A/N: Thanks to everyone who supports this story! :D You guys keep me going.
Chapter 16
(Clary POV)
When I woke up, I noticed Evangeline and Simon sitting on the floor, talking and whispering to each other and looking happy. That was a good sign. Maybe Simon was moving on from me after all…
I was really having doubts about how I'd slept with Simon a few nights ago. It was the wrong thing to do, but I was feeling too upset to think rationally. I'd used him, and I knew it. It was a lousy thing to do, especially because I was still so mad at Jace.
I didn't know what to think of Evangeline. She was such a sweet girl, and I recognized that Jace had used her as much as I used Simon. She was so nice to me, and I already considered her a sort-of friend, despite the cheating scandal. But last night, at Spin the Bottle… I had to kiss Evangeline.
It was so awkward. The only other girl I've kissed before was Isabelle, and that happened only a few times (and always during Spin the Bottle, which just so happened to be one of Izzy's favorite games). So it was never serious. Not that it was "serious" or whatever with Evangeline, but it was different. Neither of us was making a joke of it. We just sort of… kissed.
The whole thing confused me. Because kissing Evangeline or Isabelle wasn't any different from kissing Jace or Simon. All of it involved lips touching, and a certain kind of intimacy. But when I kissed people during Spin the Bottle, that intimacy wasn't real, it was just for a game. However, that didn't mean that it felt any less real in the moment.
I had also kissed Alec, but that was also awkward. I could tell that he wasn't really into it, and I didn't blame the poor guy. I knew that Alec was having intimacy issues lately, and I doubted that he wanted to be kissing anyone, especially me. I would have never thought, that day that Alec and I got into a fight about Jace in the hallway at the Institute a few years ago, that there would come a day when Jace and I had broken up and I would kiss Alec during a game.
Jace and Simon had kissed to, even though we didn't see the whole thing. Just the tail end, when Magnus opened the door. Talk about embarrassing. I would have never expected that kind of thing from them, they usually avoided each other! I suppose that alcohol had something to do with it, but I'll admit that there was a part of me that thought it was hot.
But I was mad at Jace, I remembered, and I couldn't think he was hot anymore. That would just set me up for further disappointment.
But… try as I might, I knew that I still loved him. And that's where my anger came from, because to be angry, you have to care. And I certainly cared about Jace, even though he hurt me.
All of this was swirling through my mind as I laid on the floor, with some pillows supporting my head and back. I also faintly registered a dull hangover, but I tried not to let it bother me.
Suddenly, I heard stirring beside me, and I looked over to see that everyone else was waking up. That was probably for the best; we had to start the day sometime.
Overall, it had been an interesting party, that was for sure.
Later, I was hanging out with Izzy at my place. I didn't want to go to the Institute because I knew Jace would be there, but thankfully Isabelle was understanding of the situation and volunteered to meet me at my house.
We were sitting in my bedroom and talking, when the conversation topic suddenly switched to Jace and our breakup.
"Do you think you're handling everything well?" Izzy asked me.
I sighed heavily. "I don't know. I think so, but it's difficult because I know I still care about him."
"I guessed as much," she explained. "You seem like you're being overly aggressive about the situation, probably because you don't want to confront how much you're hurting. Am I right?"
Isabelle was good at reading people, so I wasn't surprised that she had pegged me so easily. I sighed again. "I think so. Whenever I think about Jace, I just get really sad. Yesterday, it made me angry, but it's different now. Especially because I keep pushing him away, even though I don't know if I want to. I feel like I should, because he cheated on me and everything, but Izzy, I still love him."
She looked at me for a long time, contemplating. Finally, she said, "I think you two need to talk. Even if it's just to break up again. Because what you're both doing now isn't healthy for either of you. I'm not saying that you should get back together, because cheating is really serious and Jace has proved before that he's a serial cheater. You just need to talk."
I knew that Isabelle was probably right. "Okay. How should I do that? I don't even know if he wants to have any contact with me after I shot him down time and time again within the past few days."
"Let me talk to him. You two should eat dinner together or something, and talk it out. If you want, I'll organize the whole thing and you'll only have to show up."
A smile worked its way across my face. I'm so thankful to have Izzy. "That sounds amazing. I'm so happy that you're my best friend, Iz."
Then I hugged her, breathing a sigh of relief and hoping that her plan would work. I needed closure about the whole situation, and dinner with Jace would be a good way to get that.
But… would he agree to it?
A/N: Will Jace agree to the plan? Stay tuned! xoxoxoxo