Mei: Oh my God, your Christmas. I'm not sure if I'm impressed or horrified.

cfire27: I'm alright, thank you. I truly appreciate that. I hope you're well.

Guest: "This is out of the question but is their anymore one shots" Yes! I have like… nine in progress. Maybe more. I can't stop. It's a disease. Send help.

GUYS. So many of you said you care about me in your reviews and it made me smile so hard. Yay for caring!

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT: So, a ton of you have said that Clary is a bitch for sleeping with Jon instead of Jace. I hope you know that what a woman does with her body is her choice. Jace is the crowd favorite, but you know what? It's her choice. She isn't a bitch for giving her virginity to the person she likes. She doesn't even realize that she likes Jace right now. Just because someone likes you does not mean that you are required to sleep with them. Picture this: you're not interested in someone at all. There's nothing wrong with him, you're just not interested. Are you a bitch for sleeping with someone else? No. You absolutely are not, because you do not owe that guy anything. The friend zone is not a thing. Girls are not machines that you can put kindness coins into until sex falls out.


We did it.

Jon and I did the sex.

I don't feel any different. I thought I would feel some kind of noticeable change within myself after losing my virginity, but I guess it's true that it isn't a life changing event. It's literally just the connection of two body parts, and people make such a huge deal about the first time. "I want it to be special" blah blah blah. I don't care about special. I just wanted the sexuals, and I like Jonathan. I think that should be enough.

I don't think we'll stay together forever, but I'm glad he was my first. He took care of me, and made me feel safe. I wouldn't have it any other way. So why is Isabelle glaring at me so hard, right now?

"You slept with him? Seriously, Clary?"

I close my bedroom door to make sure my mother can't hear us talking. "Why are you mad? It's not like you didn't sleep around before Simon."

"What about Jace?" she snaps. "He told me what happened in the pool."

I take in a sharp breath, through gritted teeth. "I told him I'm only interested in being his friend."

"Jace is in love with you!"

I glare at her. "Why can't you just be happy for me?"

Isabelle's shoulders slump. "I am happy for you. But Jace is my brother, and I don't want to see my ship sinking."

"This isn't a book, Isabelle," I say. "This is my life. I like Jonathan."

She lies back onto my bed, letting her hair sprawl out over the pillow. "Do you like Jace?"

Do I? "I don't know, Izzy."

"Have you talked to him since he told you he loves you?"

I shake my head. "What would I even say?"

"That you still want to be friends," Isabelle says. "He's scared to contact you, because he doesn't think you want to be friends anymore. At least text him, Clary."

I nod and take out my cell phone.

Clary: Are you busy tomorrow?

Jace: No, why?

Clary: I'd like to see you. And you still have two more days of slavery to use, if you want. Haha

Jace: Okay. Tomorrow. Be prepared for public humiliation, Bo-Bina.

I smile and tell him that I'll come over around noon, tomorrow. Isabelle seems pleased, and tells me she has to go see Simon in a few hours, so I have to sit here while she tries on every outfit she owns and tell her which one I think he'll like the best. I smile and tell her: "Simon likes nudity the best."

Isabelle throws a scarf at me. "I'm sure he does, but I doubt his mother will approve. I'm meeting her for the first time, today."

"Oh," I say. "Go with the maroon skater skirt and black v-neck."

She puts her other options back in the bag she brought over and moves on to shoes. "Which ones?" she asks, holding up a pair of black combat boots and a pair of black skater shoes.

"The skater shoes," I answer.

Isabelle nods, but still asks: "Why am I even listening to you? We both know you don't know anything about fashion."

I shrug. "I make educated guesses, based on what you normally wear."

"Fair enough," Isabelle says, before taking the outfit into the bathroom to get dressed.


After Isabelle leaves, I'm left alone in the house with Jon for the first time since we had sex. I knock lightly on his door, hoping he's not avoiding me. We haven't talked since he left my bedroom this morning.

He answers the door wearing nothing but a pair of red and black, flannel pajama pants that hang low on his hips. He smiles. "Hey, Clary."

I do my best to smile back, unsure of how I'm supposed to act in this situation. "Hey."

"Would you like to come in?" he asks. I nod and follow him into his bedroom, where we sit on his bed with our backs against the wall. "How are you?" he asks. "I didn't hurt you last night, did I?"

I shrug my shoulders, avoiding eye contact with him. This is awkward as all get out. "I'm a little sore, but I think that's normal."

"Yeah, it's normal…" Jonathan trails off. "How are thinks with Jace?"

The question takes me by surprise. "I don't know. I'm seeing him tomorrow."

"Oh, that's good."

"Is it?"

"He's your best friend," Jon starts. "I don't want to cause a falling out between the two of you. I know he means a lot to you."

"He does," I say. "Everything will be fine, though."


Mom and Valentine decide to stay in the city so they can go on a date and do gross Mom and Valentine things, so Jonathan invites Jordan over. He enters the living room with a two liter of Mountain Dew, and Chinese takeout.

"Jordan, you glorious bastard!" I exclaim, hopping up to hug him after he sets the bottle and the takeout on the coffee table.

"Hey babe," he says with a small smile, but I can see that he isn't really happy. "I have news."

"Is it Maia related?" Jon asks from his place on the couch. He's got his head on the arm, and his legs stretched out.

"It is," Jordan says.

I roll my eyes internally, but pull away from his hug and try to look curious. "What's up?"

"She's pregnant," he tells us. "We talked about it, and she decided not to get an abortion, but she doesn't want to keep it."

"Shit, man," Jon mutters.

"She's giving up all parental rights, and I'm keeping it," Jordan announces.

"Holy shit!" I call. "Jordan, that's huge."

Jon sits up. "Have you told your parents?"

He shakes his head, his shaggy brown hair falling over his ocean colored eyes. "I'm going to be 18 before it's born. I have a job and a car. Once I'm 18, I can afford to get an apartment if I get a roommate. That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Jon…"

"You want me to room with you?" Jon asks.

"You'll be 18 soon," Jordan says. "If you got a job, we could get an apartment together."

"Wow…" I whisper. "This is…wow."

"I know it's a lot to take in. You don't have to answer right now, just please think about it, Jon."

"Absolutely," Jonathan answers. "We were planning to get a place together, anyways. It's sooner than we planned, but this will be good."

Jordan smiles genuinely for the first time in what seems like forever. "It's settled, then."


After we eat, Jordan and Jonathan make me go to the bowling alley with them. It is a sad place filled with misery and hatred for the common man. There are teeny boppers (11-14 year old's) everywhere you look, wearing too-short skirts and belly shirts with ugg boots, like some kind of weather confused whores. Isabelle and I like to call them Eski-Hoes.

But I'm not bitter…

Fucking salmon-slappers…

We aren't even bowling. We apparently came because they have the best hot wings here, and Jon really wanted hot wings. So, we're sitting around the table playing a game that Jordan called "What's their story?"

It's a people watching game. We choose a person and try to come up with a back-story for them, and if it's good enough you receive an upvote. "That one," I say to Jordan. He follows my gaze to an old woman sitting at lane 14. She's wearing a green scarf tied around her waist, a purple hat and a knee-length navy dress. "What's her story?"

"She owns 13 and a half cats," Jordan states. "She doesn't believe in marriage, but she's got one grandchild, and she's living off of welfare. Her favorite food is Durian, her favorite song is Burnin' in Love, and she will slap you in the head for swearing. When she was six, her father told her that she'd grow up to be a man, and she's severely disappointed that she never did."

Jon raises one eyebrow at him. "That was weak."

I nod in agreement. "I know you can do better than that, Jordan. No upvote for you!"

"I'm warming up," Jordan says before pointing toward a man who can't be older than 23. He's wearing a fedora, and has a soul patch. It kind of makes me want to go tell him fedora's aren't okay, and soul patches make you look like a tool, but that would be rude. "What's his story, Clary?"

I take him in for a moment. Aside from the unfortunate facial hair, and even more unfortunate headwear, he's cute. "He's just had a blind date that went better than expected. He showed up wearing a fedora. When the girl saw him, she didn't do what any reasonable person would do, which is U-turn the fuck out of there when she sees the fedora. She takes it off his head and hangs it on one of the purse hooks at the bar. She is a good sport, because he clearly needs to do something with that soul patch. They keep up an awkward conversation, and then he walks her home where she tells him that she might let him kiss her if he shaves."

"That…" Jordan hesitates. "Was adorable."

Jon glances at the man in question. "A different angle than I would have taken, but I enjoyed it. Upvote?"

"Upvote," Jordan agrees.

I glance around the bowling alley, from our booth along the wall, when I spot two girls who look to be about 13. One has long, blonde hair and the other has shoulder length black hair. They're wearing matching short, denim skirts with flip flops and purple v-necks, even though it is definitely winter. "The blonde," I say.

Jon nods, leaning forward to get a better look at her. "Her parents insisted she was a nice girl," he starts. "I wonder if the 16 people she murdered feel the same way."

"Oh my God," I choke out. "Jon, that's beautiful."

Jordan chuckles. "Jon is the best at this."

"Take your upvote, you magnificent bastard!"

Jon grins. "Alright, so the score is 1 for Clary, 1 for me, and 0 for Jordan?"

"Precisely," Jordan answers.

Jonathan scans the room for our next subject, and points to a girl who looks to be about 15. She's wearing too much eyeliner, a black Ice Nine Kills t-shirt, and black skinny jeans with combat boots. "What's her story, Jordan?"

Jordan rubs his hands together for dramatic effect, or something. "Her real name is Julia, but she insists on being called Scarlett. Her mother is the only person who still reminds her that her birth certificate says Julia. She snuck out of her house today, because her mother told her she couldn't leave until she cleaned her room. Instead of cleaning her room, she climbed out her window in all black, so she'd blend in with the night… Naturally, she came to the bowling alley, where all of the thugs are."

"Upvote!" I declare.

"Julia seems like a nice girl, if you ask me," Jon jokes. "Upvote."

They pick a man who is obviously a biker for me, and I tell them, "His main exports are ass-kicking, and kickass. However, he's also really lazy, so he urges his enemies to commit suicide, to save him the trouble."

"Upvote!" they exclaim in unison.

The night goes on like this, with the three of us eating hot wings and making up stories about people we've never spoken to. If you ask me, the highlight was when Jordan said that a little girl's sole purpose in life was to steal all of my waffles, or when Jon said that an old man wanted to become the greatest goat breeder in the world.

Jon wins with an upvote score of 8, while Jordan and I call it a draw with 5. Overall, it was a great night, and I fall asleep happily beside Jon in his room, while Jordan passes out in the guest room.


I'm sorry to anyone who is offended by the salmon-slapper joke… I'm from Alaska, so it's really just a slur about me, as well as everyone I know and love/hate/am indifferent about.

Anyways, I'm sorry it's been so long… So much has happened, you wouldn't believe it. Hopefully I'll be writing more frequently. I'll do my best, it's just hard to write this story because it's almost over and I don't want it to end, so I'm kind of dragging my feet... I'm really sorry, guys. :/

Love and shrugs. Team H&H for life.

-YouMayCallMeAsh