Thanks so much for the lovely feedback, alerts and faves. So here's chapter number two! Came out a lot longer than I was planning, oops. But who cares? More to read. And love, hopefully. Also… let's play a little game; what's the name of the song from the beginning? First person to get it right gets it right gets a snippet of the next chapter in their inbox! Anyway, thanks again for the interest. Leave me some more reviews? X
It's music that wakes me up. Specifically, my brother's singing. The sound of his old acoustic guitar fills the air too, emanating from the room next door. I lie there listening to the rise and fall of Jonathan's singing without moving an inch. As the first song ends, and another begins, I pull myself up and tug a bottle green dressing gown around me.
When I say Jonathan's bedroom is 'next door,' I mean halfway down the hall and around a corner. The mansion is that big you can get lost. I still did at times.
The front of my brother's bedroom is covered in band photos, posters and memoirs. Dad had hated them all inside his room and demanded he move them. So Jonathan had.
Dad hadn't been amused. He'd tried to peel a poster off, but it merely ripped the paint off from how strong the glue my brother had stuck it on with. He still glared at them as he passed in the corridor, but more or less stopped complaining about them now.
Jonathan's sat on his mahoosive black leather bean bag in the corner of the room next to the window, ankles crossed and strumming at his guitar. I don't recognize the lyrics of the song he's singing. If it's his own song, a band song or someone else's, I have no idea. But it's beautiful. My brother has a talent where he can sing the most pounding, most rocking of songs that make your heart jump out of your chest, but also those tender songs where you can feel the emotion in every note. Every single word.
I'm alive
Even though a part of me has died
You take this heart and breathe it back to life
I fall into your arms open wide
For the duration of the song, I lounge in the doorway, leaning against the frame. Jonathan's fingers are our mothers. Long and slim, made for the taught strings of his guitars, both electric and acoustic. Mine are shorter. Artistic in the way of the paintbrush. Jonathan's hands created music.
With a yawn he sets the instrument down upon the bed. Jonathan never makes his bed. Or his room. It's basically a shithole where you have to jump over shoes, jeans, music books and –heaven help me– underwear. Jonathan was notorious for leaving his freaking underwear everywhere.
Except when dad was around. Because dad, being dad, tossed stray ones he found upon the floor in the bin or on the fire.
"New song?" I ask, sounding more interested than I should have been. But the argument we'd had the previous night was fresh in my mind and to have Jonathan mad at me… I didn't like it.
My brother shakes his head. "Nah, not this one. This belongs to another band. MercyMe they're called."
"Well it's a pretty song. Suits your voice."
Jonathan rolls his eyes, turning his gaze on me. "Are you trying to sweet talk me after last night?"
Busted. I shrug. "I'm just saying… you have never come to my art exhibitions before. Never once come to any of my stuff."
My brother shrugs. "Fine. I guess we're as bad as each other." With a groan he pulls himself to his feet, cracking out a kink in his neck. Disgusting.
"Well I'm off out" he tells me now, reaching for a boot. After grabbing the first, he frowns as he realizes the other one isn't there. I roll my own eyes, turning around towards the door where I'd seen the other, asking "where are you going?"
"Elements Headquarters" he groans, catching the boot as I toss it to him. "Radio Q and A, then an interview with Firelight magazine. Man I hate live Q and A's. It's not questions, just girls giggling down the phone saying 'Jonathan, do you have a girlfriend?' or 'Jonathan you're so hot.' I won't mention the threesome comments."
I shudder internally. "No, please don't."
As Jonathan ties his shoelaces, I ask hesitantly "can I come?"
His hands pause at his laces, glancing up at me. He looks curious. "Did I just hear correctly, Clarissa?"
"Are you going deaf? I wouldn't be shocked with how loud you play your music on those headphones."
He smiles sarcastically, tying off his shoelaces and standing up. Jonathan towers over me. When we were in school, people would never believe we were siblings from how different we looked. Jonathan was all black and white. And me? I was colorful with orange hair, green eyes and more freckles than you could count.
"Sure you can come" Jonathan replies, trying and failing to hide his enthusiasm. "Not in the interview though. That's just for the band, so you'll have to sit outside or on the side and stay quiet. Oh and you can meet the guys." A pause and he hurriedly adds. "And girl. Izzy would kill me if I called her a guy."
I liked this Izzy. She had fire and spirit.
"How about we make a stop at Taki's and pick up some blueberry and white chocolate muffins for them all?" I suggest. Jonathan starts laughing, clapping me on the shoulder. "Treat Jace like that and he'll hire you as his personal muffin deliverer."
"That sounds rude" I note. Jonathan looks thoughtful as he reaches for his black leather jacket that's slung over the top of his bedroom door. "Jace is a rude person" he admits. "And I don't mean language wise either."
Oh how lovely (!) I should have guessed. No one can be that hot without having some flaws.
Jonathan nods to me. "Hurry up and brush your hair, mountain man. You've got about ten minutes before we have to shoot. Gotta be there early to sign documents and all that hoohah."
I don't give him time to finish as I run.
As I drag a brush through my hair, I try to remember the last time me and my brother had gone out together like this. I couldn't remember. It had been way too long.
When we'd been kids he'd sneak me out of the house though. We would go up to the park together. I'd sit on the bench and watch as he swung higher and higher on the swing. He'd never fall off though. As we knew older, he'd show off to those watching by swinging himself backwards and forth while stood up upon the seat. It was through this that he discovered he was rather athletic. By age fourteen he could do back flips off the swing at the very pinnacle of his swing. And then front flips.
I bet he was flippy on stage. He had a large audience to watch him now.
A beep echoes from the front of the mansion and I roll my eyes- he had no patience. At the very last moment I change my flats to a pair of sunset orange wedge heels to try and make me taller.
Jonathan's car is his second child. A 1967 Ford Mustang convertible. The body colour is a deep dark red. The hood is black and currently down, bright morning sun glinting off his hair like a shiny new silver coin.
My brother lowers his sunglasses as I shut the door behind me and make my way over. Ray Ban's of course. Jonathan had expensive taste when it came to fashion. "Are you," he starts slowly, taking in my appearance with an eyebrow raised. "Are you wearing a dress-? Are my eyes okay?"
"Got a problem with that?" I retort pleasantly, pulling the car door open and sitting down next to him. Jonathan sniggers and pushes his sunglasses back up his nose with a finger. "And heels," he notes. "Someone's trying to make an impression."
"I just want to look nice," I snap now. "Is that okay? Or should I go back inside and come out in a black plastic bin bag?"
Jonathan nods to me, ignoring my words. "You look like a ball of sunlight in that." He guns the engine and I swear I hear him moan at the roar. What is it with guys and cars that turns them on so much?
The gates open automatically for us as we pass through them, and my gaze lingers on them a little too long to be normal. Automatic wrought iron gates were for the rich and famous in my eyes.
Jonathan is rich and famous, a voice inside my head reminds me. Your mother is famous as an artist. And your father? He's famous for his cars.
And then there was me. Ordinary, boring Clary. Known for nothing except being related to the rest of my family.
We do stop at Taki's and I slip out, buying half a dozen of their really rather excellent blueberry and white chocolate muffins. When I head back outside with the box, I spy Jonathan still parked in the same place. But he wasn't alone.
A pair of girls, teenagers really, stand before him. I can see Jonathan smiling and nodding. He's handing something back to the pair. Something that makes them squeal 'thank you.'
As I draw closer, I hear my brother telling them "you just drop me a tweet that you were the lovely ladies that I met here and I'll give you a follow later on. Me and my sister must be off now though."
The girls turn at that, staring at me as if they're a pair of squirrels who've found a golden nut. Or that fat kid in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had found another Wonka bar hidden under his fat rolls.
"You're pretty" the blonde girl tells me. She can't be more than thirteen. "Your freckles are so cute."
The compliments take me aback. The girl isn't lying, I can tell it from her face. The smile was real.
I can see Jonathan out of the corner of my eye raising an eyebrow as I open the muffin box and offer the box to them "There's one to spare and I'm not hungry."
They look beyond shocked, but take one each. It's almost cute the way they splutter out their thanks. "We really have to go now" I tell them, shutting the muffin box. "Can't let my brother be late for his interviews now, can we?"
"You've just made two fans for life, you know?" Jonathan tells me in amusement as I sit back down beside him with the muffin box on my knees. I cast a glance behind me as we roll off- the girls are still stood there, watching us go with massive grins on their faces. "Fans of yours?" I ask and Jonathan nods. "But if you ask me, there's a fine line between fans and fangirls. You do get some crazy chicks."
"What do you mean by crazy?" I ask, eyebrow going up. "They come to more than one concert?"
Jonathan snorts in laughter. "Nah. The crazy, hardcore fans are the ones that do that, plus tweet you every single day hoping you'll follow them."
Ah. Twitter.
"That doesn't sound too bad."
"And then you have ones that follow us around. And I mean literally." Jonathan rolled his eyes. "Once in Manchester, way across the pond, we stayed in a hotel and a girl got past security and knocked on our room door. She wasn't major insane like those that run after us though. Amanda her name was." He looked thoughtful. "She'd bought us things. And asked if we could sign her shirt and things for her friends."
"Did you sign it all?"
Jonathan nodded. "Course' I did. She'd bought us these leather cuffs with our names on-" he held up his left hand and I saw a strip of wide dark brown leather with the silver words 'Jonathan' printed onto it around his wrist. It looked professional. Expensive.
Wow. "She really was lovely."
Jonathan snorted with laughter. "So lovely that Jace slept with her."
Okay. I hadn't been expecting that. "Does he sleep with fans often? Can he even do that?"
My brother coughed, failing to hide a laugh. "Jace is Jace. You can't stop him."
And now I wondered something. My eyes narrowed. "Have you slept with any of the fans?"
"Of course not."
"I hope you used protection. Dad would jump off a building if you knocked up a fangirl."
Jonathan shot me a glare. I look away, trying not to snigger. I knew my brother too well at times.
When we pull into the parking lot, I see a gaggle of girls sat outside the venue. More fans? Holy shit. They're everywhere.
Jonathan raises the hood of his beloved car and gets out, pausing just long enough for me to shut the door and walk over to him.
I half expect him to pause and smile, sign things for the fans waiting. But he doesn't. He pushes past them all, announcing loudly "sorry, haven't got time." I keep a tight hold of the muffin box as we step into Elements Headquarters.
Almost instantly I hear a- "You are so fucking late! For god's sake!" the owner of the voice is a tall young man with honey colored hair that hung in his matching aureate eyes. Those same eyes narrowed as they saw me. "And who let the bloody fangirls in?! Get out."
I cast a glance behind me- wait. Was he talking about me?
"Whoa," I just laugh, looking around for my brother for help, but he's already been yanked away towards a room. Something about getting him mic'ed up because he was late. "Me? I'm Clary. Jonathan's sister."
Jace in his photos and posters had been hot, but in real life? He was scorching. Even if he was rude. He was wearing black jeans that made me wonder that if he got a boner, would you be able to tell from how tight they were. I was betting on No. His t-shirt was black too, sporting the word 'MUSE.' A band t-shirt. I certainly knew who they were. Who didn't know who Muse were? He got points for the band t-shirt. Jace's arms were bare and I saw tattoos. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to look any closer. "You look nothing like your 'brother,'" he told me coldly. "You look like a silly little girl in that dress, and you're not fooling anyone with those heels Short Arse."
With a scowl I nod to the muffins in my hands. "No muffin for you, dick."
There was a shout from the other room. "Hey! Stop bothering my little sister and get in here now."
A flash of surprise crosses Jace's face as he looks closer at me. "Hmm. Whatever. Give-" he nods to the muffin box in my hands. "I'm starving."
I clutch them closer to my chest. "Don't care how famous you are, you don't deserve a muffin. Not nice meeting you." I push past him and walk into the room where my brother is settling down before a table with two others. Ah, Isabelle and Alec Lightwood.
Isabelle looks perfect. Like her pictures. Her hair is pulled up into a high ponytail, falling onto her bare shoulder in waves. Damn she has midnight stilettos on too. Next to her was her elder brother Alec. Wearing a dark blue t-shirt, it made his eyes seem like chips of sapphire. They were fixed upon me, frowning lightly. Before them was a man I knew to be Gary Ashby, the Elements radio host. Jonathan chuckles at their confusement. "Yeah Iz she's my sister." He nods to a chair set next to him. "Sit here. Just stay quiet okay? It's live."
I nod and take the seat next to him, ignoring the stares of the Lightwoods. But unlike Jace, they say nothing unkind. It's because of that that I raise the box. "I bought muffins. White chocolate and blueberry."
Alec's eyes widen. "Oh man. I like your sister Jon." I can't help but grin at that as I set it down on the table. Isabelle whines quietly. "I can't. I don't want thunder thighs."
"Iz, one muffin isn't going to make you fat," Alec sighs in exasperation. "It's Taki's. Can't you see the box?"
Isabelle perks up almost instantly. "What?" she picks the box up, inspecting it between dark blue nails. Then without a word she sets it down and shoves one into her mouth. She looked like a lady, but sure didn't eat like one. Jonathan plucks one out and offers me the last one. "Here."
Thinking about how rude Jace was to me, I smile and happily take it.
When Jace himself walks into the room and reaches into the box, only to find it empty, he looks at us four and growls out "fat bastards."
And then he drags up a chair and sets it down next to me, effectively squashing me between him and my brother. Great. Just great. Sausage sandwich with a Clary in the middle.
Gary looks me over like I'm a bug he wants to squash under his expensive boots. "If you weren't Jonathan's sister we would ask you to leave. Just… say nothing. Yes?."
Jonathan throws an arm around my shoulders. For gods sake my cheeks are on fire. The embarrassment…
I eat half of my muffin in silence, ignoring Jace's glares next to me.
A clatter and I hear a quiet beep as they go live.
"Good afternoon New York! Now, as you all know, we have some very special guests here in the studio today. Give a warm round of applause to The Shadowhunters!"
Jace laughs beside me, leaning forward a little. "Hey there. So we're here to talk about our Alicantetour, which you all know, kicks off next Tuesday."
"And the first show shall be right here in New York, yes?" Gary asks. Jace grins. "That's right. We have a mini concert here tonight though in Java Jones. Where it all began. It's free, so first come, first served. Oh, the tour also ends here in New York as well. Two big New York tour dates. You can find the dates on our website. We're traveling all over the states first."
"And then we're off to England" Isabelle chimes in, eyes sparkling. "London first. We're coming to rock the O2 Arena!" she giggles and I'm surprised by how normal they all are. Even more so when Alec chimes in with "Isabelle has this idea in mind where she's going to buy every pair of heels in London that she sees."
"I did not!" She scoffs, slapping his arm lightly. Jonathan sniggers. "Pretty sure you did Izzy. Watch out London- Isabelle's coming for your shoes."
It's like they're a family. No wonder Jonathan preferred spending time with them.
"Don't forget to grab those last minuet tickets and book a place! You don't want to miss this! And now you guys can ask our guests questions." I watched Gary press something on the mic, then look at the laptop screen. "Annnd our first caller?"
The scream answers his words, then the excited words of "Oh. My. God! I love you guys so much! My name is Amy. Jace… marry me?"
Jace laughs at that, and when I shoot him a look, he's smirking as if he's used to these kinds of questions. "Sorry sweetheart- I'm spoken for. McDonalds has her claws sunk into me. She and her Big Macs won't let me leave."
Isabelle just groans and Jonathan presses his forehead to the table. I can tell he's trying not to laugh.
"Next caller please?" Gary asked, and from his expression I could tell he felt awkward.
"Hi there! I'm Susan. Umm… it's a question for Jonathan."
Please don't be a threesome comment.
My brother raises his head, saying into his mic "yes?"
"What made you want to become a musician?"
Jonathan chuckles, running a hand through his white blond hair. "Well… It was a great number of things. But mainly because the guys that got me into music were so amazing. They taught me to love it. We would practice and practice until our throats were raw in Jace's garage. Our hands bleeding and aching. Music for me isn't just a hobby, or a career… it's an animal. And you have to care for it properly or it'll bite you in the ass and it'll freakin' hurt."
Jace laughed at that. "Jon that makes no sense."
"Course it does Blondie" my brother shot back.
Score one to the Morgenstern.
Next question. "Isabelle. Does it get lonely being the only girl in the band?"
Isabelle giggled at that. "No. I don't get lonely."
And then Jonathan spoke. "You won't get lonely this time- my sister's coming on tour with us."
My eyes widened. I opened my mouth to reply but I knew I couldn't. We were bloody live. Jonathan winks at me and I take the opportunity to stomp on his foot in my wedge heels. He groaned quietly, muffling it with his hand. I shot him a sweet, innocent smile.
"Jonathan's talking outta his ass as usual," Jace now laughs. "His sister isn't coming on tour with us. She's small, annoying and would get in the way."
My eyes narrow. Fuck staying silent. "Speaking as the sister in question, I wasn't intending on coming."
"Oh she can come" Isabelle chirps up, grinning evilly at Jace. "To many dicks around here. Not enough boobs. I want her to come."
"This one doesn't have no boobs" Jace shot back, eyes flickering to me. I arch a brow. "You mean you've looked?"
Alec grimaced. "Since when did live radio talks become so lewd?"
Fuck. My cheeks went scarlet once more. We were live on air.
Thousands of girls would have just… oh.
Shit.
I push away from the table and get up, pausing just long enough to shove the rest of the blueberry and white chocolate muffin into Jace's face. My brother bursts out laughing, and so does Isabelle. Alec just shakes his head, but even he lets out a chuckle. "Keys?" I call to Jonathan and he reaches into his back pocket and tosses them to me. I leave without another look back.
When I seat myself back inside Jonathan's expensive Mustang, I just close my eyes and lean my head back against the headrest. Well, boring Clary was certainly on her way out now.
My phone rings. It reads Simon.
"What did you-? I mean-! Were you on live air radio? Radio on-"
He makes no sense. So I end the call. He'd been listening, obviously.
A few minutes later he rings back and I answer, rolling my eyes. "What."
"One question- what did you do to Jace?"
An awkward pause.
"I shoved a muffin in his face. No big deal."
Simon bursts out laughing so loud I have to pull the phone away from my ear. When he calms down just enough to get the words "muffin… in… face-!" out, I press 'end call' again.
When Jonathan returns, his first words are "that, little sister, was the best thing I've ever witnessed."
I arch a brow and glance over at him. He doesn't look mad. On the contrary, he looks amused. "Jace wants me dead now, huh?"
Jonathan shakes his head, sticking the key into the slot and turning the engine on. "Nah. I think he's in shock more than anything. Someone finally took him down a notch. I think you wounded his pride. The feelings new to him. He's used to every girl he meets falling at his feet."
"Yeah… forget me coming on tour with you now." I felt disappointed. Like… really? Jeez.
My brother just stared. "Forget it? Hell Clary- Izzy wants you to come. Even Alec likes you. I think. Besides… it'll be fun! Come hang with your big brother."
"Jace hates me."
"Oh ignore Jace. He'll warm up to you soon enough. He's a prickly little hedgehog."
The mental image of Jace with spikes on his back like a hedgehog came to mind and I couldn't help but laugh. "I'll think about it."
Jonathan revved the engine. "Better start now. After Java Jones tonight, we're off."
Wait. "You're leaving tonight? When will you be back?"
He shrugged. "Ages away. Months. This is a proper tour, Clary. You won't be able to come home for a while."
I frowned at him. "So what are you saying then?"
Jonathan slips his sunglasses back before his eyes. "I'm saying that the band is leaving tonight after the show. It's like… a farewell gig. A send off thing."
Ah.
That sounded… annoying. Having to make my choice so quickly.
And I couldn't ask Simon. If I asked Simon, I knew what his exact words would be. 'You can go on tour with The Shadowhunters? Whoa! Go! You have to go! I'll set up a Twitter account for you and you can post pictures!'
He was always on about making a Twitter account. Sounded like some bird website. As in porn.
Tonight was the deadline, I guess.
"I have a magazine interview next," Jonathan told me. "I'll drop you off around the corner and you can go shopping."
"Only if you let me have your card."
Jonathan rolled his eyes, turning onto the next road. "You dare go insane again and buy all those comics and I swear I'll use them as firewood."
He would as well.
I quickly typed Simon a message. Meet me at Java Jones ASAP.
"Jon, can you drop me at Java instead? Simon wants to meet up."
Jonathan waggled his brows. "Have you finally admitted you love him?"
"Jonathan, if you say that again, I will-"
"Okay okay! I know. Relax. Just saying… that boy fancies you."
"Whatever. Just drop me off there. I'll see you at home before the concert… thing."
I still nabbed his wallet and took a few notes out when he wasn't looking. Lunch was on my brother.
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