Chapter Five: Manliness
"So..?" I hear Jace say right next to me.
After school Jon, Jace and I piled into Jace's car to our house. We've been sitting on my bed for the past 5 minutes while Jon paced back and forth in front Jace and I looking at us every now and then. He finally stops to face us and sighs.
"Clary do you like Jace?" He asks, both of them waiting anxiously for my answer.
I look at Jace smiling and simply say "yes."
He smiles back letting go of a breath he was holding. Like I would've answered any differently.
"Jace, you're my best friend and I'm trusting you not to treat my sister like any of those other girls you've dated. If she sheds one tear over you I will not hesitate to break you in half. If you hurt her, I hurt you." He says, his voice dead serious.
"Jon, I've known you since when we were what? 8 years old? I would never let that friendship go to waste. I would never think of hurting Clary. I would hurt myself before I hurt her or let anyone else hurt her. You know that." He said, his voice just as serious making me blush and look down at our interlocked hands.
"I do." He says, looking tired "I just wanted to hear you say it." He says with a smirk on his face "Okay, well you crazy kids have fun." He says, hesitantly.
I look up at him surprised at how easily he said yes. Then I turn to see Jace the same look on his face.
"You heard me, now go, have your fun. But not too much." He adds quickly.
We're still sitting on my bed staring at him when he says,
"Seriously though, go, I'm having Anna over."
We begin to leave my room cautiously, like if we walk to fast he might change his mind.
We get into Jace's car and pull out of our house and drive down the street 45 seconds later to reach his mansion of a house. I'm usually over here to hang out with Izzy, now I'm here, going up to my boyfriend's room. As we reach the top of the stairs and walk down the hallway I see Izzy's bedroom door halfway open, she's there laughing and talking with Maia. I decide not to intrude on their conversation. When we reach Jace's perfectly clean room I decide to lay down on his bed, I feel Jace lay down right next to me playing with my curly hair.
"So, Where'd your parents go this week?" he asks me.
I turn on my side to face him while talking. " I don't know, I think somewhere in London to paint this mural at some place for some company, so they'll be gone for some time."
"Very descriptive." He says, making me crack a smile. We lay in a comfortable silence where just each others presence is enough to make us happy. That is, until my stomach decides to rudely interrupt our moment by making dying animal sounds.
Jace chuckles, "Hungry?" he asks.
I shake my head. I'm not, but I know I haven't eaten anything all day.
" Well too bad." He says, picking me up bridal style and running down the stairs with me laughing the whole way down. My bruise from this morning had gotten a lot better making it more bearable each time I bounced in his arms.
When we reach the kitchen, I smell the delicious scent of spaghetti and meatballs being made by none other than Mrs. Lightwood, Jace's adoptive mother. I feel my stomach growl again. Maybe I could try to eat a little.
Jace puts me down to search through the fridge and comes out with a mango and a can of tomato soup. He sets it on the kitchen counter and grabs a can opener. As he attempts to open the can Jace's mom attacks his hand with a wooden spoon causing him to drop the opener.
"No snacking, dinner's ready." She says to him with a scowl on her face. She looks toward me and her face turns into a smile.
"Hey Clary! How are you feeling." She asks, a little bit of sympathy in her voice.
"Umm. Fine I guess." I say, turning shy. I've never felt comfortable talking about my sickness and it's no exception to someone as nice as Mrs. Lightwood.
" Well I hope you're hungry. Because dinner's ready." She says. "ISABELLE, MAIA, DINNERS READY." She yells upstairs while setting a bowl of spaghetti and a bowl of salad on the table."
I hear footsteps running down the stairs and then Izzy and Maia are standing at the threshold to the dinning room having a conversation most likely about some guy at school. Maia is first to notice me sitting next to Jace at the table. She raises an eyebrow at me as if asking if we're official and I give a slight nod. Her face lights up with excitement and runs to hug me. Izzy finally notices Maia's distraction and comes up to hug me also.
"Hey there! Why didn't you tell me you were coming over?" She asks
"I didn't want to bother you guys." I tell her, shrugging.
"Really?! We have so much to catch you up on now. Jace," She says to him, spaghetti half hanging out of his mouth "I'm stealing your girlfriend after dinner."
I blush and smile to myself when I hear the word girlfriend come out of her mouth. Izzy doesn't wait for an answer before sitting down across from Jace and I with Maia next to her. They both fix a plate of food for themselves and we spend the next 45 minutes talking and laughing. To my surprise, I even eat a little of the delicious spaghetti noticeably making Jace relax a little bit.
"Okay, time to go up to my room, you can have her back later Jace." She says starting to pull me out of the dining room.
"What am I supposed to do?" He asks
"I don't know, do some manly stuff. Wrestle a bear, cut down a tree, workout, anything. But she's mine for the next couple of hours."
"Fine. If you'll excuse me I have a bear to go wrestle." He says grabbing his car keys and jacket and walking through the door.
"You're going to Alec's house aren't you?" Isabelle asks
"Yep." He says, walking back to give me a quick peck on the lips and then walking past us out the door.
"Okay what do we do now?" Maia asks
After 4 ½ hours of gossiping we've finally run out of things to gossip about.
"Isn't tomorrow Sebastian's party." I ask laying on my stomach on Izzy's bed. Maia is right next to me playing with my hair.
"Yeah I think. Are you guys going?" Maia asks
"I'm not sure." Izzy says. "That guy's such a creep but he can throw one hell of a party. What about you?"
"Probably if Jordan wants to go. What about you Clary?" She asks me
"I guess if Jace goes." I say.
Maia and Izzy both look at each other sneakily and then look at me.
"What?" I say suddenly self conscious.
" I feel a sleepover coming on! Come here after school tomorrow and tell Jon you're sleeping over tonight because we're going shopping and we're going to look hot tomorrow night."
" Really Iz? It's 9 o'clock on a school night I don't think any mall would be open right now, even if we did try to make it before closing, we wouldn't make it in this New York traffic." Maia says to her.
She thinks about his looking frustrated for a second and then leaves the room coming back with her laptop and Jace's.
"Well that doesn't stop us from shopping online. If we're lucky, we can get our outfits by tomorrow before school even ends!" She seems proud of her idea and looks at us both smiling from ear to ear.
"Well let's get to it." I say logging on to Jace's computer
After 2 hours of shopping, contemplating and, finally, ordering, we each find a dress.
Isabelle decides on a dark red skin- tight dress that is simple enough but sure to look amazing on her. Maia chose a flowy sparkly gold dress with a halter top that will also go amazing with her dark skin. I chose a black silk dress with lace over the smooth material. Isabelle helped me pick it out with its tight fitting, strapless top and flowy above knee length skirt.
We're going to look hot.
After we place our orders we decide to get into our pajamas. I, of course, borrow a pair of Izzys, which consists of a pair of gray workout shorts and a tank top. I let my curly hair out of my now messy fishtail and walk downstairs with Maia and Izzy to watch a movie in their home theater. Did I mention their house was huge?
As we pass the kitchen toward the theater I see Jace and Jordan talking while throwing a football across the kitchen counter. As Maia passes the counter I see her face light up, obviously excited to see her boyfriend here. She runs over to him, throwing herself into his arms, he seems equally as excited to see her.
I go over to Jace to give him a hug, he spins me around in his arms a couple of times smiling down at me.
"How was that bear?" I ask him.
"He didn't even see it coming." He replies jokingly making me giggle a little.
"If you lovebirds are finished out here." Isabelle says loud enough to interrupt both of our conversations "We have a movie to-"
Right then the doorbell rings, cutting into Izzy's sentence. Her face breaks into a huge smile as if she knows who's at the door.
"And that," she says, walking to the door "Would be my date for tonight."
We all follow her to the door curious to see who it is. However I don't think anyone was expecting to see Simon on the other side of the door. Everybody on Jace's team know what happened this morning, news spreads fast with them. I guess Izzy didn't get the memo. I wasn't mad at Simon anymore but that didn't stop Jordan or Jace from still being pissed.
"Really Izzy?!" Jace finally says out loud, breaking the silence. "Out of all the guys in the school you choose this ratface?"
"Chill out Jace." She says clearly annoyed " You've only known him since Music class how can you hate him so much already?"
"You really don't know, do you?" Jace asks her
"Know what?" She asks impatiently.
" Should I explain it or would you like your new boyfriend to fess up?" He asks, spitting out the word 'boyfriend'.
Simon doesn't say anything, just stares at Jace with a mix of surprise and anger. Isabelle keeps looking at Jace and then back at Simon as if waiting for an explanation.
"Simon and Clary were driving to school this morning when they almost got into an accident." Jace says finally
"Well it can't be that bad, I mean neither of you are hurt are you?" When she says that she looks expectantly at me for more of an explanation.
I don't say anything. Torn between the best friend I just made up with and the friends who would always stand up for me. I feel tears starting to spring in my eyes out of frustration for having them to make me choose.
" Lets just drop it." I say, looking at the ground.
I feel their eyes boring into me; Jace's shocked stare similar to Simon's. Jordan and Maia's concerned glances. And Isabelle's indifferent stare clearly confused at what's going on.
"Yeah." Jordan says cutting the tension with his voice "Don't we have a movie to watch?"
I look up gratefully at Jordan who returns it with a smile and a wink.
" I vote Ferris Beuler's Day Off." Maia says
" What about 21 Jump Street?" Izzy says, distracted from what just happened.
"Yeah! Lets watch that." Maia says excited
Izzy, Maia, and Jordan walk to the home theater leaving Simon, Jace and I. Simon begins to walk after Isabelle, but not until Jace slams him into the wall like he did earlier at school but probably harder this time.
" Jace," I say, finally intervening "It's okay, I'm not mad."
This surprises Jace again, but begrudgingly, and roughly, lets go of Simon and walking to the home theater with me.
We sit down together on an oversized beanbag. Jace looks like he wants to say something but I stop him.
"Don't, it really isn't worth the energy."
He huffs but begins to rub circles in my back.
"Aren't you tired?" He whispers as the advertisements play on the screen in front of us.
"Exhausted." I say truthfully, laying my head on his chest.
"Sleep." He whispers softly in my ear.
I don't object, I feel my eyes drooping lower with every circle he makes on my back. As my eyes close and I slip out of consciousness I can't help but feel a slight pain in the back of my head bringing me back to my dark days three years ago.
AN: This chapter felt really short for some reason. ANYHOO, please comment how you like this story I can't get better without you opinions on how the story should go. You guys are amazing and I love you all!
R & R
XOXO
Erin