Hi Friends. Can I call you friends? Are we on that level of closeness? Whatever, it doesn't matter.
So, just to clear the air, a lot of you have been asking for/about a kiss scene between Jace and Clary happening at this slumber party. I already have it planned out. There will NOT be a kiss shared between Jace and Clary at the slumber party. I repeat NO Clace kiss at the slumber party.
Don't kill me guyz. -Hides behind the tent that my idiot sisters and cousin are setting up on the living room floor-
Disclaimer: Cassandra owns TMI.
"A blizzard?" Jace asked. He stood up and crossed the room to stand directly in front of his father. His arms were folded across his chest and his eyes were narrowed. "You can't be serious. They can't stay here. There's not enough room. There's not enough food. There is not enough patience in the world to deal with these fools."
Stephen shrugged off his coat and kicked off his boots. "I don't see what the problem is. They are your friends aren't they? I think you should be a bit more polite when speaking of them. Especially when they're in this room."
"No, you're all mistaken. Clarissa Fray is my friend. Clarissa is my best friend. She is my only friend. Alec I can tolerate, he's alright. But the rest of them? Dad, you don't spend seven days of the week with them. I do. And let me tell you, they are all crazy. Do you even know why they're here today? They followed me home. They freaking stalked me." Jace's stony glare shifted to Jonathan and Sebastian accusingly.
Jonathan and Sebastian had been leaning over the back of the couch, watching and listening to what was happening between Jace and his father. They wilted under Jace's gaze and slowly turned around and slid slowly off the couch until they were lying on the floor. They were hiding behind the couch so that Jace could no longer see them.
"Jace," Celine chided. She took the coat from her husband's hands, ignoring his protests of he could do it himself, and grabbed the boots off of the floor. When her husband looked at her strangely and mouthed what was she doing she motioned to the snow melting off the clothing and dripping all over the carpet. "Don't call them idiots. I don't care whether you like them or not. You don't insult them, it's rude."
She turned away from Stephen, before some realization dawned on her. Her spring green eyes widened and she dropped the things she had collected in her arms. Celine whirled around to face Jace. "Clarissa is here? Right now?"
Jonathan's brows furrowed as he crawled out from behind the couch. "Why the hell have you been telling your mom about my sister, Herondale? Or, rather what have you been telling her about my sister?"
"All good things," Celine assured him. Her eyes flicked around the room before they came to rest on Clary, who was still sitting Indian-style on the floor in front of the coffee table. "Oh, are you Clarissa?"
"Um, yeah, I'm Clarissa. I prefer to be called Clary though." She pushed herself to her feet and waved awkwardly to Jace's parents whose eyes were both trained on her. "Uh, hi."
Celine got a bright smile on her face as she looked at Clary and Clary gave her a more tentative and smaller smile. Her husband gave her a warm smile. His eyes darted over to his wife, and upon seeing something in her eyes, grabbed her arm, pulling her closer to him. He leaned down to whisper something in her ear. Jace was staring at his mother and father as he whispered something himself. Celine's mouth fell open and Stephen and Jace said something else to her. Slowly, she nodded her head and shot Clary a longing look, the smile had disappeared slightly. She once again gathered the articles of clothing in her arms and promptly marched off down the hallway. Clary could only assume that she was headed to the laundry room.
"Oh." Stephen gasped loudly and over-exaggeratedly when he caught sight of Tessa and Jem standing awkwardly off to the side. "Forgive my rudeness, you must think so poorly of me for not saying hello to you."
"Oh no, no need to worry. It's quite alright," Jem smiled warmly at him. "Should we move out of the doorway?"
"Of course we should!" Stephen placed a hand on Jace's shoulder and led the three of them to where the other three in the room were gathered. Sebastian and Jonathan grinned toothily up at him from the floor.
"I'm James Carstairs," Jem said. "You can call me Jem though, I don't mind either way. I'm Will's best friend."
Stephen shook his hand before turning to acknowledge Tessa. Tessa introduced herself. "I'm Tessa Gray, Will's girlfriend. Thank you for allowing us to stay here for two weeks. We've already thanked your wife, but we figured we should thank you too. We're complete strangers yet you allowed us into your home. We hope we don't give you a bad image of ourselves, because I'm sure after this visit we'll want to come back one day."
"Oh no it's really not a problem. It's a pleasure to have you," Stephen chuckled lightheartedly before he turned to Jon, Seb, and Clary. "I hope you know that goes for you three as well."
"Why I reckon you're a really swell guy Mr. Herondale," Sebastian said.
"Honey, I do hope you know that four more kids came with Jace. It's not just these three." Celine came back from wherever she had been, her arms now empty. "Two of them are in the kitchen. They should be coming out when the water is done boiling. Jace, could you go fetch them for me, thank you. Tell them I said just turn off the stove if it's not done. And the other two were a boy and a girl. I have no idea where those two ran off to with your nephew Will."
Nobody needed to wonder where they were any longer when a shout came from the top of the stairs. A black ball of fur flew down the stairs, Isabelle and Will barreling after it. They were running side by side, and Isabelle kept elbowing Will, sending him stumbling into the wall. Clary couldn't tell if it was on purpose or not. Simon came walking down the steps a few seconds later. He didn't seem as crazed as Will and Isabelle, seeing as he was whistling the Big Bang Theory theme song.
The ball of fur made it to the ground first, leaping off the last step. It darted to hide behind Clary's legs and Clary twisted around to see it. Now that it was closer and not moving Clary was able to tell that it was a cat. Isabelle skidded to a stop in front of her, and Will stopped beside her a split second later.
"Don't hide the cat, Pixie Girl. I will call the FBI and have you arrested for harboring a fugitive. That cat is the spawn of Satan, I swear it."
"It's a freaking cat, Will!" Isabelle exclaimed. She shoved him in the chest and he went stumbling back a few steps. "You scared it and it scratched you. It was a normal response, what did you think it was going to do? Honestly, if you had scared me I would have done the same damn thing."
"You would have scratched me?" Will asked, arching a dark brow. "I somehow doubt that."
"Dude don't doubt her," Sebastian said. He was still lying on the floor and he didn't look like he planned to move anytime soon. "Don't make her angry. She's freaking scary when she's angry. She goes all Hulk mode and it's terrifying. I am honestly scared for my life when I'm around her."
"All of us in this room can vouch for that. With the exception of you strangers, of course," Jonathan piped up. Isabelle glared at him and he grinned innocently and waved.
Clary was ignoring them as they argued behind her. She turned her back to them and dropped to the floor on her knees. She reached out a tentative hand to pet the cat, not wanting to face the same fate as Will and be scratched. Bright blue eyes blinked up at her. Other than staring, the cat did nothing and Clary hesitantly began running her hand over the cat's head. The cat purred softly and Clary grinned. Then the cat caught sight of something behind her. It darted away from her and Clary followed his movement's with her eyes. It leapt into Jace's arms who was standing behind her.
Jace gazed coolly at Will. Will waved merrily to him.
"Did you mess with Chaton even after I told you not to?" Jace asked, his voice low and dangerous.
"Who, me?" Will feigned shock as he rested his hand on his chest, right over his heart. "No, of course not. I would never. I'm mildly offended that you would even think such a thing about me. Do you not trust me? I am your cousin after all."
Jace's eyes flicked to Will's hand. "If you didn't bother Chaton then how did you get those scratches on your hand?"
Will's head snapped down at lightning fast speed. He raised his hand to his eye as he inspected the wound on the back of his hand. "Oh, this thing? Uh. . . Isabelle did this to me. Yeah, she was upset that I found your room before her. She shouted it but I was already in there. She lashed out."
Sebastian leaned over to whisper to Jonathan. "If I didn't know the truth I would totally believe him. He's a great liar."
Jonathan nodded is head in agreement.
"Alright then," Stephen said. He came up behind Jace and rested his hand on his tense shoulders. "I'm going to diffuse this tension and avoid a fight by changing the subject. Let's get this show on the road. We have three bedrooms and two couches."
Jace turned his head to stare at his father, who like Will, was a little taller than Jace. "We have two bedrooms available to them," Jace said as he ran his fingers through Chaton's fur.
"A couple people are going to have to bunk with you. You know how it is, Kiddo," Stephen ruffled Jace's hair.
Clary had to stifle her laugh behind her hand as Jace made a face at being called 'Kiddo'.
"Wait, wait, hold on a second," Alec said. Both him and Magnus wore confused expressions on their face. "Could you back up and explain what is happening? I have no idea what's going on right now and I don't appreciate being left out of the loop."
"Yeah," Simon nodded his head as he pushed his glasses up his nose and crossed his arms over his chest. "I would like to know what is happening as well. What's going on?"
"Oh right," Stephen slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead. "You guys weren't out here earlier when we discussed the plans. Well, to keep a long story short, there is a blizzard -a blizzard?!- raging on outside, and there is no way in hell that you are getting home tonight. Since you're not getting home, that means you're all spending the night here. Now, do we have any volunteers to sleep on the couch? I think we have a few air mattresses in the garage if you don't want the couch but do want to sleep in the living room."
Alec let out a strangled noise of disbelief. He pressed a hand to his head as he struggled to control his breathing. "I told you Isabelle. I told you that it was going to snow soon and that we had to get home. But did you listen to me? No, no you didn't, just like you never do. And now, because you never listen to me, we are consequently stuck at Jace's for God knows how long."
"Alright, so you said it was going to snow. You were right about that. But you said absolutely nothing about a goddamn blizzard. Forgive me if I thought that by saying snow, you meant a couple flurries here and there that wouldn't even stick to the ground. Besides, didn't you just hear Jace's dad? We're only spending the night. A single night. We'll go home tomorrow and everything will be fine. Just chill out."
"Are you really so dumb to think that we could just actually head home tomorrow?! Isabelle, even if the snow does stop tonight, which it probably won't, they're not going to clear the roads for days. It's Friday now and we'll be lucky if we can manage to get home on Sunday."
Alec's shoulders slumped forward and Isabelle frowned at him.
"I mean really, what's the big deal, Alec? You're surrounded by your friends and some really nice people. With the exception of William and Jace of course. It's the Herondale boys, it runs in their blood to be overly rude. It's a nice house, and they're offering to let us sleep here. It's really not all that bad."
"That's not my problem, Isabelle."
"Then tell me what is your problem, Alec! I'm not a mind-reader. You can't just expect me to know what's wrong with you."
There was a few seconds when everyone was silent, even their breathing was stilled. The silence was broken with the occasional purr from Chaton. The Lightwood siblings stared at each other. Alec's blue eyes were hard as he gazed coolly at Isabelle. Isabelle's brows were knit together and her soft brown eyes held confusion and questions. Alec looked away from her first and shook his head.
"Forget it, Isabelle. I'm going to call Mom and explain why we're not home yet."
"It's not like Maryse would even care,' Isabelle murmured under her breath.
Alec marched over and grabbed his book bag that rested under the window, against the wall. This was where they had all abandoned their coats, bags, scarves, gloves, and shoes upon entering the Herondale residence. Will, Tessa, and Jem's suitcases were also there. He pulled out his phone from the smallest pocket and pressed it to his ear. He walked towards the kitchen, brushing off Isabelle's hand when she reached out to touch his shoulder. Isabelle sighed before following after him.
Celine pursed her lips together and her husband spoke. "You should all probably take a page from Alec's book and call your parents as well. I'll learn all your names and we can figure out the sleeping arrangements in a few minutes. Just go and assure your parents you're not dead before you lose signal."
Jonathan turned to Clary. "So are you calling Mom and Luke, or am I?"
"Uh, you are calling them, obviously. After all, this was your genius idea and you got us into this mess. Mom is going to be so pissed at you and I will not take the blame."
"First off, this was not my idea. This was all Sebastian's brain. And I'll just work my Jonathan Charm on her and blame it all on peer pressure."
Jonathan pulled his phone out of his back pocket and proceeded to dial his mother's number. He winked at Clary and Clary smiled as if she was not at all convinced that he would get off the hook.
"Hey Mom. . . No, no. Nothing like that, I promise. . . Yes, your baby is fine. Do you need to say hi to her?. . . Oh, uh, that's a lot of background information you probably don't have time to hear. It's kind of boring too. . . Yeah, we're fine. We're at Jace's house right now. His parents are letting us stay here, they're nice. . ." Jonathan pulled the phone away from his ear and turned to Celine and Stephen. "My mom wants to talk to one of you. Make sure you're not murders or something of the sort I guess. Is that cool?"
Celine shared a look with her husband. Her eyes were wide and she mouthed something to him. Stephen gave her a shrug of his shoulders. She turned back to Jonathan and nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, that is totally cool. I would love to speak with your mother."
"Mom, I'm giving the phone to Jace's mom now. . . I love you too." Jonathan held the phone out to Celine who took it enthusiastically.
"Hello Ms. Fray. I'm Celine Herondale, Jonathan Christopher's mother. It is so great to finally talk to you. Jace is rather fond of your children. . ." Celine's voice trailed off as she wondered down the hallway.
Mom said she loves you," Jonathan informed Clary.
Sebastian finished his call just as Jonathan had handed his phone over.
"My mom told me to tell you that you should consider keeping me forever. But she also says that she's grateful for the small break you've given her already."
"Are you really that much of a handful, son?"
"I personally think that I am an angel, but some might argue otherwise."
"I would be one of the people that argues otherwise," Simon said.
Fifteen minutes later and Celine was finally off the phone with Jocelyn Fray. She returned the phone to Jonathan, a vibrant smile glued to her face.
"Celine, I've learned all their names!" Stephen exclaimed excitedly.
"That's great Stephen. Have you figured out where everybody is sleeping tonight?"
"Well, it's not certain. We've been waiting for you to make the final decision, but I think everyone has an idea as to where they want to sleep. In Jace's room there is going to be Jace, Clary, and Jem. He refused to have it any other way. The guest bedroom upstairs is going to be Isabelle, Simon, and William. The guest bedroom downstairs is going to be Tessa, Alec, and Magnus. And finally, Jon and Seb volunteered to sleep on the couches."
"I don't know," Celine placed her hand on her chin thoughtfully. "Don't you think we should stick all three of the girls in the guest bedroom downstairs? Then the boys could just pick where they want to sleep between the couches and the other two rooms."
"I see where you're coming from and I know where you're going with that thought of yours. Not to worry though because you're smart husband has already thought of that. There is always going to be that third person in the room to stop anything from happening. And I purposely said no to Tess and Will sleeping in the same room because they're the only couple. Pretty genius, right?"
Celine glance at Isabelle and Simon, who were sitting by the fireplace. There faces were inches apart as they spoke to each other. Her mind wondered back to outside when Magnus reduced Alec to a blushing and stammering mess. Then she remembered when her son spoke so fondly of Clary, and she remembered catching Clary staring at her son, a look of complete adoration adorning her features. She just wasn't too sure about these sleeping arrangements.
"So, it's decided," Will announced. "The bedroom set-up is just as Uncle Herondale described it. Unless of course Aunt Celine has any objections. I'm going to take a shower before dinner. Where's the bathroom in this place?"
"Will," Tessa and Jem sighed in unison.
"Oh, right. How could I forget? Manners. Aunt Celine, could you please point me in the direction of the facilities. I need to spruce up a bit before it's time to eat whatever wonderful food you've undoubtedly prepared for us."
"Ah," Celine nodded her head slowly. "I knew there was something I forgot. Who wants to help me cook dinner?"
Will went to take a shower after grabbing pajamas from his suitcase. Jace and Clary ventured up to his bedroom. (Sebastian spluttered at Jon how inappropriate this was but Jon merely shrugged.) Simon, Jem, Tessa and Magnus went to help Celine prepare dinner. Stephen excuse himself to his bedroom. Isabelle had dragged Alec by the arm to the downstairs guest bedroom to talk to him. This left Jonathan and Sebastian sitting on the floor in the living room.
"I'm just saying-".
"I told you Seb, I am not talking about Jace and Clary anymore. I trust Clary and I trust Jace."
"How can you trust Jace? You don't even really know the kid."
"I thought he was your best friend. Shouldn't you be defending him now, not degrading him?"
"He may be my best friend but I'm telling you. That kid is fifty shades of fucked up. I mean, doesn't he scare you? Even just the tiniest bit?"
"Go away Seb. I'm done with you."
hehe. I have a lot planned over the next few chapters, and if you haven't figured it out, the story is going to start unraveling over this winter break. The slumber party, the days in between, and finally Jace's Christmas party.
Did you guys know I already have the epilogue to this story written? But despite this I still have no idea how many chapters this is going to be. I have the whole story planned pout, I just haven't written it.
Guess what? Next chapter is going to be heavily hinting at my other story I Never Told You What I Do For a Living. I have no idea when I'm going to update that story, but if you want to be ahead of everybody else, and get a glimpse of what is going to happen in that story then y'know read next chapter.
And if you haven't checked out my other story I Never Told You What I Do For a Living then you should.
Byeeee guyz. (I'm starting to get a hang of this updating early thing so I'll probs see u next week. And if not, then the week after that)
