I spend the rest of the night in the game room hanging out with Simon. He is in an awful band. The funny part is that everyone in the band is really good at their respective instruments until they start to play together. They just can't seem to work effectively together to make a half way decent song. "So, how are things with Izzy going?" I ask him.

"Thing are great." he says as a small smile pulls up his mouth. "I think we might actually be close to, you know...doing the deed."

My eyes go wide and I clap my hands together. "You go, Glenn Coco!" I say to him.

"You know, I have no idea what that means when you and Izzy say that."

"It's from the cult classic movie Mean Girls. This guy says it when..." I can see Simon's eyes glaze over as I am talking. "Never mind. You go, Simon Lewis!"

He smiles sweetly at me and nudges me with his elbow. "And what about you and Jon Cartwright? He seems to think ya'll are getting back together."

I roll my eyes and cross my arms across my chest. "We are not getting back together. I don't know why he even wants to so bad. Maybe he just wants to try and get me to give him my V card before college just so he can say he got it."

"I don't know, Clary. I still think he has it bad for you."

I look over to Jon who is playing Halo with my brother. We had a lot of good times together. We also had a lot of bad times. He didn't seem to think he had to stop flirting or making out with other girls while we were together. There were constant rumors flying around of him being with this girl or that one and he would never let me just show up at his house. He would always make me call before hand and make sure it was a 'good time'. Something about that always made me suspicious. "Maybe he does. But he ruined it completely by cheating on me. I won't stand for that."

"And you shouldn't." Simon replies. He hands me his guitar and tries to teach me a few chords. I get a few down and am very proud of myself. I push him excitedly to show me more and he does. I am so engrossed in him teaching me that I don't see that everyone has moved downstairs and into the game room with us. I look up and see Magnus, Alec, and Jace standing in a corner talking and Helen, my brother, Jon C., and Maia are playing Mario Kart. Bat and Jordan have become Maia's personal cheerleading squad and are yelling their own advice to her that is surely not helping. Izzy and Aline have come to join us and Simon has started playing 'Say it ain't So' by Weezer. He is also singing along and sounds pretty good. His voice is smooth and yet commanding. By the time he gets to the end of the song, most of us have joined in. We all jump up and yell the next verse.

Like father, step father

The son is drowning in the flood

Yeah...yeah, yeah...yeah, yeah!

Say it ain't so

Your drug is a heartbreaker

Say it ain't so

My love is a life taker

The song ends and everyone is smiling. I suddenly feel very forlorn. I look around at all of my friends and realize that in a few months, we will mostly all go our own separate ways. Izzy, Simon, and Bat are coming with me to NYU to get my bachelor's in art and I even think Jordan said something about trying to pursue his music career but this is one of the few limited times that we will all be together like this. My mom wasn't too happy about me wanting to go to NYU but when she found out that Izzy and Simon were going, she eventually relaxed. Izzy and I are rooming together in the dorms while Simon and Bat will do the same with each other. Izzy notices my sad face and comes over to me. "What's with the long face, Morgenstern?" she asks me.

"I am just going to miss this." I gesture at all of our friends with smiles on their faces.

Izzy turns back to look at me with a smile on her face. "You know I think I overheard Jace saying that he was going to Julliard for the piano and Alec has been talking about moving to New York with Magnus who apparently has a lot of friends there."

I scrunch my brows together. "Really? Why is everyone going to New York? That's strange that all of us would all choose to go to the same place."

Izzy's smile falters a little and she looks like she is worried about something. "What's wrong, Izzy? Why do you look like you just spilled someone's deep dark secret?"

Izzy quickly smooths her face and shakes her head. "Hmm. I never noticed that everyone was going to New York but now that you point it out, it is kinda a big coincidence." She laughs a little. "I guess we are all dying to get out of here and stake our claim on the world." She shifts nervously and changes the subject abruptly. "I think now would be a good time to talk to Jon C. and put things to bed for good."

I look over at him and see him disappear around the corner to go to the kitchen. "Maybe you're right." I stand up and take a deep breath. "Wish me luck." Simon and Izzy wish me luck and I follow after Jon. I walk into the kitchen and find him standing in the light of the fridge, holding the door open and scanning the contents for something to eat. I clear my throat to make my presence known. His head snaps around and when he sees me, a small smile ghosts across his mouth. "We need to talk." His small smile quickly fades.

"Clary, don't do this to us." He says in a serious voice. "Don't throw the past year away between us."

"Jon, I was not the one to 'throw us away'. You did that the second you made a move on Jayda. You were the one who had her pinned up against the lockers so it was obviously you who made the first move. If it were her who kissed you, like you claim, she would have been the one pushing you against the lockers." I sigh heavily and rub my brow. "I didn't come here to hash out all of the old stuff over again. I came to tell you that you need to stop telling people that we are getting back together because it is not going to happen."

Jon moves quickly around the island in the kitchen that separates us and grabs my hands. "Clary, I love you. I will do anything to make it better. I was stupid! So stupid. Please just give me one more chance." He has bent down and is looking me in the eyes. I can see the hope in his and it takes everything I have to stay my course. "Jon" I say quietly as I remove my hands from his, "I just don't feel the same way you do. I mean, I really care about you and I always will, but I just don't see any kind of future with us." He stands up straight and purses his lips together.

"Why can't you just get over it, Clary!" he snaps loudly at me. "It's not like you were Miss. Perfect." He raises the octaves in his voice to where it is high pitch to mimic me. "Look at my painting, Jon. What paintbrush makes the leaves look more realistic, Jon. Go with me to the museum, Jon." He pulls on his hair. "All you ever talked about was your stupid little hobby!"

"And all you ever talked about was video games and working out!" I shout at him at the top of my lungs. This is going worse than I expected. We both take a step back and calm ourselves. "You see, Jon, this is what I am talking about. We are just not meant to be together."

He spins around and grabs his shirt off of one of the bar stools and his keys from the key hook on the wall. "Maybe you are right, Clary." he says angrily. "Maybe I will go and see what Jayda is up to tonight." He stomps over to the door and slams is shut as he leaves. I lean over onto the counter and rest my face in my hands. I hear someone walk into the room and peek to see that it is Izzy. She comes over and starts to rub comforting circles on my back.

"I wasn't eaves dropping, but I did catch the end of it." She says quietly. "That was a really shitty thing for him to say."

"Yeah, it was. He was definitely hitting below the belt." I reply glumly. "I think I am just going to call it a night and go to bed." Just then, my mom walks in the front door carrying her laptop and her giant bag that she calls a purse. Even though she is a scientist, you would never be able to tell that by looking at her. She wears light and earthy colors and flowing fabrics akin to hippies. "Clary," she says with concern in her voice, "was that Jon I just saw barreling down the street?"

"Yeah, Mom; it was. I just made it very clear to him that we were never getting back together. He didn't take it well." I move around the counter and make my way to the stairs. "And that is why I am going to take a shower and go to bed." I somberly climb the stairs and shut the door to my room. I grab a pair of pajamas and open the door to the Jack and Jill bathroom Jonathan and I share and turn on the shower. I take my time in the steaming hot water, letting it work out all of the tension that has built in my shoulders. I hop out and jump into my pjs and make my way back to my room. I look over to the painting in the corner of my room that I am currently trying to finish and decide to paint for a while. I always seem to lose myself in painting and it makes the whole world and all of it's worries go away. I sit down on my stool and pick up the yellow. I am painting the sunset that I remember from the beach last year. I completely lose myself in the painting and before I know it, it is one in the morning.

I stand up and stretch out my stiff muscles and go to wash off my paintbrushes. When I come back into my room, I notice a light come on in the house next to me. I look out the window and see Jace in his room walking around shirtless and in a pair of pajama pants. He moves some boxes off of his bed and sits down while pulling a keyboard onto his lap from somewhere else in his room. He rests his hands above the keys and closes his eyes for a minute. He starts to move his hands furiously across the keys, all the while, his eyes are closed in concentration. The look on his face is absolutely fascinating. His brows are pulled together slightly but the shape of his closed eyes is somehow relaxed. His lips are slightly parted and his whole body is curved around the instrument. I see that his window is slightly open and I sneak over to my window to pry it open; hoping to hear what he is playing. I slide it up just a few inches and sit on my floor and press my ear to the crack. If I am really still and quiet, I can hear it. Whatever he is playing is so complex and it is absolutely beautiful. The timing in which he plays is perfect and I can hear the complexity of the notes he is playing. I lean against the wall and close my eyes and just listen to the beautiful music.

I wake up on the floor realizing I must have fallen asleep. I have the worst knot in my neck and the air in my room is humid from leaving my window open. I look at my alarm clock and see that it is four in the morning. I pull myself off of the floor and shut my window and close my curtains. I climb into bed and collapse, wrapping the covers around me. As I drift off back to sleep, the notes from Jace's playing are still floating around in my head and they lull me back to sleep.

I open my eyes to the sound of my brother's horrible off key singing in the shower. I pull my pillow over my head to try and drown out his horrible singing with no such luck. I drag myself out of my bed and stumble over to the door and pound on it. "Shut up, Jonathan!" I shout out. "You are making my ears bleed!"

I can hear him laughing through the door. "Oh, good Clary. You're up!" He shouts loudly.

"No thanks to you!" I shout back at him and give him the one fingered salute even though he can't see it and I fall back into bed. Why, oh why, did my parents have to have someone so annoying. After a few minutes of tossing and turning, I realize that I am not going to be able to go back to sleep. I roll over and see that it is 9:45 and slide out of bed. I descend the stairs and make my way to the kitchen where I see my brother eating a bowl of cereal. Milk is dribbling down his chin a little and I scrunch my face up in disgust.

"Jonathan, wipe your dang chin. It's like you are two years old and are still learning how to use utensils." I say to him. He smiles wide at me showing me the contents of his mouth behind his teeth and rubs the back of his hand across his mouth. "Ugh Jon! Use a napkin for crying out loud!" He knows I hate when he does that and that's why he does it. He swallows his bite of food as I grab and bowl and begin to fix myself some cereal. "So..." he says. "what did you want to do today? Mom is at work until 5 and everyone else is either working or doing boring family things for graduation tomorrow."

"I don't know." I say to him while I take a bite.

"What if we drive up to Nashville for the day?" he offers. Nashville is about and hour and a half away (with the way he drives) and it is certainly not as boring as Huntsville.

"Okay. But you have to take me to my favorite music store."

He smiles down at me. "That sounds like a plan!" Jonathan says as he gives me a high five. I can't help but smile back at him. His smile has always been his best feature. It lights up his whole face and is incredibly infectious.

After getting dressed, we climb into his truck and head off to Nashville. We spend the day going from music store to music store and even catch a performance at some barbecue restaurant by some aspiring singer. He really was quite good and I decide to look him up when we get back home. It starts to get late in the day and we decide to head home. The ride home is quiet and very relaxing. When we are about twenty minutes out, Jonathan looks over at me. I have my feet propped up on his dashboard and the wind is blowing my hair wildly around my face while his hair flaps in the wind. "What happened to you last night, Clary? You kind of just disappeared." he asks me.

I lean up and turn the radio down. "Jon C. and I got into a fight when I told him that there was never going to be an 'us' again." I look down at my hands. "He yelled at me and I yelled at him and then he stormed out and said something about going to see if Jayda Jones was available. I really didn't feel like hanging out with everyone after that so I just went to bed." I look back over to Jonathan again and his knuckles are white from clenching the steering wheel so tight.

"You know, even though he is my friend, I still might have to punch his lights out." Jonathan says angrily. "I thought you and him had moved past this whole Jayda thing and then he goes and says that shit to you, knowing it would hurt you."

"Just let it go, Jonathan." I reach out and put my hand on his arm. "I mean, yeah, it did hurt when he said that, but I had just told him that we were never going to get back together. He was mad and he said that because I had hurt him."

"But still, Clary. That doesn't give him the right to hurt you like that." He looks me straight in the eyes. "Do you want me to go teach him a lesson? I could kick his ass and slash his tires. Maybe I will make Jayda fall in love with me if he wants to be with her."

I laugh a little at his enthusiasm and just shake my head no. "No!" he shouts loudly. "I've got it! You know how he wears contacts?" I nod my head in a yes. "I could empty out his eye solution and replace it with lemon juice! That'll teach him!"

I double over in laughter as he joins in. "I..." uncontrollable laughter, "think I might..." giggle, "take you up on that offer!" Although my brother can be super annoying almost all of the time, he isn't half bad the rest of the time. He always knows exactly what to say to bring me out of a bad mood.

By the time we get home, Mom's car is in the driveway. We both bust through the door laughing, planning our attack of Jon C.'s eye solution that we don't even notice the two people in the living room with mom and we go straight to the kitchen. I grab the gallon of sweet tea and take a swig straight from the jug.

"Jonathan, Clary!" Mom shouts from the other room. "Can both of you come here for just a minute?"

I set the jug down and follow Jonathan into the living room. The minute I come around the corner, my eyes zero in on Jace and who I am guessing is his father sitting next to him on the couch. I instantly look down to see what I am wearing. I have on skinny jeans that are ripped at the knees and flip flops. I am wearing an oversized baggy peach colored tank top that is tucked in the front with large arm holes that reveal my black spaghetti strap under shirt on both sides. The neck whole slopes down to the top of my breasts while the back opens to top of my undershirt. 'Not phenomenal but also not the worst' I say to myself. I look back up at Jace and he smirks at me. It's then I remember he 'booped' my nose last night and that is when I decided that I didn't like him.

"Jonathan I believe you have already met both of our new neighbors and Clary, you have met Jace since he was here last night." I nod my head in confirmation. "Well Clary, this is Luke. He is Jace's father." Luke stands up and gives me a warm smile and extends his hand for me to shake. I reach out and take it and smile back at him. "It's nice to meet you, Luke." I say to him.

Luke smiles up at me and says, "I have already heard so much about you, Clary. Between Jace and your mother here, I feel like I already know you." I look over at Jace with surprise and he is looking at his father incredulously.

"What kinds of things have you heard? All good things, I hope." I say sweetly to him, the picture of southern charm.

"Everything I have heard and seen so far have been nothing short of wonderful." Luke replies.

I turn my head to my mom and narrow my eyes at her. "Seen?"

Mom shifts nervously in her seat. "Well, I might have showed them one of your sketch books and a few of your paintings."

"Mom!" I whine at her. I hate when she does that. It is like opening my heart and showing them what lurks in the dark corners of it.

She gets defensive at my tone. "Don't 'mom' me. I can't help it if I am proud of your work. You are an incredible artist."

Jonathan drapes his arm over my shoulder and leans a little bit on me. "I don't know mom." he says uncertainly. "Some of her early work was a little sloppy." I jab him in the ribs with a finger. "The finger painting she did when she was five used too much orange. Orange sun, orange dog, orange house. And the execution was uncoordinated at best." Despite myself, I laugh a little at him critiquing my work.

"I just wanted to let you know that they will be joining us for dinner. I have a roast in the oven." Mom says while looking shyly at Luke.

Jonathan gets a big grin on his face and pumps his fist in the air triumphantly. "I thought I smelled your roast! You know it's my favorite, Mom."

Mom smiles at his reaction. "Only you could get that excited about food." She says affectionately at him.

Jonathan rubs his hands over his chest and down to his stomach. "How do you think I keep up such a hot bod? It takes effort, Mom." She rolls her eyes at him while I simultaneously do the same. The oven timer beeps then and mom stands up and says that dinner is ready. I set up the plates and Jace offers to set out the cups. Mom pulls the roast out and sets it on the table on top of the chopping block. There are potatoes, carrots, onions, chopped up celery and the best sauce known to man. I sit down at the table and fully expect Jonathan to take the seat next to me. Instead, Jace swoops in and claims the seat. I narrow my eyes at him while he just smirks at me.

"Jonathan." My mom says. "Can you cut the roast?" Jonathan stands up from where he is sitting across from me and starts to cut the roast into to pieces.

Jace leans over to me and whispers lowly in my ear, "Is the roast as good as Jonathan says it is?", doubt clearly lacing his voice.

"My mom is a perfectly good cook." I say back to him a little offended. We all pick out our piece and begin to dig in. I look over to Luke who makes a long Mmmmmm sound and looks up at my mother. She looks shyly down and blushes. Wait a minute. She blushed. I narrow my eyes at her and watch her as she looks at him through hooded eyes and reaches up to nervously tuck her hair behind her ear. If I didn't know any better, I would say she liked him. Like 'like' liked him. I am broken out of my careful study by Jace.

"You're right. This isn't half bad." Jace says.

"Wow. Are you okay? That must have been hard for you." I reply to him. He squints his eyes at me in confusion then asks, "What are you talking about?"

"To admit that I was right. You don't strike me as the type of person who likes to admit when someone else is right." I say innocently to him. "Am I right?"

His expression turns sour and he spears a carrot and shoves it into his mouth. I smile to myself, glad that I was finally able to get a rise out of him. "I have no problem admitting when someone else is right." He says lowly to me. "I can't help that it is just so exceedingly rare that the feeling is foreign to me." I look up at him and he is still brewing. I look over to Jonathan who asks me with his eyes 'is everything okay' and I smirk and nod in response.

"So, Luke, what brings you here to Huntsville?" Mom asks him.

He swallows his bite of food and wipes his mouth. "Well," he gestures towards Jace, "my son and I felt like we just needed a fresh start. I bought a book store near downtown and Jace is going to leave me soon and go to college."

"Is that so?" Mom says and looks at Jace. "Where are you going to college, Jace?"

"I am going to Julliard School of Music. My specialty is piano though I hope to be well rounded on more instruments by the time I graduate."

Mom perks up at this information. "Oh really? I believe a congratulations are in order. I hear that Julliard is an exceptionally hard school to get in."

Jace smiles shyly. "Yes ma'am. It is."

"Did Clary tell you that she is going to NYU?"

Jace looks down at me and raises one eyebrow. "No, I don't believe she did."

Luke cuts in then. "That's wonderful Jace. Now you will know somebody when you get there."

"Yep. I guess I will." He says with some emotion I can't place. The dinner continues with small talk and I can see that every time Luke compliments my mother's cooking, her face turns the color of her hair. I actually think she might be crushing on him. I look over to Jon and catch his eyes and nod my head towards mom as if to say 'do you see this?', but he just glances back and forth between me and mom with this dumb look on his face. He pulls his brows together in confusion and mouths 'what?' and I just slump down and hang my head. That boy can be so clueless.

"I see that you have noticed what I have noticed." Jace whispers to me and looks pointedly at Mom who is giggling at something Luke said.

"Yeah, I guess I have noticed."

"I haven"t seen him smile this much in over a year." Jace says softly. The tone in his voice makes me look up at him and he has a tiny sweet smile on his face while he watches his father. I look back to my mom and try to remember her smiling so much. It was a year or two before Dad died since I have seen her smile so much. My heart instantly melts a little towards Luke. Maybe Mom and Luke will start dating. And if it went even further than that, then Jace would become my brother. Something about that idea makes my stomach do flips in the bad way. Not in the 'ugh, I can't stand him' kind of way but in the 'no, not him' kind of way. I don't think I could ever look at him and see him as a brother.

"Umm, Clary." Jace says and snaps me out of my own head. "You are staring at me."

Crap. Play it cool, Clary. Play it cool. "You, um, have some food on your face." I notice that he has a piece of potato on his cheek and give myself a mental high five for recovering so quickly.

"Where is it at?" Jace asks.

"Um, right here." I point to where it is on my face. He brings the napkin up to wipe his face and misses completely. "No, not there." I say to him. "Here." I gesture to the spot where it is on him by pointing to my cheek. He brings the napkin up again and misses the mark completely again. I huff and instinctively reach up, without thinking, and drag my thumb across his cheek. We lock eyes and I think I see him suck in a breath as my thumb touches his face. He has the most beautiful eyes. I feel like I can't move and my finger is still sliding very slowly across his cheek, wiping away the piece of potato while we look into each other's eyes. After a few seconds, I feel someone kick me and I pull my hand away like his skin has burned me. He pulls his eyes away from me and lets out a breath he was holding while I do the same thing. I look over to my brother, who is obviously the one who kicked me, and he gives me a look of 'what was that?' I very discreetly shrug my shoulders and pick up my fork and quickly continue eating.

We finish dinner and Luke offers to help my mom do the dishes and Jace, Jonathan, and I go into the game room and turn on a movie. Jonathan picks The Notebook because it is one of his favorite movies, even though he will vehemently deny it. He is just a really big, ooey, gooey softy in the middle. When the scene comes on where the couple gets into a fight and break up, I see a tear slide down his face. I nudge Jace, who is sitting next to me on the couch, and nod my head discreetly towards my brother. He looks over at him and starts laughing silently as Jonathan starts to mouth the words to the movie.

"This really is one of his favorite movies." Jace whisper laughs into my ear. His breath blowing on my skin sends shivers down my body. I make a fatal mistake and turn my head to him. Our faces are less than an inch apart and I can feel the electricity flowing between us. His eyes, once again, trap mine and we are both breathing raggedly. He pulls a hand up to my face and I am too frozen to move. He trails his fingers across my face and pushes a few stray strands of my hair behind my ear. He keeps his hand on my face and begins to lean in. I instantly panic and turn my head back to the T.V. while he drops his hand back into his lap.

I don't even remember the rest of the movie after that. All I can concentrate on is Jace's body heat radiating next to me and the electric current that is coming from his skin. I have never been more aware of anyone in my entire life. I am almost grateful when the movie ends. I hop up and say that I am going to go check on mom. As soon as I leave the room, I flatten myself against the wall next to the door and take deep breaths. 'What in the hell is going on' I say to myself. I thought I hated him after he infuriatingly booped my nose last night.

I push off of the wall after a few minutes and shake my head trying to clear it. As I get closer to the kitchen, I hear my mother laughing hysterically. I peak around the corner and see that Luke is in the middle of some story and he has his arms spread wide and is gesturing wildly while mom doubles over in laughter. I slowly back away and creep my way back to the game room. By the time I return, the boys are in the middle of a fierce battle in Mario Kart and I move to sit on the couch far away from Jace. I laugh alot at watching Jonathan's sour expression, who never loses at Mario Kart, get completely destroyed by Jace. They let me join in on the next few races where I surprisingly come in second after Jace, and beat Jonathan, which never happens. His competitiveness is just as bad as mine and he throws the controller down and stomps off like a baby.

"Awww, come on Jonathan. I just got really lucky on that last lap." I say while trying to contain my laughter. He continues out of the room and I look over to Jace who is just watching me and smiling.

"You Morgensterns are really sore losers, aren't you." Jace says.

"I don't like to think of it as being sore losers. I like to think of it as very passionate second placers."

Jace laughs a little. "You know, that doesn't make a lot of sense, Clary."

"It doesn't have to make sense. We Morgensterns are a proud family and we do not come in second in anything." I say as I hold my head up high.

"Except swimming and video games." Jace adds with a drop of his voice. I narrow my eyes at him playfully and he smiles that beautiful crooked smile of his. I have to take a deep breath to calm myself after he smiled at me that way. "Do you want to go another round?" he asks me and gestures to the game.

I smile evilly at him and say, "You're going down, blondie."

Jace huffs at me and throws his head back in a theatrical laugh. "Ha! You sure do talk a lot of smack for such a little person."

I snap my head at him and give him a dirty look while I bring back my fist and lightly punch him in the arm. "Stop calling me little." I say through gritted teeth. He rubs his arm and looks down at me like he is entertained by my reaction. "You are also pretty violent."

"I am not violent." I say indignantly at him. "I like to think of it as being very passionate about not being called little."

He laughs loudly at my statement. "You also seem to be in denial."

"Whatever you say, pretty boy. Just remember to watch out for my banana peels because you are going to be looking at my backside the whole game."

His eyes widen for a fraction of a second before he looks at me with a challenge in his eyes. "You are so going down, Morgenstern."

"In your dreams...wait...what is your last name?" I ask him. He laughs at this. "It's Herondale."

"In your dreams, Herondale."

The countdown begins and I destroy him the first race and he barely wins on the next one. On the third round, I win by the skin of my teeth with him hot on my heels. Jace does a mock announcer's voice. "It all comes down to this, ladies and gentlemen." I scoot to the edge of my seat and lean in intently as the race starts. The first two laps the lead changes multiple times between us and on the third, I run into an obstacle and Jace passes me. "No, no, no!" I shout out as I stand up out of my seat. I can see Jace ahead of me and he is close the the finish line. I hit my boost that I have been saving and just at that moment, Jace runs off the road and I shoot past him and win the final race.

I start to scream and jump up and down! I turn around to face him and he is smirking at me as he leans back into the couch. "In your face, Herondale!" I say as I move to step up onto the couch to continue my celebration. My foot doesn't quite make it all the way onto the couch to ensure my footing and I slip off and come falling down onto Jace. I land on him very ungracefully, and he huffs out a breath of air as my chest collides with his. I am horribly embarrassed and start to apologize profusely when I make the mistake of looking up at his face again. Our noses are touching and my breathing instantly becomes shallow. His eyes break away from mine and he looks down at my lips. His arms come up around me as I am frozen still, and he puts one hand on my lower back and the other on the back of my neck. He pulls me in and I close my eyes. I can hear his breathing is just as unsteady as mine as he brings his lips to mine. They are soft and warm and everything I thought they would be. He continues to kiss me and I lean into it. I bring one of my hands up and tangle it in his hair at the back of his neck. His tongue slides over my lip and I open my mouth to let him in. Our tongues roll against each other and oh..my..gosh is he a good kisser. His mouth applies just the right amount of pressure and his hands start to skim over my body.

He pulls back and he is breathing hard as he rests his forehead against mine. "I have wanted to do that since I first saw you get out of your Jeep." I want to make some sort of smart ass-y remark but something takes over my brain and instead, I say, "Well then, why did you stop." I say in a surprisingly seductive whisper. He crashes his lips against mine hungrily and flips us over to where he is pressing me into the couch. Both of my hands fly up to his face and skim down his jaw. His hands are gentle as he tangles one in my hair and our kissing deepens. The kiss becomes unbelievably passionate as our tongues crash into each other. He pulls away and starts trailing kisses down my neck and I arch my back into him and push my head into the cushions on the back of the couch. My eyes are closed and I let a little moan escape my lips. I open my eyes a little and see an upside down Jonathan holding a bite of ice cream mid way to his mouth like he is frozen in time. His eyes are bugged out of his head and I instantly tap Jace on the shoulder as he kisses his way back up my neck. He meets a sensitive part of my neck while his hand travels to my waist and another small moan escapes my mouth.

I instantly shove Jace away before he can make me make that sound again and he looks up at me questioningly when he sees my brother standing behind me. He jumps off of me and smooths his clothes down and shifts uncomfortably. I turn around and see that Jonathan still hasn't moved and his spoon remains halfway to his mouth while the ice cream drips from it while his eyes are opened wide.

"I...I.." Jace stammers. "I am sorry sir...I mean Jonathan."

I look at Jace questioningly and then back at Jonathan who seems to have been unfrozen. "I came here to tell you that your FATHER is leaving."

"Oh. Okay. Right. I guess I had better go to." Jace says. He looks down at me and gives me a nervous smile before bolting out of the room. Jonathan moves over to me after he leaves the room and falls onto the couch next to me. "Well that is not something I expected to see tonight." Jonathan says playfully. "I think I might be permanently brain damaged."

I punch him in the arm and say, "Don't be such a baby. What do you think Jon Cartwright and I did when we were dating? It's not like we just held hands and played monopoly when we were alone."

"I know that, Clary, but I didn't have to watch it and he was strictly forbidden to talk about it when I was around." He looks over at me and I can tell he is studying my face. "How in the hell did that happen anyway?"

I look off into nothing and say, "I have no idea. One minute I am destroying him in a video game and the next minute we are making out."

"Yeah, I saw that part." he says pointedly.

An awkward silence passes between us before I hop up and tell him that I am going to go to bed. I reach my room and peek through the curtains at Jace's room and see that his light isn't on. I put a pair of sleep shorts and a camisole on and grab my sketch book. I flip to a new page, and begin to draw aimlessly. It isn't until I am finished that I have realized that I have drawn Jace, in all of his glory. He is giving me that crooked beautiful smirk and his hair is lightly blowing in the wind. I set the sketch book down on my night stand and turn off my lamp as I slide into the covers. When everything is quiet, I think I hear soft music. I walk over to my window and see that Jace's light is on and his window is open but his curtains are closed. I crack my window and beautiful music fills my room. I move back to my bed and, once again, fall asleep to his beautiful playing.