I moved backwards, flailing myself onto the grass again as I burst out laughing. Thankfully, Sebastian joined me in my laughter rather than being annoyed.
"I am not nearly as drunk as you are. I have some catching up to do, are you alright to stand?" He climbed to his feet, pulling me up onto mine. I swayed momentarily before being sturdy in my footing. I followed him back into the house. Jordan had moved from the kitchen and it had been taken over by cheerleaders who were vomiting in the bin. Sebastian shot them a glance before guiding me through to the living room after grabbing a bottle of spirit from the table. I made my way over to a vacant beanbag and threw myself onto it, my legs stretched out in front of me. Sebastian joined me on the beanbag, making me rise slightly. He offered me the bottle first but I shook my head. I wasn't drinking anything else until I pulled myself around a bit.
"You've loosened up a bit." Jace sat himself down at the beanbag next to us, sipping from Sebastian's bottle. I pulled a face at him before resting my head back against the beanbag to stop the room from spinning. As my eyes were closed, I felt something ping off my nose. I opened one eye to see Jace high-fiving someone.
"You're not funny, y'know." I grumbled, stretching.
"I think you'll find I'm funny and highly attractive." Jace smirked, looking over me.
"I think you mean arrogant." I muttered, bringing my head up so that the room swam back into focus. "Did you ever find Simon?" I asked Sebastian, who was quickly becoming more and more intoxicated. He shook his head. Jace piped up.
"Do you mean that loser Simon Lewis?" He laughed loudly. I pushed myself to my feet.
"You're a dick." I commented, trying to wade my way through the crowd. I'd find Simon myself. I headed up the stairs as I'd pretty much been everywhere downstairs and hadn't come across him. I poked my head in a couple of bedrooms but mainly came across couples in various stages of "relations". When I stuck my head in a bathroom, I finally found him curled up on the floor, vomiting into the toilet. I sat myself down next to him, even though the room absolutely stank and wrapped my arm around his shoulder.
"Have you been up here this whole time?" I asked him.
"Someone gave me a drink in the kitchen but it was like a mix of alcohol and chilli and god knows what else but it's knocked me for six." Simon sighed, resting his chin on the toilet.
"Do you want to go home?" I asked him.
"I don't know if I dare move. I think I need to sleep it off." Simon grunted, slumping next to the toilet.
"Well Sebastian said yesterday that sometimes people stay over. So, you go ahead, sleep." I told him but I think he was already asleep by this point. I found a towel on the rack and placed it over him, hoping to keep him a little bit warm and somewhat comfortable. I patted his head lightly before heading back out onto that landing. My heart jumped into my throat when I saw that large guy from earlier heading down the same one. I tried putting my head down and walking past but it was never going to work.
"Hey, sexy lady!" He shouted, grabbing me around the middle as I walked past. Jesus, he was even more drunk than when I'd seen him last. I tried pulling myself from his grip but it was easier said than done. His hands had stuck fast like glue as he held me rooted to the spot. "Where do you think you're going now? You know what they say about coming upstairs at a house party. Can only mean one thing." He laughed heartily. "And as for those pants – well why would you wear them, if you weren't on my same page?" He smirked, trying to lean into me. Thankfully I was rescued once more as Jordan appeared from the bottom of the corridor pulling the larger man from me.
"Do her pants say 'please, take me Rocco'? No? Then do one." Jordan grunted at him and surprisingly he paid heed, disappearing into another room. "You need to stay away from him. He won't take no for an answer and he's considerably larger than you are." Jordan advised. I nodded, gulping at the thought.
"Most people are considerably larger than I am." I commented.
"Yes, but most people are also considerably politer." He had a point. We headed down the stairs together. Both Jace and Sebastian had acquired girls whilst I'd been gone, kissing them on adjoining bean bags.
"Does everyone just kiss everyone?" I asked Jordan. He nodded.
"Pretty much. Why, are you feeling left out?" He smirked at me.
"Once is enough." I laughed. Jordan looked at me, eyebrows raised.
"Jace?" He asked. I shook my head, firmly. "Sebastian? Really?" He seemed surprised. "And you went for that did you?" I was confused. I shrugged. "It doesn't seem to have had that much of an effect on you." He smirked.
"It's a bit of an awkward situation." I laughed, not wanting to go too much into it.
"I'd love to hear all about it." Jordan laughed, helping me down the stairs. Just as we reached the base, a loud song with a thumping bass line pumped out of the speakers. Everyone who was previously sat down were now on their feet as bottles, fists and even clothing were being waved in the air. I tried to stick close to Jordan as we weaved through the crowd but alas, it didn't take long for me to get lost from him. Thankfully because everyone was on their feet, there were plenty of bean bags going spare. I found one just underneath the window and sat myself down. Now that I was starting to sober up, I felt really tired but I dared not to go to sleep where I was. When the music finally started to die down, I was approached by three girls. They were all wearing the same dress but in different colours.
"Who are you? I haven't seen you about before."
"She's in our form isn't she, Emma?"
"I think so, Helen." All three girls were looking at me suspiciously.
"Who invited you?" The girl in the middle said, her lip curling, arms folded.
"Sebastian." I said simply, trying to look past them. Where the hell was Jordan? The girls all looked between themselves in shock.
"Here's the deal sweetie." The clear leader sat on the beanbag next to me. "You don't interact with footballers unless you're a cheerleader. That's just the way things are done around here. We don't like outsiders. Mmkay honey? Good chat." She smiled, getting to her feet and shaking her hair off. Her minions followed her away as I just shook my head. Jordan quickly occupied the space that she had left behind.
"What are you doing with Aline?" Jordan looked surprised as he drank from his hipflask.
"I think I've just been threatened." I laughed as I held my hand out to take the hipflask, swigging from it.
"By Aline? Well that's no surprise. She thinks she runs the school. Between you and me, I think she's been watching far too many highschool dramas." He smiled, taking the flask from me. "I think she's trying to re-establish her standing after the whole Jon thing."
"Jon thing?" I said, intrigued.
"Aline used to be pretty sweet for Jon. She was finally going to get her cliché highschool dream – head cheerleader and the Quarterback. She would have been homecoming Queen for sure." I had to stifle a laugh at Jordan's enthusiasm telling this story. "Then Jon gets in an accident, doesn't want to see anyone anymore. Well that causes problems for Aline doesn't it? She's just waiting really, to see who gets the position. Then she'll go full throttle after them. Maybe she heard about you and Sebastian and took it as a threat."
"Well she needn't have." I added.
"Made up your mind already have we?"
"I don't think I could ever imagine myself dating a footballer."
"Well that's good news for me isn't it?" Jordan joked. "I'm kidding. Why? You don't believe in the highschool cliché do you?"
"No." It's because they're all my brother's friends! Because they don't know who I am. Because I feel way over my head? All were plausible answers. "They're arrogant." Jordan shrugged.
"Fair enough." He seemed satisfied. "So who is Clary then? When she's not intoxicated at a party and dressed in leather?" He teased.
"She's a normal girl with a very uneventful life." At the moment, it couldn't have been further from the truth. "And Jordan? When he's not fighting off creepy football players and offering out drinking advice?"
"I think I've given a very fair representation of myself tonight actually." I shook my head at him. "A very firm 8/10." As the night was dwindling down, people were finding places to sleep and I excused myself so that I could go and check on Simon. I just say had my hand on the bathroom door when I felt a hand on my own shoulder. Praying that it wasn't 'Rocco', I turned around apprehensively. It was Jace.
"How strange to see you on your own!" I remarked, going to head into the bathroom.
"How common to see you on your own!" I shot him a look, he looked highly amused with himself.
"Then please, leave me alone." I added, he just laughed at me. Propping himself against the door frame, he looked at me intently.
"You know, I'm sure I know you from somewhere." He ran his hand through his hair. "I never forget a face."
"Congratulations." I smiled at him, hand on the bathroom door ready to enter. "Do you want an award for that achievement?"
"Actually all I want is you to do me a favour, give me a little kiss. Just a little one." Jace said and I turned to face him.
"What?" I said, looking at him as though he was absurd.
"Sebastian thinks he's pretty clever. Kissing you." I flushed immediately. As if he was telling people. "I don't like Sebastian getting one up on me."
"So, let me get this straight – you want me to kiss you to even the score?" Jace nodded. "No chance." I laughed, finally letting myself in to the bathroom. Simon was still where I had left him but his face was covered in little images. Jace had followed me in and watched me as I wiped down Simon's face.
"What an idiot." Jace scoffed. I turned to glare at him.
"If you're not going to make yourself useful can you leave please?" Much to my surprise, Jace took the towel from me, rewashed it in water before handing it back to me. I eyed him suspiciously as I wiped away the last of the marks from Simon's face. His demeanour seemed to have changed.
"I wish someone cared for me like that." Jace commented as I brushed Simon's hair from his face.
"I'm sure Aline and her little posse would care for you just fine if you asked them." Jace scoffed.
"They only care about who's on top. If Jon was still here, he would have had them at his feet. He always did. Christ, I miss the bloke." He sighed. "For me it's almost like he died in the crash. I don't hear from him at all. Can you imagine what that's like? Going from talking to someone every single day to just nothing?" I tried to fight the urge to start crying. Yes. I could imagine that all too well. It was how I felt about my father. If not worse, because instead of talking to him every single day sometimes we went weeks without speaking. Never his fault though. Always mine.
"Have you tried messaging him? Or calling him? Maybe if he doesn't want to see you, he might still talk?" I tried to help best I could. Jace shook his head.
"He never replies. I don't know what the crash did to him, but he's lost more than his father. He's different."
I had to excuse myself. I made a beeline straight for the door and headed straight home. I'd sobered up completely. I needed to see Jon. I ran into the house in floods of tears, not bothering to knock before I entered his bedroom. He looked at me completely surprised as I ran in. I could only imagine what I looked like. I wrapped my arms around his chest and cried into his shoulder.
"What's happened Clary? Has someone hurt you?" He questioned me. I shook my head.
"I miss dad." I sobbed into his shoulder as he rubbed my back reassuringly. "I miss you."
"Hush, I'm not going anywhere. What's brought this on?"
It took me a while before I could speak to him properly. He smoothed my hair away from my face and I wiped my eyes gingerly.
"Your friends miss you." I said. Jon immediately looked downcast. "I understand why you can't have them here. But why not call them or message them?" I tried to reason with him.
"If I call or message them, they'll want to see me. They'll want to come over. I can't deal with that." His voice had went quiet all of a sudden. "Please don't make me deal with that." I embraced him tightly. That was enough talking for one night.
Thank you for reading my stories!
All of my love
Until the next time
~Sapph