reading it so many times.

Clary,

I love that you love this book, and I love that you love to read, and I love that I can love you without having to hide it. Also, wasn't my improvisation when we were talking about this book to your brother absolutely awesome? That's right. Your boyfriend is the smartest guy in the universe.

I think you're pretty much the most amazing girl in the universe, and it was difficult to pick something that would be special to you and would remind you of us, but I found it. Also, I think you could use a new edition, because your copy's all doggy-eared and beaten up and, basically, you're welcome.

Merry Christmas. This is only the first one of today's presents.

I love you.

She smiled, remembering how she'd shaken her head and punched him in the arm playfully. She'd given him a scarf and a new soccer ball. He'd shown up at eight with a box, and, when she'd opened it, she almost cried.

Inside the box were a bunch of books in pretty much pristine condition. They were all ones he knew she loved, but didn't own. He bought her a couple of his favorites, too, and she'd felt so overwhelmingly happy that she had to hold back tears as she kissed him like it was their last day on this planet. That was when she finally told him she loved him.

And then, on New Year's Eve, they'd had sex for the first time. She felt awkward at first, like the weirdest person in the universe, but he gave her confidence, told her she was beautiful, kissed away every doubt she had about herself and them and everything.

There was the beach trip. The day he'd gotten into NYU, only a few days before that trip, and he'd called her and said "I got in" in the most serious voice he had, and she'd screamed so loud her mother had come running and asked her if she was okay. She was, after all, ecstatic for him. It was one of the best schools in the country, and he'd gotten in.

And it was close to her. That didn't hurt.

They pulled up in front of his dorm building. It was massive, she thought. She saw people with boxes going in and out; he'd chosen to move his stuff in early so that they could avoid the dorm when it got too crowded, so there wasn't an overwhelming amount of people.

Clary looked at them, and the thought that she would be one of them-a student moving into a dorm, starting a new life-overwhelmed her.

Jace wrapped his arms around her. "Ready to help me move in?"

She smiled. In that moment, she remembered about what Isabelle had told her the previous week, moments before she had to leave for Los Angeles for her vacation. "You have to be strong now. You have to be happy for him, even when it's killing you. Especially when it's killing you." Simon had told her something similar to that, and she wondered if the two of them, who'd had their one-year anniversary three and a half weeks before, had talked about the speech they were going to give her.

Clary met Jace's golden eyes. She thought that he had never looked so beautiful, with the sun hitting his face and making his eyes look even more like the color of light honey. She nodded, reaching for his hand. "I absolutely can't wait."

And she knew—even as she helped him move in, as she reminded herself of what her two best friends had told her—that they would be forever.

So, that's it. The last chapter of ARAM.

Thank you so much to everyone who's read the story. It means the world to me, seriously. :) Thank you to my beta, Katwood5, for being amazing and supportive and a great friend. I love you!

I'll be uploading another story in a couple of weeks, if any of you are interested in reading it. If you wanna know when it's up/what it's about, either follow me (only for the notification of when it's up) or let me know so I can PM you.

Again, thank you so much for reading this story!

I hope you liked the last chapter. Let me know what you think! xo