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"I just hope she's left Jon alone. He really wasn't comfortable with her being there. He's got enough on his plate at the minute without her causing bother in the streets." I was nervous. I didn't like the idea of her being there when Jon was all by himself.
"I can't begin to image what it feels like being a prisoner in your own home." Jordan commented, holding me close to him. I felt as though I hadn't had a drink at all tonight, I had completely sobered up.
"Aline just really needs to back off, it's hard enough to maintain this act without her meddling in everything." I shrugged Jordan off as I scoured through my bag for my phone. The nerves were getting too much, I needed an update on the situation. I dialled Jon back to get an update. It went straight through.
"Hey, everything alright?" I asked. His tone seemed calmer on the phone.
"Yeah, she's gone. Not without incident. She kicked and screamed a bit, she even punched the wall. I fell down but I managed to get myself back into bed." I didn't even know where to start.
"How did you fall down? Are you alright?" I asked, standing in the doorway. "Do you need me to come home?"
"Don't be silly C." Jon laughed. "She punched the wall next to the window and I got a fright in case she saw me, so I tried to hop out of bed and I just dropped out but I'm alright. It's not the first time I've ever fallen out of bed. I'm going to try and get some sleep though – don't worry about me."
"See you tomorrow." I promised.
"Suddenly, I don't feel like drinking anymore." Jordan remarked as I tucked my phone back into my bag.
"I couldn't agree more." I sighed. It was like the night had come to a standstill.
"I'm sure we can find something to do if we put our minds to it." Jordan held out his hand and I took it as we headed back to the kitchen. The kitchen was completely empty aside from one football player who was passed out on the breakfast bar. His face was covered in pen marks, his clothes covered in flour. We skirted past him and through the house. Sebastian and Jace were nowhere to be seen, Rocco the main entertainment in the hallway as he stripped atop a table. I kept my eyes trained in on the ground, still intimidated by him. We wandered for a while before we came across an unlocked study with a larger corner sofa. We quickly took over the room and lay on one side of the sofa each, our heads near one another. We just lay in silence for a while listening to the thumping bass below and the screams and chants of girls. I could have just fallen asleep until I realised -
"I'm starving." I commented about ten minutes later. Jordan shot up and I groaned as I realised it meant we were heading all the way back to the kitchen. As we were walking back down the stairs, we heard a familiar voice shouting. Aline was back and she had Jace and Sebastian hanging off her every word.
"He pushed me! Look at my hand!" Aline was crying, holding up her bleeding knuckles. Sebastian and Jace led her off as Jordan and I made a dash for the kitchen. Low and behold we wound up in the same place. Jace helped Aline over to the tap, running her knuckles under it as he kept a firm grip on her wrist.
"Dare I ask?" Jordan broke the silence. Aline turned to face him, tears in her eyes.
"I've been assaulted." She cried, wincing as the water washed her wounds.
"Who by?" Jordan questioned. I could feel my anger boiling. I knew she'd only been to try and see Jon and that she'd punched a wall. She couldn't possibly try and blame him.
"I don't want to say." She cried, hiding her eyes with her free hand.
"We can't help you if you don't tell us." Sebastian said, easily the drunkest. He had propped himself up on the breakfast bar and was drawing circles on the other footballer's forehead.
"I'm frightened." She sobbed.
"We'll look after you." Sebastian was playing into her hands. I looked right at him. He didn't even look as though he could look after himself, let alone anyone else.
"It was Jon." Aline stifled a sob. "He pushed me." I was barely keeping it together. I was trying my hardest to keep my mouth shut and I was just about to speak when –
"Why lie Aline?" Jordan spoke for me. We all turned our attention to him. She stopped crying, looking flabbergasted.
"How dare you!" Her pitch went off the charts.
"I know for a fact that Jon isn't even home." I felt nervous.
"How could you possibly?" Jace was outraged. How could Jordan know something he didn't?
"He's went to see his sister. My mum bumped into his mum at the store. He's went to stay with her and his grandparents before the funeral. He's just been in a car crash for god's sake, it would make sense that he wants to be surrounded by family." Aline looked furious but the boys seemed to buy it.
"He was saying that he missed her and hadn't seen her in a while." Jace mused.
"He was going to bring her to one of these parties if I remember." Sebastian added.
"Excuse me?!" Aline complained as the attention diverted away from her.
"Maybe he got home early?" Sebastian tried to please everyone.
"Or maybe – Aline is a liar." I blurted out. Jordan choked on a laugh next to me. Regardless how much I'd been warned away from aggravating Aline, I just couldn't help myself. I couldn't just stand by idly as she made Jon out to be a bully and a brute when he could barely even walk let alone assault someone. She swayed in my direction, clearly a lot drunker than I was.
"Where did you even come from? And why don't you just go back there?" Aline growled at me.
"Give up with the insults. Tell the truth for once." Jordan intervened on my behalf. Aline was about to bite back when Jace cut over her.
"Let's just call it a night on this. We'll agree to disagree for now." He held out his hand for Aline and she readily took it as they were followed by Sebastian.
"Why did you defend me?" I turned to Jordan. He hadn't only defended me, he'd lied for me.
"I really don't like Aline." He affirmed. "On the other hand, I really do like you." I flushed as I tried to conceal it with my hair. Once we'd made some half decent toast and devoured it, Jordan and I started our search for somewhere to sleep. He seemed to know the ins and outs of the house which said a lot about how many parties Jace had held. We kept on climbing until we were at the top of the house and walked as far back as the house would allow. Jordan opened the door for me. The room was huge but impersonal – clearly a guest room of some sort.
"Won't others come up here?" I queried. Jordan shook his head, jumping on the bed.
"Too far for those little drunks. They'll sleep where they fall. I'd put money on it." He patted the bed next to him. "What does tomorrow have in store for Clary?"
"Nothing." I laughed. "Although I should probably call in on Simon, make sure he's not in too much bother."
"Well, if you're free tomorrow morning, I would quite like to take you to breakfast." Jordan smiled. "If that's okay with you."
"I'll sleep on it." I smirked, lying on the bed. I closed my eyes but quickly opened them when I felt something covering me. Jordan was rolling me up in the blanket before he retrieved a second for himself.
"What are you doing?" I asked from my sausage fortress.
"We don't want anyone getting any ideas, should they stumble across here." I could feel myself tiring out as I succumbed to the warmth of my blanket.
Jace's PoV
I'd managed to palm Aline off onto Sebastian which she seemed happy enough with as he was giving her plenty of attention. I was left with my own thoughts, thoughts about Jon. I really missed the fella. Yes, I had other friends and I had Sebastian but there was just something about Jon. A bond we had that was unshakeable. He even made my friendship better with Sebastian. Three peas in a pod and now he was gone, we were struggling.
Had he hurt Aline? How else had she hurt her hand like that? Why wouldn't he want to see her anyway? Before the crash they'd been quite loved up? What had changed?
Was Jordan telling the truth? What reason did he have to lie?
What role did Clary have to play in all of this? Why would she go to such lengths to defend someone she barely even knows?
There were too many questions that needed answering. I'd had enough of partying for one night and decided to head up to bed. I could hear voices in the room next door and prayed that Sebastian and Aline hadn't found their way up here – I wanted to actually get some sleep after all. I waited for the voices to soften before I poked my head through the door. I could make out Jordan quite easily and then Clary lying next to him in a separate blanket, only her flaming hair visible. I closed the door and retreated into my own room. What a bloody party.
Clary's PoV
My throat was dry and burning when I woke up the next morning. I tried clearing it a few times before I tried to get out of bed. My sausage wrap made it particularly difficult as I fell to the floor with a flump. I wiggled around for a few moments, trying to free myself but stopped as soon as I heard Jordan dying laughing.
"Do you fancy giving me a hand?" I asked him, facing the ceiling. He was propped on his knees on the bed, looking down at me, laughing.
"I'm quite enjoying watching you struggle." He teased. I tried wiggling again but I was getting nowhere.
"Please!" I protested.
"And beg." He was laughing lightly.
"Jordan!" I shouted, kicking the floor at the same time. He laughed as he climbed off the bed. He was just about to unleash me from my prison when the door burst open, Jace standing there in a pair of pyjama bottoms. I was looking at him upside down from the way I was lying but I could make out the look of concern and confusion quite easily.
"Sorry, I thought I heard something smash." He quickly backtracked.
"It was just me. I rolled off the bed." I informed him. Jordan untucked the blanket around me and finally I was free. My feet felt unsteady when I finally climbed onto them. Jace seemed awkward in the door and when I looked back, he had wandered back to his own room.
"So, breakfast?" Jordan asked, making the bed. I looked down at myself, there was no way I could go out to breakfast looking like this. "Don't worry, remember that t-shirt I gave you that you never changed into?" He produced the t-shirt from the bedside cabinet. I happily took it from him and put it on over my bodysuit. I tucked the shirt into my shorts and made it look somewhat decent, considering it was quite big on me. Getting out of the house was quite a chore, bodies strewn everywhere. Jordan seemed relieved that his bike was still waiting for him outside. I felt a bit sick at the thought of riding it again. "Don't worry, we're not going far." He reassured me. I grabbed the helmet from him and jammed it onto my head before climbing on behind him. I wrapped my arms around his chest as he prepared the bike. I looked back at the house before we left the driveway and was sure I saw Jace looking out at us.
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Until the next time!
~Sapph